Review – Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

Nostalgia is a dangerous knife of two edges in the world of remakes. On the one hand, we have the offer to revive an experience that caused us a lot of happiness and fun; On the other hand, we have the possibility of reliving so -called experience in a renewed way, but in a way that leaves a bitter taste in the tongue. It is below this concept of conceptual damocles.

Following the announcement of Metal Gear Solid Delta in 2023, along with, the world was surprised to see Naked Snake with a fully updated look, while moving through the muddy waters of the Russian forests. Time has passed, and finally I was able to experience the story of MGS3 again, but in a completely new way and different from what I expected.

A timeless story of the Cold War

Many already know the narrative of Naked Snake’s first mission, but Delta It was made for both the adventures since the time of PS1, PS2 or even MSX, and the new generation of players. In Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, we accompany John, also known as Jack, in his first major mission: the rescue of a refugee scientist who is hostage to the Russian Armed Forces.

Controlling Snake, the player will advance for the first part of the story, called the virtuous mission. With the radio support of important characters for the plot of the series in general, such as for Medic, Major Zero and the legendary soldier and tutor of the protagonist, known only as The Boss. After rescuing Sokolov from his confinement and trying to escape with him, Snake finds himself in the front seat of events that will shape the future of the world.

After witnessing events and the virtuous mission failure, Snake ends up being sent again to Russia to prevent Colonel Volgin’s plans, a powerful and influential member of the Russian army. Volgin, through coercion, forced Sokolov to create a mass destruction weapon, a tank capable of traveling on any terrain and nuclear capacity: ShagoHod!

Known as Thunderbolt and being able to generate a current of up to 10 million volts on his body, Volgin also has the support of his faithful commander Adamska Ocelot and Cobra Unit, a military unit led by the now traitor The Boss, who joined the Volgin forces. Snake will have to choose between his loyalty to his mentor or country, thus deciding to allow a new arms race for nuclear tanks or prevent the proliferation of weapons such as ShagoHod.

Before the fox, the snake

The new operation, especially called Snake Eater because Snake made a fame to eat a snake during his training, will now put him to face and eliminate the entire Legendary Cobra Unit, a group responsible for being one of the crucial pieces for the end of World War II.

Snake will have to use all the tools at his disposal in the fictional region of Tselinoyarsk, camouflaging the dense forests and feeding on the fauna and flora present to survive. Preventing GRU and Spetsnaz soldiers from finding him and putting an end to his mission, he will again have the support of Fox Unit members, now with the Sigint weapons expert and the mysterious field agent named Eva, who appears in place of the expected Adam.

The forest and soldiers are enough challenges for Snake and the player, depending on the selected difficulty. However, it doesn’t take long for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater introduces the bosses and members of the Cobra: The Pain, The Fear, The End and The Fury unit. The Sorrow and The Joy (The Boss) are introduced and interact with the player in different ways during the story.

During and after events in Operation Snake Eater, Naked Snake’s future will be shaped, and a trajectory that will plunge the world in chaos years later begins to take shape. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a 1: 1 rereading of the original Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

A new vision for a classic

The rebirth of an acclaimed series is a delicate balance of equilibrium, where the steps of conservatism and innovation oscillate over a thin surface such as ice, and can break at any moment and throw the project into the discontent of the general public. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, in my opinion, had his steps somewhat confused in the innovation, either for lack or for wrong “steps”.

In recent years, Konami has invested in its so -called dormant franchises, such as Castlevania, Silent Hill and now Metal Gear. This emerged in the new and old players curiosity for the response of what a reading of the classic Snake Eater would be like today, and the change in gameplay mechanics to current times was not a poor update.

Using the camera concept seen in Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, Metal Gear Solid Delta allows the player to have a more direct view of the scenery and map, which greatly assists in gameplay. However, for the most purists like me, who like the original experience, there is a way to play the whole game with overhead vision mechanics. Making gameplay more inviting for new players and allowing veterans to have a new shape and angles to experience Naked Snake’s first mission.

There was also the addition of a compass that helps the player to locate on the map and direction of objectives, as well as quick access menus when holding directional buttons up and down. With the directional upwards, a selection of quick camouflage section is opened and down, we have immediate access to the Snake communicator. This makes certain moments easier to navigate, such as the ambushes of Ocelot and the invasion of the ShagoHod hangar. However, there are certain negative points in this new version.

