When acclaimed music composer Harry Gregson-Williams quipped “I would work on the next one if it were to take place in the jungle” having finished the soundtrack for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, little did he realise that just that concept was circling around in the creative mind of Hideo Kojima.

Set in 1964, during a period which saw the height of the Cold-War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy and the Vietnam War – quite some scope for which to set the latest Metal Gear Solid title I’m sure you’ll agree.

Well now we’ve finally got our hands on the first playable version, allowing gamers to take Snake through the dense jungle locations to rescue a man named Sokolov hidden deep within enemy locations.

Despite the huge jump in time period, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater plays exactly as you’d expect, although the lack of a radar certainly changes the dynamics around significantly, resulting in more emphasis on your own senses and the oh-so-handy Camouflage Index. Whilst the demo didn’t give much scope for checking out the Camouflage system in great detail, it’s fair to say that MGS3 requires a more stealth-based approach then ever before.

However Snake doesn’t just have to use the environment as his only means of survival (although hanging from trees is extremely cool), as he has access to a variety of gadgets and weapons through the familiar inventory screen; the demo revealed NightVision, Thermal Goggles, Motion Detectors, Shotguns, M16 Rifles and a Sniper Rifle - although naturally they all looked significantly older then what you typically expect from a MGS title.

Sadly the demo revealed precious little in terms of new details; one particular notable appearance was that of a big-fat Cuban cigar replacing Snakes typical brand of cigarettes, whilst it was hard to tell from the demo whether the Snake features is the same from previous titles or the Big Boss as we previously speculated – it should be noted however that he certainly looks different to previous versions.

MGS3 is certainly shaping up to be more of a ‘videogame’ then MGS2 ever was which should be enough to please everybody out there.

Sadly the demo only concluded that the game is heading in the correct direction, but revealed precious few new details or interesting plot directions – perhaps a valid reason after the wannabe-movie feeling left from Sons of Liberty.

We’ll have more soon.