Facebook – Top 100 FAVORITE Video Games: 3

Sorry, again, for the delay. I did really good with getting this updated daily up until the end. Oh well. This game is the reason I had to do some major moving around of the games on the list, actually, and its been moved a smidge here, at the end. Once again the greatest game for its console, the greatest game in its own franchise, game #3 pops up on the list for the first time in a high ranking spot for one good reason: its that damn great.

3: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)
Developer: Konami
Year: 2004

After finishing a rousing game of Half-Life 2, I decided to try my hand at relearning the controls for a Metal Gear Solid game. See, I’d borrowed MGS3 from my younger brother’s friend, Chris, and generally suck at playing them for the first few hours while I get a hang of how to move Snake around, again. The MGS series has very distinctive controls, so it was essential to master them again. Anyway, it was 11PM, I’d just finished HL2, and thought “few hours of this and then bed!” – but what really ended up happening was me and my younger brother, home alone, in front of my parent’s big screen TV for 14+ straight hours of intense game play, storyline progression, and stealth action in the mid-60’s. What we ended up experiencing was one of the greatest video games ever made.

I couldn’t tell you what specifically happened that left us sitting there for hours. A large chunk of it probably had to do with the fact that – during my Christmas break away from Drake University – we were without any parents for a number of days and had nothing else to do. With no responsibility and no one to tell us to go to bed, we just sat and played the damn game. But what really pulled us in? I mean, there was a ton of things that it could have been; for example, the characters this time around were really, really interesting (and I don’t mean interesting in the sense that Vamp from MGS2-MGS4 is interesting, but more like I actually was interested in them). The Cobra Unit – 3’s answer to FOXHOUND or Dead Cell – consisted of some of the coolest boss battles in the series (a statement of opinion), but they actually featured a group of individuals that were uniquely interesting and equally fun to not only battle, but learn about through conversation. Pair this with The Boss, Volgin, the reveal of young Ocelot, and – of course – Big Boss himself, Naked Snake, and you’ve got a great cast of assholes.

assholes like this guy, with his flame thrower

For my younger brother, it was probably these characters paired with the epic story and awesome presentation of both. The game took on a sort of James Bond feel (evidenced by the intro video and the title theme song, “Snake Eater” – both being blatant homages/ripoffs of classic 007 features) and paired it with the feel of the stealth from the first games (way back in the day on MSX2, that is) – jungles, military bases, and underground caverns replaced the industrial wastes of frozen Shadow Moses or the ultra clean Big Shell (MGS and MGS2, respectively), leaving Naked Snake alone with nothing but what he could collect to keep him alive. The setting aside, the storyline really took center stage, something the series needed to rejuvenate it after MGS2’s… questionable narrative decisions. Don’t get me wrong, I love Metal Gear Solid 2 (it was on the list!) but the story was so convoluted and tripping on itself; Snake Eater presented a “larger than life” story without sacrificing any sanity or sense-making… it simply told its story well.

For me, though, the biggest reason to keep playing the game into the wee hours of the night, the early hours of the day, and into the mid-afternoon of the next day was because of its immersion with new gameplay mechanics such as the introduction to CQC (close quarters combat) and the camo settings, allowing Snake to blend in with camouflage outfits and appropriately placed face paint. For whatever reason, this method of remaining hidden and sneaking throughout the game’s various locations really pulled me in with its inventive aspects. While I snuck around (snuck isn’t a word, I know) in the first two games, it really wasn’t necessary for most of the game (unless you just wanted to prove you could do it), you could just shoot everyone over and over again, continually cleaning out rooms as you go. But in MGS3 you had to sneak. While you could avoid all the other soldiers or take them out with CQC, it just wasn’t especially effective and it was overly time-consuming. And the new techniques made it easier to feel like a king of sneaking, making the game that much more fun to play.

All in all, Metal Gear Solid 3 hold this high place because it was damn near perfect. Featuring the series’ best narrative, the introduction to what Big Boss was going after in the first place, and showing us that – despite the fact that Solid Snake is the series’ primary hero an a total badass – Big Boss was the real shit, being a perfectly trained soldier. In their prime, Snake wouldn’t stand a chance against his father, who was just that damn good, in the end. While the last game in the series (MGS4 on PS3) is damn impressive, and the first games in the Solid series are equally fantastic, the third game for some reason takes the cake in terms of… well, everything. Presentation aside, simply sneaking is fun for the first time, and thats saying something.

Classic Moment:
The Sorrow; so I played this game without stopping, without looking for a hint, without needing any help at all whatsoever. And then what happens? I can’t figure out the trick to beating The Sorrow. It wouldn’t have been such a big damn deal, but every time you failed to take him out (he’s a ghost, so you don’t really take him out, so to speak) you had to start this hella slow river crawl over again. So, I looked it up. In the end, it was one of the cheapest tricks in Metal Gear history (including switching controller ports on Psycho Mantis, no less) and the one moment of weakness I experienced in the game. (PS: this is a tie with the battle with The Boss at the end of the game which would be too many paragraphs to describe, in relation to the epic beauty of it all)

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Added April 14, 2017
Heaven help me if they put all these games on the Switch. Just… just Jesus.
I love the hell out of this game, have only played it twice. I should probably get on a third run-through at some point.