The temptation of the serpent

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a 1: 1 remake of the original version of PlayStation 2. With that, the easter eggs Originals have been kept, such as the Snake Vs Monkey minigame and even a reimaginated version of Snake’s nightmare, the tech demo of a canceled project known as Guy Savage. This shows how focused were in bringing a complete modernization of the original Metal Gear Solid 3 experience on PlayStation 2.

Although I enjoy a 1: 1 rereading of an excellent work like Metal Gear Solid 3, I see that there were spaces and gaps that could have been better filled with secret debris, easter eggs or even new cutscenes in the secret theater mode, although it has only jokes. An example of revival that takes advantage of the information presented at future events has been that of Resident Evil.

Taking advantage of the excellent hype that resident evil 2 remakes, 3 e 4 Generated, Capcom has done everything in its power to clean any lost information from games or loose tip, making the series’s universal narrative in something more linear and easy to follow. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater could have followed the same path in order to bring the original narrative closer to what was presented to us at the end of The Phantom Pain.

One of the greatest examples of this is the famous connection to the end of the game credits, usually with Ocelot adding some important plot-twist to the future narrative. In Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, there could be a new post-credit scene where we could see Skull Face and the XOF by cleaning the Fox traces and the evidence that could incriminate the CIA as much as the plan is to keep history 1: 1, this does not prevent the addition of elements that enrich the plot using more current information.

The change of the caretaker for the dubious

Another great negative point that accompanied me throughout the gameplay was the performance of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater on my machine. Even with my PC in excellent condition, as I recently maintained and cleaning it, it suffered from Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. Not that the game has made the board and the coolers work in excessive or machine warm; The big problem faced was optimization and polishing.

Game optimization proved to be a challenge even for modern hardware. My RTX 4060 has not been able to maintain stability in Ultra mode, although in the ‘high’ setting the performance was 60 FPS most of the time. The problem, however, resided in the constant “choking” – abrupt falls of frames that occurred at the beginning of cutscenes and scenario transitions. This inconsistency, present even with DLSS in Quality Mode, refers directly to the problems of launching Silent Hill 2 remake, another Konami title at Unreal Engine 5

The instability extended to the cutscenes, which presented frames of frames at times with many elements on the screen. Groznyj Grad’s iconic escape scene with EVA, for example, was particularly affected by this problem. More serious, however, was the overall instability of the game, which presented fatal error (‘fatal error’) and closed unexpectedly five times. Having the experience interrupted this way, even during the final scene, was extremely frustrating and compromised the climax of the journey.

In 2020, Konami also abandoned its excellent graphic engine, Fox Engine, an engine that made so much Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain how much other titles from P.E.S At the time they could run on PlayStation 3 without problems. Using Unreal Engine 5, as much as it is a standard industry action, makes the product generic and less ingenious, something I have always admired towards Konami in all its series.

Covering a colorful mural

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is one of the most iconic games of PlayStation 2, with its visual art direction bringing flat and expressive colors, making forests something straight from a painting. The new Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater opts for a more “cleaner” view, with photorealistic graphics, leaving aside the yellowish tone and the bloom of the lights, which is extremely visible in the final scene of the game in the veterans cemetery.

The audio has been reworked, and the voice actors remain the same, which is excellent. After all, I still believe that they have changed the voice of David Hayter as Naked Snake already in Ground Zeroes to actor Kiefer Sutherland was a shot on the foot, both on the fans and the side of the series, and the exchange would make the most sense in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Another negative point in relation to the artistic part is the new version of the introduction “Snake Eater”. Unlike its original version, it seems empty, with instrumentation giving much more space to the voice of Cynthia Harrell, who returns once again to sing this iconic theme of opening the history of games. Unfortunately, the new version sins in the mixing of the instruments, although Cynthia’s performance remains as striking as the original.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a good experiment, a chance for Konami to wet his feet and test the pool waters, the same one he did with Silent Hill 2’s remake. It could have been much better, but for the first steps towards one revivalIt is a good attempt, even though it misses it at times in this tortuous path that is the world of remakes. There is still a lot to come through Konami, both in the next titles and Foxhunt mode. What we have left is to wait and cheer for the announcement of new games from the Solid Delta series and the Master Collection 2, finally bringing Guns of the Patriots to the PCs.

In the end, for those who are Metal Gear Solid Delta? For the veteran, it is an interactive museum of very high fidelity that sacrifices part of his artistic soul in exchange for modernity. For the novice, it is the most affordable way to try a masterpiece, although it is a version with less personality. Konami has played insurance, delivering a competent product, but rarely dares to be more than a giant’s HD shadow