Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

[Vince]

So I picked this up two days ago, but with only one TV in the house, 5 other roommates, and 9 hour workdays, I haven't been able to play much. Just got finished with my first 2 hours of playing...

...and all I can say is wow. This game is phenomenal. Graphics are superb, the story is amazing, and the gameplay seems quite realistic -- if you're spotted, you're in deep trouble, and you can't just run away and hide in a corner; the guys will follow you even into other areas.

For those unfamiliar with the MGS line, here's some info.

3rd-person action-adventure game. You're a military special forces type guy, but the emphasis is on stealth, not strength. If you go in guns blazing, you're going to get killed. The trick is to sneak around, crawling through tall grass when the sentries aren't looking, etc. Without playing spoiler -- the game is set in the 1960s, just after the Cuban Missile crisis. You, Snake, are sent into the jungle in Russia on a mission. You run around through the jungle, responsible for hunting for your own food, treating your own injuries (such as broken ribs, lacerations, broken arms, etc). Neither of these things is a pain (yet -- I haven't played much yet ), as they are implemented quite innovatively. Injuries are handled in two ways -- normal damage (when someone shoots you, etc), and serious injuries such as lacerations and broken bones. When these occur, you need to disinfect cuts, suture them up and bandage them, or splint and bandage broken bones. The only experience I have with these types of injuries are scripted ones, so I'm not sure how they all work. However, the ones I've seen are healed immediately upon fixing (apparently splinting and bandaging a fractured rib is enough to heal it immediately), so this isn't quite realistic for what I've seen. If you don't treat serious injuries, you will never heal from the damage they cause, while normal injuries will heal over time (faster if you have more stamina). The necessity of food is implemented quite well as well. You have a life meter and a stamina meter. your life meter goes down when you are hurt, obviously. While you are running around and performing actions, your stamina meter slowly diminishes. Lower stamina results in many things -- unsteady hands while aiming a gun, slower healing rate, less oxygen when underwater, less strength with which to hang on to a ledge. Eating replenishes your stamina, and depending upon what you eat, you get more stamina back. So far, the only hunting I have done is to stab a snake or rat with my hunting knife, and one time I knocked down a hornet's nest, which I am able to eat but haven't yet. I've heard later in the game you can set snares and traps, but haven't been able to do that myself yet.

If you aren't into storylines, however, you might have a problem with this movie -- I mean, game. So far my save game has about an hour and fifty minutes of 'playing time,' while I've actually had MAYBE 15 minutes of actual game play. The rest has been cinematic scenes which have been absolutely dazzling, and quite informative in terms of the storyline. Since this game is set in the '60s, and the first two have been contemporary, it's doing a very good job of explaining things and setting up what appears to be a quite well done story. I'm extraordinarily excited about this game, and can't wait to fire it up some more.

Now that I'm done rambling...feel free to offer your own opinions

[DeToxRox]

This game is unreal. The graphics are the best I've seen for any game. The things you can do, and all the different ways there must be (based on how you play the game) to beat the game are unreal.

This is just awesome.

[TargetPractice6]

Heh, I've been trying to catch you online to talk about this Vince. I got it on Thursday and started it yesterday. I was wondering if anybody that as the game is having issues with the sound skipping during radio calls. I'm not very far in the game, but I difinitely noticed some of this in that first long call near the beginning of the game.

[Vince]

TP -- same here on both counts. The sound doesn't skip badly, and at first I was wondering if I was just hearing things, but you confirming it makes it clear that it is indeed happening. What have you thought so far about the game though? I can't wait until I get to fire it up again (I might have to go buy another TV so I don't have to worry about the damned roommates in the front room).

[TargetPractice6]

Originally Posted by Vince

TP -- same here on both counts. The sound doesn't skip badly, and at first I was wondering if I was just hearing things, but you confirming it makes it clear that it is indeed happening. What have you thought so far about the game though? I can't wait until I get to fire it up again (I might have to go buy another TV so I don't have to worry about the damned roommates in the front room).

I haven't gotten very far, but I like it. Not having the trsuty radar seems like it will make things much more difficult. I've already been seen a couple times trying to sneak around without being able to see the enemies' field of vision. And since silencers wear out I've been much more reluctant to take shots. I really like this since in MGS2 I found it much too easy to just pick everybody off in the room.

