Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (commonly abbreviated
MGS3) is a
stealth-based game directed by
Hideo Kojima. It was
developed by
Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and
published by
Konami in
2004 for the
PlayStation 2, and was well-receieved publicly and critically, selling 3.75 million units worldwide
and achieving an average score of 91% from
Metacritic.
While it is the third game in the
Metal Gear Solid series, it is actually a prequel to the entire
Metal Gear series. Set in
Cold War-era
Russia, the story centers on
Naked Snake as he attempts to rescue a weapons designer and sabotage an experimental superweapon.
Whereas previous games were set in a primarily
urban environment,
Metal Gear Solid 3 adopts a 1960s
Soviet jungle setting.
The
high-tech, near-future trappings of
Metal Gear Solid 2 are replaced with the simple wildernes, but while the setting has changed, the focus of the game is still on
stealth and
infiltration. The series still retains its self-depreciating,
fourth wall-breaking sense of humour.
's gameplay is based heavily on
camouflage. A meter called the "camouflage index" displays the character's visibility, on a scale from negative values (highly visible) up to 100% (completely invisible). The player is able to put on various uniforms, such as "Tiger Stripe" or "Olive Drab", in conjunction with
face paint, in order to increase this camouflage index. There is also a fake crocodile head to wear. Hideo Kojima has included a "Naked" camouflage, which renders the player character shirtless. This function is for "
Rambo" type players, he says.
The emphasis on weapons is higher than in previous installments of the
Metal Gear series. In the game, the
player has access to a shotgun, pistols, various automatic rifles, and grenades. This way, the player character can choose whether to focus on evading enemies or a full-frontal assault.
The game is set in the jungles of Cold War
Russia, so the environment is a big part of the game. The player can climb trees, hide under grass and swim in rivers and ponds. The player must also live off the land by hunting animals and eating edible vegetation, to increase health stamina, which is drained during gameplay.
The events of
MGS3 take place during the
Cold War in
1964, in the jungles of the
Soviet Union. The player takes the identity of a former U.S. Special Forces (
Green Beret) and
CIA operative, codenamed "Naked Snake", who is sent to the USSR to rescue a defecting Russian scientist and destroy an advanced nuclear-equipped tank called the "
Shagohod".The story unfolds in two parts: the
Virtuous Mission and
Operation: Snake Eater.
Virtuous Mission
On
August 24,
1964, an operative of the newly formed American covert FOX unit is aboard an
AC-130 flying over
Tselinoyarsk, Russia. The FOX unit commander, Major Zero (aka Major Tom), briefs the operative on the mission he faces. He is to enter a secret Russian research facility and retrieve an
asylum-seeking scientist,
Nikolai Stephanovich Sokolov, who was returned to the Soviets as part of a secret bargain to resolve the
Cuban Missile Crisis. The operative, now code-named Naked Snake, executes the world's first
HALO jump into enemy territory.
Snake familiarizes himself with the area and the members of the FOX unit, then proceeds to the ruined research facility, OKB-754, to meet Sokolov. As Snake and Sokolov begin to make their way to their extraction point, they are ambushed by
KGB operatives and held at gunpoint. The KGB agents are then surrounded and killed by the
Ocelot Unit, part of a rogue
GRU faction intent on capturing Sokolov for themselves. Snake, using his hand-to-hand
CQC techniques, manages to disable all the Ocelot Unit members while Sokolov escapes.
As Snake catches up with Sokolov, they spot Sokolov's nuclear equipped tank,
Shagohod, undergoing testing on a nearby mountain. The pair begin to cross a
rope bridge to the extraction point when they encounter a woman, Snake's mentor, codenamed
The Boss. Snake is surprised by this meeting, as he had been told that The Boss was serving on a
Permit class submarine in the Arctic Ocean.
The Boss reveals to Snake that she has decided to
defect to the Soviet Union. While this is happening, Sokolov is captured by members of her
Cobra unit. The Boss carries with her two miniature rocket propelled nuclear shells known as
Davy Crocketts, which, along with Sokolov, she intends to give to
Colonel Volgin, her new ally. Volgin is a member of
GRU and, like the Ocelot Unit, is also part of the "Brezhnev Faction", an extremist faction in the Soviet Army which seeks to topple the government of
Nikita Khrushchev and install
Leonid Brezhnev and
Alexey Kosygin in his place.
