Poll: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

[Mr Scott]

To get it off my chest:
Snake Eater was my first Metal Gear experience so it might be skewed in favor of the game, but without further ado- the review!

SPOILERS!!

STORY
Set in the 1970's Naked Snake, an operative for the government secret agency FOX, is sent to rescue a Russian rocket scientist and bring him back through the Soviet "Iron Curtain." Meanwhile the United State's greatest war hero, the Boss defects to Russia leaving Naked Snake for dead and bringing professor Sokolov along.

I really dig the seventies, it was a hip time, a time with greater political intrigue the world had not known (until now.)Secret agents are cool, no-one can be much cooler than a secret agent, and as the story progresses it gets more convoluted, yes, but nonetheless more interesting.

CHARACTERS
Naked Snake: As he evolves as a soldier, the more the character develops (into a brooding badass)and more connected to the player. However you can only get so connected to a secret agent without being one.

The Boss: The real American Hero, all the way from WWII to the '70s? The literal Mother of all kickass-ness. Only until the final boss fight do you understand her inner turmoil. However, her effective initial hardheartedness detaches her from you as a character, adding to this is the mediocre voice acting, the actress seems to finally get her act together at the end. Sadly, the Boss still ends up as a 2-and-a-half dimensioned character.

Ocelot: The rookie GRU captain that will eventually culminate as Liquid Ocelot, one of the most fearsome antagonists this side of Sephiroth. The 20 year-old self-assured jaunty attitude propels him to the more identifiable character on the roster (for myself.)

EVA: A sultry, triple-agent temptress if there ever was one. After double crossing Snake I liked her even more, after seeing signs of her treachery all the way- (Type 9 Chinese pistol anyone?)But, as we can see she's not all brains (or bosoms.)

Colonel Volgin: The sadist-bisexual communist Colonel upset the pace of the more conventional hero/anti-hero formulae; but as least he had lightning powers (and a nifty orange electricity suit ;].) To be serious, the change of pace was refreshing, which was a relief, seeing the Colonel for the first time, I feared for a 2D psycho-villain devoid of emotion.

Special thanks to: Major Zero, SIGINT,Paramedic, The Pain, The Fear, The End, The Fury,and The Sorrow for not feeling bad about not being included in the character analysis.

GAMEPLAY
Excellent, infinitely better than the average third person shooter-espionage I expected. The use of CAMO and gadgets works seamlessly in between firing chic 70s-era weaponry (infinite ammunition-ed machine-pistols aside.) The boss battles with The Sorrow, and especially The End were daresay I? innovative?

MUSIC
Better, jungle drums and fifes than 70s pop disco.

GRAPHICS
The best of the best for the PS2, excluding RE4. Considering the scope and length of the game, I was impressed by the condition of the style of realism, which tends to deteriorate the longer the game is.

I'd give Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, a solid 3 and three quarter pentagrams out of four. Let's face it: I'm easy to please, and the game was hella fun!

--Mr Scott

 

[stompy]

There's really nothing I can say. It's good, but I suppose only time and practise will make it better. Good luck with your other reviews.

- A procrastinator

 

[Melty Blood]

Very... brief. You barely touch down on anything in the game. HOW is it better then you expected? I barely know anything more about the game then I did before.

 

[fix-the-spade]

MGS3 is set in 1964, it says that right at the beginnning, you can't miss it.

The Soviet Leader through(sp?) the whole story is Kruschev, he was out of power by the end of 1964 and was dead by 1971. various characters (esp, Volgin) mention that they don't want Kruschev to find out about the Shagohod. He's also the one who orders the Mig's to turn back at the end.

It also mentions that the Cuban missile crisis was ended by sending Sokolov back to the Soviets. That was October 1962 and it had only been over for a little more than a year when you get sent to retrieve Sokolov at the beginning. Again mentioned at various points in the story.

Plus if you contact Sigint about the M-16 he'll tell you that its a prototype of a new assualt rifle to replace the then Standard M-14. He'll also mention its smililarity to the AR-15 'Black rifle'. The M-16 entered service in 1964.

So how did we get to the seventies again?
In future pay more attention to the game you're playing before reviewing it.

 

[Mr Scott]

MGS3 is set in 1964, it says that right at the beginnning, you can't miss it.

The Soviet Leader through(sp?) the whole story is Kruschev, he was out of power by the end of 1964 and was dead by 1971. various characters (esp, Volgin) mention that they don't want Kruschev to find out about the Shagohod. He's also the one who orders the Mig's to turn back at the end.

It also mentions that the Cuban missile crisis was ended by sending Sokolov back to the Soviets. That was October 1962 and it had only been over for a little more than a year when you get sent to retrieve Sokolov at the beginning. Again mentioned at various points in the story.

Plus if you contact Sigint about the M-16 he'll tell you that its a prototype of a new assualt rifle to replace the then Standard M-14. He'll also mention its smililarity to the AR-15 'Black rifle'. The M-16 entered service in 1964.

So how did we get to the seventies again?
In future pay more attention to the game you're playing before reviewing it.

