huameow
New User
Nov 23, 2004, 6:25 AM
Post #1 of 1
(1448 views)
Shortcut
|
|
METAL GEAR SOLID 3 : snake eater - REVIEW
|
Can't Post
|
|
The setup is nothing new - every Metal Gear plops you in the middle of nowhere wth only your wits (and maybe a few smokes) to get by. But Snake Eater delivers on the survival-and-conquer premise like never before. Staying hidden via stealth and camo, picking off the enemy one by one, living on captured snakes and fish, prying bullets out of your body before sewing up your wounds - John J. Rambo would be proud.
One thing I cannot stress enough: Patience is absolutely required to appreciate MGS3's unique new features. For example, almost any time you get hurt, you need to stop the game, and head to the cure subscreen to spread ointment on burns, stitch up cuts, or mend broken bones. Innovative and definitely realistic, but when you're hurrying or in a boss fight, constantly switching to a menu can be jarring and annoying. Likewise, swapping different uniforms and facepaints to camouflage yourself is great fun - lying in wait for an enemy perfectly hidden in the tall grass is what it's all about - but it also requires switching to a subscreen.
Luckily developer Konami added a great reward for staying stealthy - my favorite new feature, the close quarters combat (CQC) system. Get close enough to grab any enemy and your options are astounding: Slam him to the ground, interrogate him, slit his throat, choke him unconcsious, take him hostage, etc. - all these moves are executed with amazingly lifelike animation. Sure, you could gun your way through the whole game and never bother with CQC, but for those of us who know the thrills of true stealth gameplay, MGS3 offers an impressive deep end worth diving into.
And the graphics...oh my, the graphics. Snake Eater's outdoor environments are huge, bigger than anything Metal Gear Solid or any other console game has done before, yet detailed down to individual blades of grass. Seriously, at times it's hard to believe this game is running on a PS2 - it would still be a feat for the Xbox. All the open space does come with a price, though. The irregular natural terrain and the fact that the new sonar radar doesn't show walls or where enemies are looking make it difficult to locate and keep track of bad guys. Metal Gear's top-down camera is not up to the task, so the player must constantly switch to first-person view or slowly crawl everywhere just to play it safe. I hate to say it, but I think the time has come to kiss the traditional view good-bye and embrace a more (dare I say?) Splinter Cell-style camera.
As for the biggest complaints about MGS2 - its bland, androgynous hero and convoluted story - MGS3 puts the series back on track. The plot is still filled with crazy twists, bizarre dialogue (one boss "meows" to call his troops), but the overarching plot is as exciting and unpredictable as a great popcorn movie. Add in tos of secrets, a bewildering array of different ways to tackle bosses, optional cut-scenes and minigames, and the overall polish Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima is known for, and you have one of the PS2's best games.
(This post was edited by Mod on Nov 24, 2004, 9:43 PM)
|
