METAL GEAR SOLID Δ: SNAKE EATER

Игра что надо. Отличная. Играется с удовольствием.

MGS plot peak

There is a reason that the original Metal Gear Solid 3 is one of my all time favourites. When this was initially revealed, I was skeptical; I lost pretty much all faith in Konami after the Survive incident. Even though they were remaking one of the best games ever, I had a feeling they'd find some way to screw it up. Thankfully, these concerns were unfounded. Metal Gear Solid Δ is an absolutely fantastic retelling of the 2004 masterpiece. It manages to maintain not only what keeps that game amazing but modernize some of the more rigid systems, whilst still not straying too far in order to maintain the vision and intent of the original. The updated graphics are brilliant; this is how I remember the game looking as a kid. Thick jungles teeming with creepy crawlies, dank claustrophobic tunnels and intimidating rocky mountainsides are just a couple of the types of areas you'll have to navigate your way through, all whilst competing with attentive enemy patrols, traps, and often times nature itself. The gameplay here is just immaculate. Sneaking feels intuitive and practical in every scenario; you are given so many options, weapons and tools to make use of, and some of these areas are pretty huge if you want to explore them fully, and you are regularly rewarded for your curiosity. You get just enough leeway with enemies spotting you and sounding the alert to adjust yourself back into a hiding spot if you were a bit hasty, but not so much that you "get out of jail free" if you're completely careless. That is not to mention the boss fights which are all distinct and memorable. Some are definitely a little weaker than others (personally I don't think much of The Fear) but they all at least are easy enough to understand, with the game having readable explanations within a couple of menus if you get really stuck. This whole game just feels so intuitive and easy to understand; as an example even as someone who's played the original to death (so maybe I am biased on this point) I've never been fully able to grasp CQC in that game; it always felt just a little too finnicky to always reliably get Snake to grab and throw someone for a quick knockout, but in this game it just feels natural, snappy and satisfying. The shooting also has had a little bit of a makeover in the "new style" making bosses that rely on heavy gunplay (the Shagohod comes to mind) feel like their definitive versions; this feels like how these sections of the game were always meant to be played, which is exactly what a remake like this should aim for. To mention nothing of the story and characters would be doing a massive disservice too; there's so much to talk about here, but the main point to make here is that everything has been preserved; this is still a spy-action movie made into a game, with many memorable characters, funny interactions, and Kojima's patented layered storytelling with many moving background parts, all wrapped up into understandable (but also sometimes quite long) monologues by very well voice acted characters. It's not mentioned a lot in the context of video games, but the directing on these cutscenes is so good too; the camera work specifically always stands out as something that is always so well done, with some really awesome shot composition complimenting every scene. This game's ending still makes me cry; the story of Snake is a tragic one, with that final scene in particular forever etched into my memory. It felt so good to play this game again after completing it so many times as a kid on my PS2. They really got this remake right; they kept all the good stuff good (most of the game was already pretty much the best a stealth game could get), and polished up the slightly more clunky stuff. The result is probably the best stealth game ever made, and another masterpice entry into this forever culturally relevant series. If you haven't played it yet, you are seriously missing out. Outstanding. 10/10