It hurts me to know we’ll likely never see another new Metal Gear Solid game. Despite the little Eater Eggs in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, that story has been left in the past. Being the best series I’ve ever played, I’ve been so excited to see what Konami would do with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. Considered by many to be the best in the franchise, this remake feels like plenty of quality of life improvements have been made. Despite these changes, it feels very much like the same core game that released over twenty years ago.
This isn’t a negative, it’s just a fact. The gameplay has been adjusted to suit these modern times. The visuals have been vastly improved to a point where it stands head and shoulders above the original. Regardless of these changes, it still feels rooted in the past. It’s as if Konami didn’t want to take any big risks with it, given it came from the mind of Hideo Kojima. Too alter it too much might make fans of the original unhappy. However, seeing the claustrophobic nature of the jungle become more of an open world could have done it wonders.
Enemies still follow the same paths as they once did. It’s incredibly faithful much to my sadness. Those stealth mechanics are restrictive in ways that still frustrate. Crawling through tall crass effects how much visibility you have. Being spotted leads to a few minutes of frustration as you try to evade an onslaught. The smallest mistake can cause a wave of bullets to rain down upon you. This might not bother the diehards, yet I consider myself one of those and it still bothered me quite a bit.
Just to put this out there, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is fantastic. While not my favourite in the series, it was still a masterpiece when it released in 2004. I still loved playing through this remake, despite my annoyances with how faithful it is. The new controls make combat much easier and give added precision to firing weapons. The over-the-shoulder aiming and ability to switch to first-person aiming helps with that. Another important addition is the ability to keep moving while crouching.
This significant addition makes stealth feel faithful to the genre. Simply dropping to prone never made any logistical sense. Now, avoiding enemies becomes that little bit easier thanks to this being added. While Konami has opted for small gameplay enhancements, they have gone all out on making Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater one gorgeous game. The environments, while restrictive, look stunning. The level of detail in the jungle and the creatures that live there is wildly impressive.
Character animations are excellent, but it is the level of detail on the bodies that stand out for me. With every bullet wound, snake bite, or other injury, Snake’s body wears its scars over time. Those healing mechanics are still here and are still a pain in the ass, but your struggles in the jungle now acts as a map of every enemy encounter you have. I remember sitting on the bed that once housed Sokolov during the Virtuous Mission and seeing just how impressive Snake looked in the moonlight.
The sweat and blood covering his body glistened in the moonlight. His body covered in the gunshots of a previous firefight, and the face and body paint smothered on his skin beginning to crack. Outside of these amazing little details, everything in Delta looks remarkable. Konami’s focus was clearly on recreating everything from the original to look infinitely better. The developer has also gone to great lengths to preserve details from the original that don’t quite sit right with today’s ideals. Choosing to change the camera angle to stare at Eva’s chest just felt a bit wrong.
The dialogue hasn’t been changed, and the story remains the same. Kojima still feels at the heart of it, but at the same time it feels as though he’s a ghost haunting the hallways. I remembered how it felt to fight The End all those years ago, now I’m avoiding his sniper once again two decades on. Feeling those same feelings, uncovering all the betrayal and mysteries all over again, yet it was like I was mourning a time when originality and brilliance ran wild.
For those who never played the original, this is a perfect remake in the sense little has changed. The gameplay adjustments make Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater a must-play. It looks incredible in every way. The cutscenes make it feel as though you’re playing through a movie, and it’s amazing to think this game originally came out so long ago. For purists, a lot of it remains unchanged. This is going to either be a blessing or a curse, but one thing is clear, Snake Eater is one of the most important video games of all time.
