The only Metal Gear game I’ve ever played is Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance on the Xbox. I enjoyed the title, but I’ve never completely understood the draw of the Metal Gear franchise. I enjoy the games, they’re solid and fun, I’m just not a huge fan of the series. After spending a short amount of time with Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D at a recent Nintendo press event in Toronto, the Metal Gear series might just have a new fan.
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D is a faithful remake of the original PlayStation 2 classic. This means little to me (I never had the opportunity to play the original title), but fans of the franchise will love how faithful Konami’s remake is to the original title. Snake Eater is a stealth action title, so if plotting calculated attacks on enemies isn’t your idea of a fun time, then the entire Metal Gear franchise probably won’t appeal to you. For those who love carefully laid assaults, this is your bread and butter.
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Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D also features a health system that monitors specific injuries on Snake’s body. If you break your arm, you’ll need to find a way to patch it up. The game’s stamina system also forces you to be constantly on the lookout for food to keep Snake alive.
Graphically, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D is a little disappointing. A few months ago a number of gaming publications complained that the game’s environments and characters looked blurry and that the colour pallet made the entire experience too dark.
Not much has changed. While the environments look beautiful, the entire game seems to be under some sort of haze (it’s almost like I’m playing without glasses on at times). It would have been nice to see more of a graphical update on the newer hardware.
The title’s new 3D effect works well, but doesn’t exactly add to the game. I’d need to spend more time with it before deciding if it actually affects gameplay. The only other big change to this remake is the ability to change weapons and items with the 3DS’s touch screen.
My main complaint during my short play-through was with the game’s controls. The Circle Pad Pro set up wasn’t available at the event, so an awkward control scheme that uses the 3DS’s A, B, X and Y buttons as a means of controlling the game’s camera was featured instead. This method of controlling the game is adequate, but isn’t ideal and I couldn’t help but wish for another joystick.
This latest iteration of the Metal Gear franchise seems like it’s shaping up nicely. Metal Gear Solid 3D Snake Eater is coming out in North America on February 21, 2012.
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