Volgin appears while The Boss is talking with Snake and tells her that Snake must die, since he has seen Volgin's face, and so that their plan to overthrow Khrushchev won't be revealed. Having perfected CQC herself, The Boss throws Snake off the bridge and into the river far below.
Snake, left for dead, drags himself out of the river and performs first aid on himself while waiting for extraction by the FOX unit aircraft.
Volgin, Ocelot and the Cobra Unit make their escape in several
Hind-A helicopters, with the Shagohod in tow. From his helicopter, Volgin fires one of the Davy Crocketts, despite Ocelot's protests, unleashing a nuclear explosion which destroys Sokolov's research facility.
Operation: Snake Eater
The FOX unit's
gunship was detected by Soviet
radar as it rescued Snake, thus implicating America in the nuclear attack.
President Johnson informs Khrushchev that the legendary American soldier, The Boss, has defected and is planning to topple Khrushchev's rule, and that it was her new faction which was responsible in the destruction of the research facility. Khrushchev gives Johnson one week to eliminate The Boss in order to prove its innocence, and thus, on
August 30, Snake is once again tapped and is deployed into Tselinoyarsk by a
D-21 drone launched from an M-21 (a modified
A-12 Oxcart). Whilst in hospital after the Virtuous Mission, Snake is informed that there will be fatal consequences for much of the FOX unit if the mission fails, and that it would probably also start a nuclear war.
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The Boss disarms Naked Snake as he returns to Tselinoyarsk |
Snake's first objective is to meet with ADAM, one of two former
NSA code breakers who had defected to the Soviet Union in September
1960. Along the way, The Boss corners Snake and tells him to quit the mission and go home. Snake ignores her warning and the two face off. The Boss disarms him, disassembles his
M1911A1 pistol, and disappears. When Snake finally arrives at the designated rendezvous point at Rassvet (where Snake originally found Sokolov in Virtuous Mission), he meets a woman on a motorcycle rather than ADAM. Snake asks her the pass question ("Who are the Patriots?"), but she is unable to answer ("The
la-li-lu-le-lo"). Instead, she quickly fends off a group of
KGB soldiers who ambush them. She then says that she is EVA, the other defector, and that ADAM wasn't able to come to the meeting. She gives Snake a new pistol, as well as a scientist disguise that will help him infiltrate
Volgin's bases.
After another brief encounter with
Ocelot, and then
The Pain, Snake heads to Graniny Gorki, a research laboratory under Volgin's control. According to EVA, Sokolov is being held there while he completes the Shagohod. Once inside the facility Snake finds the head of the OKB-812 Granin Design Bureau, Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin, driven to drink by jealousy of Sokolov's fame and access to research funds. In their conversation, Granin reveals that Sokolov is not being held there, but gives Snake a key that opens a door which leads to the mountains, where he will be able to access a hidden tunnel into Volgin's fortress, Groznyj Grad, and rescue Sokolov. Snake then proceeds backward and through a vast jungle where, in the process he encounters and defeats both
The Fear, in trap laden clearing, and 100 year old sniper
The End in the jungle itself.
Snake makes his way into the Tselinoyarsk mountain range where he meets EVA in a hut overlooking Groznyj Grad. From here Snake witnesses Volgin kill Granin, suspecting him to be a spy. EVA further helps Snake sneak into Groznyj Grad.
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Snake is caught and tortured by Volgin‎ |
After defeating former
Cosmonaut The Fury, the final member of the Cobra unit, Snake infiltrates Groznyj Grad and succeeds in contacting Sokolov. While meeting, they are caught by Volgin. Both are taken prisoner and tortured, costing Sokolov his life and Snake his right eye. During a break in the torture, Snake escapes Groznyj Grad through its sewer system. Snake meets up with EVA, who returns the weapons and equipment Snake lost when he was captured. He then prepares to return to Groznyj Grad, to destroy the Shagohod and stop Volgin's take-over plot.
