Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D on the Nintendo 3DS is about as close as it gets to having a Playstation 3 at your fingertips wherever you are. That may not make much sense to some people with the recent release of the PSVita, but there’s not a single game release on it that comes as close to Snake Eater in terms of serious gaming.
It’s tense, clever, brutal and often unforgiving, plunging you into the heart of the cold war with an atmospheric jungle setting. While the 3D setting of the Nintendo 3DS does more to disorient that it does to add depth to the gameplay, turn the setting off and the game is a well tuned jungle sneakathon shootemup.
The game starts out with Snake taking to the air with a parachute in tow and landing in the heart of Soviet Russia, on a mission to rescue a missile scientist of dangerous proportions in the wake of the Cuban Missile crisis. With the necessity to move around without being seen or hear, the game is much more strategic than it would be if the idea was simply to land with all guns blazing. Sneaking around in the undergrowth becomes the main focal point and taking out enemies in the right way, without them alerting control through their walkie talkies is the name of the game.
The storyline is a direct prequel to the other Metal Gear Solid games and brings the amazing stealth engine of the series to the Nintendo 3DS.
There are lots of other random additions to the game that makes it feel like you really have been left to fend for yourself in the jungle, including the need to use your cigar to get rid of leeches and to kill and eat snakes (hence the name of the game) to regain lost stamina.
There’s also a brilliantly cinematic feel to the cut scenes, especially the games later than usual opening sequences, which mimic those of James Bond films with great tongue in cheek effect.Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater is a lengthy and absorbing game, delivering a big chunk of serious gaming might to the Nintendo 3DS. This makes the handheld console a real challenge to the PSVita, which previously looked like it might have the edge.
Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater review: 4.4/5