@fix-the-spade- my bad, I hadn't played MGS3 for awhile before doing the review. Another point I'd like to make, however- the wealth of information you get from supporting characters (i.e. SIGINT) is only optional, which either helps or hurts the game from two points of view.

 

[GrungeHead]

Snake Eater, sounds sexy...

 

[Anarchemitis]

I want a tank like the final boss battle Shagohod. And I want a cake shaped like the internet.

 

[powerbar15]

metal gear solid 3 was a great movie!

 

[ripper_hugme]

I LOVE MGS2! (I'm probably the only one who voted for 2)

Haven't played 1, currently playing 3 with old camera which frustrates me.

 

[non_entity]

As MGS2 was my first MGS game I actually liked it. I only got MGS1 after playing that one. Still MGS3 Snake Eater is my favorite so far, it has by far the best atmosphere, gaming options etc. Yeah, you played the Big Boss, not actually Solid Snake, but you sorta did... I guess. ^^

I wish they'd release a PC port of Snake Eater though, I no longer got a tv around or my PS2, but still got Snake Eater here. I'd love to play it again, but can't atm. -.-

 

[RentCavalier]

I for one had a weird experience with 3. It grabbed my attention, lost it, grabbed it again, was shaping up to be one of the greatest games ever, and then really lost it because of that nonsesne at the end with the Boss. *spoilers* Even if her motives were not her own, but being sent by her country, that doesn't make her noble. The U.S. simply grabbing the Legacty with no real claim to the whole thing is not a noble aim, and her unquestioning following it was just as bad as being motivated by her own greed.

And either I'm awesome, or the Cobra's just plain sucked.

Ah, hell no dude, the fight against the Fury and the End was sick. Props even go to the Pain for using bees.

MAJOR SPOILERS

As for the Boss' motives, you have it a bit off. In truth, her mission was exceptionally simple--pretend to join Volgin, get the Legacy from him, and likely destroy the Shagohod too. It was a real easy in-and-out sort of mission that the Boss would be ideal for, but it all got screwed up when Volgin nuked the research base.

Because of that, America was at the brink of nuclear war, thanks to Kruschev's evidence that the bomb was really dropped by us. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, the Boss realized that she was now a liability, and that the US would send somebody to get rid of her.

She also knew the only person skilled enough to handle such a mission was her old student.

She stuck to her mission, though, despite being screwed over by just about everybody, because she believed in the ideals of a "perfect soldier".

 

[alphaein]

Snake Eater was, in my opinion, an amazing game and still is. It had a plethora of elements that no other game (that I can think of) had. The only disappointing part was bosses with some sorts of super/magic powers. I cannot remember, was there some scientific explanation to that, or were they just freaks?
Either way, the bosses were much better than bosses in any other game considering the way you kill them requires more than, say stunning an armored boss then running behind it where there is a convenient hole in the armor, or something to that extent. It actually took intellingence to beat the game. I have not played any of the other MGS games, but I plan on it. Snake Eater was a great game.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Though it didn't have anything quite up to the impression the first game made on me (almost nothing else did), Snake Eater seemingly paid a lot of attention to the various gripes made about Sons of Liberty, even going out of the way to mock Raiden. It felt like it had roughly half the amount of cutscenes that SoL had, and some of them were interactive. For better for worse, most of the bosses lacked MGS's traditional pre and post-battle monologues, perhaps depriving them of the more detailed and sympathetic backstories Fox-Hound and Dead Cell had. The Pain was weak IMO, but the rest held their own admirably. Good to get him out of the way first.

I found the departure of Soliton Radar made the game considerably slower-paced and more challenging if you didn't want to just rambo it, but I guess that couldn't be helped given the time period. Conversely, the length of game between the start of Operation Snake Eater and the first boss made me think the game would be incredibly long. This wasn't the case- you fought The End at what felt like right after The Fear, and Volgin right after The Sorrow.

Overall, I rank Snake Eater 2nd place of the three major MGS titles.

 

[Marriot]

well i dont really know why MGS2 was getting all the hate mail, i thought it was a good game. MGS3 was good to im yet to play mgs1. I was a little bit young when it came out

 

[BloodshotGtr]

All of the Metal Gear Solid games are amazing. I think three is the best. It's incredible and in my opinion it has the most epic feeling. I play each of those games for different reasons, tho.

 

[qbert4ever]

The End - 1.Run Around like an Idiot
2. Get Shot.
3. Check your map to see where the tranquilizer round came from.
4.get over there in high camo.
5.extort the Moss Camo off him. You now have 100% camoflague.
6. Repeat steps 1-4.
7. Shoot him in the head with your Mk22
8. laugh at him.

If you want an easier time with him, save your game right as the fight starts, reset your console, set the clock ahead 2 or 3 weeks, then load your game. Only bad part is Snake makes you feel like a real dick in the cutscene.

Also, if you want to laugh when you "fight" The Sorrow, kill every guy you can with nut shots.

As for the game, I like MGS3 the best. Something about the storytelling and gameplay just did more for me then the others. I felt more involved with number 3 then 1 and 2.