METAL GEAR SOLID 3: Snake Eater First Impressions
I just played Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and it is, honest to god, one of the hardest games I’ve ever tried to start in so long. It’s less about the game itself and more about the timing. I never got to play it when it first released until now, and I can’t believe how defeated I felt in the first few hours of playtime.
Let’s dive into it.
METAL GEAR SOLID 3: Snake Eater – Master Collection Version Gameplay
I have not finished Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain—the last entry in the franchise. I’ve seen my brother complete it, but I never truly got around to it. I did dabble with it for like 10 to 15 minutes, but that was long ago. Having such lack of experience in a Metal Gear Solid game definitely didn’t help as I tried to get back into the franchise with one of the older entries—Metal Gear Solid 3.
Controls
Playing this game is definitely a long step back in the series, but more importantly, a long step back in technology.
When I talk about technology, I don’t mean hardware itself. Rather, I think we take for granted how much games have become smoother and easier to absorb right from the get-go, and most of it starts with the controls.
Basic movement is key to any game: you go left by moving the left controller stick left, and you go right by moving the left controller stick right. The right stick is for camera movement, and so on and so forth.
I am not complaining about the basic movement in Metal Gear Solid 3 at all, it is there. Yet to learn how to use the multiple actions you can do to aim, shoot, open inventory, switch active consumable items or weapons, eat, crawl, climb, and so much more is dauntingly hard. There are so many buttons to remember and so many different combinations that it’s so freakin’ hard it took me 2 hours to get the very basics down.
But the challenge doesn’t end there; Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is an espionage game. It requires not only timing and patience in your movements, it requires deliberate action, preparation, and precision. At times, you will need great quick-thinking skills to react properly to unforeseen events, but less about that as it comes as an afterthought actually.
What I want to focus on is getting the basics down and being precise with it. The game is surprisingly punishing as the combination of buttons may confuse you as you try to crawl, stop your movement, differentiate sneak walking, walking slowly, and jogging.
You are doomed to fail, and that is part of the game.
I daresay the first two hours of gameplay I had with Metal Gear Solid 3 were probably the worst gameplay you will ever have seen in your lifetime—especially if you are a veteran or an active Metal Gear Solid fan.
It was so heartwrenching but definitely incredibly satisfying especially when you successfully pull off what you want, such as pulling out your gun, aiming at a beehive, and shooting it at the right time to have it fall on top of or nearby an enemy—which in simpler terms shooting at a beehive to drop on an enemy.
Keybinds and Button Icons
When starting the game on Steam, I was horrendously shocked at what the game’s default button icons were—every button was showing an Xbox controller icon. All my life, I’ve known Metal Gear Solid games to be made with a focus on the PlayStation platforms.
Learning the controls was already hard enough, but learning it while using a PlayStation controller with Xbox controller icons on screen? That’s just learning things on hard mode—it was excruciatingly painful.
Tutorials
This last one with controls, I cannot think of how to explain it smoothly.
The game features so much that it feels like the tutorials are lacking. But thinking on it again, how can I—if I had the power to—improve the tutorials in the game?
Honestly, there doesn’t seem much I can add. The game just has so many things you can do, and the developers simply have to trust their players to try and learn the game.
If you’re not one to actually try and put in time to learn the controls, this game may not be for you.
Combat and Espionage
Enemies
Enemies; so far in the first few hours of the game, are pretty simple. They move in certain patterns because they are on patrol. They spot you from afar either because you are moving or do not blend with the surroundings—or both—and they attack you. They notice you vaguely, and they will investigate the position you were vaguely spotted.
They are pretty simplistic, but there is a catch.
Enemy Statuses
If you do get spotted, you engage in combat and enemy status becomes ALERT. In ALERT status, enemies will attack you and oftentimes they will call for reinforcements until you manage to kill them all or hide. Successfully hiding during or after combat turns enemy status into HIDDEN.
During HIDDEN, enemies are aware of you and will actively look for you in hiding spots and such. Surprisingly, these guys can’t look under items or in crawlspaces, so you’re pretty safe in those locations. After time passes successfully while enemy status is in HIDDEN, it becomes CAUTION.
During CAUTION, Enemies will still move frantically and be more vigilant of their surroundings. After successfully letting time pass in CAUTION enemy status, it becomes normal again and enemies will return to their usual patrol and movement patterns, and reinforcements they called will sometimes go away.
Anyway, that’s the gist of enemy status, and this is integral to the game as this is what bridges stealth and non-stealth combat.
Stealth and Direct Combat
Direct Combat is, as the name suggests, a pretty straightforward way of fighting. Enemies are aware of you and they shoot you while you fight back. There are different ways to fight directly but mostly through guns and throwables like grenades.
Stealth combat, on the other hand, features the same stuff as direct combat but allows you to play things out more quietly. I know, I know, this shouldn’t even be discussed but Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is an espionage game, so its combat and gameplay loop shines out a lot in stealth.
You can distract enemies by making noise such as knocking on surfaces, shooting beehives, throwing items, or even simply running around areas. Going behind enemies, you can grab them and interrogate them; much like Hitman games. Interrogating enemies can provide useful information about the area or your enemies. While grabbing them, you can knock them out; it is heavily advised you do, so they don’t alarm anyone and you can go about your sneaky day.
