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Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater takes the road less traveled and it goes back in time. This, in spite of the fact we had a major cliffhanger in MGS2’s tightly wound storyline. MGS3 goes one step further and makes the game feel more like a true spy story. MGS3 does not take place on an island or on a tanker. This time, it’s in the jungle. Naked Snake, the name of the character, must keep an eye out for many things in addition to the enemy guards. He must keep an eye on his stamina and eat the wildlife to keep his energy up. On top of that, Snake has to make sure that he can blend in with the environment so he doesn’t give away his cover. To put it short, Hideo Kojima has made this as authentic as you can get. MGS3 couples this with strong gameplay and a brilliant story to make it one of the best games of 2004, hands down.
I will not reveal any spoilers in the storyline because that would be wrong, but here’s the Cliffs’ Notes version of what is going down. A nuclear scientist that was used to create a weapon of horrifying power for the Soviet Union was returned back to his home country after the Cuban Missile Crisis. (Bear in mind this game takes place in 1964) The CIA wants to get him back and they send a young agent known as Jack into the field. He and his British CO will have to work their way through the jungle and get him back. Almost immediately, things get complicated for Snake and he is forced to pull back. A week later, he gives it another shot. This time, the stakes are even higher. That might not sound like the most pristine storyline, but trust me, when you get the narrative before you it makes more sense. MGS2’s problem was they went overboard on the cut scenes and the codec sequences because they wanted to show off their visual power. Kojima took the complaints into consideration and he makes the storyline a little more concise and there are fewer overlong cinematics surrounding the gameplay. MGS3’s story is packed with all of the usual foundations: Very chilling story, wild and interesting characters, and more plot twists than you can shake a stick at. Kojima makes sure this time that his twists don’t confuse the gamer and it winds up becoming a more satisfying experience all the way around.
The visuals are amazing. The PS2 might be the weakest of the three new-gen systems, but looking at Kojima’s game you never would have guessed that. The jungle feels very realistic. Everything has been detailed down to the last blade of grass. The wildlife also looks pretty real. I have a phobia of snakes and I was jumping when I saw them. I made sure that I shot them dead and took the rations as quickly as I could. That seems to be a sign of how real the game is. If that can make me jump, then Konami did something right. The cinematic videos look even better than ever. There is more emotion displayed in the facial characteristics and there doesn’t appear to be as many problems with lip-synching. The only questionable aspect of the visuals is that there is a bit of pop-up in the background, but the frame rate never chugs and it never slows down the gameplay.
The controls haven’t changed much. The new menu interface for all of the new tasks that you will have to perform is a little challenging at first because it is dropped on your lap in one lump sum, but once you get a chance to get a feel for what you’re doing, it isn’t so bad. Moving around is pretty easy and there aren’t too many problems with moving from place to place. Climbing trees isn’t as fluid as I would have liked, but that’s nitpicking. The hit detection is on the money and there is more realism in the characters getting wounded in a specific limb. If you shoot them in the leg, they will hobble around. I thought that was a nice feature.
The sound has been bolstered by Dolby, which seems to be one of the new standards for all video games when it comes to sound quality. Sound effects match the way guns sounded in 1964 and just moving around has been improved. You can hear enemy footsteps, your own breathing, and the noises that the animals in the jungle make with remarkable precision. The voice-overs, led by David Hayter in another knock-out performance, are better than the second one. There seems to be more life and more variety to these characters and that certainly gives it an added dimension. The musical score by Harry Gregson-Williams and the theme song are excellent and they gave the game more of a vintage feel. MGS2 had a very new-age approach to it and the music supported it. This time, Williams shifts gears without skipping a beat.
This is one of the most impressive games I have played all year. It is so deep, so engrossing, and it is a great joy to play. It is better than the first two MGS games because it manages to bring the story close to full circle and it never skips a beat when trying to incorporate new ideas and technologies into the world. Much like San Andreas, it doesn’t force this stuff on you. It lets you uncover them on your own. It’s like having a surprise being unwrapped just a little at a time. This is certainly a much tougher game than the first two and the higher sense of realism plays an important role into that. The game will take most gamers 15-25 hours the first time through because the new experience that they will be facing will be unfamiliar to them. There is some depth to the game. There is plenty to unlock and they can add some new layers of challenge and fun to the game. The minigame Snake vs. Monkey is a surprise I would rather not go into great detail with you but it is very original and a lot of fun. The only weaknesses in the game is that two or three of the bosses aren’t very interesting and very one-dimensional character-wise and when you get shot by a gun, it doesn’t do as much damage as it really should, and then there is the pop-up issue.
Nitpicking aside, though, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is definitely among the best games of 2004 and is a definite front-runner for the Game of the Year title along with other heavyweights like Metroid Prime 2, GTA: San Andreas, and Half-Life 2. Kojima delivered on everything he promised and what he has given us is one of the more unique action games of recent memory. -- Chris Vavra, PGNx Media
---- Nov 26, 2004
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