Bite-Sized Review - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Snake Eater’s initially finicky pressure-sensitive control scheme and cumbersome introduction to its new camouflage, hunting, field surgery, and hand-to-hand combat systems gradually peels back to reveal a Metal Gear Solid experience at its most broad, tactical, and experimental. Moving the series to the great outdoors opens up the stealth toy box in a way previous games in the genre have only hinted at and that few can match to this day. Whether poisoning an agile boss with purposefully spoiled food or distracting a group of guards by shooting down a hornet’s nest, Snake Eater is a game that invites deconstruction and experimentation.
A particularly long-winded prologue can try the patience of all but the most narrative-minded player, but the most charming codec support team in the series’ history goes a long way towards thawing the ice. A big-hearted mess of a game, its occasionally clumsy execution is easily forgiven in the wake of its open-ended stealth, its slavish attention to detail, and the focus and poignancy of Big Boss’ Cold War-era origin story.