Snake once again infiltrates the fortress and succeeds in planting enough
C3 explosive to bring the complex holding the Shagohod to the ground. However, the explosion fails to destroy the Shagohod and Snake and EVA are forced to flee on a motorcycle. Volgin chases them in the Shagohod, which proves to be his undoing. Using an
RPG-7, Snake disables the Shagohod and, when Volgin emerges from the tank, he is struck by lightning and killed. Snake and EVA prepare to make their escape to Alaska, but Snake is confronted by The Boss. She reveals that her defection was an elaborate set-up designed to get The Philosophers' Legacy, the wealth of the most powerful families from the United States, the Soviet Union and China, from Volgin and return it to the United States. She tells Snake that he must complete his mission; he must kill her and take the Legacy back with him. She and Snake will thus have one final battle; whoever wins will inherit the title of "Boss". They duel and Snake ultimately prevails. He returns to the United States with EVA on a ground effect plane (a stolen
VVA-14). EVA leaves in the middle of the night, but not before revealing that The Boss knew that she had to die for America to prove its innocence, meaning she died for her country. Snake is then granted the
Distinguished Service Cross and the title of "
Big Boss" by President Johnson. Snake then visits the anonymous grave of The Boss, a patriot who will forever be reviled by the country she gave her life to protect.
The Philosophers
The Philosophers were originally formed by some of the most powerful, wealthy, and influential families from the
United States, the
Soviet Union, and
China. Through various means, they attempted to control the future of the world, believing that they were doing it in the best interest of all humanity. One of these means was the establishment of the Philosopher's Legacy, a secret fund of one hundred billion dollars established by the respective members in order to further the Philosopher's plans. Between
World War I and
World War II, the Philosophers controlled almost all political aspects of their respective nations. The core of the Philosophers, the Wisemen's Committee, controlled such things as who would be elected or placed in position to govern their member countries. Due to this influence over the government officials, the Philosophers ultimately controlled the countries themselves. After World War II, the members of the Wisemen's Committee began to die off and the national branches of the organization began to split from each other. In
1970 (six years after the events of Operation: Snake Eater), the American branch, with funding from the newly-acquired Philosopher's Legacy, separated completely from the Philosophers and changed their name to
the Patriots.
The Philosophers' Legacy
A massive fund was collected during World War II by various powerful and influential individuals in the United States, the Soviet Union, and China, collectively known as "the Philosophers". The fund, named the Philosophers' Legacy, was worth over 100 billion dollars (when currency values are compared, $100 billion in 1945 would today be worth over $1 trillion, and in 1964, it would be worth around $600 billion). After the end of World War II, the Philosophers broke into three national factions and all three branches were desperate to get the Legacy for themselves.
Volgin's father was one of the persons assigned to manage the Legacy, and had devised a plan ensuring full Soviet control. To prevent anyone from tracing it, the funds were divided and laundered through banks all over the world, including Switzerland, Australia, and Hong Kong.
In Groznyj Grad, Colonel Volgin shows Snake a case of microfilm, and tells him, "This is the Philosophers' Legacy." The microfilm actually contains a financial record of all transactions Volgin's father made when the Legacy funds were divided-up. Operation: Snake Eater, while initially focused on the Shagohod, is actually about this fund. At the end, it is revealed that only half of the money has made it back to the United States (Ocelot reports that the other half could be with the
KGB). Eventually, the American Philosophers recover the entire Legacy, leading to their official separation from the Philosophers and the forming of
the Patriots (as discussed in
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty). In the process of eliminating Colonel Volgin (and later The Boss), Snake acquires the Philosopher's Legacy from The Boss and he and EVA flee together. The following morning, after EVA and Snake share a romantic interlude (during which she may have drugged Snake), EVA leaves a recorded message revealing her true identity; she is an agent of the Chinese branch of the Philosophers. She tells Snake she has the Legacy, but she is in possession of a fake microfilm. EVA returns to China believing she has the Legacy for her faction. The United States has, in fact, managed to acquire the Legacy after all. A common theory is that the Legacy was actually in the hands of Ocelot, aka ADAM, who is in fact a
double agent working for the American branch of the Philosophers (and through them, the CIA). Ocelot never mentions that he has the Legacy, or ever acquired it. It is most likely that Snake himself was the one that returned the Legacy to the United States, after letting EVA make off with a fake.
