Metal Gear Solid 3

No previous Metal Gear Solid game wears its influences on its eye quite like Snake Eater. With Snake being a cross between Kurt Russell's Snake Pliskin and James Bond, Snake Eater adopts many of the stylistic choices of the 1960s spy movies, not least of all the bondesque main theme. As with the previous iteration, there's a shorter introductory section and the much longer main section of the game except this time hero and setting remain the same in both. Reading up more about MGS2, I found out it was badly received (I knew I should've moved from under that rock) and this one aimed to be a real crowd pleaser - it's about survival this time. 

So Kojima had to come up with a crowd pleaser for the masses to save his series from disappearing which happened to be at odds with what he wanted to do (leave the series to others and work on new projects) so why did the game turn out so well? Could it be Konami's Yakuza links, was Kojima threatened into making a good game? Was it his artistic pride? Was it his love for games and gamers and if so, why dick-slap them with MGS2 in the first place? Now, I enjoyed getting dick-slapped by Kojima but I'm aware that a lot of people found it uncomfortable. This is the midpoint in the series, the sequel which is a prequel that begins the entire continuous plot and cements the gameplay. And the gameplay finally reached a point where the game can be commended and recommended based on gameplay alone. The radar is gone but so is the top-down view, letting you see from Snake's perspective without having to hold the first person view button. The enemies are harder to spot, however, since the game puts a stress on blending in with its camouflage system. You micromanage Snake's outfit and facepaint to help him blend into the environment, his ability to do so represented by a percentage in the top right corner of the screen. I imagine 100% means completely invisible and is only obtainable by wearing The End's moss camo and laying down in grass. For the most part though, with a 60% guards won't think twice about checking out that strangely human looking bush or rock. There's a whole bunch of jokey camouflages and facepaints to be found and a couple of quirky ones like the moss camo. There are pyjamas and zombie paint but there's also a Spider Camo. This one, I think, you get from The Fear and it raises your camo level to around 75% in any terrain but it continually drains your stamina at an accelerated rate. Stamina being the other new addition to the game, as you run around it drops and as it drops Snake gets a little bit useless at things. You can avoid your stamina dropping by eating food you hunt in the jungle, including snakes the first of which gets a little animation of being eaten by Snake. Now, we know Kojima's smarmy post-modernism took a backseat here, but how much of a backseat really? Consider this: MGS2 was too weird and fans wanted a 'normal' game like MGS again (psycho mantis and clones notwithstanding) so Snake Eater has to adapt to its environment to survive but because it's Kojima's baby it can never adapt entirely. Snake for thought, that. 

The camouflage and the not-useless camera aren't reason enough to recommend this game though - it's the freedom it grants you. I wrote that MGS2 became more open than the original MGS and well, MGS3 is basically a sandbox. It's only right that the game ends with Big Boss breaking free from the government much like Raiden broke free from player control in the previous game. You get given a massive map divided into sections (one or two of which can be completely ignored), you get a whole arsenal of toys and a whole host of enemies to test them on. Please, feel free to leave a comment telling me what makes MGS3 less of a sandbox than GTA 3 or Assassin's Creed. Now, I grant you, it's not open world but nor was the sandbox I was playing in when I was four years old. The toys at our disposal here include new hand-to-hand combat which is a lot more extensive and plays a major part in the plot. Gone are the days of mashing the square button to the tune of "uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-UH!". You can grab enemies, interrogate them, hold them up. The CQC is shown in cut scenes to be incredibly competent and is encouraged since it's non-lethal and always wins against firearms but blowing up a munitions shed after surrounding it with claymores and then watching unwitting guards literally walk into their deaths is just that little bit more fun. There are mechanics in place for emergent gameplay, there is often more than one way to solve a problem. You can sneak past people using timing and camouflage, you can knock guards out with CQC or your tranquliser gun or you can blow everyone up. If you do choose the action path the game will throw more and more enemies your way and radio silence encourages reinforcements. The mounting challenge is a great form of discouragement, the game literally tells you, "play it your way. IF YOU DARE!" All this sneaking around, scouting and preparing traps culminates in possibly the greatest boss fight apart from the massive foetus in Earthbound. 

The boss fight with The End is justified by its means (pun intended, sorry). It's a boss fight that employs all of the core mechanics and requires you to excel at them: you have to hide from The End, track him down and kill him. He can hide anywhere across 4 stages and is easily startled if you get too close, which will prompt him to flashbang you and run away. He uses the Moss Camo, making him difficult to spot unless you're wearing the thermal goggles which even expose his footsteps. Now, I'm short-sighted and played this on a PS Vita so I couldn't see myself doing it without the goggles. You can discover his general direction using the directional microphone which lets you hear his breathing and his pronouncement that "This is The End." Now, the fight can literally take days if you're having trouble finding this guy but worry not, Kojima's team thought of ways to help you out. The guy's old and we're talking like 100+ years old, so if you wait a real world week (or change the date on your console) he will die of old age. This is well hinted at earlier in the game where Volgin questions The End's ability and The Boss remarks that he's saving what little life he has left for battle. You also get a chance to snipe the end well before his boss fight occurs while he's being wheeled out on a wheelchair, saving you the trouble of fighting him for a week. I imagine this was done with speedrunners in mind, although I can't see there being a huge speedrunning community around MGS3 (I might be horribly wrong). 

