I'm not a programmer, I'm not an animator, I'm the average shmoe, and for what it's worth, I thought the mgs4 demo looked fantastic, but there's really nothing there that's jumping out and telling my shmoe brain that this is the best looking next-gen thing I've seen so far. Sure, the Snake model is ridiculously detailed, and most likely has more dynamic facial animations, but it's friggin' Metal Gear. MGS games on ps2 always featured really great looking, highly detailed character models that were truly a notch above just about anything else on the system IMO, and I wouldn't expect anything less out of a next-gen Snake model. As far as the animation goes, I don't see how this trailer tells us anything whatsoever about the in-game animation in Mgs4. Anyone who's played through previous mgs games can tell you that the cutscenes are all composed of (very well done) motion captured animation, acted out SPECIFICALLY TO THE SCENE, and shot through dramatic, flashy camera angles, but as soon as the gameplay starts again, wer'e right back to Snake walking around in his famous Mr. Burns walk. I'm not psychic, so I can't sit here and say that'll be the case in mgs4, but I think it's kind of silly at this point to compare (stll early) gameplay footage in GOW to an in-game cutscene in mgs4 and come to any definitive conclusion as to which game has better animation. Anyway, while the Snake model may be made up of more polys and feature (probably) a wider range of facial animations, in the end I think the art styles are different to the point that it really comes down to your own personal taste. I'm a HUGE metal gear fan, and the impending mgs4 trailer was the only reason I was holding off on paying off my 360 preorder, but in the end, it just didn't impress me enough to overshadow my excitement for GOW. All that being said, I can't wait to play it someday,mainly just to find out what happens to snake's wrinkly old ass!