Like the other games in the series,
Snake Eater was a hit and has sold 3.75 million copies worldwide.
The reaction for
Metal Gear Solid 3 among
English-speaking fans was also considerably higher than that received by
Metal Gear Solid 2. Fans who were disappointed with having to play as
Raiden in
MGS2 were pleased to be playing as Naked Snake in
MGS3, a character that strongly resembled the series protagonist Solid Snake. Fans, as well as some critics, who also found
MGS2's lengthy dialogues and multitude of
plot twists detrimental to the game experience found
MGS3's storyline a pleasing throwback to the original
Metal Gear Solid due to a more straightforward plot and relatively fewer dialogues. On the other hand, supporters of
MGS2's
postmodern approach to storytelling found the new game's plot to be overly "dumbed down", in an attempt to mold the game to more mainstream audiences after the mixed reaction to that found in
MGS2.
Critical response
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was well received by the media, and was given high scores by some of the most prominent gaming critics. Gaming website
IGN awarded a 9.6/10
and
UK-based
magazine Edge, who are known for their relative harshness in reviews, rated it 8/10.
, who granted it an 8.7/10, commented that the game is "richly cinematic" and "a great achievement".
hailed it as "probably the best Metal Gear Solid game yet",
and
Eurogamer called it "overwhelmingly superior to MGS2: Sons of Liberty" in their review.
Reviewers had mixed opinions about the game's camoflage system.
Edge commented that "laying, camoflaged, in short grass inches away from a patrolling enemy is a gripping twist on stealth,"
while
GameSpy criticised it as "just a number to monitor and not a terribly interesting one".
Out of the variety of new features,
GameSpot called it "[the] most important and best implemented."
The game has also been criticised for it's low
framerate, which has been reduced to 30 (compared with
Metal Gear Solid 2's 60).
s cutscenes have been called "visually exciting and evocative, beautifully shot" by
Edge. They did, however, comment that the script "ranges from awkward to awful" and "not up to the standard of other games.
said that some of the humour "falls flat, as if lost in translation from Japanese" and "should appeal to ... hardcore fans but ... takes you out of the moment".
's composing duo of
Norihiko Hibino and
Harry Gregson-Williams return for
MGS3, providing material for both
cut scenes and the game itself. After
MGS2, Gregson-Williams joked that he would compose for the sequel if it was set in the Amazon as he was tired of composing scores for high tech/industrial settings; he was reportedly pleasantly surprised when he discovered the actual setting. It's been rumored that Kojima told him the game was set in the jungle so he would compose again, but this is unconfirmed. Hibino provides the game's opening theme, "Snake Eater", a distinctly
Bondish vocal track which also appears in the game proper, as performed by
Cynthia Harrell. Composer and lyricist
Rika Muranaka provides a song called "Don't Be Afraid" which is played during the ending for the game. The song is performed by
Elisa Fiorillo. Gregson-Williams provided a new
"Metal Gear Solid 3 Version" of
TAPPY's
"Metal Gear Solid Main Theme".
In a break from tradition, one of the ending themes of the game is not an in-house production, but
Starsailor's "Way To Fall".
Hideo Kojima later revealed in his blog that he originally wanted to use "
Space Oddity" and "
Ashes to Ashes" (by
David Bowie) for the ending themes because of the space race theme of the game. But that theme was eventually almost scrapped from the game. One of his colleagues then advised him to listen to Stellastar, but Kojima heard "Starsailor". He liked the song "Way To Fall" and chose it as an ending theme.
|
Premium Package box and contents. |
Like
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty before it, the
Japanese release of
Metal Gear Solid 3 was held back for nearly a full month after the
North American version. In contrast to the previous
Metal Gear Solid titles, there weren't many differences between the Japanese and American versions in terms of content. However, the Japanese version featured more downloadable camouflage patterns through the official website beyond the initial three offered in the American version. This includes a
New Year's pattern, a
St. Valentine's pattern, an Urban Tiger camo and even a
rainbow pattern. New patterns could also be downloaded from related products, such as the
CD soundtrack and the
Snake Eater CD
single. Customers that purchased the game from WonderGoo (a Japanese retail store) could download an exclusive WonderGoo pattern by bringing a
memory card and the receipt of their purchase to the store.