It's still Kojima's baby and so it still has no regard for the fourth wall and drills a peephole in it so it can stick its tongue out at you through it. Snake Eater plays with the fact it's a prequel and its time setting. Paramedic, a stand-in for Mei Ling/Rose, talks about movies like Godzilla as if they'd just come out, which of course is the case within the game world. Major Zero fanboys over Bond but Snake isn't convinced, outlining the differences between the two (see Stewart Lee's 41st best stand up, "He's like you!"). I remember having a conversation with Paramedic where she hinted at the stealth suit, "Maybe some day you'll be able to turn invisible." I did chuckle at a few of the references and they never intruded on the serious parts of the plot, or at least not as much as Volgin shooting lightning from his fists. The game sets characters well for the most part and the important ones are easily recalled and described. Eva is a liar, she acts two roles for the player to see: Volgin's punching bag and a sexy and confident KGB double-agent. She blinds Snake with boobs and turns him on with guns, the one time you see the bastard smile. Volgin is an entitled sadist, worst kind of white privileged "the world belongs to me, I'm mad at the world and will nuke it" type of twat. He's obviously a spoilt middle-class brat with a weird skin condition and a thunderous temper. The KOBRA unit isn't really that interesting but they're supposed to represent emotions of War except Pain and End aren't exactly emotions, are they? The Pain controls bees and shoots them out of his mouth, The Fear turns invisible and shoots you with a crossbow, The End we've discussed and The Sorrow is already dead but haunts you throughout the game. The Sorrow is actually the second most interesting character in the game for me, beaten only by The Boss. In life, The Sorrow was a medium, much like Psycho Mantis in MGS, he was sensitive to the spirit world and so his spirit has remained strong post-humously. He usually appears accompanied by rain and serves as a Grim Reaper of sorts, either taking someone's life or saving it (Snake's mostly). He is revealed to have had a relationship with The Boss culminating in pregnancy and to have died by her hand. Now, this brings about it a degree of dramatic irony: The Boss killed her lover for her country, carrying out her duty; we are playing as Big Boss before he gets that title and The Boss is our enemy but also closest friend; anyone with half a brain knows where this is going to lead. Knowing that, however, doesn't make it any less heart-breaking. 

The Boss is by far the most interesting character in this game, perhaps even the series. She enters painted as a war hero and Snake's mentor. She takes the early moments of the game to say that alliegances change and your allies may soon become your enemies just because their countries' leaders decide to fight each other, she says as a soldier you must abandon personal allegiances and simply do your job. This little philosophical lecture shows off her cold professionalism and makes Snake bemoan the potential of fighting his hero. Soon after that, The Boss defects to Volgin and beats the living crap out of Snake who's left with a broken arm and pride (literally, not the euphemism). And that's the end of your introduction to the game, The Boss absolutely dominates Snake, takes his gun apart and drops him off a bridge - well done, mate, your mother figure just scolded you in front of all your mates. Snake 're-enters Groznyj Grad for operation Snake Eater and is soon met by The Boss again and she again takes him gun apart. Snake gets beaten by The Boss several times in the story but each time you can see that she's holding back. Until the big reveal at the end, I was convinced that she simply felt bad for Jack/Snake/Big Boss and because of her former friendship she simply wanted him to give up but it turns out she actively wanted him to succeed because it was part of her mission. And this is where her character truly shines: it turns out she was a double agent pretending ding to defect but Volgin's unexpected rashness forces to go deeper under cover to the point of actually giving the impression to a traitor and accepting the fate of one. To retrieve the secret stash of money Volgin was hoarding and stop a nuclear war, she officially betrayed her nation while secretly still working for it. Her utter loyalty pits her against Snake who is forced to kill her. I absolutely love the narrative at the end here, just as Snake is forced to kill The Boss, the player is forced to actually pull the trigger. I actually had a double-take when it occurred to me the game was waiting until I personally pulled the trigger, it was the kind of shock that chills your heart and makes it jump a little. It's not often a game makes me feel the feelz, actual real human emotions, thanks to a combination of rationalisation and a tough childhood, but Snake Eater managed to make me feel sad. It's silly and campy and cringey and maybe childish but I saluted The Boss' grave with Snake. I suppose the whole game is silly and campy and cringey and maybe childish but I saluted The Boss' grave with Snake. I felt like a murderer after Spec Ops, I wanted to be friends with Sans and Papyrus after Undertale, I wanted Tidus and Yuna to be happy together after Final Fantasy X, I mourned Aerith for a day after Final Fantasy VII, I was devastated about Lee after the Walking Dead and I saluted The Boss' grave with Snake.  

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is: James Bond on acid/10 

P.S. 

If you're not entirely bored of my rambling on about this game, Ocelot is the third most interesting character. He places below The Sorrow purely because so little is known about the spirit soldier. Ocelot secretly works for the American government, whereas Eva works for the Chinese, playing up to the fickle nature of nationalism presented in this game and drawing back on The Boss' opening speech. We meet him early in the game, face off with him ending with his gun jamming and we get an opportunity to kill him but this creates a time paradox and gives us a Game Over screen (and the "series solved" trophy). Another bit of fan service comes in the next meeting when Ocelot takes Snake's advice and switches his pistol for a revolver but this time his ineptitude makes him expend his magazine without realising. Now, it isn't until the very end that we learn his ineptitude was probably feigned and he too wished for Snake to succeed. Ocelot is presented as a much more sympathetic character here, a healthy rival to Big Boss, facing off with him in a game of Russian roulette that is rigged from the beginning to produce no casualties. Ocelot ruins everything. Or does he just give that impression? A genius is supposedly hardly recognised in his lifetime, right? 

Patryk Krzywon