For the longest time, ever since my teenage years started (and even earlier than that most likely), I've always seen that amongst games from the sixth generation, there has always been a name that sounds far more louder than anything else. That game's name being Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
Now, for years with no end I've always just danced around the idea of actually digging in and playing the series to get to this game, after all it's supposed to be one of the most beloved games of all time and that must be for a reason. Fast forward to about 8 years ahead, I finally have the luxury to actually play it in arguably its best version with an actual DualShock 3 controller to accompany it, and I myself have grown to appreciate games as an art form too, having appreciated what Metal Gear Solid 2 did a lot, so I strapped in for the next week. And, oh my god.
Snake Eater marks a precedent for the Metal Gear franchise, this one being its fifth canonical mainline iteration really sets the bar high up for what a Metal Gear Solid game can be. Compared to MGS2 and its unhinged metafictional narrative, MGS3 has a more grounded story but pretty much every single other part of the game's been polished and refined so much that is no overstatement saying how this game truly puts in place the "Tactical Espionage Action" title all MGS games have had so far.
Set in 1960's during the Cold War and developing in a Russian jungle, Naked Snake is sent on a rescue mission dubbed "Virtuous Mission", and from the get-go this is a great environment to place a stealth game in, compared to the other Metal Gear games so far this is one that's been the most open so far, and because this takes place a lot of years back from the already established science fiction lab environment the other games like to flaunt about so much, there's a few drawbacks in the technology like not having a radar in the HUD, a lot of your equipment running on rechargeable batteries and weapon silencers breaking after some uses. However, due to the location the game takes place in you have to take a different approach from what you do in previous missions.
In this game a camouflage index gets introduced, you can mix and match various face paint and uniforms to blend in with the environment at any point which is ultra useful in this scenario because you pretty much have to scout out the whole place at once while hiding in plain sight to plan a route whilst taking the enemy down, at that a refined close quarters combat is introduced as well to take down enemies without the need to kill or to have tranquilizers. It's pretty useful in a lot of cases and it definitely makes for a fun game of trying to sneak in behind people and take them down without the rest of the guards noticing, because in this game it's a pretty big hassle to get noticed by the enemy, since the areas are more open they'll search every nook and cranny for you and will call reinforcements which won't forget about you past a few screens, so it is pretty much mandatory you consider sneaking in before anything else.
If you get caught by the guards, you will most likely sustain injuries from the gunfire inflicted upon you. This leads me to another great introduction in this game, this being the Cure menu. Long gone are the days of stacking up on rations and spamming them to tank damage from enemies, this game doesn't really let you do that since regaining health has another completely different process, you can instead treat your wounds individually with medicine and bandages that you can find around. Doing this will not immediately heal you but it'll stop you from dying of bleeding, the real way to regain health is to hunt different species of animals in the open that will make Snake regain his stamina, there's a big variety and not all of them will be of his liking, and if you stay with meat for too long these will rot and cause stomachaches, so it's always good to reserve some time to actually hunt animals.(They can also be caught alive and thrown at enemies which is very funny if they're poisonous)
So it all truly amasses to a more complex but complete edition of Metal Gear's usual gameplay, but while it might seem overwhelming at the time of playing none of it is at all. It'll feel natural just going on and about, then seeing some animal in the field and crouching down to stab it and take it with you, same with treating injuries from bosses and stuff. It makes what would seem like a chore an actually pretty fun feature that this game can call its own.
And for the story, I don't want to give a lot of details because part of the political espionage thriller is to not know whats gonna happen or what curveballs the game's gonna throw at you, since they are very unique and should remain intact for everyone looking to play this game, but man, all of the characters are amazing, there's such good dynamism and the whole overarching plot is extremely rich and exciting to go through, it is through and through a sensual experience which plays a lot with the limitations that it has, seen as how you can literally interact with story sequences, minimally but it's till an option in a few game changing scenarios. Scenarios that are so packed-ful of action and character driven scenes that a lot of the times I was so engrossed on it I worried they might throw a QTE at me and I wouldn't be able to react in time, but in true Metal Gear fashion it is both exposition and substance at the same time to make some of the most cared for and beloved games of all time which will make you smile, cry and laugh... Games nowadays wished they had a double-digit percentage of what this one signifies to a lot of people and gaming in general, and that goes to show how great of an experience it is.
