I give my life Not for honor, but for you (snake eater) In my time there'll be no one else Crime, it's the way i fly to you (snake eater) I'm still in a dream, snake eater
lyrics to MGS3 title song, Snake Eater
Another lovely game I have managed to play and finish is the very cool Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, or MGS3 for short.
I've not tried the Metal Gear series before... I have my reservations. My gaming TV is a tiny 14" CRT with only 1 sound speaker. Yes I finished MGS3 in a mono sound environment with a tiny TV! Thinking back, I am astonished I managed to pull it off.
MGS3 reprises the series' hero, a stealth agent named Snake. Much of the games focus is on sneaking and springing the element of surprise. You can go around like a doofus and try to do away with your enemies with brute force, but there's no fun in that. Close Quarters Combat (CQC) is the main arsenal in this game. With a revolver or knife, you can do so many things to put the hurt on your opponent. Knock him out, choke him, use him as a meat shield, interrogate him...
Another major arsenal is the tranquilizer gun. A lot of times, this is the preferrable weapon. If an enemy is brought down using tranquilizers, they are knocked out quietly and do not raise alerts to their comrades. You can also use this special gun to hunt for food. Animals captured in this way can be stored in cages, which means they will still be alive and kicking when you devour them. If not, the "food" can rot, and if eaten later, will lose its efficacy and cause you a tummy upset.
Another big part of the game is staying healthy. You got to eat right, else you get tired and can't aim your gun properly. You got to treat serious wounds, else you cannot recover to maximum strength. Realism can get stretchy here... I mean, there is one point in the game, that Snake sustains several broken bones and cuts, but is still able to perform stitches and surgery on himself. That's the escapism of games right? Don't be so cynical, Jack. By the way, Snake's real name is Jack! All the cool characters are always named Jack.... yes, yes they are.
Camoflauge can be obtained by defeating enemies, or picking them up whilst in the mission field. Heck, not every camoflauge is actually meant to be worn as clothes. You can even use cardboard boxes to give your enemies to slip! This was really hillarious, and I couldn't help but laugh out loud when trying this out.
A lot of times, enemy bosses can be dealt with in 2 ways: Drain their life with attacks that wound them, or drain their stamina by shooting tranquilizers at them. If you take the time to drain their stamina, you will usually be rewarded with some amazing camoflauge items. Some make you totally invisible, some restore stamina, some make you soundless...
Oh yeah, the other cute feature of this game is that during the cut scenes, you actually are able to take control of the camera view to a certain extent. So there's this one scene with a female agent, Eva, and she's by a campfire, and she's crawling towards Snake, and she's...
Go play the game and find out yourself.
Some dislikes.... Ocelot. Oh man, after the second time watching him twirl his guns, I wanted to smack his head. It just looks too flashy and showy to be stomached.
The other major sticking point with me is that, the First Person View (FPV) requires you to remain stationary. You can imagine how much tougher this makes precision shooting during boss fights. Is this part of the challenge mechanism? All I know was this was such a major pain during the final fight with Snake's mentor, The Boss. Not only is her speed more than double of Snake, her CQC skills are higher too. If you do manage to knock her off her feet, you want to capitalise on her down time and pump some lead or tranquilisers into her. A lot of the time, you may not be able to see her due to your viewing angle. Plus you can't take your sweet time... the fight with The Boss is five minutes tops. Else Soviet MIGs will bomb you to kingdom come.
Of course, do take into account my frustration is probably highly due to the small TV and mono sound that I am playing the game with.
Other than the above, I'll say I had a great time with this game.
Verdict:
Gameplay: *****
Music: ****
Graphics: *****
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