Konami’s newest launch of Metallic Gear Strong 3: Snake Eater bucks a development in terms of shiny fashionable remakes of beloved video games. Reasonably than reinterpret the unique sport’s that means, analyze it by way of the lens of its reception and place in time, and shock followers with one thing authentic, the builders of Metallic Gear Strong Delta: Snake Eater play it comparatively protected.
Delta is a remake in a really pure sense: Konami has up to date the sport’s graphics with unbelievable element and modernized controls and UI components to make the 21-year-old Snake Eater really feel brand-new. Nevertheless it hasn’t touched its Chilly Warfare story, forged of memorable characters, or a lot of the stealth-action gameplay. Konami has as a substitute painstakingly rebuilt it.
It’s a stable (ahem) remake, however there’s additionally a timidness to Metallic Gear Strong Delta, both attributable to reverence for the unique supply materials or to keep away from irking collection creator Hideo Kojima and the gaming auteur’s legion of followers. And you’ll see Kojima’s title prominently in Delta. Upon beginning the sport, you’re offered with a warning that sure components of the sport might really feel old-fashioned, however that Delta’s builders needed to protect the unique creators’ concepts. The title films credit acknowledge many members of the unique growth workforce, and explicitly point out that Delta is “primarily based on Metallic Gear Strong 3.”
However when you get into the motion — which, admittedly, takes some time, as a result of the sport is frontloaded with exposition — you’ll discover the Metallic Gear Strong 3 you bear in mind, solely significantly better trying. Delta’s jungle environments within the early sport are rendered fantastically. Characters, together with Snake, Eva, and The Boss, look spectacular, richly rendered in a means that makes them look extra photorealistic than ever, however nonetheless stylized in Metallic Gear Strong’s aesthetic.
Metallic Gear Strong Delta presents gamers with a wealth of issue and gameplay choices at the beginning of the sport. You’ll be able to select to play the “Legacy” over-the-head fashion of digicam and controls from within the early Metallic Gear Strong video games, or a modernized “New Type” that adjustments digicam and management settings to play it like a recent third-person shooter. I performed by way of the sport on New Type, and located it way more pleasant, if generally tougher, notably when it got here to staying hidden.
The sport’s story, set after the occasions of the Cuban Missile Disaster, is as beforehand talked about unchanged. Snake (aka Jack, aka Bare Snake) is dropped into Soviet territory to exfiltrate a Russian scientist who has constructed a brand new kind of weapon that might change the course of the Chilly Warfare. One betrayal and one rogue nuclear detonation later, Snake’s mission adjustments, and he’s charged with taking down his outdated mentor whereas additionally making an attempt to quietly forestall international nuclear warfare.
Snake’s relationship along with his mentor, The Boss, is complicated and compelling, and the perfect a part of Metallic Gear Strong Delta’s story. As is widespread in Kojima’s video games, a lot of that story is instructed by way of exhaustive, well-acted cutscenes (which may be skipped, if obligatory) and radio calls between Snake, his help workforce, and rivals on the battlefield. The sport is dense with plot and intrigue, and the dramatically staged cutscenes from the unique are lovingly recrafted in Delta with unbelievable consideration to element (and slavishness to the unique).
Likewise memorable are the sport’s villains, Colonel Volgin and his workforce of navy commandos the Cobra Unit, whom Snake should take down one after the other. Every member of the Cobras boasts an outsized persona and a few vastly pleasant gimmicks: Marksman The Finish is a sleepy centenarian with bug eyes who’s allegedly the world’s greatest sniper. The Ache controls a military of hornets with thoughts management, utilizing them as weapons and armor. The Worry is a forked-tongue stealth professional who strikes like a spider because of elective surgical procedure. And so forth. Every Cobra is a puzzle to be solved utilizing Snake’s arsenal of weapons, stealth strategies, and particular devices. Boss battles involving the Cobras usually have a number of intelligent options, starting from “shoot him with a rocket launcher till he dies” to extra meta methods.
Most of the strategies and weapons that Snake can make use of on the battlefield in Delta are widespread all through Metallic Gear Strong video games. Snake can conceal in cardboard containers to hide himself from enemy troopers or quietly tranquilize them with a sleep dart. Snake Eater launched a number of new gameplay options, together with a camouflage system, a survival system, and a stamina system that requires Snake to commonly feed himself, all of that are recreated in Delta.
