One of the things we noticed during the exchange was the presence of a solid circle around Snake, which turns red when enemies notice your presence but is otherwise a transparent white. This seems to indicate how effective your current cover is (though there’s also a percentage indicator in the top left of the screen).

As well as the usual tactics of hiding behind boxes, you can simply press a button when standing still to activate the ultra-cool "Octo-Camo" suit, which renders Snake practically invisible. There was plenty of scope within the demo for different ways of playing, whether stealthy or shooty, and several alternate routes along the (admittedly linear) path through.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is shaping up very nicely. It improves on most of the minor bugbears of the past entries in the series, and the gunplay and interactions already look tight and highly polished. It also suggests, in a short demo, the kind of design that will enable anyone to play the game in the way they prefer.

The only warning signs are the occasional cutscenes that could definitely have been rendered in-game – such as the troop carrier dropping off the soldiers – and the intrusion, as ever, of that codec. What has been seen thus far suggests that Kojima is aiming to send off his defining series with a real bang, and the demo gave us no reason to doubt that he’ll succeed. Just hope and pray that it’ll be light on the philosophy…