Snake Eater
If only the camera system was as functional as the rest of Snake Eater's gameplay. The camera isn't bad by any means, but it does feel pretty outdated, especially after games like Splinter Cell, in which you have complete control of it. There are times when you may fall into a trap or get spotted by an enemy because you couldn't see in front of you. You'll switch into first person a lot just to get a look around. While this does make the game more challenging and helps you adapt to your environment, sometimes it can be annoying, especially indoors. Still, the camera isn't always against you, because most of the time it really does work decently, particularly during boss battles.
Graphically, Snake Eater is one of the greatest looking PS2 games ever. You've got some very impressive things happening with the PS2 hardware. Everything looks great, even during cutscenes when the character models are viewed up close. These characters are filled with incredible detail, unlike Halo 2's in game models, and they show a lot of emotion, drawing you right into the drama. Technically, the game is always stunning. The grass is actually rendered and moves when you walk through it, bullets and clips litter the ground long after a firefight, and the textures are just about as perfect as you can get with four year old hardware. Seriously folks, it doesn't get much better than this. Stunning environments filled with plenty of life, outstanding looking characters and a brilliant artistic design. What isn't to love?
The sound has received the same amount of attention as the visuals. Basically, Snake Eater is probably the best sounding game ever, especially in Dolby Pro Logic II. Everything sounds superb, from the rain falling on grass, to the sound of footprints pounding on concrete. The boss fight with The End demonstrates just how essential the sound is in MGS3. You'll literally depend on the game's sound effects just to locate the boss. The voice acting works very well and the performances are quite enjoyable, making the story more entertaining and accessible. When it comes to music, Harry-Gregson Williams delivers more brilliant compositions, each of them sounding just as great as the last. In fact, Snake Eater's music is right up there with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night as having some of the greatest music ever.
There is quite a lot of replay value with this game. You will probably want to replay it the second you beat it, that's how amazing it really is. You may want to go back and replay in harder difficulties, or try to go through the entire game killing no one. Stamina killing the bosses is a fun thing to try and it is very rewarding, giving you different camo for each boss. You unlock different weapons each time you beat the game, and when you go back and reload your finished game, you get to keep all the camo and special weapons that you collected through the game, and can use them to your advantage from the beginning. There are also a lot of secret things to be found, including stealth camo, which is unlocked by shooting all 64 frogs hidden throughout the game. Think you're up to it?
Is Metal Gear Solid 3 worth your money? The answer is a resounding "yes." Great games like this don't come around often. Even if you were disappointed by a lot of 2004's releases, it is well worth your time to check out this game. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Snake Eater takes all the great stealth gameplay from the previous Metal Gear games and polishes them to perfection, and adds even more entertaining additions to the gameplay. Things like the Camo system really do make the gameplay more tactical and really do push the series to a new direction. Splinter Cell may have been the leader when it came to great stealth gameplay, but I think that MGS has really taken back the crown as the best stealth game ever made. So no matter how skeptical you may be about Hideo Kojima's latest game, you owe it to yourself to check it out regardless. It will blow you away. There are a lot of games that I love that I can't recommend to anyone. I can't think of a single reason why you wouldn't want to play this. Here is a game that you should play, no matter who you are.
--Reviewed by Chris Currey
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