Reviewing one of the most epic game series of all time. Rather, the special edition.
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Table of Contents
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Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
System: Play Station 2
Rating: M
Story
The Metal Gear series has been around since the days of the early Nintendo (with Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake), and has since then launched a small series of impressive games on the 3d consoles. First, Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 told the story of a soldier who needed to stop a sinister man known as Big Boss from taking over the world using a nuclear tank called Metal Gear. In Metal Gear Solid on the Play Station, Solid Snake - the soldier who defeated Big Boss - was Alaska stopping a man known as Liquid Snake from using his own Metal Gear. Then in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty, Solid Snake disappeared, and was accused of being a villain when someone using the name Solidus Snake came into play. By now we know that Solid, Liquid and Solidus are all clones of one man; Big Boss. To put it simply, this series has an epic history.
Metal Gear Solid 3, however, takes place before any of these games. During the cold war, a lone soldier known as Naked Snake (who we come to know as the original Snake, Big Boss) is sent to Russia on a mission to stop an enemy group from using a nuclear tank known as the Shagohod. While it seems like an easy mission at first, Snake soon finds that his journey will be a long and merciless one as he deals with people who work under his defecting mentor, The Boss.
What makes this game awesome is that it has a very realistic feel to it, which will be explained in gameplay.
Gameplay
If you've played the first MGS games, this one will be a new ballgame. While it still keeps the basics of sneaking around, using ammo with weapons, talking to your partners on a radio system and naturally trying to be the best stealth expert you can be… It takes these elements and gives them a much more realistic feel. For example, in the original games, you had to be within the enemies sights in order to get their attention. However, in this game, making any kind of small movement sounds in their general area will cause attention, almost like the real thing.
Using the weapons and items menus were pretty simple in the previous games, and I must admit it's gotten a little less convenient here, but at the same time easier to work with. While in the other games you'd have everything in the weapon/item windows, in this game you have to go to the start menu and then to the weapon/item selections, then choose a limited number of equipment from there. It seems unfair at first, but it actually helps to let you pick out what you like best, rather than going through a bunch of items you don't want.
Health is dealt differently here. It appears to deplete less than the previous games, so instead what you really have to watch is your stamina meter. This meter controls your strength, and if it runs low, your stomach will growl once in a while, which may blow your cover. To fix this, you can eat food you collect (or creatures you kill) to refill it. Similarly adding to the realism is the ability to not only receive different types of damage (such as cuts, broken bones, burns, etc.) and be able to heal them using various healing items.
While in the previous games characters communicated via a nanomachine system in their bodies, this game features a similar setup of the codec, but it's performed with a radio on Snake's outfit. Throughout the game you stay in contact with three major people; Major Zero, who often tells you about the areas you're in and your objective, Para-Medic who tells you about the food you've got with you to eat and to alert you of when you have a wound that needs healing, and Sigint who teaches you about the weapons, items and camouflage you're currently using.
Additionally, this game features a realistic use of stealth - camouflage. You can obtain different kinds throughout the game, as well as unlockables during battle, which aid you in hiding. There's kinds that are used for forests, deserts, indoors, and nighttime. Should you need it, you can also wear outfits, but they only work during certain points in the game.
There's not much else to say, just that this game is very well done. Some might criticize it for being so different from the other games, but that's the point - it's in an older timeframe and as such doesn't have the comforts of future technology. Have fun with it!
Graphics
The graphics are hard to bash on this one. They're pretty impressive compared to other games, and the detail is awesome. Characters look very realistic as far as design goes. I heard once that this was because they were modeled to look like their voice actors, which proves to be a useful technique.
Everything looks as it should, from textures to overall area designs.
Music
The game features some generally calm and tense music like most MGS games do. Ones for sneaking, and ones for when you're in danger. Not to mention boss battles, too. The main theme of this game (at least in English, though the Japanese version is similar) is "Snake Eater" performed by Cynthia Harrell, and it's a pretty awesome track. The music, voice and lyrics all give off the feeling of an old spy movie, which fits the setting pretty well.
Voice Actors
Acting is, as expected in the series, topnotch. As mentioned in the graphics, the characters are designed based on their voice actors, so it's natural that they fit. Not only that, but the emotion put into them is pretty nice, too.
Subsistence Features
The Subsistence edition of the game features a 360 player-controlled camera, which is a much easier to use than the automated angle the games usually provide. There's also a second disc with this game which features Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (though they appear to be different from the original NES games), as well as a whole assortment of bonus cutscenes and videos for your enjoyment. There's also the ability to replay boss battles, as well as online gameplay.
While the normal version of this game is fine too, the Subsistence version is great for collectors out there.
Sequel?
Well, the games we've seen so far serve as a good continuation to this game. But of course, since this game comes after the rest, not all of the elements in this game are mentioned in the previous ones. So, Metal Gear Solid 4 will be the sequel that features all these things. The game that ties all ends. Will it serve as the true finisher of the series? We shall see…
Overall
Metal Gear Solid 3 gets an awesome score, because it's simply such a great game.
Rating: 10/10
