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Thread: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

  1. #1
    VOP2288's Avatar Smokey the Bear
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    Default Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

    Metal Gear Solid 3:
    Snake Eater


    Believe it or not I've been playing this game for over a year now. Last summer is when I bought it but when I went away to college it sat here at home until I came home in October played it for a bit then didn't see it again till December. Well, I finally got around to completing it and there's no better time to post a MGS review than now...





    Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is a stealth action game developed and published by Konami for the Playstation 2. The title was originally supposed to be one of the Playstation 3's initial releases. However, due to the long period of time it took to get the PS3 off the ground, the game ended up being developed as a late Playstation 2 title - released in 2004. MGS3 is the third title in the Metal Gear Solid series and the fifth in the main Metal Gear series itself.

    Review:

    Graphics

    For a PS2 game, MGS3, is one of the more detailed and beautiful titles to be developed for a sixth generation console. For Kojima, developing the environment and visual aspect of the game in general was a tough job. Being the first title in the series to have the player be extensively outdoors in thick jungle, the game demanded that the environment be alive - something that would've been easier on the PS3. To solve this problem, Konami built a whole new collision engine to deal with uneven surfaces and differing landscapes, weather, and wildlife.

    What came out was something impressive. While working with a console that might have not been able to truly give what Kojima wanted out of his environment, instead it delivered a jungle ripe with creatures for Snake to devour, changing weather elements, and nearly flawless motion capture work for ever changing and varied landscapes.

    Although, while MGS3 delivers defined, realistic graphics it isn't flawless. The main problem I had, visually, with the title was the overuse of the light bloom effect. One of the results of this is almost the constant sense-overload of yellow-brown colors (obviously not at night though). While this isn't a big deal it can't go unnoticed by anyone who plays the game. I just thought that Russian jungles might have a little more green or be a bit darker in parts.

    Graphics = 9/10

    Gameplay
    Essentially, MGS3, switches up everything for fans of the past titles. While the PS2's earlier release of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty saw mostly indoor and urban environments (like most of the rest of the previous titles), MGS3 throws a curve ball and has, I'd say, 75% of the total game takes place outdoors in the Russian jungle. Kojima wanted to do away with the previous titles' habits of planting the player either already inside or relatively close to the objective base/outpost/facility/etc and instead have the player trek miles towards their objective - dealing with the trails and tribulations that would come from such an expedition.

    This opened up many doors for new styles of gameplay and mechanics for the title. There are three of which I would deem the most important however to the game as a whole: Camouflage, Stamina & Health Upkeep, and Free-Form.

    Camouflage: Something you'll find yourself using to a great extent throughout the game, using camo to hide yourself in your surroundings becomes one of the most important new aspects of the game. In the jungle, Snake can no longer wear one colored fatigues and expect to hold up the "stealth action" genre of the game. Also, a cardboard box would look pretty silly and suspicious out in the middle of the woods, thus Snake has a whole mess of patterns which become available to him as the player finds them during play. Using a camouflage index (a percentile), Snake can change through different patterns to find which one hides him the most from enemy patrols.

    Stamina & Health: Much like it's title suggests MGS3 will have Snake eating the the very animal which he's named after. During the game Snake's stamina meter will decrease over time with extensive physical action and the like - thus he needs to eat. Throughout the jungle the player can hunt, kill, or find everything from fish, to snakes, rats, mushrooms, rabbits, etc. However, you have to watch what you eat. When food is rotten or the treat itself proves hazardous to Snake's health the player must remedy the illness via the Cure menu. When you're in the Cure menu, any and all injuries and sicknesses will be identified on Snake's body. Then by using a series of medical supplies (acquired in game) or medicine itself Snake can go about healing himself right away making him all better. This need for upkeep of health becomes important b/c if wounds and sicknesses aren't treated properly Snake could lose stamina at a higher rate, lose blood and thus health over an amount of time (eventually killing the player), or even causing Snake to have the sniffles and sneeze at the worst moment (usually when an enemy patrol is nearby).

    Free-Form: While there's already a high degree of free form within the MGS titles already, the new open environment proved to give the player many many more options. In Metal Gear Solid 2 when the player would encounter an enemy patrolling a single hallway there were usually 3 roads to take: wait until the enemy's back is turned and fire, sneak up behind the enemy and knock him out, or avoid him by taking (usually) one way around him. In MGS3 now the player has many roads to take - and you will not approach an enemy the same way twice. Given the environment you can do anything from snipe enemy patrols at long range, sneak up using your camo and take them out one by one, pouncing on them from trees, slitting their throats, interrogating them for info, or just sneaking past them. The possibilities are endless and no encounter plays out the same twice.

    All in all the game's new style of play is a breath of fresh air to the series and vastly improves the players freedom and ability to move within the game world and become more accustom to it's ways.

    Gameplay = 9/10

    Audio

    MGS3 and the Metal Gear series itself I can honestly say is one of the very few video game franchises that has an amazing soundtrack. There's really not too much else I can say really. It's great. Sound effects are crisp and clear and there are no audio problems to my knowledge. Character voice actors were picked with careful consideration and provide that extra spark of life to them.

    Audio = 5/5

    Replay Value
    Truthfully I don't see myself playing this title again for some time. Besides the fact that it took me a whole year to complete the damn thing (all in all maybe 14 hours of play) this is just one of those titles you play, put on the shelf, and leave it for a year or two and play again from start to finish. Replay value is there but in a different form.

    Replay Value = 4/5

    Story/Plot
    Like most of the games in the series, MGS3, doesn't fail to make itself clear that it's story and characters are the most important aspect of the experience. With a fairly strong script and thought out plot the game doesn't disappoint story lovers. The story itself revolves around the character Naked Snake (who would later becomes Big Boss) whose mission is to rescue a defecting Russian scientist named Sokolov, who's currently working on a prototype Metal Gear named the Shagohod, from the Motherland in 1964 during the Cold War.

    Conflict arrives when Snake learns of his mentor, The Boss', defection to the Russian Brezhnev faction under control of Colonel Volgin who wants to see Khrushchev out of power (using Sokolov's creation to do so). Much like with all titles in the series the plot reveals more and more twists as time passes and the golden rule of "nothing is what it seems" holds true.

    MGS3's plot at times does a great job of confusing you if you're not paying close attention but overall the story is great and I'd say that it's certainly better than MGS2's story.

    Story/Plot = 9.5/10

    Conclusion:

    While some fans didn't like the massive change in style from inside and urban to outside and rural, I believe that it was a great move for the series and opened many new doors for what Kojima and the series can do (as we now see in Metal Gear Solid 4). This game has everything from a great plot, to excellent gameplay, and even graphics that 4 years later look pretty damn good. I'd highly recommend this title to those with a PS2 or anyone who's expressed interest in the series.

    Final Score = 36.5/40 or 91%

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  2. #2
    Giorgos's Avatar Deus Ex Machina
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    Default Re: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

    This was an excellent game. Kojima knows hist stuff. And you know yours when it comes down to writing reviews. Well done!


  3. #3

    Default Re: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

    Sneaking behind people and planting c4 on their back, blowing them up and face slamming the reinforcements into the ground. Running around slashing throats and stabbing people until your health gets too low, then faking your death to get away. All this while wearing American face paint and a crocodile hat.
    Gameplay 10/10 in my book.

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