Game Play: Metal Gear Online (Demo)

I don't have a full version of the game (yet), so I downloaded the demo.

OK, technically I downloaded it twice, because once you download the first time, you "update" the demo which somehow seemed to take twice as long and doesn't use the normal PSN update method, but rather forces you to use an ingame one. The ingame one has a BitTorrent option, which is technically fascinating, but will still force you to pack a lunch before you can try the game out which is 100% annoying.

Once in, though, I was kinda surprised at how much fun it was to play. I expected some control frustration since I haven't played either any version of the full game (which, to the demo's credit, you are warned against) but that didn't really last very long. For the most part, it's crouch, sneak and shoot.

And it works really, really well. Many games have tried to slow down the normal frantic pace of online shooters, which has evolved into a kind of ADD with sugar frenzy after years of iterations, but MGO takes the slow pace pretty seriously. And it adds the proper kind of tension to the game.

Where Unreal Tournament feels more like a high paced action movie, MGO feels more like going out and playing paintball with friends. And that's not a slight, as paintball can be a pretty good adrenaline rush on its own.

I don't know if the demo separates the audience from the full version - but my only real complaint was not having enough opponents. It took a while to get a match going, and then it was only 3v3.

Solidly (har har) recommend, hopefully can see some bigger matches down the road.