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IGN Review of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
Every longstanding franchise needs an origin story; something that explores the roots of the characters and the beginning of the mythology. After all, George Lucas revisited the Star Wars Universe with an entire trilogy of films; Batman Begins provided a grittier, more realistic foundation for the Dark Knight; and the story of the "birth" of Solid Snake's nemesis Big Boss was told with Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. But apparently that wasn't enough. Creator Hideo Kojima decided to revisit his last effort to truly "complete" one of his two planned Metal Gear trilogies. With Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, Kojima has not only provided the "director's cut" of one of the top games of 2004, but has also given series fans a myriad of extra features... while simultaneously creating one of the best PlayStation 2 games ever made.
Of course, before I go any further, I have to mention that the sheer amount of gameplay in MGS3 is colossal and going over it all again would make this article far too long a read. With that in mind, I urge you to check out
IGN's original Metal Gear Solid 3 review for specific impressions regarding the source material's core gameplay elements -- we all share the exact same sentiments. Anyhow, on to the new game we go!
The first disc, called Subsistence, presents Snake Eater in its entirety with a number of tweaks. First of all, you're immediately presented with six difficulty choices. New to this bunch is the inclusion of European Extreme, which immediately ends the game if Snake is spotted by any guard. Needless to say, the additional difficulty level will challenge even the most expert player of the game. The biggest reason why this is significant is because saved games of the original Snake Eater will not be recognized by the Subsistence disc; in effect, the remix forces you to replay the title once again.
The added bonus of this return to the 1960s is that you have an opportunity to experience Snake's missions with a new camera perspective as well. The original title had a somewhat flawed top-down perspective that would only shift slightly to give you a different angle for in-game action. Subsistence, on the other hand, now provides a third-person camera centered behind Snake that can be rotated, tilted and panned around as much as you'd like. The addition of the new camera practically turns Snake Eater into a completely new game, and it can be toggled back and forth at the press of a button.
While I won't spoil any story points or the ending, I will mention that the final addition, which is called the Demo Theater, is great. This mode provides access to the numerous cutscenes found throughout the game. What's cool is that you can select one specific movie to enjoy, or even replay an entire section if you want, and you can even access a secret inexplicable moment that needs to be seen to be believed. What's also nice about the Demo Theater is that you can actively change the look of Snake in every cutscene. For instance, if you want your hero with zombie face paint and the scientist uniform, you can do it. If you want to watch him face off against a boss fight in a tuxedo, you can do that as well. It's relatively strange once you know what scenes are supposed to look like but it's cool to screw with all of them.
Persistence
The second disc, titled Persistence, is where the true meat of MGS3: Subsistence lies and where it accomplishes the unheard of task of being a better game. This disc is packed with lots of extra modes and features that will please any Metal Gear fan and newbies alike. Let's start out with the two most immediate bonuses, the inclusion of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Never before seen on North American shores (outside of enterprising importers) Persistence holds pixel-perfect ports of both MSX versions. This includes the true sequel to the original and not the bastardization that was known as Snake's Revenge and includes brand new English translations.
The sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was a title released only in Japan in 1990. The plot here brings Snake out of retirement by FOXHOUND to infiltrate Zanzibar Land, a heavily fortified territory that kidnapped a successful bio-scientist. By controlling the invention of the scientist, which is a new kind of energy form, the terrorists plan to hold the world hostage. While Snake tries to rescue the scientist, he also discovers that his last foe (still miraculously alive from their last confrontation) is in control of a new Metal Gear that he must destroy. It too is a solid game from the 8-bit glory days and it's a real treat to be able to play it for the first time all these years later.
Persistence also marks the return of Snake vs. Monkey with a few new maps, for fans of the simian catching game. But perhaps even funnier than that is the inclusion of the Secret Theater -- which features the comic work of the Real Time Demo Unit from the Snake Eater development team. Initially created as an internal joke, nine of the Theater clips were eventually released on the Snake Eater web site. The Secret Theater includes all of these items, as well as eight new joke spots lampooning the action and the characters of Snake Eater. This includes the E3 trailer from 2005 for Metal Gear Solid 4, which jokingly features Raiden continually seeking the director's chair of the "main character," only to be refused that honor by faceless guards and Snake himself.
