00:00Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater is so close to the original that you probably already know
00:05if you like it or not. Some controls and visuals have been modernized, but even those built so
00:10closely on pre-existing foundations that it doesn't even attempt to bring it into the modern
00:15conversation. Even so, I can't begrudge a faithful recreation of one of my favorite games ever made.
00:22What can I really tell you about Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater?
00:25Pull off the cardboard box, and this is pretty plainly still Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater.
00:31First released on PS2 back in 2004, it's rightly been celebrated as one of the best games ever made,
00:38with reams written about how phenomenal it is. I don't just like Metal Gear Solid 3. Hell, I love it.
00:45And I'm sitting here just itching to play it again. I always am, and I always do. Yet,
00:51I'm not sure Metal Gear Solid Delta does much to make that replay all that different from the times
00:57before. Metal Gear Solid Delta is a glossy Unreal Engine remake, and an extremely faithful one.
01:04Following Naked Snake on a doomed mission to Russia in the 1960s, he must stealthily try to extradite a
01:10defecting scientist, sabotage a nuclear missile platform, and assassinate a traitor, with barely
01:16any equipment to his name, scrounging tools and snacking on wildlife to stay alive. In series
01:21tradition, it's a narrative that blends serious stakes and historical facts with military sci-fi
01:27fantasy that goes in the complete opposite direction. Barely an hour after watching a slideshow on the
01:33Cold War, Naked Snake is jumped by a man who shoots hornets from his mouth called The Pain. It's brilliant.
01:43Metal Gear Solid Delta keeps the story intact right the way down to reusing all the same voice acting
01:48and cutscene direction. Care has definitely been taken in polishing everything up. The audio is crisp.
01:55New character models and environmental features have been refreshed to be impressively detailed,
01:59to a degree we couldn't even fathom in the 2000s. All this extra foliage flourish really makes the
02:05Russian forest lush, which is where the bulk of the action takes place. Though Metal Gear Solid
02:10Delta's forests look more alive than ever, they're still beholden to the same structure as the original.
02:15It's so faithful that the level geometry remains the exact same. The forest frequently funnels you down set
02:21corridors, and the exterior of enemy base Groznygrad, for instance, is still awkwardly split into four
02:27screens, with a brief load between each. MGS3 is more about progressing through discrete screens than the
02:33more long-form infiltration of Metal Gear Solid 5, and that remains the case here. I struggle to begrudge the
02:39game for it, though. Metal Gear Solid Delta is firmly an exact recreation of Metal Gear Solid 3,
02:45but it does mean its higher fidelity graphical style can clash with the clearly older bones beneath.
02:51Snake can still perform a rigid feel and kick combo in the rough vicinity of a snake to instantly kill
02:56it,
02:56causing it to fade away as it turns into a floating food pack. Enemy guards can end up in sync,
03:01so their idle animations uneasily occur simultaneously as they stand next to each other. Press the roll button to
03:07vault over a big crate, and Snake will weirdly float across to nail his landing, defying physics.
03:13The same is true in cutscenes, the original motion sometimes appearing a bit uncanny performed by
03:19the extremely detailed models. It's the kind of clashing that can make it hard to appreciate
03:24Metal Gear Solid Delta's enhanced visuals, as the rigid faithfulness to MGS3's foundations mean it's
03:30clear you're still fundamentally playing a much older game. In fact, it can make some of the more dated
03:36sections of MGS3 stand out all the more, from overly long shooting gallery sequences towards the end,
03:42throughout which you have little control, to how basic enemy AI can feel as they patrol their route,
03:48and yes, all the pervy chances to ogle lady bits in first person are still here. Rarely does increased
03:54fidelity feel additive to the way MGSD actually plays.
04:01Metal Gear Solid Delta comes with two control options, new style and legacy style.
04:07Legacy, for the most part, captures the spirit of the very original Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater,
04:13which is played entirely from a top-down perspective, similar to previous Metal Gear games, forcing you
04:18to aim by going into a first-person view. It's great to see this option to play in a classic
04:22style included, as it's the kind of thing you could easily imagine getting left by the wayside.
04:27Given how wide some areas in Metal Gear Solid Delta can be, this perspective takes some getting used to,
04:32but you can change the control modes mid-game with just a quick checkpoint load.
04:36The original game was followed up by the Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence release in 2005,
04:40which gave the game a third-person over-the-shoulder camera. It's from this that the new style controls in
04:46Metal Gear Solid Delta take their cues, also adding features from the 3DS Metal Gear Solid 3D Snake Eater,
04:52giving Snake the ability to aim in third-person and to crouch walk at speed. In the PS2 days,
04:58Snake's knees couldn't manage it. Even the ability to quickly access the camouflage and radio menus using
05:03the D-pad in both styles feels close to their touchscreen counterparts on the 3DS. As you might expect,
05:09with the core game design otherwise much the same as it ever was, these new ways to move do make
05:15the game
05:15significantly easier. But it's not as big as an overhaul as the name new style might imply. Even in
05:21this newer mode, it feels like Snake still has a lot of the limits to his movement, occasionally feeling
05:27a bit cumbersome to go prone or even in his turning arc in keeping with the original. Those expecting a
05:33big Metal Gear Solid 3 remake to even come close to Metal Gear Solid 5 will be disappointed. But giving
05:40Snake the
05:40level of responsiveness you have at your fingertips in that game would completely break the design of the original
05:46that Metal Gear Solid Delta sticks to. Pop the hood, and how everything works underneath is extremely familiar.
05:53Metal Gear Solid Delta's rigid attachment to the original does put this reworked classic in an odd position.
05:59Longtime series fans will appreciate the care taken here, but nothing is significantly different enough to really stand out.
06:06I'm an old head, but I'm not sure I can confidently say I even like the new visuals all that
06:11much,
06:12given how they can clash with some of the other parts of the design. And yes, I do prefer playing
06:17with
06:17the green tinted legacy filter on. On the other hand, newcomers to the series may find that Metal Gear
06:23Solid Delta plays so similarly to the original underneath its new sheen, that it's not modernised enough to
06:28be approachable. Though this is a loving recreation of Metal Gear Solid 3, it misses the chance to do anything
06:34bold or exciting.
06:35Third-person aiming and crouch walking being freed from the shackles of the Nintendo 3DS goes some way to making
06:42this more approachable,
06:43but there's no getting around that Metal Gear Solid 3 still feels like a game from 2004 underneath it all.
06:49It's not even close to how good Metal Gear Solid 5 feels to pick up and play in a modern
06:53context,
06:54and even when it comes to things like cutscene and visual direction, it doesn't match up NTS 5 either.
06:59Should it though? I'm not sure. After all, I love Metal Gear Solid 3 in its Metal Gear Solid
07:06Delta form just as much as I loved it when I played it as part of the Master Collection. There's
07:11no
07:11question about it though. This cardboard box still contains the same game at its core. There's no
07:17sneaking around that. We give Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater 4 stars out of 5.
07:24So, what are your thoughts on this remake of an all-time classic? Are the visual upgrades enough,
07:30and will you be picking it up? Let us know in the comments and stick with Games Radar for the
07:34latest
07:34news, reviews and more.
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