The Best PS2 Game Ever – MGS3: Snake Eater

Snake is the man.

I fully intended to write this review right after I finished playing Metal Gear Solid 3, but for some reason (i.e. laziness) I never got around to it. So, months later, and with most of the game receding from my memory, I’m finally writing my review.

Metal Gear Solid 3 is by far the best game in the franchise. Everything about it is pure awesome. Ok, well not everything. Sure, there were a few moments that annoyed me or pissed me off, but the product as a whole is so goddamn good, that it more than makes up for little problems. As you may already know, I hate pretty much everything, so the fact that I loved this game is noteworthy.

Watch out, asshole.

While the original Metal Gear certainly emphasized stealth, the first two entries in the Metal Gear Solid series were more pseudo-stealth than anything else. What I mean is that you got to sneak around for a couple of screens, but were then forced into an unavoidable boss battle, which left so much destruction that there’s no way the other bad guys wouldn’t be able to track you down. Anyway, my point is that Metal Gear Solid 3 actually allows you to finally use the much touted stealth aspect for lengthy periods of time. You can take multiple paths, creep through a variety of environments, and use camouflage.

Camouflage was probably the best new feature of the game. Based on the terrain, you could change your uniform to blend in, and even featured a visibility meter. This was clearly taken from the Splinter Cell series, but I feel it was a great improvement over those games’ light/dark meter. Other cool things they added was the necessity to hunt and kill/capture food to sustain stamina (which can subsequently spoil and give you a stomach ache), being able to use first aid on your body, a badass improvement in the fighting system called “close quarters combat,” and the ability to throw snakes at enemies to freak them out long enough for you to take them down. Now how fucking cool is that?!

Snake kicking ass with CQC.

The boss battles were forced, just like in the other games, but unlike the other games in the series, the battles were all an appropriate difficulty level, were separated with plenty of time in between, and were varied enough that each one was a lot of fun. The final battle against The Boss might just be the greatest fight in the history of video games.

The music was great, the graphics were good, the controls perfect, and the story was epic. (The periodic James Bond references were a nice touch, as well.) It takes place in the Cold War, before the events of any of the other Metal Gear games. What I loved was how it showed the U.S. government basically fucking everyone over, and showing us how Snake eventually goes rogue, as Big Boss, and decides to take them down (oops, spoilers!). Also, since this game takes place in the past, they forced you to use 1964 technology, so no sci-fi radar bullshit, which basically made everything more challenging.

U.S. game cover art.

There were a couple of things that annoyed me in this game. The biggest problem is near the end of the game you try to escape with Eva, and she is so goddamn hungry so won’t travel unless you constantly feed her. Give me a break. It was a lot easier to just tranquilize her, and carry her through the level. The other things that I found annoying were the typical extremely long story sequences, which could easily have been shortened, and when you are spotted by enemies, the alert status lasts waaaaay too fucking long.

Three gripes is pretty good coming from me. Those factors alone are definitely not a deal breaker. This is without a doubt one of the most memorable video games I have ever played. It was lots of fun, and has an extremely high replay value. Metal Gear Solid 3 is definitely the best game in the franchise, and probably the best game to ever grace the Playstation 2. If you haven’t ever played a Metal Gear game, go ahead and pick this one up. You won’t be disappointed.

Verdict: Awesome