Undoubtedly one of the best games in its series and arguably one of the greatest video games ever made. I recommend it.

User Rating: 9.5 | Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (First Print Limited Edition) PS2
About seven years ago in 2004, one of the world's most cinematic, action-packed, and almost completely story-driven games were unleashed to the general gaming public. That game happened to be none other than Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. And it succeeded. To the point where many MGS veterans claimed it to be the best in the series. And they said that it couldn't have been better.

Well... almost.

Some of MGS3's fans had some gripes and rants about the game. One of the most obvious and blatant reasons was the odd camera angle. Many criticized it for forcing the player to switch to first-person view to see what was in front of them. Some fans gave a thumbs-down to its lack of gameplay in the beginning of the game and its over-exaggerated storyline. Others said that it could have used a lot more polish and some extra coats of paint. Metal Gear Solid 3 did not have an answer to those moans and groans.

Until now, that is.

On March 14, 2006, the legendary game was re-released in North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia in hopes of fixing everything that the game lacked. And Konami fleshed out the game a little, of course. Did it meet the gamers' expectations and did it win some new fans-for-life? Let's find out in my review of what is one of the greatest games of all time.

For those of you that don't know, the story (which I will conceal as many spoilers as possible) is really cinematic and seems like it could fit into a blockbuster action-flick.

A good blockbuster action-flick.

Set in the midst of the Cold War in 1964 the story begins in a style which sucks you right into the game. It starts off with... wait - is that Solid Snake? Nonsense, m'boy! This game stars Solid Snake's father, Big Boss, the man behind the Outer Heaven Uprising and the Zanzibar Land Disturbance back in Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.

Big Boss (remember, Snake's dad, if you're beginning to forget) A.K.A. Naked Snake is given a mission by the CIA to infiltrate the jungle environments of Russia's outskirts to rescue a Soviet scientist named Nikolai Stephenovich Sokolov that claims to be an American forced by the Russian KGB and the GRU; a security agency and a foreign intelligence agency, respectively. Snake's duty is to prevent the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union from increasing. If Snake fails, the world could be at the hands of a nuclear war. The story unfolds rapidly from there. But I'll stop at this point.

The story is exactly the same as the original game, so don't expect any differences between the two.

The gameplay is again, exactly the same as the first, but there's a plus! The camera angle in which many people found annoying has been discarded for a controllable "3D Camera". Yes, you now have the freedom to look around with the camera in the lush jungle environments of the game. You can do all of Snake's favorite CQC moves and more around easier with the inclusion of this awesome camera. If you're feeling nostalgic, you can switch back and forth between the original camera and the 3D Camera at any time (not that you would have to, anyway). Also, you can play this game two ways, which is pretty interesting. You can sneak around past the guards and take them out, or you can run around guns blazing; it's really fun either way.

Since this is an espionage game, Snake needs to be as quiet as possible, doing whatever it takes to win over the enemy and outwit the bosses in this game. A new feature in this game that is not in MGS1 or MGS2 is the stalking feature. Since enemy AI is more improved in this game, guards will now hear Snake if he just runs up behind them. This is where stalking comes in. Although it may be pretty hard to judge when you begin stalking (because Snake moves pretty slow when doing this), it can become a vital tool if you're in a jam.

Controls are the same as well. And still they are hard to get used to due to the pressure-sensitive controls. You can move Snake around with the left analog stick and you can move the camera with the right analog stick. Stalking is done by using the D-Pad.

The Triangle Button is the action button; it is used to do things like climb over a waist-high railing or climb a tree to get a bird's-eye view on the situation.

The Square Button is used to fire your weapon or slash with your knife. It's pretty much the weapon button.

The "X" Button is used to change Snake's position. An example of this is to crouch, crawl, or stand up when doing either of them. The pressure sensitive controls kick in for this button. If you apply a lot of pressure on the "X" Button while Snake is in a standing position, he will get on his belly and prepare to crawl. If you simply tap the "X" Button, Snake will crouch; the same controls if you do this when crawling or crouching.

The Circle Button. Really useful in many ways. It is referred to as the Punch Button or CQC Button. This button is pressure sensitive. Tap the Circle Button to punch, and tap it three times to do a punch-punch-kick combo. If you apply more pressure on the button and a guard is nearby, you can put him in a choke-hold or throw him to the ground if the Circle Button is used in conjunction with the left analog stick. A lot can be done if Snake puts the guard in a choke-hold; he can throw them forward/backward, slit their throats or choke them, interrogate them for information, or use them as a human shield to protect you from gunfire. You can also knock on walls if you press against a wall.

