Official US Website

Platform: PlayStation 2

Genre: Action/Adventure

Number of Players: 1

Konami more or less made a pledge of fans of the Metal Gear series that every other year we would see a new sequel to carry on with the story, and in the off years there would be some sort of Metal Gear installment. In the past, we've seen this with things like Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions and then again on the PlayStation 2 entry of Metal Gear Solid: Substance. That was last year though, and that means that this year there's a whole new Metal Gear sequel. Although Sons of Liberty was a fantastic follow-up for the series, there was one thing that fans didn't like, and that was the fact that Snake was hardly in the game, and even the Snake Tales that were added into Substance didn't really do enough to quench the thirst that everyone had. For the third game in the franchise though, Snake Eater, I have three magic words that most are going to love hearing:

There's no Raiden.

It might be Metal Gear Solid 3, but this really shouldn't be looked at in the terms of being a sequel so much as it is a prequel. The year is 1964, the Cuban Missile Crisis has only recently ended, President John F. Kennedy has been assassinated, and somewhere over the borders of Russia, a covert operation is well under way. An offshoot of the CIA, Fox, has been sent in to extract a Russian scientist, Sokolov, who has been working on a powerful new weapon that the American military wants for their own. The only man for the mission is Jack who is now going under the code-name Snake, but the rescue mission is doomed almost from the very beginning.

Snake and the Fox organization are betrayed by one of their own, The Boss, Snake's former mentor who has defected to join with the Russian upstart Volgin. His plan is to uproot the current government for his own agenda, and now The Boss is a part of his plan. Volgin also hits his own countrymen with a small-scale nuclear warhead and with an American plane being in Soviet airspace, there is a single belief on who was behind the attack: the United States. Snake has been called back in to go behind Russian lines once again. His mission is to extract Sokolov and clear America's name by eliminated The Boss once and for all, and Volgin as well should he find himself in a position to do so. Failure however will result in a full-scale nuclear war as well as Snake's own execution, and if two foes weren't bad enough, there are also the strange and powerful Son's of the Boss to deal with.

The Metal Gear Solid series can really be the game that brought the concept to stealth-action into the minds of most gamers. It was something that had been done in the past to an extent, but Konami added new takes on the idea into the general gameplay and created something unique and entertaining. Those same concepts are carried over into Snake Eater, and fans of the series will see many things returning as far as the play itself goes. As your commanding officer Major Zero reminds you all too often, this is a stealth mission, and that's the honest truth.

Like with the other games in the series, we will find Snake being able to run or walk depending on the pressure placed on the analog controller, and while running can alert an enemy to your presence and location, it isn't just human characters that you will need to be on guard of. Snake Eater is set in the jungles, and there are some deadly, and poisonous, creatures to be on the lookout for as well, not to mention some cleverly placed traps. Snake though has his training on his side, and moves like hanging, climbing, and crouching or crawling can help tremendously. Konami also brings back something that the MGS series just can't be without, and that is the option to knock on walls or boxes to get an enemies attention and lure him to your position. Snake has some new tricks up his sleeve though that is going to come in very handy on this mission.

With everyone trying to make stealth action games, you need to have some innovation to set yourself apart, and that's where camouflage comes into the picture. Snake can now alter his appearance to better blend into his surroundings. Players have the option to change the faces paint as well as what clothing Snake wears throughout the course of the game. In the sub-menu, you will see just how beneficial the changes will be. For example, if Snake is in the heavily wooded area, he has a variety of different bonus that will be applied to your overall camouflage rating. You might have +5% applied with one while another that is better suited for desert conditions and using this style might actually take away from the bonus. This same idea goes into the clothing that Snake wears. You will also find different facial makeup and clothing in various areas in the game that can be used and even download them as Konami comes up with new ones, assuming of course you have Internet access. One other item of note is that if you are crouching or crawling in areas, this will usually improve your percentage of being hidden and remain undiscovered.

Now, you may be wondering exactly why the subtitle for the game is Snake Eater, and the answer is simple, and yet a little complicated as well. Stamina plays a huge part in the game, so if you over do things, you'll find that your accuracy is down when you fire weapons, you might run a bit slower, or you may not be able to hang from ledges quite as long as normal. In order to bring your stamina back to a normal level, you'll need to eat, and there are quite a few things that you will find that are edible, even though they normally shouldn't be. That tranquilizer gun that Snake always gets stuck having to use (and he gets it here as well) will help you put animals and insects to sleep so that you can cage them and eat them later. So, you might find Snake eating such delicacies as snakes of various types, rats, fish, birds, and even a spider or two. You also will find various foods of the normal, packaged variety and even some fruits and fungus. But, you also need to pay attention to the current state of the food. Live food will be fine, but some things might start to rot away, and this will make Snake sick. But, apparently Konami wasn't down with cannibalism. I still haven't found a way to eat one of my fallen foes, so try as I might to do a video game re-enactment of Cannibal Holocaust; it's not going to happen.

Healing has also undergone a complete overhaul. Before, if you were hurt all you'd need to do was use a bandage or anything else that you had on hand to put Snake in better shape, but it's a little more in-depth in Snake Eater. If you go into your sub-menu, there is an option for CURE. In here, you will see what Snake's current injuries are, and they will affect his overall performance. So, you may see in the CURE menu that Snake has a bullet wound. You'll need to bandage this, sterilize it, put ointment on it, and any number of other things. For things like arrow wounds, you might need to use your knife to dig out the arrow, or you may need to cut off blood sucking leeches. Healing goes far beyond just using a single cure-all item, and there are a lot of things to pay attention to. Also, if they are not done in the correct order, you may get a cut scene in the corner with Snake in some sort of pain while he tries to heal himself. But, this won't completely bring you back to full health; you'll need to save for that.

