When playing Metal Gear Solid 3, you will get a completely different experience than what you get from other MGS titles.
Gameplay : In my opinion, the gameplay is the most improved factor from MGS2 to MGS3. To begin with, the areas you play through are much more interactive, in a sense of being able to climb trees, capture various animals and plants in their specific habbitats, run into electric fences... (not very smart, but quite fun), accidently activate trip wires which trigger traps, etc. That's just the beginning, thanks to Motosada Mori, Metal Gear Solid's own Military Adviser, who has added in CQC (Close-Quarters Combat) to MGS3. CQC is definitely the most entertaining of the new additions. With CQC, you are able to encounter enemies at close range and still be able to defend yourself. By using the Left Analog Stick, in conjunction with the Circle button, you are able to execute several useful techniques. Some of these include using your Survival Knife to interrogate enemies to hand over information, and others where you are able to use one enemy as a human shield as you take out others around you. The gameplay also fits the new era of the Cold War to a very good scale. The weapons you use now don't have any laser sight, you no longer have radar, and weapons equipped with surpressors will, eventually loose thier silence, and you will actually have to find a new one! The stealth category of the game has reached a new level, you can now STALK, which is moving even more stealthly and quietly than when you walk! This new feature is very much needed, as the enemy's AI has greatly increased. Now, no matter where you run or even walk, the enemy can hear your footsteps if you get too close, this is where stalking comes in. Also, a new gauge has been added under your life gauge. This is called the Stamina gauge, which depletes at a certain speed, depending on how much equipment you are carrying in your inventory, so be sure to place any not needed weapons and items in your backback. If your stamina drops too low, you can replenish it by eating food. There is food all around you now, in the form of animals and plants. You can interact with nearly any animal or plant you find around you. To capture animals or plants for food, simply tranquilize them, shoot them, or rip out your survival knife and gut them! All food you capture can and WILL eventually spoil over time, with the exception of animals that you tranquilize. Some animals/plants are posionous and will make you sick. Which brings up the next category of gameplay, the CURE menu. Snake is much more "fragile" now, meaning his flesh can be burn and his bones can break. With the Cure menu, you can heal yourself whenever this happens by using a fairly simple system of items and tools. If you don't take care of your wounds, sooner or later, you will start loosing stamina much faster. The final major factor in gameplay is the new camouflage system, which is indicated by index percentage at the top right corner of your screen. Your camo index is determined by the type of uniform and face paint you are wearing, in your specific environment, and whehter you are running, walking, stalking, crawling, standing, crouching, or in the prone position. You can use specific costumes, in conjunction with face paints to help blend in with your current surroundings.
Graphics : The graphical quality of Metal Gear Solid 3 is just so amazing good. It's another pretty big jump from the MGS2 graphics, as everything in the game feels more alive. All the characters now have very realistic emotions in their face expressions, body movement, and how they interact with objects and their environment. Every area you enter is about 2 to 3 times as large as the areas from MGS2. The environments also look very crisp and detailed, to where I found myself being distracted by the beautiful landscapes throughout the game. The models of the characters, weapons, items, animals, objects, etc. are just spectacular and very well done, with alot of attention to detail. All the environments you play through feel alot more interactive and alive. All the animals in the game have their own, unique AI and move around however they please. When you walk through the grass and water, you can see ripple effects forming where you moved. If you see a fruit, or a beehive on a tree, you are able to shoot it down, where the sound of it hitting the ground will lure the enemy over, giving you time to sneak up behind. Alot of the the graphical features in the game are little quirks that you come to really appreciate when you see how much effort Kojima put into making sure that everything looked and felt realistic. Such as if you shoot a guard and leave him alone, he will begin to patch himself up so he can function again, or when firing at an enemy near a wall, or down towards the floor will leave blood splatter than looks just awesome. The only reason that I don't give the graphics a perfect 10, is because the game slows down at times. I found these times to be when you are locked in an intense battle and there are alot of enemies unloaded bullets at you, or when alot of objects are exploding around you. This mostly happens to me when I, or the enemy throws gernades and/or when nearby barrels exploding that ingulf myslef, or the enemy in flames. But this small, fixable problem is just overwhelmed by the mass of quality of everything else that is going on in the game.