The SELECT Button is used to bring up the radio interface. You can then call your contacts for information or save your game.

The PAUSE Button is used to... well, pause. When you pause, you bring up the "Survival Viewer" Interface. From here, you can change your camouflage and face paint, equip and unequip weapons/items, eat food, cure your wounds, look at the map, and change the options. There's a lot to do here.

The L1 Button is used to make the camera face forward in a snap if you're having trouble seeing where you are in the 3D Camera. It is also used to lock on to enemies when you are holding a gun.

The R1 Button is used for First-Person View (FPV). When you press and hold it down, you can see things from Snake's point of view. Doing this makes it a lot easier to pick enemies off from a far distance if you're using a gun. CQC can be done in this view as well.

The L2 Button is used to select items. Press and hold the button down to bring up the items that you have equipped. You can view the item and bring up information by using the D-Pad or left analog stick. If you release the button and are viewing an item, you will equip that item. And one more thing; if you tap the button, you can do a quick change. If you have an item equipped and if you tap the L2 Button instead of holding it down, you will unequip the the item in a flash instead of having to hold the button down and select "NONE" in the items menu.

The R2 Button is used to select weapons. If you hold it down, it brings up the weapons you have equipped. It works the same as the L2 Button, so it's pretty self-explanatory.

The L3 Button (if you depress the left analog stick) is used to interrogate guards if you have them in a choke-hold. If you do this, you can get some information from the guard. But there are some resistant guards that will refuse to give you info, which is pretty realistic.

The R3 Button is used to switch between the original camera angle and the 3D Camera. This is its only purpose, so I think that's all for this one.

The sound in this game is utterly amazing. High-quality sounds are used everywhere in this game. It's as if the sound memory on the PS2 was enhanced just for this game. From the sound of tapping tree bark or running around in the grass to the music of birds humming in the distance, everything is perfect in the sound department.

The music is just what you'd expect from a Metal Gear Solid game. It sounds like it was taken from a high-budget film. But that's because composer Harry Gregson-Williams, who composed the soundtrack of Shrek, Armageddon, The Rock, and others). You can also use Dolby Pro-Logic to enhance the sound. The music is just plain wicked awesome.

The visuals in this game are simply eye candy. High quality textures can be seen everywhere in this game, although there are some few blemishes here and there. It's really impressive; the new 3D Camera gives you the opportunity to just stare at the beautiful art design put into this game. It really seems like a jungle of art in this game.

New features have been added in this game. There are more face paint options and more camouflage uniforms than ever before, and the inclusion of online support has been added as well, although the servers are currently inactive, so you can't play online anymore. But there's still plenty to do! Because there are two discs in this game (three if you live in Europe), the replay value is really great.

The first disc, "Subsistence", has the main game, briefing files, and a demo theater. In the briefing files, you can view Naked Snake's briefings before the mission. In the demo theater, you can watch all the cutscenes from beginning to end, or you can watch a certain one you really like. The cutscenes really amount to a couple hours, which is really impressive.

The second disc, "Persistence", contains the Online Mode, a boss rush mode, the original MSX and MSX2 ports of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (which was only released in Japan but is translated to English), a secret theater, and a Snake vs Monkey mode. The online mode, again, is down, so there isn't anything to do there anymore. The boss rush is exactly what it is: a series of battles with the bosses encountered within the game. This branches into two modes; the first with normal rules and another with different rules which makes the boss battles more challenging. The ports of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake are one of the greatest additions to this game, especially Metal Gear 2. The secret theater mode is a bunch of cutscenes which are parodies made by Konami of MGS. Totally hilarious! The Snake vs Monkey mode is a homage to the video game Ape Escape 3, which gave Snake a cameo appearance in the form of a MGS game with monkeys, "Mesal Gear Solid". Snake vs Monkey is a minigame where you catch the monkeys scattered everywhere throughout environments seen through the game. It's a little tacky, but it's a nice addition nonetheless.

The third disc, "Existence", is obtainable if you happened to live in Europe or if you were one of the people that got the special editon of Subsistence. It's pretty much a run of all of the cutscenes in remastered sound format. I don't have it, so I really don't know much about it - sorry!

The only gripe I have about the game is how Konami shut down the Online servers. But if you've got a PS3, then you can get Metal Gear Solid 4 and play that game's online feature, right?

All in all, the replay value is intense! There's plenty to do even after you finish the main game. The two (or three) discs really adds to the game. It's really impressive on how Konami was able to add so much content over the original MGS3. Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions really outdid themselves on this one, and I couldn't have made a better video game purchase for the Sony PlayStation 2. Well done, Konami. I applaud you. Thanks for reading.