What the...

The Metal Gear Solid folks always seem to fit in at least one flat-out "mess with your mind" moment per game (in the case of MGS2, that phrase describes basically the entire plot), and as I have just learned, MGS3 is no exception.

There's a point in the game where, to evade your attackers, you jump off a huge waterfall (think The Fugitive) and end up in a river at the bottom. Then, when you emerge, you run into a man calling himself "The Sorrow," who seems to be a spirit and claims that you will now come face-to-face all those whose lives you have ended. Then, as you walk upstream toward him, with lightning flashing all around and creepy music on the soundtrack, out from the mist walking past you comes, literally, every character you've killed so far in the game, from the biggest of bosses to the lowest of foot soldiers - the game keeps track of 'em all, and trots 'em past you as ghosts. Now, I play the game pretty stealthily, and use my tranquilizer gun more than any other, so my casualty count was pretty low, but still, it was freaky as heck. Even this one guard whose neck I snapped, trying to evade detection, came walking past, screaming about how his neck was in agony. I mean, geez, does that stuff mess with your head - and I mean that in the best possible way.

Kudos to Hideo Kojima and his staff, for yet again broadening the concept of what a game can be. I'm hooked! Again!