Ok, after playing the demo about 6 times....here are my impressions.
The first time i played the demo...I honestly wasn't impressed and was kind of dissapointed. I am a huge splinter cell fan and always felt splinter cell was the better "stealth" game over the MGS series (though I love that series as well). So when I saw the videos released I thought "very cool, but how will it control...some of it looks automated...I'm kinda weary but still it looks really cool." Then playing the demo for the first time....It just didn't feel like the splinter cell I've come to know and love.
However, I went back into it again and again just to screw around and try different things. The Third time I went into it...I went into it fresh and trying to forget the splinter cell mechanics of old...and just looked at like a new game. And the more I played, the more I realized how great this game may be.
What some don't realize the first time through, as I didn't realize, is that you don't have to use the mark and execution stuff. In fact, in my last 4 plays through it, I didn't even use it at all. Mark and execution is cool, but it is much more fun coming up with my own strategies in taking people down....and this brought back that old splinter cell feel. But not only that, what I find better about this game is that there just seems to be alot more ways of tackling a situation than in the old splinter cell games. In the previous ones there were a few different ways you could tackle situations, but it still felt limited. Here, you get much more open space and scenarios that give you multiple options in how may want to handle a given situation. It's a very linear game but with sandbox gameplay...as in...linear in progression but the actual scenarios you are put in is total sandbox.
Now, I really like it, and can't wait for the game to come out. I just hope the whole game holds up and continues with the open environments that give you multiple options where you can come up with your own creative solution to a problem as opposed to doing preset solutions.