Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
Review
Time to eat some Snake
by JackCarter
reviewed on PC
A favourite
To be completely transparent, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater might be one of my favourite games, if not THE favourite game. It's no exaggeration to say that the Metal Gear franchise changed my life. As a kid, I'd always played video games, but mostly passively. Never did I delve past the surface; at the time, I was more into film and wanted to make my own movies. Video games weren't a medium for true storytelling, at least, that's what I naively thought, until a friend of mine traded a bag full of video games for a foil Pokemon card I had.
I had just received a PS1 for Christmas from my dad and had absolutely no idea what it was. It didn't have Nintendo or Sega on it, so I'd never heard of it. I needed some games, and just at the peak of the first Pokemon card craze, my friend wanted my card. It was a tough trade, and for a minute I worried I was being fleeced, but I went along with it. I really wanted to try out Crash Bandicoot - it looked like a lot of fun.
There was one game in the bag that I had never heard of: Metal Gear Solid. My cool older cousin, who had a mohawk and skated everywhere, told me I had to play it and sang its praises for being "cool." He told me about how, if you snuck through the vent fast enough, you could see Meryl in her underwear, in all her pixelated glory, or how Psycho Mantis would read your memory card and you had to beat him by switching controller ports. It seemed like all those old video game urban legends - but this one was real.
A career path
We played through it throughout the summer, and I had awakened to video games as a storytelling platform, a movie where you're the star, and I was hooked. Metal Gear Solid 2 came out, and, at least to me, it was amazing. I couldn't wait for MGS 3 when it was announced. When it was released, I pretty much locked myself away, barely sleeping until I finished it. Now, to this day, MGS 3 is probably the game I've beaten the most. I've played it several times over the years, through different versions - Subsistence, the HD Collection, the Metal Gear Collection, and more.
Metal Gear Solid is the reason I got my degree in Game Design, why I've made video games, and why I'm reviewing games now, over 25 years later. I wanted to put all this out there before getting into the real nitty-gritty of the game to give you some idea of what Metal Gear means to me. And if it means the same to you, great, but if it doesn't, that's okay too; this is just my story, and maybe it can help you see the magic in it the way I do.
The Changes
First off, let's go into the changes. Delta, in almost every way, is identical to Snake Eater, just with a new coat of paint. The most substantial changes are the controls, which update it for a more modern era. When Snake Eater came out, third-person action shooter controls weren't as commonplace as they are now (I mean, c'mon, we just got a second stick), and developers were still figuring out how to make them feel good. Delta still gives you the option to play it like it's 2004, but if this is your first venture with Big Boss, you'll probably have a better time with the new updated controls.
Also, the tranquilizer dart now has bullet drop-off, so you'll need to adjust your aim when shooting from a distance. Lastly, skip this part if you're going in blind for the first time, Snake's Nightmare has been completely redone, apparently by PlatinumGames. It's pretty good, too, and still completely missable if you don't know where to find it. Besides the updated graphics (more on that later), which look really nice, especially after the recent update - that's basically it for the big changes.
Now, to review Delta in terms of level design, story, or core gameplay is essentially to review Snake Eater, and for the most part, it still really holds up. Snake Eater is easily the most straightforward narrative of any of the Metal Gear games and, as of this writing, the best place to start story-wise if you're new to the franchise. It is essentially where everything begins, but it also adds depth and layers to the titles that came after it. It does exactly what a good prequel should - expand and add to the story without detracting from what came before. MGS 3 has twists and turns like its predecessors, but it probably handles them in the best way. They all have something to say, but this one says it the best. At its core, it is a story about betrayal, sacrifice, and loss. And it is still as poignant as it was over 20 years ago... well, mostly. There are moments of dialogue that feel a bit clunky - for example, when Volgin is savagely beating Snake while also monologuing about the super-secret and vitally important thing in the basement that nobody is supposed to know about. It comes off as extremely cliche, straight out of an old Bond movie. That might be fitting for the setting, but it still feels a little eye-rolling.
Looking the part
Graphically, Delta is top-of-the-line. The game keeps nearly everything exactly the same, just with a gorgeous new coat of paint. On Steam Deck, before the update, it looked as though a thick layer of Vaseline had been smeared across the screen - but afterward, at least in my experience, it ran well enough. It even looks surprisingly good on low settings. If you've played other Unreal Engine games, you'll recognize the usual bugs and glitches, though most of them have already been ironed out.
There are definitely aspects that haven't aged as well, particularly in the stealth system. I'm not talking about the camouflage mechanic — that still works pretty well — but the guard AI. More than once, I was in what should have been 90% cover, only for a guard to somehow spot me and immediately alert everyone nearby. It is hard to overstate how frustrating that is. It feels like a relic of its time, and later games improved on it — for example, The Phantom Pain uses a notice meter that shifts color as you get closer to being detected, then gives you a brief slow-mo window to react. By comparison, Delta's alert system feels archaic and inconsistent, with guards that are either completely blind or have eagle vision.
That said, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is still a welcome return to one of the greatest games ever made. Unless you specifically want to experience Snake Eater exactly as it was in the early 2000s, this is the version to play. It is the best-looking and best-playing release among all the ports, remasters, and remakes. If you've never played it before, it is an easy recommendation — Snake Eater has aged like fine wine, and Delta makes it taste just a little better.
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9.0
fun score
Pros
One of the best games gets new life with beautiful graphics and updated controls
Cons
Enemy AI and occasional dialogue seem archaic. Some graphical glitches hamper an overall beautiful game
