Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater Review

The Basics

This 3DS port of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater turns back the clock to a cold-war era jungle scenario that works perfectly within the series. Snake must crawl through the jungle, choking, shooting and stabbing his way to the game's always creative bosses. MGS brings some new tricks this time, including a camouflage system, a stamina gauge, an injury treatment system, and probably the best new addition, a hand-to-hand combat system called "close quarters combat" or "CQC" for short.

The Story & Flow

This story is set in 1964, a full 30 years before the events of the original title. Snake is attempting to rescue a Russian scientist, while sabotaging a super-weapon and murdering his old boss. No problem, right?

The story careens off from there, with faces new and old making appearances, and spiraling in tense and complicated ways. The story is one of my favorites in the series, despite the usual long-winded political diatribes and over-long cutscenes. The tale asks what it means to be a soldier, the consequences of tipping power balances and climactic battles that I haven't experienced since the original PS MGS. The game's wry, often dead-pan humor is still present, and watching a young(er) Snake navigate the danger and intrigue is a delight. 

Perhaps more important than the story is the setting. Almost all of the previous games took place in cold, urban buildings, but Snake Eater takes place in a jungle, where everything is either out to kill you or give you nourishment, often at the same time. The game still has a heavy focus on stealth and sneaking, with sneaky choke-outs being preferable to gun-battles, where you will almost always lose. There is a new injury system that affects your stamina, and allows you to highlight specific injuries, requiring different techniques to get you back in fighting form; a broken leg will slow you down until you splint the leg, a rumbling stomach will alert nearby guards, etc. Time to eat those snakes you keep seeing in the grass... 

Another new feature is the camouflage index, which gives you a percentage which represents how visible you are to enemies. The 3DS camera allows you to take pictures of what you want to blend in with (green grass, a wooded forest, etc.), so you can customize your camouflage as you see fit, although I found that the stock options were usually better than my attempts. It's a fun new wrinkle, albeit a little frustrating at times, especially when you have to switch out of the camo you've just built to enter a new area. 

The CQC system is the real star, allowing you to grab an enemy and slit his throat, choke him out, interrogate him or turn him into a human shield. It works well, although the small screen of the 3DS sometimes makes things difficult, showing too much detail or making it hard to tell exactly how far an enemy is from you. I found myself flipping the 3D effect on and off depending on the situation, as sometimes the extra layer of depth makes it tough to see exactly what you're trying to do. Overall, the combat is vastly better than previous entries, and the first person POV is a welcome addition as well.

Graphics & Sound

Obviously, allowances have to be made since it's a 3DS port, and it shows; there are some frame-rate dips, and graphical hciccups, but the game looks good on the whole. The voice-acting and music is spot-on, although I would recommend a pair of headphones to boost the 3DS' tinny speakers.