Like the first two
Metal Gear Solid titles, two versions of the game were released in
Japan: the standard version and the "Premium Package." The Premium Package came with the actual game (along with a reversible cover art on the DVD case), a 400-page text booklet (titled
R), a visual booklet (titled
L), a DVD video and a 1/144 scale model of the
Shagohod.
For the
European release, Konami added several new features such as additional
face paints based on various European countries' flags (as well as the
United States and Japan), a new difficulty setting (European Extreme), a Demo Theater (allowing the player to customize Snake's appearance in previously-viewed cut scenes), a Duel Mode (where the player replays boss battles from the main game) and additional
Snake vs. Monkey stages. Many of the downloadable camo patterns from the Japanese version were added to the European website. The camo patterns from
The First Bite preview CD (
DPM camo and Green face paint) can be unlocked in the European version by clearing Duel Mode instead.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
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The North American cover of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. |
Released
December 22,
2005 in Japan (and later released
March 14,
2006 in North America and scheduled for a fall 2006
PAL release),
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence continues the
Metal Gear Solid series tradition of follow-up
enhanced international version releases. While
Metal Gear Solid: Integral included a disc of one-off skill challenge missions and
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance included similar skill challenge missions and a series of side-story missions,
Subsistence eschews the extra single-player missions to include two older
Metal Gear games, a brand-new competitive online mode, and a significantly-changed camera in the main portion of the game.
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Team Battle mode: a KGB soldier hides from his GRU opponent. |
Subsistence's online multiplayer component, titled
Metal Gear Online is comprised of five
tournament-style game modes, each with a capacity of up to eight
players. This mode pits players, each playing as a generic soldier against each other in
deathmatch battles, using stages, items, maneuvers, and units (such as KGB, the GRU or the Ocelot unit) from the main game. Each round, the highest-scoring player in each unit assumes the role of one of the main characters (or
Reiko Hinomoto of
Rumble Roses) with unique abilities and/or items.
Subsistence also includes updated versions of
the series' first two games:
Metal Gear and
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. While these games were originally released for the personal computer, the versions included with
Subsistence are based on the 2004
mobile phone releases of these two games, and include enhancements such as new character portraits drawn by
Metal Gear Solid series artist
Yoji Shinkawa, more-accurate names for non-Japanese characters, and clearer images for items.
In addition to the older games and the online mode,
Subsistence includes many minor features common to international version releases. It includes several extra "Snake vs. Monkey" stages that were previously exclusive to the European release, camouflage and face-paint designs previously exclusive to the European and Japanese releases, the European Extreme difficulty level (a much higher difficulty level added in the European release), connectivity with
Metal Gear Acid 2 to allow the transfer of photos taken in-game, deleted cutscenes dubbed into English, and parody cutscenes and trailers from the official website. "Limited Edition" copies also include
Existence, the game's
cutscenes edited into a three-and-a-half-hour
feature film with additional scenes and
remastered sound. The "Limited Edition" package was only availiable to consumers who pre-ordered it before the game's release, and even then there were only a limited number of these versions produced.
Metal Gear Saga Vol. 1
A bonus
documentary DVD video titled
Metal Gear Saga Vol. 1 was
bundled with
pre-orders for
Subsistence in
North America and with the European
Platinum reissue of
MGS3 released in Germany on
March 23,
2006. The disc includes a five-part, 30-minute
featurette about the entire
Metal Gear series interspersed with an
interview of
Hideo Kojima, as well as
trailers for various current
Metal Gear games.
*
List of Metal Gear Solid 3 characters*
Official site at Konami*
MGS3 Gamespot page*
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater at MobyGames*
Metal Gear Week on 1UP.com, with Hideo Kojima interview
