Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
By: Andrew Hayward |
Tuesday April 04, 2006 |
| Metal Gear 3: Subsistence is a PS2 exclusive that redefines the classic stealth gaming experience. It's got all-new game modes, including a new online game mode. |
| Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater released in late 2004 to the expected chorus of critical acclaim, yet despite decent sales, it didn't set the gaming world on fire like its predecessor had. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty ushered the series into the next generation, creating an unparalleled gaming experience that combined cinematic storytelling with the best graphics anyone had seen up to that point. While Snake Eater once again upped the ante for graphic quality on the PlayStation 2, there seemed to be a real lack of enthusiasm among gamers.
For me, it was the jungle setting. While I'd loved the previous Metal Gear Solid games, I just wasn't that interested in camouflage and well, eating snakes. Also, while the previous games had been set in recent times, Snake Eater is set in the 1960s, an era far removed from my own. I bought the game a few months after its release, yet it did little more than sit on my shelf for a year. Enter Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. 
Konami had released a special edition version of the second game (Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance) and intended to release one for the third. While Substance only added extras outside of the original game, Subsistence contains a substantial change to the Metal Gear Solid dynamic: a fully controllable camera. Another huge addition is an online mode, the first time that Metal Gear has been playable online.
Considering these huge improvements, I opted to trade in the original game and dive head-first into Subsistence. What follows is a two-part review, including a quick history lesson as the intermission. The first part is a full review of the amended Snake Eater mission, as many still have yet to experience this game. After that, I will discuss the re-release culture in gaming, and then end by discussing the heap of extras that are contained within Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. Snake Eater Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is actually a prequel to every previous Metal Gear game, taking place in the jungles of Russia, circa 1964. Obviously, you won't be playing as Solid Snake, protagonist of nearly every other Metal Gear game to date. You'll play as his father, codenamed Naked Snake (and known as Big Boss in future games). If you don't think about it too hard, you'll assume it's just Solid Snake anyway: they look alike, they sound the same (thanks David Hayter!), and they have similarly cold personalities. The game is set in the middle of the cold war, as nuclear tensions are raging across the world. Snake has been covertly dropped into enemy territory to rescue a nuclear scientist that wants to defect to the United States. All seems to be going well, until you're ambushed by Snake's former mentor and lover, The Boss. It seems as though The Boss is defecting to the Soviet Union, and she's not going to let Snake get in the way of her plans. This serves as an introduction to a thrilling, 20+ hour narrative that explores the very depths of politics and human interaction. Longtime fans of the series should know that not everything is as it seems, and not everyone should be trusted or distrusted. One man's traitor is another's national hero. Unlike any game before it, Snake Eater emphasizes the fear felt in this past era, and the things people were willing to do to advance their agendas. And while the ending certainly answers many of the obvious questions, it will leave you questioning your own loyalties and ethical boundaries.  In addition to the in-game cinemas, there are several filmed clips from the era that help establish the setting. Immersion is the goal here, and Kojima and co. have succeeded admirably in creating a story that you'll give a damn about. Interactivity isn't entirely left out during the in-game cinemas, though. Occasionally, you'll be prompted to press the R1 button, which will switch to Snake's perspective, often allowing you to see something you would have otherwise missed. Sometimes it's merely amusing, but occasionally you'll see something (i.e. a codec code) that can actually help you in the game. Of course, a great story would mean zilch without gameplay, and Snake Eater is no slouch in this department. The core gameplay is carried over from Metal Gear Solid 2, which remains the blueprint for modern stealth gaming. Because of the wide open environment, sneaking isn't quite the priority as it once was. I ended up killing nearly every guard I saw, but it's the open nature of the game that allows you to decide your own path. One advantage of the larger environments is the ease of sniping, which allows you to clear the area before making your entrance. Those opting to stealthily maneuver the environments would do well to utilize the new camouflage system. Throughout the game, you'll pick up camouflage designs for your face and body, which can be mixed and matched for the best look. An on-screen display will give you a percentage of how well you blend into the environment. Leaning up against a tree or lying down in a patch of plants may make the difference between dealing with one guard or twenty. If you do happen to get shot, cut, or burned by an explosion, open up the start menu and heal yourself before you take any more damage. In previous games, Snake had a single health bar that could be replenished by eating rations scattered throughout the