At their E3 2013 Media Briefing earlier today, Microsoft, alongside series creator Hideo Kojima, offered the first look at Metal Gear Solid 5 in action. More specifically, they brought a live demo which showed fans what the game's highly anticipated open world exploration would entail.

While the presentation/demo was heavy on fast forwarding, it was nonetheless impressive. Fans have been asking for an open world Metal Gear experience for quite some time, and while this isn't a totally open world Metal Gear, there were plenty of intriguing elements to the demo.

Now, Snake can approach situations with more freedom than ever before with a wide variety of stealth tactics at his disposal. There were plenty of vehicles, and horses, at Snake's disposal as he attempts to breach his target location. In Metal Gear Solid 5, Snake will also have to contend with real time weather effects — the demo featured a sandstorm — that can provide him with some much-needed cover.

Players will also have a bevvy of useful new movements at their disposal including a quick dive, climbing mechanics, and deeper options for close quarters combat. In the demo, Snake was seen sneaking up on two enemies, disarming one of them, and then laying waste to both of them.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Metal Gear demo without some brief character introductions, of which there were quite a few. Highlights included Emmerich, Ocelot, Black Mask, and (of course) Snake, who Kojima Productions have dubbed “Punished Snake.”

Overall, the demo delivered the right amount of intrigue while still keeping the full experience a mystery. This was also the first time fans got to hear Kiefer Sutherland as the new voice of Snake, or at least while knowing Sutherland is the voice, which might either further incense fans or put their fears to rest. He actually provided the voice in the Spike VGA demo, but most thought the voice was more of a placeholder actor not Sutherland.

This is only the beginning for Metal Gear Solid 5 in what we expect to be a long promotional campaign. It started first with a very cryptic teaser, but now we have a much clearer idea of how the open world aspects will work, and how Kojima Productions plans to adapt the franchise for the next generation of consoles. It was certainly a crowd-pleasing presentation and one that finally answered a lot of our looming questions.

What did you think of the Metal Gear Solid 5 demo? Do you like how Kojima Productions have adapted an open world?

Metal Gear Solid 5 currently has no release date but is slated for the Ps3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Ps4.

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