I was going to write a review of MGS3, but given the fact that the game is now so old, especially in the US, I thought it wasn't worth the hassle and it wouldn't probably get read by anybody.

False advertising aside, I thought I'd write some impressions instead.

One concern I had coming to this game was that the engine would seem dated and that the story inadequate, following the incoherent and contrived nonsense that was MGS2. But this time the game had a much more interesting plot with more involving characters and a less forced pollitical message. The game itself was made a different experience with the jungle setting. The absence of a radar and as such the dependence on awareness and effective use of the camouflage makes the experience more tactical and less run and gun, as it was possible to do in past installments. I also enjoyed the elements of maintenance, healing wounds and hunting food seemed fresh, and added another level of strategy, in having to find and maintain supplies.

My only problem with the game is the pacing. Lengthy codec conversations and sequences towards the beginning of the game make it too slow, which may turn people off it. The boss battles are also poorly dispersed, The Pain following too soon from Ocelot, The Fear and The End being only 4 screens apart, it just seemed like the game was a little rushed.

As with all the MGS games, there are some excellent Easter Eggs to be enjoyed. The Snake vs Monkey mini-game is both entertaining and challenging with worthy rewards, and the inclusion of a dream sequence in which you play several minutes of a zombie killing game during the course of the game is frankly genius. In jokes you get in some codec conversations add to a sense of fun to the otherwise serious content and it helps to know that Kojima isn't as pompous as some may suspect.

So in short *thumbs up*