OUR RATING: 9.2 EXCELLENT About our ratings

TANGIBLES: Gameplay: 9 Visuals: 9 Audio: 9 Value: 10 Quality: 9

Why you should buy it: Not Available Why you should rent it: Not Available

UNIQUE RATING: 9.2 SUGGESTION: N/A

In 2004, Konami released Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.  Here at IGO we hailed it as one of the best games out that year and also a superior game to its predecessor, Sons of Liberty.  Though we stand by our high praise of Snake Eater, we understand some of the complaints people had with the game and in fact noted them in our review of the game.  That being said, however, we in no way feel it really dampened the game enough to hurt the score as most of these things were rather arbitrary when you stack it against what is one of the most phenomenal games of the last console generation.  Now, in 2006, instead of having a new MGS game—at least for the time being—Konami and the director of these games, Hideo Kojima, has brought us Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, a supped up version of 2004’s smash hit.  Not only does this include the stellar single-player the original version had, it also has a brand-new online mode and a new vantage point that freshens up what could already be a game you’ve played through several times before.

The MGS series is known for having over-the-top stories complete with long cinematics that push the narrative forward.  The character that has been the focus of the series—at least historically—is Solid Snake.  In Snake Eater we find out a lot about the history of this character and how a lot of things came to be.  There’s really a lot to the story of this game, and it would be a real shame if we told you absolutely anything about it because it’s one of those games that you must experience on your own, even if it’s just you watching someone else play the thing.

 Snake Eater was an introduction to several gameplay mechanics that naturally return in Subsistence.  The camouflage system, for one, is one of the bigger staples of the game, and once again it plays at full force on and offline in the current version.  You’ll be able to get new paints to make your character interesting looking as well as paints that will help you blend in better with your environment.  For the most part, though, the paints that matter remain the same.  The same applies to your uniforms.  The cooler paints that have been added in Subsistence are most flag face paints.  Like if you wanted to make your face look like a German flag for whatever reason, you can do that now.  It’s not really a good addition, but it’s an addition nonetheless.  The other notable additions in Snake Eater over the first two were the medicine system and the food system, but both of those are left unchanged for the most part.

If you’re playing MGS3:S for the second time, the biggest thing you’ll notice about the game is the new vantage point.  Instead of the classic top-down view of past MGS games, and then a close-up view when pinned up against walls, you have a new behind-the-back angle that is similar to Splinter Cell.  A lot of nay-sayers, including us, said the old camera angle was a problem in Snake Eater, and the new one fixes everything wrong with it.  If you’ve played Splinter Cell before you really know what to expect.  This coupled with the additions that Snake Eater introduced put it in the same league from a gameplay respect with Splinter Cell—something that it wasn’t in before.

The real meat of Subsistence, though, isn’t its amazing single-player, it’s the online multiplayer.  There are five different modes to play; including standards like deathmatch and team deathmatch, then there’s also new ones like sneaking mission, capture mission, and rescue mission.  All of these are pretty straight forward but considering how unconventional a lot of the gameplay mechanics of MGS games are, it’s really great to see how phenomenally it works out.  A lot of the trademark moments in MGS games are still in tact for the online play.  One of the coolest parts of the online mode is how it makes you think about what the series will become.  The PS3 MGS4 game will be coming out sometime down the road, and given the quality of the online mode in Subsistence it’s amazing to think this once single-player only franchise will now become a full-fledged competitive multiplayer juggernaut for action gamers.  Needless to say, we’re excited.

Some things you’ll want to keep in mind while playing the multiplayer are little nuances that are prevalent in the single-player as well.  If you shoot your gun off like crazy and run around like a maniac, chances are high you’re going to screw yourself over and blow your cover.  This isn’t a shooter like Halo where you want to just run in, guns blazing, and blow up your enemy.  Stay sharp and stay quiet, that’s the key of it.  If you’ve played any MGS game before, chances are you know about the cardboard boxes.  You know that if you have a cardboard box it somehow makes you invisible to your enemy.  Now, in real life, we all know that wouldn’t happen.  If a cardboard box was running around and had eyes peering out of a peep hole, you’d probably do something about it, maybe a little more than just getting a question mark over your head.  In Subsistence, you’re playing against real live people online, so naturally, they’re smarter than that.  But you’ve got a little bit of leeway here because the levels are set up with dozens of boxes around the area in pretty prime locations.  So if you just play your cards right, chances are you’ll wind up sneaking around okay in those boxes and being able to pop out at the right time and make your kill.

Subsistence comes packaged with some nifty things in it; you’ll be able to play through the various boss fights of the game at your leisure and you’ll also be able to watch several different videos—including the cinematics and parody shorts.  If you were fortunate enough to get the Limited Edition copy—which really is limited—you also get a movie version of MGS3 packed in there that adds all of the cinematics together and throws in some extra narrative on top of it, talk about a great deal!  If you’ve played Snake Eater and you loved it, there’s no reason not to get Subsistence.  Even if this is your second, third, fourth, or even your fifth time playing the game, the new camera angle adds a lot of freshness to the single player campaign.  Not just that, but the online multiplayer is really amazing and it is clearly one of the best the PS2 has yet to get on the service.  If you’re a newcomer to the series, you should go pick up the game right now as it’s one of the best values you can find.  Metal Gear Solid 3, no matter what version you’re playing, is a wonderful game that really pushes the boundaries of storytelling in this medium, it will be remembered as a gaming classic in the years to come.