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Not everyone has been introduced to Metal Gear Solid, so a Snake Eater remake would be a good place to start. But what does this say about Konami? What exactly are they going to tackle? Can we now expect remakes of the entire franchise? I’ll give you at least five reasons why the remake makes me happy as a fan.
Last week, the remake of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater was announced. It is not known when the game will be released, but in 2024 it will be exactly 20 years since this game arrived on PS2. Since then, there have been quite a few remasters and the game has been ported to PS3, Xbox 360, and PS Vita, among others. Even now, another Metal Gear Solid Collection is coming to the PS5 (3 generations treat?).
Fans might have a little bad taste with this Part 3 remake as original creator Hideo Kojima left developer and publisher Konami rather sadly in 2015. The developer had a different vision for MGS5: Phantom Pain where Kojima hadn’t done it. agreed. Konami forced its own choice as a developer, then Kojima left. The reasons are unclear, but since the unnecessary online graveyard was added to MGS 5, it’s related to this.
Now we see that Konami is going to completely re-milk the Metal Gear Solid franchise because it’s one of their most iconic franchises (though probably more out of creative poverty). There is of course nothing wrong with that in itself. We see Capcom doing it with Resident Evil, but in this case it seems a little weird because Metal Gear creator Kojima is gone and Konami just can’t come up with a better one. Anyway, back to the game, which thankfully also stands on its own without all the context.
Many fans of the Metal Gear Solid franchise will point to Part 3 as the most epic title of them all, and they have plenty of reasons for that. Below I explain my 5 reasons to convince you that this game is epic and that the remake will make it even more epic (otherwise Konami can close as far as I’m concerned).
1. The story (without spoilers of course)
The third part of Metal Gear Solid is actually the first part of the franchise timeline. We arrived in 1964, in the middle of the heated political battle between the United States and Russia. Our protagonist Naked Snake (that’s a code name) is sent on a mission to infiltrate a Soviet military base. There, he must rescue a Russian rocket scientist and sabotage an experimental superweapon. But that’s not all. His former boss moved to the Soviet Union and he can therefore also be punished!
The story in Part 3 features many unique characters and also serves as the basis for longtime personal rivals for later in the franchise. Luckily, this Metal Gear Solid story is also the best one to follow because things weren’t yet so complicated about who is who and who they belong to or descend from blabla. Later games are much longer and more complicated in that regard (or not, Metal Gear Solid 2? – with a 45-minute cutscene).
Part of what makes the story so good is because of the overall presentation. The voice acting is sublime, the direction of the cut scenes is absolutely correct and add music that wouldn’t be out of place in a James Bond movie and you have a wonderful story.
2. Graphics with new possibilities
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater left the gray environments of parts 1 and 2 to go completely green, deep in the Soviet jungle. This already resulted in beautiful environments in 2004, but now they will be even more beautiful than ever. Hopefully a lot of ray tracing will be used to make the light shine through the trees even better, and more importantly… the shadows are realistic. As you would expect in a stealth game, the use of light and dark is important. Unfortunately, the game didn’t have such an extensive system with shadows and gameplay influence back then, but now there’s a lot more room for it.
The graphical elements will also influence the gameplay and the belief in it. Snake has to use camouflage a lot in part 3, so he will regularly smear himself in mud or stand still between the leaves. It may have seemed a little lame at the time, but it will feel much more realistic now.
3. An epic soundtrack
The MGS: Snake Eater soundtrack is very good and I could write a long time about it, but it’s not necessary. It’s no secret that Hideo Kojima loves American movies and for Snake Eater a soundtrack has been created that looks a lot like a James Bond movie. The Snake Eater soundtrack was on my MP3 players for a long time back then and is making an impression again in the remake of the game. In addition to the music, there is also a lot of attention for the sound effects. Many sounds have been recorded so that you really feel like you are in a jungle.
4. Will the gameplay change?
The big question with this remake is whether the gameplay will change. We later saw in the “Subsistence” version an addition of a free camera instead of being fixed. So it will probably pass now. Moreover, the gameplay is quite timeless. In Snake Eater quite a few things have been added that make it different from the first two parts. For example, as mentioned earlier, you need to camouflage yourself to stay out of sight of your enemies. However, this game also introduces CQC (Close Quarters Combat), a stamina bar, and a way to heal yourself if you get hurt. And it’s not as simple as picking up a green packet with a “+” sign like most games. For example, you can fall high in the game and then be unable to walk or run until you have healed your injury, which requires various things from your environment.
Luckily, in-game camouflaging is a bit more involved than just slathering yourself in mud (as I mentioned earlier). You have an in-game camo hint and you can even change your uniform and different face paints to match your surroundings. With this camouflage, you can approach enemies and attack them or even interrogate them for more information.
5. Delta as the start of a remake era
There’s probably a reason this remake won’t be called Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Looking at the story timeline technically, Konami could choose to remake the entire Metal Gear Solid franchise with this title as a starting point in 1964. The story would then be more understandable to a new generation of gamers than it is not now. Then, by the time we get a remake of Metal Gear Solid 1, it will already be 2026 (by which time the franchise will be almost 30 years old), or 2028 for Metal Gear Solid 2 (27 years after the original) and then 2030 for Metal Gear Solid 4 and he would be 22 then.
Why is the latter listed as the reason Metal Gear Solid Delta is going to be epic? Because it would be pretty epic if we got 1 remakes after that, 2 maybe Peace Walker and 4 (never mind Phantom Pain). As I said before, it’s also a sign of creative poverty at Konami, but the fan in me is happier with the remakes than the critic in me who sees Konami as a thing of the past.
And with this one just a poll. What do you think of it as a reader? Redo the entire MGS franchise, yes or no?
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