Where to begin? When we last left the series at Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, we all had a headache. I’ll start off by saying fear not, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is far more straight forward, and you needn’t worry about 30 minute codec conversations or a story that only makes sense to the most hardcore of conspiracy theorists.

As one would expect, the graphics in Metal Gear Solid 3 are considerably better than its precursor, deceptively so. I first thought it was only a moderate jump, until I put my Metal Gear Solid 2 disc back in. The difference in quality surprised me. The biggest difference could be seen in Snake’s face. It just looks primitive in MGS2 when compared to the latest incarnation.

When I say the graphics in MGS3 are a good leap forward, that’s no small feat. MGS2 had some of the most jaw dropping visuals we’d ever seen in a PS2 game, and its sequel surpasses it in every respect. Okay, maybe not every respect. There IS a frame-rate issue in MGS3. Not only was I surprised by how primitive MGS2 looked when I went back to it, I was also shocked at how smooth it ran. As long as you don’t get too hung-up on it though, the frame-rate never detracts from the playing experience.

One of the coolest aspects of games in the Metal Gear Solid series is the little details you can find. The visuals in Metal Gear Solid 3 are absolutely stuffed full of these fun little easter eggs. As an example, when it’s early morning outside (note: there’s no real time passage of time, what I’m saying here is when it’s early morning due to the part of the game you’re in) you’ll see dew dripping from trees. These trees were dripping dew earlier, when it was evening.

One of the most fantastic aspects of the Metal Gear Solid series is the way in continues to impress me with its sound and music. The game is filled with general sound effects, and nothing is overlooked. The voice acting is excellent, though many voices don’t seem to carry the distinction they did in first two games. I blame this more on the blandness of some of the characters, and not on the actors. David Hayter is back, reprising his role as “Snake.” Whether on purpose or not, his performance is given extra depth as it’s eerily similar to the first two games; appropriately, it sounds quite distinct. Just like its predecessors, the music in Metal Gear Solid 3 is topnotch, and can only be described as Hollywood quality. While nothing quite hits the cinematic high-note that the main theme of Metal Gear Solid 2 did, it’s still all quite excellent.

I only have two issues with the sound performance of the game. As almost all of the enemies in the game are suppose to be Russian, why do none of them sound Russian? The enemies in Metal Gear Solid 2 sounded Russian, so what gives? The other problem I have is with the radio. Frequently, there seems to be an unnecessarily long load time for any and every radio communication. At first I thought it might have just been my PS2, but other people have been complaining of the problem as well.

One of the most distinct characteristics of Metal Gear Solid 3 is its setting; the game takes place during the early 1960s. This alone makes the game feel very different, and this uniqueness permeates into just about every aspect of the game. For starters, you could piece together info from the first two games to figure out that Solid Snake was born in the 1970s, so the question arises, are you even playing the same ol’ Solid Snake? I won’t spoil it here, but for long time vets of the series, it will quickly become obvious. The other obvious question is whether a prequel game will address, and move forward, the overall story arc of the series. I’d say yes, in that it explains a few things from the series’ past, and expands on story elements introduced in MGS2. What it does not do, however, is address the final cliffhanger given at the very end of MGS2.

In any event, rest assured that the constant 30 minute codec conversations that appeared near the end of MGS2 are nowhere to be found in MGS3. This time they are radio conversations. No, no, I kid. While the length is shorter, the dialogue can still feel a little preachy and contrived at times, but on the whole, much less so than either of the games two predecessors. I do have one major complaint though, given the lengthy nature of some of the game’s story scenes, an option to pause them would have been nice. Instead of allowing you to pause with an option to skip however, the start button simply skips the scene. I don’t think it would have been asking too much to ask for a pause, do you? My final comment about cut-scenes is that MGS3 does something very interesting with them. Frequently during a scene, an R1 action will appear on the screen. During this period, if you press the R1 button, you can see the scene through Snake’s eyes. This frequently leads to very funny results.

The biggest difference in gameplay between Metal Gear Solid 3 and the first two games in the series is that while they took place primarily indoors, MGS3 primarily happens outside in the jungle and mountains. As one would imagine, this makes the game play quite a bit differently. Because of this, several new gameplay elements were introduced, the most prominent of which was the camouflage system. The system itself is actually very simple. Snake can collect different face paints and camo outfits. By wearing the ones that match his environment, he can increase his camo index. When the camo index is high, enemies can’t see you, even when they’re relatively close. Doing things such as running or crawling decrease the index, while flattening yourself against a well, crouching, or lying down, increase the index.

While you can also use your usual arsenal of weapons, the options you have while fighting in close range have been expanded greatly by the new CQC (close quarters combat) system. While before you could pretty much just punch, hold, and choke guys, you now have many options. You begin by grabbing an enemy and putting him into a hold, you can now, or while grabbing, throw them to the ground. You can also use them as shields while firing at enemies, threaten them to gain information, slit their throats, choke them, or break their necks... it’s all very violent. You will be hard pressed to eliminate enemies in this way as it is silent. Gun suppressors now wear out when you use them, so you’ll want to go that route rather sparingly. The final major introductions are the weight and stamina systems. I’ll go into more details with those below.

