Post by: Halbred on February 16, 2012, 07:01:58 PM
Awkward controls are the name of the game.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressions/29291
Two things stood out to me while I guided Snake through the Virtuous Mission in Snake Eater 3D's demo today. First, this is clearly a port of the PS2 version of Subsistence. It has not been prettied up in any significant way, and the cut scenes still have the odd frame-skipping of those in the PS2 game. After soaking up the game in HD on my PlayStation 3 (which looks so good), it feels like a significant step back, but I can deal with it. MGS3 is my favorite entry in the series, with the most emotionally satisfying story (the graveyard scene makes me misty) and, arguably, the best stealth mechanics.
The demo gets right to the point, forgoing the fifteen-minute cut scene that opens the game proper and omitting most of the Codec chatter that drags out the Virtuous Mission, which is the opening section of the game—basically the training area. The game looks and sounds very impressive (especially with headphones). Everything seems to have been ported over flawlessly. You’d be forgiven for thinking the demo doesn’t support the Circle Pad Pro, but it does—you just have to dig through the options. I don’t have one yet, anyway, but I’m happy to report that the game works about as well as it can without a second analog stick. It basically feels like the PS2 game, except with the ABXY buttons acting as the right stick. You use down on the D-pad to kneel/crouch, up to perform context-sensitive actions, and left and right to open the item and weapon menus. Various buttons decorating the touch screen open other menus, like food, camo, the survival viewer (which is disabled in this demo), and backpack management.
Problems really only pop up while you’re targeting enemies: inspired by the PSP version of Peace Walker, Snake goes into “aim mode” when you hold down the L button and a shockingly unhelpful aiming reticule appears (it narrows as distance closes). I’ve played through MGS3 enough times on the PS2 that I’ve become a good judge of the aim, but newcomers might be frustrated. Luckily, there’s a nice (but loud) sniper rifle in the first enemy-populated area, just to the right of the entrance. Another, far more helpful Peace Walker inclusion is icons telling you what your options are when holding a dude in a CQC (the game’s close-quarters combat system) hold. I always struggled to remember what button did what on the PS2, so I never actually used CQC, but it’s much more practical here.
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As demos go, this one is all right, showcasing the control scheme more than the plot. There’s no introduction, and there’s no real ending—it just suddenly says “thank you for playing” when a key cut scene would usually load up. The demo is quite short, especially once you become acclimated to the controls, but it certainly gives me hope that MGS3 will make a smooth transition to my favorite handheld. I do intend to get a Circle Pad Pro specifically for this game, though, as it will surely make little things like camera control and aiming much more intuitive. I can’t really imagine fighting The Fear (one of the bosses) with the default controls.
Post by: Sundoulos on February 16, 2012, 07:22:52 PM
I've never played MGS4, but this is easily my favorite of the 3 PS2 entries, simply because of the number of options that available for taking down enemies. It's also nice to have a game where the stealth isn't limited to sneaking through buildings and corridors, though there's plenty of that to be had.
A lot of my memories regarding this game are fuzzy, but I have memories being a little freaked about by the guard dogs in the game...at least at first. It would have been interesting if they could have programmed them to "smell" you.
Post by: ROiDS on February 16, 2012, 07:43:37 PM
Anyway, the game is great and I gotta agree that it's not prettied. It's just a port, so I guess it's excusable...
Post by: Eyothrie on February 16, 2012, 09:00:53 PM
Post by: Tanookisuit on February 16, 2012, 11:11:46 PM
Post by: Chocobo_Rider on February 17, 2012, 04:08:45 AM
A few quick questions to those who have played the game before ....
1. How should I primarily be dealing with enemies? Shooting them with the tranq gun? Sneaking up behind them and performing some kind of silent melee take down? Something else?
I was trying to use the tranq gun but that was problematic because sometimes before the ultimate shot the baddie would move and go in to !!ALARM!! mode or whatever and then it was just cluster eff from there on.
Seems like it would make sense to go all TENCHU on them and do close quarters take-downs but I didn't know what to do in order to perform them all stealth like. Sometimes I would just kind of attack them and they would get !!ALARMED!! again.
Any tips?
2. Is there a way to "retry" a section via the menu? Will there be in the full game? I found that once things got out of hand the only real solution was to die and select continue... but even waiting for the baddies to pump me full of sufficient amounts of lead was time-consuming and boring/frustrating.
3. I played through MGS on PS1 back in the day and really liked it. From that game I remember that I could see all the baddies on a top-down map and also vision cones to know where they were looking.
No such luck this time? Does that come later?
I really missed it and got rather frustrated when I would get caught by a guy who just plain wasn't there when I took that hiding spot 5 minutes ago!!
~
Other than that, it was a lot of fun and nice to have someone still making entries in one of my favorite genres... stealth!
PS - is Tenchu 5 announced yet? =(
Post by: Halbred on February 18, 2012, 05:25:48 PM
1. How should I primarily be dealing with enemies? Shooting them with the tranq gun? Sneaking up behind them and performing some kind of silent melee take down? Something else?
I was trying to use the tranq gun but that was problematic because sometimes before the ultimate shot the baddie would move and go in to !!ALARM!! mode or whatever and then it was just cluster eff from there on.
Seems like it would make sense to go all TENCHU on them and do close quarters take-downs but I didn't know what to do in order to perform them all stealth like. Sometimes I would just kind of attack them and they would get !!ALARMED!! again.
Any tips?
2. Is there a way to "retry" a section via the menu? Will there be in the full game? I found that once things got out of hand the only real solution was to die and select continue... but even waiting for the baddies to pump me full of sufficient amounts of lead was time-consuming and boring/frustrating.
3. I played through MGS on PS1 back in the day and really liked it. From that game I remember that I could see all the baddies on a top-down map and also vision cones to know where they were looking.
1. Use the tranq gun when you can, but don't do it when there's a bunch of other dudes within view. They'll just wake him up. You can lure dude away from the main group by standing against a tree or wall and knocking it (the icon will pop up). Somebody will get curious, then you can pop out, tranq him, and drag his body away. If you can get behind a guy, use a CQC hold (hold L) and choke him out (keep tapping left, I think). Then drag his body away. In the suspension bridge area of the demo, you can shoot a beehive off a tree and make bees chase the lone dude across the bridge, and his buddies will run away, too.
2. No retry.
3. MGS3 is different precisely because there is no map or enemy vision cones. Makes it tougher, but also more realistic. Makes you have to sneak more, and rely on camo. Don't forget about that camo, by the way. If you're down in the tall grass, getting a bead on some dude's noggin with your tranq, you can stay there all day with the right camo index and he'll never see you.
Post by: AV on February 24, 2012, 10:28:50 PM
Resident Evil (both 3DS games) have fine controls WITHOUT Circle Pad Pro, and this i gave up 5 minutes in. I didn't even bother to finish the demo, I deleted off the SD card and NEVER looked back.
Post by: Halbred on February 24, 2012, 11:30:49 PM
Post by: Discostew on February 24, 2012, 11:33:03 PM