[Vince]

Heh. The first time through that first portion, I completely forgot I even had the gun. It took me so many tries re-loading the game to figure out what I was doing wrong. I got really good at avoiding guys though One question I had for you -- have you been able to get the fake death pills to work? Every time I try to use one, it just kills me. I don't get it...

Thus far it's been an absolute blast, even when I kept getting spotted. And the cut scenes...wowzers. I think I'm just now past the introductory portion of the game, and that I'm going to get into actual gameplay -- we'll see the next time I get to boot it up (probably tomorrow night).

[TargetPractice6]

I haven't tried the fake death pill yet. I figure there will probably be a time when I need to use so I'm going to hang on to it.

I've found the new CQC moves somewhat difficult to perform. Usually I press the O button too hard and end up slitting the enemie's throat before I can try anything else. And you have to press square to use the guy as a human shield, but it's pretty difficult to keep your finger on O and press square at the same time.

I love the new setting though. It's quite the opposite of MGS2 in which you spent the entire game in man-made structures where everything had straight edges. The jungle has a great look to it and really seems alive. I love trying to hide in the grass to avoid enemy patrols only to realize a giant anaconda or croc is moving right in front of you. There are even butterflies and birds flying around. And I thought it was hilarious that you could shoot a beehive and the bees would attack the enemy patrols nearby. It's definitely a more interesting place than the Big Shell.

[Vince]

So true. I just got through a nice session tonight -- about 3 hours (we won't talk about going all-in with pocket Queens after you catch a queen on the flop only to be up against a made K-10 offsuit nut straight who called your large pre-flop raise on the third hand of a tournament). Things are starting to fall together a little bit -- I'm getting a much better feel for what I can get away with as far as proximity to enemy soldiers. Fought a few bosses, too. Sadly, they have been quite easy to dispatch, though entertaining as they require a little thought and different tactics to defeat. I'm starting to wish I had selected the Harder difficulty level (I'm at Normal), but now I'm too far into it to start over. Ah well

[MikeVic]

I don't have a PS2, but I've played it a bit at a friend's house. Well, the monkey catching thing at least. That's a fun option.

[TargetPractice6]

I find myself killing just about every guard in this game. In MGS I'd usually just avoid guards and not do anything with them. In MGS2 I'd usually use the tranq gun to take them out. However, without the laser sighting it's harder to aim in this game and usually the guards can call for backup before the dart knocks them out. So this time around I've mainly been sneaking up on guards and using the CQC moves to either kill them or knock them out depending on how close I am to an exit.

[TargetPractice6]

Dola

I'm also hoping there is some way to unlock a demo theatre. I'd really love to be able to watch some of these cut scenes again.

[Vince]

One of my favorite moments so far --

I creep up on a guard standing still by an electrified fence in the jungle. From a prone position, I put a tranq dart right in his ear, and he goes down immediately. However, the SECOND guard, standing about 5 feet away, whom I didn't see, reacts to his buddy going down. "What the hell?!!" So I panic a bit, but manage to get a dart into his upper arm. He runs behind a tree -- "HQ, please respond!" I follow, and get another dart into his head before he can get any further, and he goes down. "This is HQ. What's the status?" ... "They're not responding. Patrol, go check it out!"

Well, now I'm in trouble. Some guys a few hundred feet away past the fence start running over. I sneak around and find a hollowed out tree stump that makes a little cave -- I duck inside. The only entrance is facing away from where the two downed guards are. The two new guards come around and see the two downed guys -- "What the hell?!!? He must be around here somewhere!" And they start searching...it was a hectic two minutes...one guy even came around to the front of the tree stump...but he was a good ways away at that point as he had fanned out during the search, and my camoflage had been enough to keep me hidden. It was exhilirating

[TargetPractice6]

I really love the radio team this time around. I think it's the best in a Metal Gear game yet, and inifnitely better than the MGS2 support team.

Try calling Sigint when you have a box equiped. Also select the 'naked' camo and call him.

[TargetPractice6]

Man, the ending of this game made my head spin.