When I played Metal Gear Solid roughly 5 years ago, I was captivated by how ahead of its time it felt - how ambitious and modern it felt for 1998, a time when narratives driven by ideology & politics seemed confined to a small handful of RPGs. Three years later, the landscape of political thriller games had evolved (highlit by Deus Ex's Y2K release) and game tech had marched dramatically forward. Once again, MGS2 pushed the envelope with a postmodern story taking aim both at the digital post-truth society cresting the horizon and at the juvenile, media-illiterate hero worship in its own fanbase. Going into MGS3, I was excited to see how the series would once again evolve with another three years under its belt. The answer surprised me - and in some ways, slightly disappointed.

Snake Eater's central theme is disguise, and it permeates every element of the game. Disguising one's self (either as the environment or, more rarely, as other individuals) is one of the major new core elements. The Cold War setting is used to blend historical fact & fiction, disguising them as one another and drawing them into ambiguous hyperreality. And its plot is mired in deceptions and double-crosses, with no character's allegiance and motivations escaping suspicion. Broadly, it's all very effective. Each individual element has its ups and down, though. The disguise mechanics, at their best, are exceptionally effective and engaging; at their worst, they encourage a lot of uninteresting menu navigation to keep Number Big. The blending of fact and fiction tends to land as "distinguishably real or fictional" rather than "genuinely ambiguous in veracity," but it's still fun both ways. The plot is perhaps the most consistently effective with how consistently well it integrates disguise - while few betrayals came out of the blue, no leading character's motivations were immediately easy to draw apart.

This ultimately tracks with MGS2's musings on truth in the digital age - the ambiguity between signal and noise. However, if MGS3 evolves or iterates on those ideas, it's hard to tease out. (Is this a commentary on how fiction has distorted our societal understanding of our past...?) Really, Snake Eater feels ideologically behind MGS2 - which may be less of a mark against 3 and more of a testament to 2. I think it's unfair to demand artists top themselves with every piece - that every piece of art must be More than the last - but it's undeniably disappointing that MGS3's ambitions didn't extend in the same directions as the previous two entries.

A few unrelated thoughts:
- The Boss is a great character and I wish the One Good Female MGS Character didn't need to have anything fertility-related to her character. (It's not like it goes full Other M, at least.)
- The continued association between queer identities and villainy/sadism/etc in the MGS series (Vamp, Volgin) sucks. Frankly, it was funny with Vamp, but I'm not laughing anymore.
- save the theme song, the music is fine but pretty forgettable
- it is very hard to not read Snake as autistic w/ guns as a special interest, and I love that

Very good, but also to my surprise, my least favorite of the first 3.

There's a lot to like here. for a PS2 game this was gorgeous, and even in 720p on the Switch it often shines. I like the survival mechanics a lot, they are very easy, but they add charm to the game (luv 2 stab a frog). The new camera angle feels a lot more modern than the other games, whjich is... mostly good (we'll get there). There are all sort of fun little Kojima Touches hidden in the world too, just a lot of great care put into the experience.

When this game is in the standard "sneaking loop" it is VERY fun... until you get caught and have to wait for that timer to tick down for ages. That's not unique to THIS outing, but it felt especially slow here, and I sometimes just ran into bullets to get it over with and retry.

The story is good, but feels like a step down from 2 and even 1 to an extent. A lot of the most interesting characterization gets backfilled in the ending monologue, but the ending does pop when you get there, and there are interesting themes to chew on. I do really wanna shout out EVA as well, what a queen.

My biggest issue with the game are the boss-fights. I tried to play them non-lethal and I can't say I recommend it. While some were fun, I found others frustrating and gimmicky when attempted nonlethal. Also rewards are almost universally bad and they just die anyway if the narrative needs them to. It felt like 1 and 2 were better for being more limited here: they were able to play to their engine's strengths. The modernized camera means the game suddenly expects precision from you in the bossfights but buddy, these are not precise controls.

The new health system also hurts these fights: taking a ration and healing up was very easy in the older games, but now you either have to wait for health to slowly tick up or use a very rare item to heal. That being said, a must more Sweaty Gamer friend of mine also played the game at the same I did and seemed to really enjoy all the boss fights so YMMV.

Also that escort section near the end? Aggravating. Bad. Kojima go home.

All in all, it's a very good but occasionally hair-pulling game. I'm glad I played it... but I'm a little relieved it's done.

Metal Gear Solid 3 is a game unlike any other. While I would say of the series I probably enjoy MGS2 more, MGS3 is still an absolute masterpiece. There are still things I’m thinking about even as I type this, from the characters, to themes, just to everything about it. It’s really been a long time coming for me to finally getting around to playing MGS3, but I’m so glad that I did.

One thing that I immediately loved about MGS3 was how much of the game was dedicated to stealth. While I loved MGS2, I wish more of the game allowed for stealth sections, it didn’t feel like there were enough for what I was hoping for. In MGS3 on the other hand, stealth is absolutely the name of the game. Being able to create disguises to help increase your camouflage, sometimes even needing necessary disguises to progress. Being able to hide in the grass, or just blend in with the environment is so fun. I think the general jungle setting of MGS3 really helps with how refreshing the stealth feels. Not only that, but with enemies wearing green, they too can at times, blend into the environment, which is really cool.

The Stamina and Curing mechanics are really cool too. I thought they were going to be a bit of a nuisance at first, but I really got attached to them as I played through the game. Needing to use surgery or medical equipment to actively heal wounds feels much more realistic, and while yeah, it can make things difficult or annoying at times, that’s the point. I also think Stamina as a mechanic feels the same way, purposefully frustrating, but because of that, realistic. If these mechanics weren’t there, the game would have an entirely different, and probably weaker feel. Even then, they’re not as bad as they seemed at first, though maybe cause I was playing on easy they just didn’t affect me as much as they would on higher difficulties.