Just like in the other games, you will have a com-link option that will give you orders from higher up, let you save your game or get general information. Your interaction however will not feature facial animation. This is 1964; there isn't any type of visual means to transfer communications. But, you can flip through a series of photos that show you different images of your team members as well as a bio on them. You will also get an occasional photo regarding some current situation, weapons, locations, and so on. The one thing that we will learn here though is that apparently, Snake isn't a big movie fan. Para-Medic, she's the one you will talk with to save, always brings up films from Godzilla to It Came from Outer Space, but Snake hasn't seen a single one of them. There's a nice motion incidentally that 2004 marks Godzilla's 50th anniversary.

The amount of items you can carry has also been changed. In the past, if you found it, it was in your inventory, but now you must go into your backpack and select what items and weapons you would like to have immediately accessible. You can have eight slots for weapons or items that can be filled, and just like with the other games, hitting the appropriate R or L button will allow you to toggle the item or weapon on and off. It might seem like your limited, but that's not really the thing that I found. In fact, it's very easy to get things established in a very user-friendly fashion. However, make sure that if you're going to equip Snake's death pill (it will let him feign death to fool the enemy) you have the antidote grouped in as well.

The one main attraction with MGS has been the story, even the ones with a crybaby in the lead. Needless to say, Snake Eater exceeds the expectations that many have, and personally I think this is the best story yet. We get a good look at the life of Jack, or Snake (everyone else calls him that) and some of his training. The Boss believe it or not is actually a female character, and while you might think that Snake being trained by a woman might leave him a little weak, The Boss can handle her own and beats Snake down a time or two as well. There are also references to The Patriots and look for a young Revolver Ocelot to show up as well. Ocelot though is the name of the military unit that he belongs to, and ironically enough it's on Snakes suggestion that he starts using revolvers. If you've played the other games, it's a humorous little bit, and a nice nod to the later games, though you really have to wonder just how Ocelot has managed to survive as long as he has. There is also some reference to the Metal Gear project itself, but it will be a different type of monstrosity that you're trying to stop here.

Snake Eater also has those moments where you're second guessing who is really pulling the strings, especially when you add in an American defector, EVA, who you really know that Snake shouldn't be trusting. Then, there are the Son's of the Boss, and if you thought that the members of Dead Cell were nasty, they have nothing on these guys. These are some of the most deranged and disturbed villains to come along in the series, and these are of course your boss fights throughout the game.

Now, the next thing that fans might be wondering is how the game looks, and I can assure you that Konami has outdone themselves this time. Like with Sons of Liberty, some of the cutscenes will feature some actual video footage thrown in, and this adds a nice "real world" element into the game. The Metal Gear games though have never been about having flashy and expensive full CG moments so much as they have just used the same style of animation that you see throughout the game. Konami though has added in some of those little things that make the game fun. Example of this might seem like no big deal, like hair having movement when characters are running or turning their heads, or reflections in someone's eyeglasses, but gamers notice these things, and Konami knows this. I also enjoy things like seeing spent bullet shells on the ground that don't magically disappear, or going into a cave that is completely devoid of light. Konami also has set the game up so that during a cutscene, if Snake has a different outfit than in the past, maybe you've changed makeup or are now wearing a forest print instead of black, that will be reflected. And yes, there are a lot of cutscenes that you will find, and that is something that we all expect to see in the MGS games.

If the game itself starts to get to you, or you find yourself stuck, you can always play the mini-game, Snake vs. Monkey. It's a pretty simple concept, or is it? Snake needs to track down a monkey in the jungle without being made a monkey himself. But, this little bugger is smarter than your average snack, and it's going to take even more stealth that usual to trap him. There really isn't much to this, but it's a nice way to take a break for a while.

The one thing that I found to be a little on the negative side is that the AI doesn't seem to be quite up to par with the other games. I can remember running from an enemy and crawling under a table only to have them peek underneath and then open fire on me. I've managed to avoid that in Snake Eater, but then again, I've been playing the game as it should be, stealth, much more than with the other games. Believe me, that tranquilizer gun is one of the handiest things that Snake has in his arsenal, though I am of course very partial to the sniper rifle, and probably always will be. Aside from this one small thing though, there's really no other problems with the game at all, unless you count the lack of sleep I've already managed to receive because I can't stop playing thanks to a compelling story that I feel the need to trudge on just a little more in the dead of the night, or morning rather.

Let's bring this fact up one final time: no Raiden! Konami has learned their lesson, and from talking with many fans of the series, I know that he may have been one of the most hated video game characters of all times, and then once you have him running around naked, that adds to the dislike. Metal Gear Solid 3 however is a return to the days of Snake and it brings new glory to the franchise. Some might see the new additions as nothing more than a minor addition, but Konami has given us more than simply adding in a new move or two like we've seen time and time again with the Tomb Raider games. No, Snake is back and better than ever, and Snake Eater shows that Konami is out to continue improving the experience, not just cash in on it. Now the question what game do we get in the off year? I'm sure that the new MGS game in '06 will be a title for the PS3, and I'd like to throw in my thoughts for our game next year: a remake of the original Metal Gear. Forget about Splinter Cell or any of the other so-called stealth games that are on the market, Snake Eater has them all beat hands down and is simply one of the must own titles of the year.

-mike-