game. Now, he has both a health bar and a stamina meter. The stamina depletes slowly as you play, especially if you are injured. While there are still rations and other packaged foods to be found, much of your sustenance will come from plants and animals in the wild. It may not be terribly realistic (since when does a dead alligator transform into three boxes of food?), but it adds an interesting new element to the gameplay. The addition of camouflage, healing, and eating aspects to the gameplay produce a game that is, at times, much slower and more methodical than the previous games. Take that as you will; for some, it will mean a game that requires more strategy. To others, it means more time spent in menus, and more time waiting around. I found myself in the middle a bit. While I think they are clever additions, I still found myself hiding for minutes at a time until the waves of enemy soldiers died down. Luckily, these moments can be very suspenseful, which makes up for any frustration you might feel. Snake Eater was already a great game in its own right. Few would call it the best game of 2004, but it certainly should be considered one of the top ten releases of that year. To make the game ever better, Konami has added a controllable, third-person camera view. In the previous games, a fixed view (typically overhead) was the only option, which often made it tough to make a shot or face some of the boss characters. While the original camera is still available, you'll want to use the new one, which is controlled with the right analog stick. Some confusion arises when you lean up against an object, but otherwise it's a pretty solid upgrade. Visually, Metal Gear Solid 3 is still the benchmark for graphic quality on the PlayStation 2, over a year after its original release. Large, interactive environments house intricately detailed 3D models, be they plant life or human. The characters employ realistic facial emotions during cut-scenes, which is essential for a cinematic game such as this. Though the color palette is slightly limited in the jungle (green and brown, mostly), the game still shines through and through. In the audio department, Snake Eater once again is victorious on all fronts. Voice acting is top notch, as expected, thanks in large part to David Hayter's role as Snake. He has voiced Solid Snake in the previous games, so voicing Naked Snake wasn't much of a stretch. Also, there are no complaints to be had about the sound effects. Well, the sound of the land minds exploding was freaking me out a bit, but that's a testament to the quality of the work. Harry Gregson-Williams (Chronicles of Narnia) returns with another cinematic score, perfect for this type of military/political thriller. What it all adds up to is an excellent gaming experience; one that, while immersive and semi-realistic, is also fun and amusing. Longtime fans of the series will have plenty to love (returning characters, in-jokes), yet Snake Eater is certainly a stand-alone adventure, especially since it functions as a prequel to the series. Even without the other extras, Metal Gear Solid 3 with the enhanced camera is well worth your $30 investment, and should prove to be one of the most memorable gaming experiences you've had. History Special editions and re-releases have become all too common in the world of packaged entertainment. Too often have I purchased an album or movie and watched as an even better version is released months later. In the film and music industries, there is little variance in price between these editions. If you paid $20 for the original version, you'll likely pay $20 or more for the special edition a year later. It's a sickening cycle, but one that we continue to propagate via our purchases.  Within the last few years, gaming has seen a handful of high-profile, special edition re-releases. Often, when a game is ported from one system to another, the developers will add in extras to convince gamers to buy the game a second time. When Resident Evil 4 was ported to the PlayStation 2 late last year, Capcom included an addition side-story mission, as well as true widescreen support. In the last few months, we've seen Greatest Hits versions of Devil May Cry 3 and Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition, both featuring additional content not present in the original release. Both games retail for $19.99, instead of the original price of $49.99. Of course, you have to wonder if the developers withheld some content from the original release specifically for the special edition. Still, few complain when you can get a better version of a great game for less than half the price. Each of the previous Metal Gear Solid games saw a re-release of sorts, so it wasn't shocking that one was planned for Snake Eater. The original Metal Gear Solid for PlayStation was enhanced for its North American release, so the revised version was later reissued in Japan as Metal Gear Solid: Integral. The game was later remade for the Nintendo GameCube in 2004 as Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, which fused the gameplay of Metal Gear Solid 2 with the storyline of the original. Metal Gear Solid 2 was initially released on the PlayStation 2 in 2001, but was ported over to the Xbox in 2003 as Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance. The enhanced version featured several hundred VR and alternate missions (not to mention some slowdown). Shortly thereafter, Substance was ported back to the PlayStation 2 with even more extras. Problem was, Konami expected gamers to pay $39.99 for an enhanced game that was nearly two years old. It didn't exactly fly off of the shelves. I waited a year and bought it on clearance for