GamesActionMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater20 years on, Snake Eater is still the perfect Metal Gear Solid gameWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesActionMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater20 years on, Snake Eater is still the perfect Metal Gear Solid gameWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Konami)
But rather than give the fans what they were desperate for, Kojima Productions once again flipped the script. Not only were you not playing as Solid Snake again, but you wouldn’t even get a follow-up to Metal Gear Solid 2’s wild ending. And thank god it did.
Instead of dealing with the proxy wars, cyborg ninjas, and memes of the mid-2000’s Metal Gear Solid 3 takes things 40 years into the past – all the way back to the ’60s, following the legendary Big Boss on one of his earliest missions during the height of the Cold War. And yet, despite ditching everything that had happened in the series until that point, Snake Eater infiltrated the series to become the perfect Metal Gear Solid game.
Remember the Alamo
(Image credit: Konami)
We are so back(Image credit: Konami)The Metal Gear Solid 3 remake is “already playable” from start to finish, so the release date is “not going to be years and years” away
We are so back
(Image credit: Konami)The Metal Gear Solid 3 remake is “already playable” from start to finish, so the release date is “not going to be years and years” away
(Image credit: Konami)
The Metal Gear Solid 3 remake is “already playable” from start to finish, so the release date is “not going to be years and years” away
Think back to infiltrating that moody Alaskan military base at the start of Metal Gear Solid. Colonel Campbell informs Snake that he is all alone; there’s no backup coming, and any weapons or equipment he can use for the mission he has to procure in that base. Metal Gear Solid 3 opens in a similar way, besides trading out a stocked military stronghold for the jungle. Aside from a few basics, Snake has to find his own food, be his own medic, and once again find any equipment necessary to complete the mission – which isn’t quite as plentiful in the swamps of the Soviet Union. Worst of all, if an American agent is spotted on Russian soil, the Cold War will erupt into World War 3.
While Metal Gear Solid and its sequel both took place indoors for the most part, Snake Eater’s jungle adds a whole extra layer to stealth and infiltration, which expands on the ideas found in the prior games. No longer can you just stand behind some convenient boxes or a wall; all you have is nature to protect you. This felt like a true evolution of the stealth genre and would ultimately be the blueprint that later games followed. No longer was it a game about blocks and corridors; you had to become hyper aware of your surroundings to have a chance at survival.
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Too pure for us Cobras
(Image credit: Konami)
Metal Gear Solid has always been a bombastic series full of silly, over-the-top characters; Snake Eater is no different.
Metal Gear Solid has always been a bombastic series full of silly, over-the-top characters; Snake Eater is no different.
Meanwhile, Naked Snake’s mentor: The Boss – who taught him everything he knows – defects to the Soviet Union, betraying the US, the mission, and Snake himself. A mere week later he’s sent back into the jungle where he failed, on a mission to assassinate his mentor as a show of good faith from the US to Russia. Over the course of this game we see Snake broken down from a keen soldier to the disillusioned man who would later abandon the US to create his own PMC. This culminates in an emotional final confrontation between Snake and The Boss. It was the first time I ever cried playing a game, and it still hits me hard every time I replay it.
Later Metal Gear Solid games tried to go for ‘the feels’ – Metal Gear Solid 4 in particular felt like emotional torture at points from what it put its characters through – but none were quite as impactful as seeing this fresh-faced Snake go through the biggest trial of his life. Metal Gear Solid has always been a bombastic series full of silly, over-the-top characters; Snake Eater is no different with bosses ranging from the guy who shoots bees at you to a guy who can inexplicably harness electricity. Kojima Productions even threw in the grandpa of that guy with chronic IBS for good measure. It balanced the moments of levity so well in what is at its core a heartbreaking story.
Metal Gear Solid has never been quite as personal as it was with Snake Eater. Its mechanics make you feel more alone than ever, while the story digs deep into a very human character that’s stuck in a mission with world-ending consequences. It takes minutes for Naked Snake to descend from the skies and land in Tselinoyarsk – but the aftermath of that iconic HALO jump made an impact that’s lasted decades.
Check out ourMetal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater Remake previewfor more.
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