However, the largest and most significant feature is the online mode, which provides multiplayer support for up to eight players using the Snake Eater engine. Five game types are included in the online play, including the standard Deathmatch and team Deathmatch modes, which can be played across 12 separate maps inspired by sections of MGS3. While they're not exactly ripped from the game, astute players will be able to recognize certain areas that you'll be fighting across. Players are also introduced to sneaking, capture and rescue missions, each of which are slightly different than what they first seem.
The Capture missions are team-based missions and task you with capturing a Kerotan idol (aka a frog), bringing it back to your squad's goal and holding it there for a number of seconds. This "Capture the Frog" game is relatively standard, although it can be particularly tense on some of the smaller maps where the goals are practically next to each other. Finally, the rescue missions are somewhat similar to that of "hostage" multiplayer modes in other titles; the red team is tasked with protecting a GA-KO (or rubber duck) until time runs out or the other side is eliminated. The blue team is tasked with taking the idol and returning it to their goal as soon as possible. If you're curious, Kerotan is definitely the office favorite.
Another wanted feature is used when creating a game: you can queue up to fifteen mission types, in any arrangement you'd like, to fight through, one after the other, until you've exhausted the list. You can specify certain sides that will fight through maps, such as the GRU, Ocelot or KGB, as well as the kinds of primary and secondary weapon types that can be used in each map. For the hardcore, you can literally restrict it to a knife fight and CQC (or close quarters combat) if you're so inclined. There are even special characters you play as.
Thankfully, the multiplayer mode takes full advantage of the third person view in the middle of a match, and the framerate is extremely stable and smooth. In fact, regardless of the number of people in our matches and whatever action they were performing, we weren't able to detect the slightest bit of lag through our numerous hours of play. The only strange thing we found were slight animation "cheats" where you could trigger a CQC combat accurately even if the victim was a couple of feet apart from your character, but these are minor hiccups that happened every now and then. There are a number of details from the single player game that stand out as well, such as blades of grass that break and flutter away as you run through them. This is easily what you'll wind up playing when you've mastered the story of Snake Eater.
©2006-03-10, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Of course, before I go any further, I have to mention that the sheer amount of gameplay in MGS3 is colossal and going over it all again would make this article far too long a read. With that in mind, I urge you to check out
IGN's original Metal Gear Solid 3 review for specific impressions regarding the source material's core gameplay elements -- we all share the exact same sentiments. Anyhow, on to the new game we go!
The first disc, called Subsistence, presents Snake Eater in its entirety with a number of tweaks. First of all, you're immediately presented with six difficulty choices. New to this bunch is the inclusion of European Extreme, which immediately ends the game if Snake is spotted by any guard. Needless to say, the additional difficulty level will challenge even the most expert player of the game. The biggest reason why this is significant is because saved games of the original Snake Eater will not be recognized by the Subsistence disc; in effect, the remix forces you to replay the title once again.
The added bonus of this return to the 1960s is that you have an opportunity to experience Snake's missions with a new camera perspective as well. The original title had a somewhat flawed top-down perspective that would only shift slightly to give you a different angle for in-game action. Subsistence, on the other hand, now provides a third-person camera centered behind Snake that can be rotated, tilted and panned around as much as you'd like. The addition of the new camera practically turns Snake Eater into a completely new game, and it can be toggled back and forth at the press of a button.
While I won't spoil any story points or the ending, I will mention that the final addition, which is called the Demo Theater, is great. This mode provides access to the numerous cutscenes found throughout the game. What's cool is that you can select one specific movie to enjoy, or even replay an entire section if you want, and you can even access a secret inexplicable moment that needs to be seen to be believed. What's also nice about the Demo Theater is that you can actively change the look of Snake in every cutscene. For instance, if you want your hero with zombie face paint and the scientist uniform, you can do it. If you want to watch him face off against a boss fight in a tuxedo, you can do that as well. It's relatively strange once you know what scenes are supposed to look like but it's cool to screw with all of them.
