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Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
by Jolex Del Pilar

Saturday, June 7, 2003

Snake Eater stole a lot of attention (and floor space) at E3. Here's our impressions of what we saw.

Title: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Platform: PS2

Publisher: Konami

Developer: Konami

# of Players: 1

Genre: Action

Origin: Japan

Expected Release: Perhaps late 2004

Grapevine: "Metal Gear Solid 3 probably won't be more than a trailer and screens until after the Summer."

First off, I have to admit, most of what we know about this game was gathered from a 5 minute video trailer that was playing at Konami's E3 booth, and the few words I got from a PR person at the same booth. That being said, I was assured that most of what was seen in the amazing trailer will be elements present in gameplay. As an aside, the reaction to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was tremendous on the E3 floor. People swamped the Konami booth, and literally blocked access to other booths by standing right in the middle of a main walkway causing some of us to be mildly annoyed as we had to walk all the way around either the Konami or EA booths just to get to the other side of this growing crowd. Some advice for the Konami people for next year, "get better crowd control or a bigger booth next year to better contain your adoring fans, thank you."

As for the trailer itself, it showcased Snake as the badass he's always been. Stuck in a forest, surrounded by baddies with big guns, Snake moved through the forest with sealth and speed. Along the way, we got hints at what new gameplay elements might be in Snake Eater. Still present was the "hide and peek" manuever that gamers used heavily in Metal Gear Solid 2. A new move that snake could do perhaps owed some credit to Ubi Soft's Splinter Cell as Snake at one point in the trailer was hanging from a tree branch and firing his weapon from above. Very nice. Another new addition, is the thermal scope from Snake's rifle. It looks and acts very similar to the thermal scope present in Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield. How useful a sniper rifle will be in the game has yet to be seen, as previous Metal Gear Solid titles mostly took place in enclosed, metallic areas, but it was used to good effect in the trailer which brings me to my next point.

The level previewed for Snake Eater was an amazing outdoor level with gracious amounts of detail present. A welcome change from the cargo ships and oil rigs of the previous game. As the screenshots show, Snake Eater makes use of weather effects, shadow and lighting, and particle effects. If this is an indication of the new levels to be present in Snake Eater, then we are all in for a treat.

Screenshots