Sound : Harry Gregson Williams is back with another inspiring theme song to Metal Gear Solid 3. What really pulled me into Metal Gear Solid 3, like the previous titles, was the intro theme from the first few trailers that were shown back at E3 2003 and 2004. The music and sound effects are definitely one the greater qualities of all MGS titles. All the weapons sound exactly like should, as if you were back in 1964. Every footstep you take, whether it's on grass, asphalt, tile, water, wood, brick, cement, etc. sounds very similar to if you were really walking on these surfaces. And the voice acting is as superb as ever. David Hayter is back with the voice of the main character, Snake. Ocelot's voice actor, Josh Keaton does a great job of making him sound more younger and naive than the Revolver Ocelot we have all come to know and fear. Then there are voice actor's like Lori Alan, who plays the voice for The Boss, but doesn't do such a great job. When you first meet The Boss over the codec in the Virtuous Mission, Lori's voice acting sounds poor and "overdone" in a way, but she improves over the course of the game. So, the sound is basically perfect in my opinion, because I never found myself saying, "Wtf?! That doesn't sound the right.." or never noticing the sound and feeling as if it's just something that's there, but instead, I always found myself mesmerized by music theme playing just at the right moments, the sound effects of guns going off or objects exploding around you, and the voice acting that is followed through to the end when the credits finally roll.
Value : Metal Gear Solid 3 will stay you with it for a good 20 to 25 hours on your first play through. I never found myself rushing through the game at all on my first time through it. I took my time everywhere, and just enjoyed all the new features the game had to offer. Alot of people complained that Metal Gear Solid 2 was just derived of gameplay, and you were just watching movies and listening to codec conversations the whole time. However, in MGS3, you get alot more chances to just play the game and enjoy. There is a pretty big introduction to the game where you're introduced to all the main characters and discover your mission and everything, but after that, there are huge gaps between the next movie scenes and codec conversations where you can just play the game. MGS3 is just a really good combination of story and gameplay, unlike MGS2. The replay value in MGS3 is surprisingly better than that of the previous titles. If you overlooked some face paints or uniforms, you could always replay the game, after you beat it on the same file and pick them up. Then there are hidden secrets you can go back and pick up, like the Tsuchinoko, a very rare and hard to find snake and if captured alive will reward you the Infinity Face Paint. Then there are all the Kerotan Frogs spread around the game, which are hidden, small toy frogs that you can shoot to earn the Kerotan rank and the Stealth Camo, at the end of the game. There are also many ranks available to you, depending on if you've completed the given requirements to get that rank, by the end of the game. The game will keep you busy for a good while with these gameplay extras, and many more that are available when playing and after you've completed it.
Reviewer's Tilt : Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is without a doubt, one of, if not the best game of 2004 and should not be missed by any fans of the series. The game is also, in my opinion the best Metal Gear Solid game in the series, simply by all the new features that have been added to the game. And if you aren't a fan of Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid titles, this would be the perfect time to become one and begin by playing through Metal Gear Solid 3. You see, since MGS3 takes place in 1964, and MGS and MGS2 take place in early 2000, you could play each of the games in chronological order from MGS3 to MGS to MGS2, which is a good way to go, but most recommend playing in the order that the titles were released, because you learn the basics of the game in MGS, where in MGS2 they throw more strategic situations at you, and in MGS3, they expect you to know everything any MGS fan would. Metal Gear Solid is also one of those games where either you like it, or you hate it. If you enjoy stealth and action/adventure games, then you will most likely love Metal Gear Solid. If you hate to move around slowly and quietly, and enjoy games where you don't have to use any strategy whatsoever, there are some parts of MGS that are for you, but more of the game is based on stealth, navigation, and strategy. So, if you're not a fan of the series, the least you could do for yourself, is to go and rent this masterpiece to check it out, I promise you that you won't regret it.