Metal Gear Solid 3D Snake Eater review

Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater is a mouthful in more ways than one. As the lengthy titles suggests, this is a 3D update of MGS 3 which appeared on the PS2. Often regarded as the best of the trilogy, the game follows Snake in a harsh jungle where he must do what he can and eat what he can to survive.

So how does it play? Well, to be honest it plays exactly like the original, however this time in 3D. Some may argue that this is the best looking 3DS game to date, with the most impressive use of the 3D slider. I on the other hand beg to differ; the frame rate of the game is pretty shoddy throughout, even worse with the 3D on. Tall grass and foliage often obscured my view and was painful to the eye. Controlling Snake is easy enough, with good use of the analogue pad, which in a game all about sneaking about is a good thing! Some moves are rather awkward to pull off and needing multiple buttons to be held. The inventory is now used via the touch screen, which keeps item selecting easy and fast. The camera is controlled using the A,B, X and Y buttons and works better than it sounds. There are some very frustrating gyro controlled sections which seem totally tacked on and unnecessary.

The storyline is brilliant, with some unforgettable characters. The bad guys in particular are a highlight and when you meet them the boss fights are epic to say the least. I’m not a fan of cut scenes in games, to which MGS is fames for, so prepare to spend a lot of time watching and not playing. Sneaking around is fun, with some genuinely tense moments to be had. It’s just a shame that Konami have added useless extras such as the camouflage camera mode and gyro to tick the 3DS features box.

Newcomers to the game will find this game highly engrossing and worth the money. Fans of the series will probably loathe the frame rate issues and pointless additional features. It is a decent game, though the recently released Metal Gear Solid HD Collection is better value for money. 7 out of 10.

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