...What a thrill, indeed.
Now, for years with no end I've always just danced around the idea of actually digging in and playing the series to get to this game, after all it's supposed to be one of the most beloved games of all time and that must be for a reason. Fast forward to about 8 years ahead, I finally have the luxury to actually play it in arguably its best version with an actual DualShock 3 controller to accompany it, and I myself have grown to appreciate games as an art form too, having appreciated what Metal Gear Solid 2 did a lot, so I strapped in for the next week. And, oh my god.
Snake Eater marks a precedent for the Metal Gear franchise, this one being its fifth canonical mainline iteration really sets the bar high up for what a Metal Gear Solid game can be. Compared to MGS2 and its unhinged metafictional narrative, MGS3 has a more grounded story but pretty much every single other part of the game's been polished and refined so much that is no overstatement saying how this game truly puts in place the "Tactical Espionage Action" title all MGS games have had so far.
Set in 1960's during the Cold War and developing in a Russian jungle, Naked Snake is sent on a rescue mission dubbed "Virtuous Mission", and from the get-go this is a great environment to place a stealth game in, compared to the other Metal Gear games so far this is one that's been the most open so far, and because this takes place a lot of years back from the already established science fiction lab environment the other games like to flaunt about so much, there's a few drawbacks in the technology like not having a radar in the HUD, a lot of your equipment running on rechargeable batteries and weapon silencers breaking after some uses. However, due to the location the game takes place in you have to take a different approach from what you do in previous missions.
In this game a camouflage index gets introduced, you can mix and match various face paint and uniforms to blend in with the environment at any point which is ultra useful in this scenario because you pretty much have to scout out the whole place at once while hiding in plain sight to plan a route whilst taking the enemy down, at that a refined close quarters combat is introduced as well to take down enemies without the need to kill or to have tranquilizers. It's pretty useful in a lot of cases and it definitely makes for a fun game of trying to sneak in behind people and take them down without the rest of the guards noticing, because in this game it's a pretty big hassle to get noticed by the enemy, since the areas are more open they'll search every nook and cranny for you and will call reinforcements which won't forget about you past a few screens, so it is pretty much mandatory you consider sneaking in before anything else.
If you get caught by the guards, you will most likely sustain injuries from the gunfire inflicted upon you. This leads me to another great introduction in this game, this being the Cure menu. Long gone are the days of stacking up on rations and spamming them to tank damage from enemies, this game doesn't really let you do that since regaining health has another completely different process, you can instead treat your wounds individually with medicine and bandages that you can find around. Doing this will not immediately heal you but it'll stop you from dying of bleeding, the real way to regain health is to hunt different species of animals in the open that will make Snake regain his stamina, there's a big variety and not all of them will be of his liking, and if you stay with meat for too long these will rot and cause stomachaches, so it's always good to reserve some time to actually hunt animals.
So it all truly amasses to a more complex but complete edition of Metal Gear's usual gameplay, but while it might seem overwhelming at the time of playing none of it is at all. It'll feel natural just going on and about, then seeing some animal in the field and crouching down to stab it and take it with you, same with treating injuries from bosses and stuff. It makes what would seem like a chore an actually pretty fun feature that this game can call its own.
And for the story, I don't want to give a lot of details because part of the political espionage thriller is to not know whats gonna happen or what curveballs the game's gonna throw at you, since they are very unique and should remain intact for everyone looking to play this game, but man, all of the characters are amazing, there's such good dynamism and the whole overarching plot is extremely rich and exciting to go through, it is through and through a sensual experience which plays a lot with the limitations that it has, seen as how you can literally interact with story sequences, minimally but it's till an option in a few game changing scenarios. Scenarios that are so packed-ful of action and character driven scenes that a lot of the times I was so engrossed on it I worried they might throw a QTE at me and I wouldn't be able to react in time, but in true Metal Gear fashion it is both exposition and substance at the same time to make some of the most cared for and beloved games of all time which will make you smile, cry and laugh... Games nowadays wished they had a double-digit percentage of what this one signifies to a lot of people and gaming in general, and that goes to show how great of an experience it is.
...What a thrill, indeed.