I've managed to put a few hours into this now and am very impressed indeed. Graphics remain spell binding. Game takes place in the mountains of Bolivia. While driving I have found myself stopping on the side of the road to "smell the roses" if you will, and look at the landscape stretching for miles from the cliff I'm looking out over. Want more views? You can fly a helicopter and that view is just freaking amazing!
There are a lot of hot keys to learn as you have to learn walking, weapons, skills, driving, combat, helicopters and probably other stuff I don't recall. This could have been made easier as when DL'ing the game from Steam you don't get the manual (although there is a hotkey explanation in the options menu). LOL. Seriously? I am getting much more comfortable with the UI having spent about 6-7 hrs at it now. I did go on line for help and its all starting to make a bit more sense.
I love the weapons. I only have a couple available to start, but I have managed to get a crappy sniper rifle which is much more useful than the MP-5 I'd had to make do with for a while. A lot quieter. Sniper rifle mandatory since the combat is all about stealth. How many bad guys can you take out before the alarm goes off and the shite really hits the fan? It will usually determine whether the mission is a success or you are dead.
Fortunately for me playing at <dimwit> difficulty level is enough to allow me to play the game (and still be challenged). I just love these games, but am seriously <click> challenged so usually shy away from the genre. As I understand it doesn't actually dumb down the game a bit. It merely allows the player not to be spotted quite so easily as the higher levels. That's a nice way of handling difficulty levels rather than just employing cheats.
So, off to take out that guard in the watch tower before he spots my squad. Wish me luck.