Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence

THE BAD:
- The glitchers on Online Mode.
- If you’re not a Snake vs. Monkey fan, they made more levels of it, instead of replacing it with something cooler.

SUMMARY:
After the amazing success of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Kojima Productions decided to keep the MGS tradition going, and create a remake for the game. Once released, it basically beat out any game remake that we’ve ever seen in gaming history.

All of the amazing aspects of Snake Eater were included, so the story mode was exactly the same. However, who would want to change the perfect graphics, game play, and story that was already a success?

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence offered an immense amount of new features for us all to enjoy. However, some of the features are already known to those in Europe and Australia, because North America was the only region that was offered very little when Snake Eater had come out.

One of the nicer additions to this game was the ability to play the original two MSX games, Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. If anybody has ever played them before this, like I have, you would have played the games on the NES, which means that the game wasn’t original. It was “re-done” a bit for the NES versions of the games, while the original greatness was preserved in the MSX versions. So, now, with the release of Subsistence, we are able to play the original two games, the way that they were meant to be. They may not seem like much to the average gamer, because of the poor graphics and interactivity. However, for the MGS veterans, playing these two games are a blast. They are the only games that show the story that started the whole franchise, at Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land. It’s great to see the stories unfold, and play the roots of the MGS franchise. Also, Kojima Productions was nice enough to fix the horrible grammatical errors that were originally in the game, so we can now read the flawless text as we play through the game.

Unlike in other parts of the world, as said earlier, North America did not get many extras when Snake Eater was released, such as the Demo Theater. So, to us, these new features are great. Once you beat the game, you can go through the Demo theater mode, and watch a cut scene from any part of the game. You can choose which camo and face paint you want to wear, and watch for the little details in the story that you might have missed on your original play through.
The Secret Theater was also a very nice touch to all of us, as it gave us some extra laughs to throw into the game. It shows certain parts of the game, and makes fun of them by showing a “messed up” version of it. There are even videos that are entirely new; they don’t happen at all in the game, such as Metal Gear Raiden: Snake Eraser.

Just like Snake Eater, Subsistence will include the mini-game Snake vs. Monkey. You must run around and shoot the monkeys walking around the different areas of the game, and snatch them up. For getting record times, you’ll unlock cool extras, such as the Monkey Mask and Banana camo. Now, in Subsistence, we are treated to new levels of this slightly annoying mini-game. If you’re a fan of it, then you should be very happy with this, because of the cool levels that are now available. However, if you don’t like the Snake vs. Monkey mini-game, then this is just a wasted feature. You may have wished that they would have put something new in it’s place, but it’s no big deal. If you don’t like the mini-game, it’s probably the biggest flaw in the game, which is isn‘t bad at all.

Duel Mode was another great added feature to Subsistence. You’re able to go through all of the bosses, individually, and fight them. It’s not the same as Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance’s Boss Survival Mode, because this is an individual fight, not a continuous one. There are two different modes that you can play this on, and there is a huge difference between them. The harder mode will of course make the enemy AI smarter, but also give you a very scarce amount of weapons, so defeating the boss is much harder. In fact, it barely even gives you enough to take care of the boss. If you need to brush up on your MGS skills, this is a great way. It’s extremely difficult, and will take you a long time to defeat all of the bosses. However, once completed, you get a fresh sense of completion, and probably a new skill for the game.

If you’ve ever played a MGS game in the past, you know what the camera is like, and the problems that it presents. It’s an overview camera, but it will give you troubles a lot of the time. It doesn’t let you see too far ahead of yourself, so you constantly find yourself stopping and checking your surroundings in First Person View. However, now, Subsistence includes the all-new 360 degree camera. Finally, we can move the camera around Snake, and check out his surroundings better. It makes the game a bit easier, and still has a MGS feel to it. The only problem with this new feature is that it’s kind of hard to get used to. If you’ve played Snake Eater before this game, you will know what each map looks like from the perspective of the old camera. Now, however, with the new camera, it’s easy to get “lost”, or loose your bearings on where you are going. However, a simple click of the R3 button will fix all of that, as it immediately takes you back to the old-school camera. You can get you bearings back, and instantly return to the 360 degree camera yet again, by the simple click of the R3 button. Knowing when to switch back and forth is essential to making the game easier for yourself.

Snake Eater introduced us to a whole new world of stealth, with the addition of different camos and face paints. If you’ve gotten bored with the camos that Snake Eater offered, look no further than Subsistence to wet your lips with a whole new arsenal of camos. They include all of the original camos from Snake Eater, along with many new ones. Each major country is represented with it’s own face paint, which is the country’s flag painted on Snake’s face. Show off the pride of your country, and wear it on Snake’s face.
Also, the “downloadable” camos aren’t exactly “downloadable” this time around. In Snake Eater, you had to have online mode to access these extra camos. However, now we can just put them onto our memory card, straight from the game disk. You are still “downloading” them onto your memory card, but you don’t need online to do it!

Last but not least, Kojima Production put the icing on this cake with the all new Metal Gear Online mode. Finally, you can show off your MGS skill to the whole world, and put your money where your mouth is. The four game modes, Sneaking, Capture, Team Deathmatch, and Deathmatch, are great, fun, and addicting modes. You are able to play in some of the biggest maps from the story mode, as well as some totally new to the MGS world. Special characters are also included, such as Big Boss, Raikov, Sokolov, and Ocelot. Each team has it’s own leader, which is the special character. They each have their own special ability, and it’s important to learn it and utilize it, so you can take your skill to the max. Also, the introduction of Team Rowdy Reiko from Rumble Roses is present in Online Mode. They are also special characters, that have their own special abilities, just like the others.
Online mode is a ton of fun, and highly addicting. However, it can get extremely annoying, if you’re playing against the wrong people. Some like to take the fun out of MGO, and they choose to cheat. There are a number of different cheats that they perform, and they are all equally annoying. Other than the cheaters, we also have laggers, who are almost equally annoying. They don’t mean to cheat, but their poor internet connections cause flaws in the game play, so they appear to cheat. It gives them an advantage, and causes problems for the rest of us. However, this is not MGS’s fault, as these horrible aspects are present in any online game, so you’re probably used to it by now.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence is a great remake; one of the best in gaming history. It gives us many new and exciting features, as well as the original features that made Snake Eater great in the first place. Overall, I give this game a 5/5. The graphics, story, and gameplay are all flawless, and it’s a must have for any fan of the series. Even if you are new to the series, this is a sure “turn-on” game, as it’s pretty much flawless. Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence is one of the greatest games ever created.