On the PS2, this is as good as it gets.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence is the "Director's Cut", if you will, of the already amazing and critically acclaimed 2004 release, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. If you've spent any amount of time with Snake Eater then you already know what an incredible experience that game can provide. So, you may find yourself asking, "How can Snake Eater possibly have been improved?". I'm here to provide you with that and answer and more.
One of the things that made Snake Eater so fresh and reinvigorating for the MGS series was the change in setting. The previous games in the series took place in the not too distant future. Not only that, they always had the main character, Solid Snake, infiltrating a military base of some sort or the like. Snake Eater on the other hand took the series into the thick and lush jungles of the 1960's era Soviet Union. This slight shift in setting brought all new gameplay options to the table. Gone is the Soliton Radar System of the previous games, which lets Snake see where enemy sentries are at any given time, and their field of vision. To replace that, in Snake Eater, Snake has access to several gadgets, sonar etc., which used together grant the same effect. Though, it's much tricker to pin down an enemies exact location as you can only have one device equipped at a time. Snake Eater also brings the Camouflage System. While in the field Snake has access to different sets of camouflage which grant varying degrees of cover to Snake depending on his surroundings. If Snake can match his Camo closely to his surrounding he can appear almost invisible to most enemies in the game. Snake Eater also adds another another innovation to the series via the Survival Viewer. Using this sub-menu, Snake can perform small medical procedures on himself. Things such as setting a broken bone or removing leeches picked up while walking through a swamp. He can also eat one of the many animals he may have captured or killed while in the field to regain lost stamina.
Through all these innovations Snake Eater missed one mark. Snake Eater retained the same camera as previous games in the MGS series. In the jungle setting of Snake Eater this camera becomes problematic. The organic nature of the environment made it difficult to clearly view the action. Herein lies the really the only improvement that could have been made to Snake Eater. With the release of Subsistence the camera has been changed dramatically. For the first time in the MGS series, the camera is now fully controlled by the player. After spending just the first few minutes playing Subsistence is becomes clear just how dramatically this affects gameplay. On the one hand, the game seems just a bit easier because of it. But honestly, it really isn't. It's actually more fun. The camera does exactly what a camera should now, and thats to give the player a clear view of what is happening on screen. Stalking enemies is so much more fun now than it ever was before , all thanks to the addition of a simple player controlled camera.
The camera isn't all that has been added, though. The second disc of this package, called Persistence, contains ports of the original MSX versions of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake'. This disc also contains the long awaited and anticipated online mode of Metal Gear Solid. Metal Gear Online, as it's been dubbed by fans, is worth the price of admission alone. There are several game types to choose from including, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, a Capture the Flag game, as well as Sneaking Mission which pits one player, as Snake, against the other seven. This mission type is probably my personal favorite. The controls in the online mode are basically the same as the single player game. So, Metal Gear fans should have no trouble jumping in and taking part in the action.
The only thing Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence has against it, is the exact same criticism that has been tossed at the rest of the games in the series. That is that the cutscenes and conversations over Snakes Codec, a device he uses to communicate with his mission commanders, can be extremely long winded. The first 20-30 minutes of the game are mostly spent watching cutscenes and listening to people talk. This doesn't bother me personally, but I have known some to completely write off this series for that alone. If you're like me however and love a good story in your games, then you will be blown away. The story contained here in incredibly intricate. Though it starts slow, it slowly builds to breakneck pace and doesn't let up until its over.
Metal Gear Solid 3:Subsitence delivers on all fronts. Contained here is an amazing single player experience, an easy to pick and play online mode, and plenty of other extras to keep you busy for a long while. Regardless if you're a fan of the Metal Gear Series or not, this is one videogame you owe it to yourself to experience.
