Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater PS2

As a shy, awkward child, Hideo Kojima's favourite game was hide-and-seek. In 1998, he revolutionised the collective genre of games-with-guns-in-them by releasing his new creation, Metal Gear Solid. In the past, video games - with their tendency towards a one person audience - had generally cast the player as a hero who would not only take on all-comers, but could probably beat them all too. From Space Invaders, through 1942 and Operation Wolf, to Doom and Virtua Cop, the two concepts of shooting games and teeming hordes of easily despatched foes were almost inextricably linked. It didn't help that video games, like so many of us, grew up in the eighties, with Hollywood leading the way in bread-and-butter hero depiction with its Rambo: First Bloods, Commandos and Lethal Weapons. But in Metal Gear Solid, the idea was to avoid the enemies and go straight for your objective. You didn't have to - there were guns and ammo in game, and you could blast away if you wanted. But the point was that it was easier, and more satisfying, to get through the level without the alarm being raised. A whole new sub-genre, 'Tactical Espionage' or 'Stealth Combat', was created, and suddenly every other game boasted stealth gameplay and stealth levels as other companies struggled to keep up with the next big thing. These days Kojima is still full of ideas. He was involved in Konami's sunlight-driven Boktai games on the GBA which, while not necessarily genre redefining, are certainly an example of a good idea well executed. Metal Gear Solid 2 on the PS2, released in 2002, silenced many of the new machine's detractors with its well-paced gameplay and impressive graphics. Likewise a polished remake of the first game, this time on the Gamecube, The Twin Snakes, showed that even the original could still hold its own amongst today's competitors. On the other hand some people said MGS 2 was too short and the bosses weren't as good, and Twin Snakes was after all, only a re-make. So should fans be excited about the latest release, Metal Gear S