Persistence
The second disc, titled Persistence, is where the true meat of MGS3: Subsistence lies and where it accomplishes the unheard of task of being a better game. This disc is packed with lots of extra modes and features that will please any Metal Gear fan and newbies alike. Let's start out with the two most immediate bonuses, the inclusion of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Never before seen on North American shores (outside of enterprising importers) Persistence holds pixel-perfect ports of both MSX versions. This includes the true sequel to the original and not the bastardization that was known as Snake's Revenge and includes brand new English translations.
The sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was a title released only in Japan in 1990. The plot here brings Snake out of retirement by FOXHOUND to infiltrate Zanzibar Land, a heavily fortified territory that kidnapped a successful bio-scientist. By controlling the invention of the scientist, which is a new kind of energy form, the terrorists plan to hold the world hostage. While Snake tries to rescue the scientist, he also discovers that his last foe (still miraculously alive from their last confrontation) is in control of a new Metal Gear that he must destroy. It too is a solid game from the 8-bit glory days and it's a real treat to be able to play it for the first time all these years later.
Persistence also marks the return of Snake vs. Monkey with a few new maps, for fans of the simian catching game. But perhaps even funnier than that is the inclusion of the Secret Theater -- which features the comic work of the Real Time Demo Unit from the Snake Eater development team. Initially created as an internal joke, nine of the Theater clips were eventually released on the Snake Eater web site. The Secret Theater includes all of these items, as well as eight new joke spots lampooning the action and the characters of Snake Eater. This includes the E3 trailer from 2005 for Metal Gear Solid 4, which jokingly features Raiden continually seeking the director's chair of the "main character," only to be refused that honor by faceless guards and Snake himself.
However, the largest and most significant feature is the online mode, which provides multiplayer support for up to eight players using the Snake Eater engine. Five game types are included in the online play, including the standard Deathmatch and team Deathmatch modes, which can be played across 12 separate maps inspired by sections of MGS3. While they're not exactly ripped from the game, astute players will be able to recognize certain areas that you'll be fighting across. Players are also introduced to sneaking, capture and rescue missions, each of which are slightly different than what they first seem.
The Capture missions are team-based missions and task you with capturing a Kerotan idol (aka a frog), bringing it back to your squad's goal and holding it there for a number of seconds. This "Capture the Frog" game is relatively standard, although it can be particularly tense on some of the smaller maps where the goals are practically next to each other. Finally, the rescue missions are somewhat similar to that of "hostage" multiplayer modes in other titles; the red team is tasked with protecting a GA-KO (or rubber duck) until time runs out or the other side is eliminated. The blue team is tasked with taking the idol and returning it to their goal as soon as possible. If you're curious, Kerotan is definitely the office favorite.
Another wanted feature is used when creating a game: you can queue up to fifteen mission types, in any arrangement you'd like, to fight through, one after the other, until you've exhausted the list. You can specify certain sides that will fight through maps, such as the GRU, Ocelot or KGB, as well as the kinds of primary and secondary weapon types that can be used in each map. For the hardcore, you can literally restrict it to a knife fight and CQC (or close quarters combat) if you're so inclined. There are even special characters you play as.
Thankfully, the multiplayer mode takes full advantage of the third person view in the middle of a match, and the framerate is extremely stable and smooth. In fact, regardless of the number of people in our matches and whatever action they were performing, we weren't able to detect the slightest bit of lag through our numerous hours of play. The only strange thing we found were slight animation "cheats" where you could trigger a CQC combat accurately even if the victim was a couple of feet apart from your character, but these are minor hiccups that happened every now and then. There are a number of details from the single player game that stand out as well, such as blades of grass that break and flutter away as you run through them. This is easily what you'll wind up playing when you've mastered the story of Snake Eater.
©2006-03-10, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved