Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, Windows PCs (Steam Deck OK)
Current goal: Settle into a new game

I’m going in on two games this weekend if all goes according to plan. While I will be spending some time revisiting Siege this week in anticipation of the big update in a couple of months, I’m also going to go back and play some more of a game that I don’t get along with too well: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

Yes, I may be quick to say to friends, “MGS3 sucks,” but I do think it’s a good game—just not a good game for me. Snake Eater lacked a lot of what I came to love about the series from MGS and especially MGS2. It seems a bit too drunk on its own lore (which it contradicts in various ways from previous games) for me, and the survival mechanics, while neat in concept, slowed the pace down for me too much. I also prefer stealth games in urban environments, usually with tons of walls and corridors to sneak around. Snake Eater’s jungles always left me feeling too exposed. Also, why do these Russian soldiers have American accents? MGS2 was accurate with the accents. Breaks my darn immersion.

Truth is, though, it’s been some time since I’ve really dug my fangs into Snake Eater for an extended period of time, and I’m feeling it’s necessary both to revisit my old opinions about the game to either refine or revise them and to get a sense of this classic stealth title ahead of the remake arriving later in the year. And yes, I’ll be playing whatever the hardest difficulty the recent re-release allows me to enable.

Prove my memories and old opinions wrong, Snake Eater. — Claire Jackson