Snake can masks himself even out within the open with Delta’s camouflage system, swapping between varied uniform patterns and face paints to mix in along with his environment (a onscreen indicator exhibits how well-hidden Snake is at any time). Lie susceptible with the correct camo geared up, and he’ll be nearly invisible.
If Snake is detected, his greatest recourse is to combat in close-quarters fight, or CQC. Snake can rapidly knock out foes, take them hostage to interrogate them or use them as human shields. Your different possibility, if detected, is to rapidly reload the sport, which is simpler than ever because of quick fashionable loading occasions and beneficiant autosaving. (I save-scummed loads by way of my playthrough, and I’ve no disgrace.)
If Snake is injured, he’ll steadily recuperate well being over time. Critical accidents, like burns and bullet wounds, are self-treated by way of a easy menu system that lets Snake patch himself up, even mid-fight. Delta offers ample survival gadgets all through the sport, at the least on customary issue, and loads of meals to eat to maintain Snake’s stamina up.
Stamina restoration includes snacking on nearly something and all the pieces Snake can discover within the jungle: snakes, rats, tarantulas, mushrooms, and the occasional bundle of on the spot ramen. Searching and consuming is a enjoyable system to experiment with; listening to Snake’s response to consuming varied wildlife is nice enjoyable — thanks, David Hayter — and there’s a collect-a-thon facet to discovering all the pieces edible all through Snake Eater. It’s enjoyable to experiment with the constructive and unfavorable results of consuming.
Metallic Gear Strong Delta is a reminder that experimentation is the beating coronary heart of the MGS franchise. Like different Metallic Gear video games, you’ll be able to play by way of the entire thing in a non-lethal means, counting on tranquilizers and choking out enemies to dispatch most of them. You too can exploit the surroundings, throwing toxic snakes at enemies or capturing down beehives to trigger chaos. Puzzling out what Snake’s tools and what the surroundings can do, notably in Delta’s dynamic boss battles, is way of the enjoyable.
Metallic Gear Strong Delta does an admirable job of creating Metallic Gear Strong 3 really feel timeless, thanks partly to its Chilly Warfare setting and anti-nuclear warfare message. However some facets of Snake Eater haven’t aged so nicely, particularly Kojima’s penchant for creepy, leering digicam angles and discovering each alternative to undress the sport’s Bond Lady equal, Eva. That’s widespread all through the Metallic Gear collection, so should you’ve made your peace with it, you gained’t discover something new to stress about right here.
Outdoors of the sport’s story-based marketing campaign, there’s some aspect stuff to do, together with the gotta-catch-’em-all arcade minigame Snake vs. Monkey, during which Snake is tasked with monitoring down the apes from Sony’s Ape Escape collection. (On Xbox, Snake’s chasing Bomberman.) Delta provides a brand new twist to this foolish, high-score-focused diversion: Astro Bot is right here too as a catchable rascal, and hidden all through Snake vs. Monkey ranges to up the problem.
Past that, there are sundry fashionable conveniences and extras in Metallic Gear Strong Delta, like a photograph mode, a theater to observe movies, and particular outfits to unlock, lots of them very amusing. One other mode, the web multiplayer hide-and-seek sport Fox Hunt, is promised however not obtainable at launch.
Metallic Gear Strong Delta breathes new life into Snake Eater, making the traditional Chilly Warfare stealth journey look and play higher than ever. Konami has mentioned that it’s beginning its Metallic Gear Strong remake plans with Snake Eater, particularly due to its chronological place within the franchise. Primarily based on how nicely Delta turned out, I’m excited to see the place Konami’s remake sources go subsequent, hoping for extra lavishly polished remakes of video games that, at the least mechanically, might not maintain up so nicely. However I additionally hope that Konami displays a bit extra confidence subsequent time, and takes extra possibilities with Kojima’s work. He’s moved on, and so ought to the workforce overseeing the way forward for Metallic Gear.
Metallic Gear Strong Delta: Snake Eater will likely be launched on Aug. 26 on PlayStation 5, Home windows PC, and Xbox Collection X. The sport was reviewed on PlayStation 5 utilizing a prerelease obtain code supplied by Konami. Yow will discover further details about Polygon’s ethics coverage right here.
![The definition of a purchaser persona [in under 100 words]](https://blog.aimactgrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Copy20of20Featured20Image20Template20Backgrounds.webp-120x86.webp)
