The overarching story is a let-down, and many gameplay mechanics don't work nearly as well as they should have.
The previous chapter in the Metal Gear universe was Sons of Liberty, which detailed the Big Shell incident, a chain of events that began with the terrorist takeover of an offcoast oil refinery and – in typical Metal Gear fashion – develops into something far more bizarre and complex. Sons of Liberty actually puts the player in the shoes of Raiden, an inexperienced, effeminate character instead of the series' usual hero, Solid Snake, an unprecedented move that was perceived by many fans as one of the biggest outrages in gaming history.
MGS3 puts you back in Snake's shoes, though in many ways he's not really the same man from before. That's because Snake Eater is actually a prequel, taking place before the events in the previous titles. The year is 1964, and Cold War tensions are at their highest. A rogue Soviet colonel is developing a nightmarish weapon of unimaginable power deep in a hidden base in a Russian jungle, and it's up to you, as Snake, to put an end to it.
If that sounds pretty clichéd, it's because it is. Sons of Liberty was often criticized for having an over-convoluted plot, and as a result, the story has become considerably more straightforward this time around. For the most part, there are no grand revelations; no spectacular shifts in allegiance – it gets to the point where it almost doesn't really feel like MGS anymore. It's nice to have a little constancy, but it also seems to make for a disappointingly dull and predictable story. To its credit as a prequel, Snake Eater does throw a few interesting twists on existing characters and established Metal Gear canon, but more often than not you'll just scratch your head and wonder how we ended up with a MGS storyline with a largely absent sense of urgency.
What's more, most of the characters Snake encounter in his adventure are shallow and boring this time around. Your usual bunch of charming radio support pals from the previous games aren't around yet in this era, so we're introduced to a bunch of dry, unlikable stock clichés ultimately with little bearing in the overall Metal Gear canon. Every time you save your game, you'll get a character insisting on blathering to you about trendy 60's movies in a self-referential, tongue-in-cheek way that just seems like the writer's wants to show off. Another regression compared to the previous instalments: the game's assortment of boss characters are visually formidable, but feature a disappointing lack of depth, with little reason to exist other than to provide some interesting opposition for Snake.
Snake Eater's pre-release promotional trailers seems to summarize the previous two MGS games with single rhyming words "MEME" and "GENE", for the first and second game respectively. This game's buzzword is apparently "SCENE", which is strangely a propos –- sometimes it feels like the like the entire story was conceived with the emphasis first and foremost on memorable scenes at the expense of actual overall cohesion. And just like other games that sandwich in extravagant action cinematics between difficult gameplay segments, MGS3 begs the question: if Snake can really kick so much butt, why does he have to spend tireless hours hiding and dodging enemy patrols?
Not that these cutscenes aren't excellent, because taken individually, they feature incredible production values, camerawork, cinematography, and action choreography to rival even Hollywood's most intense and over-the-top action derring-do. Here's where Snake Eater's graphics really shines: wispy lighting creates an ethereal atmosphere and textures are crisply detailed. But the real stars of the show are the characters, who animate realistically (thanks to extensive motion-capture work), have detailed facial expressions, and sync-up to their uniformly excellent voice actors. Hollywood veteran composer Harry-Gregson Williams' excellent score compliments the action perfectly. The action itself is stylish, unique, and supremely memorable. Too bad it all just adds up to a whopping load of style and not a whole lot of substance.
Before its release, there was a great deal of ballyhoo about Snake Eater's "survival"-themed new gameplay features. The biggest change is the new Russian jungle setting, which swaps MGS' usual metallic colour palette for something greener and organic. The jungle looks stunning, sounds lush, actually feels alive, and is generally a lot more immersive than environments in previous games. It also allows for Snake Eater's new gameplay innovations in the form of the camouflage index and food system.
Snake now has different uniform patterns and face paint he can wear that make up his total camouflage index, a numerical value on the screen that indicates how detectable Snake is to the enemy. The index changes depending on his camouflage's compatibility with immediate surroundings, his stance (running, crouched, prone, etc.), and it can also temporarily drop when making noise, like when firing a gun. This is probably the best of MGS3's gameplay additions.
The food system comes with Snake's new ability to hunt from wildlife, forage fruits, or collect rations from enemy warehouses. It's not as fancy at it sounds, because all it takes is shooting the animal/fruit and picking up the item. Different types of food have different effects, and for the most part they go towards some measure of refilling Snake's stamina bar.