half the price. Based on the past successes and failures, it seemed clear that Konami had to do a few things to get Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence right. First, it needed enough extra material to warrant a re-purchase by the hardcore fans. Second, and most importantly, it needed to be affordable. After spending several hours with Subsistence, I can attest that Kojima and his crew have succeeded admirably in both respects. Subsistence Chief among the bonus features in Subsistence is the addition of Metal Gear Online, marking the first time the series has attempted multiplayer. Based on the general quality of the series, I don't think it's a shock that it works, and works well at that. All you need is a PlayStation 2 Network Adapter and a high-speed internet connection. Logging onto the server for the first time will prompt you to create a free account, and then from there you can enter one of many lobbies named after characters from the series. Metal Gear Online features five modes of play: Sneaking Mission, Capture Mission, Rescue Mission, Team Deathmatch, and Deathmatch. Sneaking Mission pits seven people as one, with the one playing as Snake. His mission is to find a microfilm slide on the map and return to the base unharmed. Killing him will mark you as Snake in the next round, and on and on it goes. Capture Mission is essentially a capture-the-flag mode, except with a stuffed animal as the prize. Rescue Mission is a variant of sorts, with one team on offense and the other trying to defend their own base. If you're on offense, your goal is to steal a duck (what's with the animals?) from the other base and get it back to your own safely. It's amusing, at the very least. Team Deathmatch and Deathmatch are pretty self-explanatory: choose your weapons and then kill or be killed. Whether you have three opponents or seven depends on your choice of game type. All five types can accommodate up to eight players.  What differentiates Metal Gear Online from online first-person shooters (other than the perspective) is the series' emphasis on stealth, which is not lost in the transition. True, Deathmatch is rarely about more than just blasting the other soldiers away, but the other three modes require a fair amount of strategy and sneaking around, which is more than I can say for a game like Halo 2. While it may not be as full-featured as other online games, it's a strong first step into a whole new realm for this series. I wouldn't be surprised to see online play in Metal Gear Solid 4 for PlayStation 3. Another major bonus included with Subsistence is the inclusion of the first two games in the franchise, Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Originally released for the MSX console in 1987 and 1990, these games have been translated into English for the first time for this collection. These two-dimensional adventures aren't as far removed from the modern games as I expected them to be. Yet, you'll never mistake them for anything more than what they are: ancient games. Hardcore fans will want to devote some time to playing these games, while everyone else will simply find amusement. The first disc of Subsistence contains a Demo Theatre, which allows you to watch many of the in-game cinemas from Snake Eater. On the second disc, you'll find a Secret Theatre Mode, which is aimed squarely at the hardcore fans. These movies, originally posted on Konami's website, rework the in-game cinemas with humorous results. My favorite was a video of Metal Gear Solid 2's Raiden trying to eliminate Snake, as to guarantee his place as the starring character of Metal Gear Solid 4. It's bizarre stuff, but certainly worth a viewing. Snake vs. Monkey pits Solid Snake against the monkeys from the Ape Escape game series. Given a stun gun, your mission is to capture all of the monkeys in a level in as quick of a time as possible. Again, very strange stuff, but it's a blast, and hearing Snake yell "Gotcha!" is hilarious. Watch for the amusing jabs at Splinter Cell and Syphon Filter in the introduction conversation. Snake vs. Monkey was included in the original release of Snake Eater, but additional levels were added for Subsistence.  Duel Mode allows Snake to fight the various boss battles from Snake Eater, but with changeable options and a variety of available weapons. Battles that were frustrating in the middle of the game can be much more fun with a wider selection of firearms. Finally, the last addition is a link to Metal Gear Acid 2 for PlayStation Portable. Photos taken with Snake Eater's in-game camera can be transferred to a PSP system, and then viewed in 3D with Acid 2's "Solid Eye" attachment. A Limited Edition of Subsistence was also released in extremely limited quantities. For $39.99, you also get a third disc, which features over three hours of in-game cinemas patched together in the form of a motion picture. Because of its extreme rarity, the package is now selling for triple its retail price on eBay. As the film contains the same footage you'd see by playing the game, I can't in good conscience recommend paying a high premium for it. But if you happen across one for the retail price, pick that baby up. At the very least, you can make a profit by selling it. Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence is an incredible package. Not only do you get an enhanced version of an already great game, you also get a new online mode, two classic games, a couple mini-games, and a whole slew of bonus footage. Fans of Snake Eater are advised to pick this up again, as are those who passed up the original version. It's highly doubtful that any other release this year will give you as much value as this game. |
