I’m going to have trouble putting into words what makes this game fantastic.
Metal Gear Solid 3 sees director Hideo Kojima perfecting the game’s formula. The mixture of film styles and narratives that was introduced in MGS1 and overplayed in MGS2 now find perfect balance, creating a unique combination of real-world and fantasy elements. What is at first a seemingly formulaic sixties spy thriller becomes a strange animé mindfuck, Hollywood action movie and an emotional tale of love and retribution all at once.
The length and number of cutscenes may make Snake Eater seem like an interactive movie, but there is a suprisingly deep and tactical game of survival underneath. The game has a strange duality of realistic cutscenes and overly “gamey” gameplay, with the trademark “!” appearing over alerted soldiers, and enemies providing unlikely audio cues (”Wait, I thought I heard something over there!”) to assist players. It is surprising how much tension is increased with the removal of the radar.
As for the cutscenes themselves, they are the best yet to be seen in the series. This can partly be attributed to the inclusion of not just one of the coolest videogame characters ever, but three. Naked Snake, Young Ocelot and The Boss possess such screen presence that it rivals that of Hollywood A-List’ers. The story that is told through these cutscenes is an incredibly involving, thrilling, and heartfelt tale of overzealous patriotism and bitter loss. The ending to this game is the best ending I have ever seen come out of this industry, period.
The only game that could even possibly hope to come close to achieving what Snake Eater has is Metal Gear Solid 4, but this remains to be seen.
The greatest theme ever.