Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Review

Hello readers, and welcome to the MGS3 Review. I played the original version of this game on PS2 for this review. There are no spoilers, so feel free to read this whenever. Let's go straight into the review.

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Plot: Metal Gear Solid 3 (Further referred to as MGS3) is actually a prequel to the entire series. This is the story of Big Boss and his rise to power. It is his journey to defeat The Boss. Along the way, Snake has to trek through labs and forests in Russia. The story line is very interesting for a Metal Gear Solid game and will intrigue most players whether they are new or veterans. The story is quite basic, and there isn't anything really gripping you to the game. That is left to the gameplay. The cutscenes feel like they are there just to fill in some gaps.

Characters: MGS3 has well crafted characters that fit their place throughout the game. All of the characters are voice acted and have distinct traits that set them apart from one another. By the end of the game, you will remember everyone that you have fought, and met. They are awesome and weird characters. If you showed these characters in dialogue and combat to someone who doesn't play video games, they wouldn't understand what they were watching at all. When you start playing the game, you don't really take account of what you are seeing until it is over.

Mechanics: As a Metal Gear Solid game, stealth is key to succeeding. Rush in, and you're asking for death. Sneak in, and be the last man standing. It works the same as it has in the last two games, except for the radar being taken away. There is no radar, and no way to mark enemies. You have to keep an eye out for everyone who could potentially give you a GAME OVER screen (or in this games case, "Snake is dead"). They introduced survival mechanics in this game. Instead of just eating rations to get health, you have to heal yourself by using different tools to fix different injuries. For example: Your left arm has two gunshot wounds. First, you need to use a knife to pull the bullet out. Next, you use disinfectant to get rid of the lead and dirt in the wound. Finally, you apply a bandage to finish it. This will heal you. You can get broken bones or even sicknesses that you have to take medicine for. You will find these medicines and medical tools throughout the game. A big problem is that the healing gets repetitive extremely fast and loses its charm soon enough. You start to feel like it is a chore to go heal. I actually prefer the original style of just using an item to gain health, but to each their own.

Bosses: Metal Gear Solid games are known for two things: Stealth and Bosses. The Metal Gear Solid games have some of the best bosses in video game history. MGS3 is no exception. For spoiler reasons, I will not share information specifically about the bosses and who they are, but all of the fights are remarkably fun. As a gamer, I love to see a traditional style of boss where you have to think outside of the box to not be hit and to hit the boss. One boss near the end of the game (the sixth boss) is a completely different style of fight. It was very sad throughout because it makes you feel guilty. No matter what, make sure you have a separate save for each boss so you can always go back and beat them again for the experience.

Content: This game is quite long for an MGS game. It took me 22 hours to beat it, and the other games run about 10-15. There are a lot of fights to go through. If you play on easy it is much shorter because you can run through and shoot everything you see with an Assault Rifle or LMG, including bosses. This will take less time, but will ultimately ruin your experience. You will want to play on normal or hard, as there are 5 difficulties in the game. If you strive to get all of the camos and hit all of the frog squeaky toys, it will take you much longer than 20 hours.

Final Rating:

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