As I like to do, I’ll sum up the difficulty of Metal Gear Solid 3 in one sentence. The stealth aspect is harder than its predecessors, while the combat is easier. The primary reason the stealth aspect is harder is threefold: the areas are bigger, the enemies are also camouflaged, and you do not have a “super radar” like in the previous games. That’s not to say you are entirely radarless. You do have access to passive and active sonar. They have some drawbacks however. Passive only picks up moving targets, while active risks alerting guards. Additionally, both also pick up animals, so you can’t always be sure if you’re surrounded by soldiers or birds. Keep in mind that both use up battery power, which is a precious commodity.

In contrast, combat seems to be quite a bit easier. Not only is this true of normal grunt guards, but of the bosses as well. In Metal Gear Solid, you had the Foxhound members, and in Metal Gear Solid 2 you had Deadcell. This time around, you’ll be butting heads with The Cobras. While the fights are just as bizarre, entertaining, and varied as the ones seen in the previous games, the characters are woefully underdeveloped compared to the Foxhound and Deadcell members. There’s one you don’t even hear or learn anything about until he shows up. Also, while the battles may be easier in a technical sense (they do less damage, you do more damage), they frequently require extreme patience, ingenuity, or out of the box thinking to complete.

The sniper battle of the game is likely to be one you’ll either love or hate. Unlike the arcade style battles you had with Sniper Wolf in MGS, the sniper battle of this game takes place in a huge area comprised of three separate game “zones.” Both of you are utilizing camouflage, and the whole process just takes a very long time. It’s ultimately a good thing that the difficulty of the battles is actually a measure of creative thinking than just pure fisticuffs.

One aspect that can make things a little harder is that aside from one very rare type of item, there’s no way to directly restore your health. The idea is to keep your stamina up and heal naturally over time. The game is nice about always giving you at least SOME chance, as you’ll heal health and stamina over time when the game is turned off. Of course, your food is also going rotten too. Exploration is also more rewarding in MGS3 as there are lots of optional items that can help you; things like face paints and camos, extra suppressors and batteries, even several automatic weapons that you can miss entirely if you’re not careful.

I’ve talked about food and stamina and stuff, so I guess I better explain what’s going on with that. First I need to explain the backpack though. See, unlike the previous games where all your items and weapons were handily accessible from the L2 and R2 menus, this time around you’re limited to eight items in each, and have to swap things around in your backpack. Every item has weight, and the heavier the stuff you’re holding, the faster your stamina drains.

See, you have a stamina bar that goes down over time. The speed it goes down depends on what you’re doing; running and fighting makes it go down faster than just laying there. You can kill or catch animals and fruits to restore your stamina. There’s a bit more involved, but I won’t go into all the little details. In any event, the stamina stuff was all well and good, but I found the backpack mechanic to be too irritating for what it was worth.

One last little interesting curve they throw at you is that you can be injured. Fall too far, or get pummeled too hard, and you can break bones. Get shot at close range and you’ll get a bullet wound. Poison, upset stomach, colds, burns, leeches, deep cuts... they’re all in there. Getting injured lowers your maximum health. You have a menu for dealing with these things. Using things like your cigar, knife, stitches, ointment, bandages, etc… you can clean up the wounds. The wounds themselves will also heal over time. The more stamina you have, the faster they will heal. You can even make yourself vomit to remove food poisoning, though this costs a lot of stamina. Medical supplies are in short supply though, so you’ll often just heal about half a wound and let time take care of the rest.

I have one last minor issue I wanna complain about before I wrap this thing up. The helper characters, the ones you talk to on your radio, seem to have less personality in MGS3 than the previous games. They seem to be developed less than we have seen in previous games. This is the same issue I had with the cobras. Perhaps it’s a tradeoff we take for not having 30 minute codec conversations, so c’est la vie.

One of the best things about the Metal Gear Solid series is how it never takes itself too seriously. Some people decry the deranged humor in the game as counter-immersive, but I love it. At the beginning of the game you are given a choice of which was your favorite Metal Gear Solid game, and if you pick Metal Gear Solid 2 you are in for the best practical joke ever seen in a video game. There is also a little mode you can play called Snake vs. Monkey, where you must capture the monkeys from Ape Escape. It’s mindless, nonsensical, and awesome.

All the major problems people had with Metal Gear Solid 2, the extreme length of conversations and cut scenes, the overly preachy and complicated plot, are nowhere to be seen in Metal Gear Solid 3. The game introduces new elements, a fresh premise (that still has a lot to do with the previous games), and a fresh environment to create an awesome story driven experience. Sure, it’s not perfect, but it’s damn good.