This franchise is one of the best espionage games there is and it was toe-to-toe with Splinter Cell, which sadly has died off in the modern-day stealth game industry.
Oh yeah, camouflage is a a big thing in this game. Camouflage is not only about hiding in the dark or sly nooks and corners, there is more in this game. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater has a gauge that dictates how much you blend in your surroundings, and it’s called the camouflage index. It is decided by what you wear and whether it matches your current location. It’s pretty cool and a surprisingly dynamic mechanic—especially for its time.
Aiming and Shooting
Normally, I wouldn’t place a section for aiming and shooting but my god this game requires so many buttons just to aim and shoot.
There are two items you can use on the fly in Metal Gear Solid 3: consumables and weapons. As such, there are different buttons and button combinations to switch and activate both items. Activate here doesn’t mean to use it, but to simply make it actively on hand to be prepped to use. Once an item—specifically a weapon in this case—is activated, there are another set of buttons to raise the gun, turn to first person mode, put into aim mode, and then to point it around slowly or quickly, and then shoot. There are about 5 buttons you have to press to do all these.
Of course, there is a way to shoot without turning into first person mode but you will have to rely on your smooth controlling against the clunky movements to face your enemy then fire away. This also means you are hip-firing and shooting at a straight level.
To shoot more accurately, you will have to go into first person mode where you are essentially pivoting your aim. However, the default aim in first person mode is in hip-fire position so you’re not really “aiming” at things the best possible way. You will have to then press ANOTHER button to raise your gun and look through your weapon’s sights, then to be able to move it vertically to where you want to shoot.
Good god, modern games have successfully made these easier and I hope the remake does away with these clunky controls which, for its time, must have been a necessity with the level of detail Konami and Kojima placed on this game in 2004.
Setting and Design
Compared to Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2, this entry in the franchise steps away from the metallic surfaces and concrete walls of Zanzibar and the Big Shell.
While Zanzibar had its snowy tundra areas outside of its facility and Big Shell had open areas on top of its main facilities, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is set in a jungle setting featuring swamps, dense forestation, and enemy camps fit for such locations.
As such, areas often have windy paths, cliffs, bodies of water, vines, and bridges. More than that, wildlife as well as flora and fauna inhabit its game world, which you can mostly interact with.
Thinking about when this game was made, it is such a huge endeavour to make such a world be immersive and detailed.
Survival Mechanics
Since the setting is in a jungle, Kojima, with his creative mind, decided to incorporate survival mechanics in the game. In particular, stamina and health management is key to the gameplay loop of this entry in the franchise.
If you do not eat enough food, your maximum stamina will decrease. Staying in water too long or getting hurt can cause minor to major injuries such as cuts, bruises, sickness, or even curious cases of leeches which will slowly drain your maximum stamina if you do not remove them. To remedy all these, there are specific interfaces to feed and cure you of these things.
It is a scary mechanic for one who goes into this game thinking they’re simply going to play a stealth game. For me? It’s a challenge I accept. Well, I’ll accept once I truly get the hang of the game’s controls.
What ELse?
Well, if you don’t know what Metal Gear Solid is, then you must either be living under a rock or really just sticking to your own genre of games, both of which I respect.
There is so much more I can talk about like the characters, lore, costumes, and whatever, but all of those are probably things you should learn yourself since Kojima really put in something I consider deep and ahead of its time when this game came out. To be specific, the game is incredibly political and moral in its themes and tone, and it is up to you to decide what you want to absorb, learn from, or ignore.
is METAL GEAR SOLID 3: Snake Eater A Good Game? Is it Worth it?
Yes, but this admittedly comes with a great bias. I have always been a big Kojima fanboy. Despite not having played Metal Gear Solid 5: Phantom Pain or any Metal Gear Solid game in the past few years, I am still a big fan.
But trying to focus back on METAL GEAR SOLID 3: Snake Eater, so far it has been pretty good. The game is ahead of its time and the biggest challenges for many will be two things: Controls and Long Cutscenes.
The game is not only complex in its controls and mechanics, it is also very cinematic. There are long dialogues and cutscenes that set up the story, and some might get bored with it. Fortunately, you can skip them, so at least that’s a non-issue if you think about it. So I guess, the only true problem is controls.
It is hard to explain it without scaring you, but prepare to learn your buttons and button combinations. That’s it. Other than that, it is incredibly deep in its stealth gameplay, and this is a dream game for those who enjoy stealth and espionage games.
METAL GEAR SOLID 3: Snake Eater – Master Collection Version Screenshots
METAL GEAR SOLID 3: Snake Eater FAQs
When is the METAL GEAR SOLID 3: Snake Eater release date?
METAL GEAR SOLID 3: Snake Eater was released on November 17, 2004. The HD Edition was released on August 21, 2012. The Master Collection Version was released on Oct 24, 2023.
How big is METAL GEAR SOLID 3: Snake Eater?
It is only 17.54 GB.
Is METAL GEAR SOLID 3: Snake Eater a prequel?
Yes.
How do I save my game in METAL GEAR SOLID 3: Snake Eater?
You have to open the Codec using the Select button, then calling Para-Medic to Save.
Can you skip cutscenes and codec calls?
Yes.
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