Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater has been one of the most anticipated games (among others of course) of recent times. Metal Gear Solid 2 offered fantastic graphical and gameplay features such as footprints, breath, needing to hired bodies, some features of course were shared with the first.

Metal Gear Solid 3 is much heavier on the cut scenes and video sequences with scene after scene for you to watch through as you go through the game. There is a reason for that though; the gameplay isn’t going to be the main feature as it isn’t so different from what was in the previous game.

The game does have an all new feel being played out in the 1960’s Soviet jungle though so it isn’t a total loss. What you basically have in Metal Gear Solid 3 is a second episode of the previous game. Basically the same thing but it is still a new game to play through, and let’s face it, the second game was great anyway.

As with most of the games industry these days there is an ever closer move towards games acting more like movies. As well as all the cinematics in the game the storyline is much more of a feature and offers a much more rounded game. No more of the lose ends just left flying around (well less anyway).

Like with the cut scenes though the storyline is not exactly quick on getting off the mark. It seems to take ages to really get into the game and even once you amerce yourself in the atmosphere of the game you can find yourself being dragged out of it by the dark humour injected into the game.

The game is nice and hardcore though. Violence, sex, language, it is all in there the only thing that is really missing is the good old rock and roll. Despite the small problems the storyline is overall very good too with the villains being nice and even for you to face off against.

Another character not to be missed is a woman known as the boss. She will play a major part in the story as you progress through the game. There is a whole back story to her although it is not the most interesting tale to write out in a review. There are even some characters from the previous games.

Snake’s mission this time is to rescue a scientist from the hands of the Russians to stop them from getting technology to win the Cold War. Great providing you were supporting the Americans ;). Of course this is a starting point and from here you will find yourself all over the place doing various things.

The gameplay is packing a new camouflage system which allows you to choose your clothing and face painting so that you can remain hidden. You will need to make sure you sneak around too as running around like a madman is a sure fire way to get the guards to notice you.

So long mini map too so unlike the previous two games you will need to listen and look out for the various people are. Though you can always engage in some fire fights and close quarter combat though taking them out silently is a much better approach. Plus your enemies seem fairly incapable of shooting you if you are trying to avoid them.

The best part of Metal Gear Solid 2 was working around in an empty brown box that totally didn’t look out of place. Thankfully that feature has been retained in Metal Gear Solid 3 along with many new features which add an extra depth to the game if you really want to hunt for it.

The game is played out Metal Gear Solid 2 style with there being fixed overhead camera positions which switches to first person view for looking and shooting. The whole thing should take you around fifteen hours to play through although that includes all of the cut scenes.

The graphics, as with the previous versions of the game are more than impressive. The attention to detail remains as vigilant as the first with features such as blood soaking through Snake’s clothes. The cut scenes also play out beautifully with motion capture used to put them all together making them look perfectly natural, well almost.

If anything the audio is even better than the graphics are. The soundtrack is well put together and the ambient audio leaves nothing to be desired. The voice acting matches up to the original games if a little stereotyped and OTT.

Metal Gear Solid has always been more than an action game. Or perhaps it is just that the rest of the genre has been less than an action game. But whichever, Metal Gear Solid is always one step ahead of the game. Though it is not as apparent in the latest offering it is still clear that this remains true in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - Gamer Forge.

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