Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Preview

By now you most likely know all the little details about Metal Gear Solid, so I’ll just touch upon those and get right down to how it was playing the demo at E3. Metal Gear Solid takes place in 1964 in a deep jungle setting. Details on the story are still not known, but during the trailer a young Revolver Ocelot makes an appearance…

There’s a new camouflage system in MGS 3, and it is a crucial factor in staying alive. You are able to change your camo and face paint at any time to match your environment, and in the upper right hand side of the screen it will tell you how well you are hidden. The lower the percentage the less you are hidden, and 100% meaning pretty much invisible.

Ok, now to the demo. It first opens with a very cinematic sequence featuring our hero “Snake” (they don’t specify which Snake or give names of any kind) getting ready to parachute into enemy territory. After during the drop, Snake loses his pack on a tree branch which leads into a quick tutorial on how to climb trees and navigate the thick jungle. Upon recovering the pack you will see it’s loaded with weapons. From handgun and knife combos to fully automatic weaponry, it’s all there. It looked like it could be the largest arsenal available in a Metal Gear game yet.

The equip system works like it did in prior Metal Gears, except since you are carrying so many weapons in your bag you must first take it out of your bag to be able to equip it. You can only have so many weapons out of your bag at a time, so you must analyze the situation and decide which variety of weapons will be needed.

Before you encounter any enemies you encounter wildlife. It’s everywhere, and some of the animals you really have to look for. The first animals I spotted were hard to miss; crocodiles - lots of big crocodiles hanging out around a huge muddy swamp. The next creatures I ran into in this area were leeches, and if you spend too much time in the swamp you’ll be covered in these little guys. There are tons of animals, and though I saw a few, I noticed that they are so well integrated into the environment that it felt like a real jungle. Snakes will slither through the grass as you just catch a glimpse of their tail before they disappear, or little tree frogs hopping along the ground that you can easily miss if you’re not looking for them.

The animals aren’t just for show; however, they act as your rations. If an animal is shot, it disappears and leaves an item behind. This is how you stay alive; by eating the animals of the jungle. There’s even a data viewer where you can look at all the animals you’ve encountered. It’s amazing how much detail was put into all of this, since there are more than 3 different species of crocodiles. They could have just used one model for a crocodile, but they went the extra mile to add that amount of detail.

The graphics are stunning – and it’s easy to see that they surpass that of MGS 2 or even Twin Snake’s graphics. Mud actually sticks to Snake when coming out of a swamp and grass reacts to him as he runs or crawls through it. As you can expect all the player models are incredibly realistic as well. Enemy soldiers’ react realistically to Snake and use the same tactics as you’d expect from professionals.

Close quarters combat, or CQC, plays a huge role in Snake Eater. I didn’t get much of an opportunity to try it out, but the trailer Konami played showed Snake take on an entire team of enemy units with just a knife. It was pretty amazing. There is a whole lot more Snake can do as far as taking hostages as well. He can even hold them up while they’re on the ground.

I really wish I would have had more time with the Snake Eater demo, but what I got to play was simply amazing. The jungle is completely open and non-linear, so some exploring will be required. It’s still unknown if there will be a lot of indoor environments, but I did see a small outpost in the demo. Snake Eater plays completely different than any of the other Metal Gear Solids, and requires a lot more strategy and awareness (since there’s no personal radar system…it’s the 60’s). Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater comes out this November for the Playstation 2.          

For All E3 2004 Previews