The stamina bar is another new feature in Snake Eater, constantly depleting slowly that weakens Snake the lower it gets, making it more difficult to aim, or improving his health regeneration speed. The abundance of magic insta-cure rations of Metal Gear tradition are gone, so there's no easy way to refill health except for downing tasty munchies and waiting around for a bit (alternatively, you can actually save, shut off the Playstation 2 and do something else for a few hours). It's really not such a major change, though, because in most cases the stamina bar really takes awhile to deplete, and there's always wildlife aplenty scattered around the jungle. In the end, hunting and eating feels like a novelty more than anything else.
The least successful of Snake Eater's new gameplay elements is the possibility of getting injured and having patch Snake up on the field. In many cases, when Snake is hit with a severe blow, a chunk of his health bar will turn red, which indicates an injury requiring medical attention. Pressing START and going into the Cure menu, you can extract bullets from wounds, apply burn ointment, administer antidotes, sew up gashes, or set splints, but likely a combination of several of the above, because many injuries require you to execute several procedures before Snake's 100%.
It's a cool concept, but it's not executed all too well, firstly because it's grossly unrealistic, even considering all allowances provided to Metal Gear's patently goofy video-game take on realism. Being able to pause a firefight to instantly yank a few bullets out of Snake's leg is pretty silly, without wondering how he was able to run around with them lodged inside in the first place. Secondly and worse, it's incredibly jarring to have to constantly pause the game, wade through a series of menus, perform the necessary cures, exit the menus and resume the game. You'll have to plow through a myriad of screens with the camouflage and food systems too, but you're much more likely to find yourself using the cure function during a heated battle, so it ends up really hurting the pacing and tension.
Snake Eater's archaic camera system also makes sneaking around quite difficult this time around. Since a great deal of action takes place in outdoor environments this time around, you'll find yourself wanting to see farther than the 5 meters radius that the top-down camera offers. This hasn't been so much of am issue in previous titles because you had the radar to rely on, but MGS3 takes place before the Soliton radar system is invented. And since enemy soldiers are now able to see beyond the old 3-meter vision cone (this in itself is definitely an improvement), this makes for constant toggling between the stationary first-person view, and many frustrating instances where you get the unwanted attention of the enemy patrols that you didn't actually see.
When faced with dangerous situations, Snake has plenty of ways to defend himself. During his journey through the jungle, he'll come across a wide array of enemy munitions ranging from tranquilizers to grenades to assault rifles. He can fire in third-person view, switch to stationary first-person for greater precision, and can even use the iron sights on the guns to manually line up shots for the best accuracy. When shooting in first-person, his aim will sway depending on his stance and his stamina. In MGS3, Snake's also an expert at CQC or close-quarters-combat, which is just a fancy name for the introduction of a few new moves in his melee arsenal. In addition to the basic punches, kicks, and grabs we've seen Snake do before, he can slam enemies to the ground to instantly knock them out, hold hostages while still wielding a pistol, interrogate captives at knife-point, and so on.
Though Snake Eater does have a steep learning curve and requires a good measure of patience, all these gameplay elements of disparate quality somehow still manages to come together as tense and terrific during the sneaky stealth bits. It's immensely satisfying the first time you discover the tactical utility of overhanging beehives, or when you successfully dodge your way through an guarded area like a shadow without a trace.
Sadly, the magic stops working as soon as the enemy spots Snake and the game goes into full-on shooter action mode –- streams of endless enemies start piling in from all directions, the camera flinches back and forth as you struggle to get your bearings, Snake takes entire magazines' worth of lead in the face and keeps on chugging, and you wonder if you should give up the tactical approach entirely and start mindlessly charging ahead, blasting anything that moves. Disappointingly, this ends up being more effective most of the time, and you end up with a MGS game where stealth is so oddly unnecessary.
If this review was a lot to take in, that's because Snake Eater itself is a big game. Not in terms of length or scale, but in the sense that the gameplay has faceted nuances and the narrative chronology convoluted. To its credit, Metal Gear never stops being ambitious, and though the technical aspects are a resounding success, the overarching story is a let-down, and many gameplay mechanics don't work nearly as well as they should have.