As well, the bosses of MGS3 are interesting. I say that because I don’t know if they’re my favorite set or not. If we were looking at them from a gameplay and actually fighting them sort of perspective, yes, they would be. They were probably the collection of bosses I had least frustration and the most fun with, and I was actually excited to fight certain bosses. But it gets complicated when looking at their characters. Obviously the ones that are well written are amazing characters, I don’t think I need to explain how The Boss is one of the best characters made for a videogame. But early bosses like The Pain, or The Fear don’t feel memorable as characters, only memorable as fights. It’s hard to say whether or not this is purposeful though, I have some interpretations that could explain why it’s a purposeful choice, but that’s simply an interpretation, not fact.

But god, the story of MGS3 is a masterpiece. It didn’t hit me as hard a MGS2, but beginning to end, MGS3 is a downright perfect story. So much so that, much like many other games I adore, I’m not saying anything about it. MGS3 is probably one of the most important games of all time, and I feel like it’s one of the games that must be played in a person’s lifetime. Of course, that would also require playing MGS1 and 2 beforehand, don’t jump immediately into MGS3. Even though it is a prequel, and the earliest game in the Metal Gear timeline, it’s far more rewarding to play it after 1 and 2 with the knowledge you know from those games, and not before. The ending is one of the best in a video game ever, and I’m so glad I got to see it with my own two eyes.

And just, what a thrill Metal Gear Solid 3 turned out to be. I’d give my life to play MGS4, but that’s stuck on PS3, and I don’t have any way of actually playing it. But I do really hope that I’m able to see this series through to the end in my time, as I’ve just constantly been blown away by each entry. I still technically have some other games of the franchise I could play, I do want to at least try and play the Metal Gear games, since I technically jumped ahead when starting with MGS1. But going back to the topic at hand, which is MGS3, this game is a genuine masterpiece, and I’m glad I was able to play it finally. I haven’t gotten over the ending at all, it’s like I’m still in a dream of some kind, I don’t if that makes sense.

This review is an addition to my Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D review. The game was played on RPCS3, only with original Snake Eater camera and also with no alerts. This version offers much smoother experience than 3DS port. The controls are more stiff, but the smooth framerate compensates really much. I think that Subsistence camera is much better to see everything nearby, and Snake Eater camera is just better for observing something farther. I think that this version of Snake Eater is much more suitable for the first playthrough, than 3DS version, although both versions are amazing.

Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol 1 version played on Nintendo Switch

What a thrill

Excellent game, gripping concept with fun unique gameplay and stellar music and environments. Much like Resident Evil 4 it holds a charming sense of extremeness crossed with stupidity that makes it enjoyable in its own unique way. There are elements to be refined however in the remake such as certain voice acting. Also perhaps the sexuality can be turned down just a tiny bit.

Points deducted for some crappy late game bosses and for EVA's dogshit driving. But the good boss fights are exceptionally fun and unique. Also the controls can at times be frustrating and confusing, but with some getting used to are perfectly manageable thanks to some great aim assist.

9/10

P.S This is a dogshit port. Genuinely how does an upscaled PS2 game struggle to hit 30fps on hardware from 2015, let alone a system released in 2017

P.P.S Why does the final boss force you into the classic camera, I was using the 3rd person camera the whole game and it was completely jarring being made to switch.

Hate to sound like a "I was born in the wrong generation" type but I would kill for the opportunity to go back to 2004 and experience, along with the whole world, just what video games were truly capable of. And it speaks to this game's quality that you can feel the weight of it's legacy within every moment. Similar to Super Mario Bros., Ocarina of Time, or Doom in that the entire medium would be unquestionably different had it not been made, but unique to those games is this game's sense of artistic completion. There's not one second that seems compromised, restricted, or just a couple steps away from it's true potential. Instead, it just feels whole.

There's nothing like Snake Eater, and perhaps there'll never be anything like Snake Eater (especially not the newly announced remake). But that's fine, because even now, 20 years after the game's release on the PS2, this shit is still life-changing.

The story of Metal Gear Solid 3 is probably the most quietly impactful of the MGS games I've played so far, as it doesn't feel centred around a world-ending weapon or massive conspiracy, but instead about Naked Snake having to face the fact that The Boss, someone who he deeply cares for on a level most won't understand, has to be eliminated by him, and the whole conflict Snake feels during the game made a villain who I could easily invest in and feel betrayed by from the very start. The ending doesn't feel as grandiose and hopeful as the previous games either, instead being very somber, which is a fitting way to foreshadow Naked Snake's dark fate which lies ahead of him.

Gameplay has been expanded by adding more to do in order stay alive, with camouflage, eating and healing being critical gameplay elements. They did seem tedious additions at first, but are easily managed and instead become a fun mechanic which adds a bit more depth to gameplay instead of mindlessly sneaking. I probably could've gone without a suppressor being a limited resource though, as feels like it's just leaning into the resources element a bit too much, but it made me approach situations more tactically so I didn't mind it as it's better than easily silently killing everyone.

Overall, Metal Gear Solid 3 is another amazing game from the series Metal Gear series, and whilst I may slightly prefer MGS2 just due to the fact I prefer story and characters in that game, that doesn't mean I think this game is worse and they're so close to each other in my mind that I'll probably be changing my mind on which is better for the rest of my life. I really hope the upcoming remake of this game does it justice, because Metal Gear Solid 3 is a game that I can't imagine working as well if they tinker with it to make it more or less serious and silly than it already is, and if it manages to succeed in the same vein as the Resident Evil 4 remake then it could easily become one of my all-time favourites.