Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater review for PS5, Xbox Series X, PC

Metal Gear Solid 3 has long been one of my favorite video games of all time. When I heard about Metal Gear Solid Δ, I was simultaneously excited and worried at the same time. Would they be able to properly do justice to the game I beat over and over again as a teenager? What if they think they need to take their own spin on it? Worse, what if they decide to re-record all the dialogue… “Oh god… what if David Hayter isn’t Snake if they do that???”. That’s a quote from my thoughts I had at the announcement. The most bittersweet possibility was dancing in front of me.

But, apparently, there is no need to worry. What is Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater? (I’m going to refer to it as just Delta or drop Snake Eater from here on) It’s an exact, true to scale, faithful to a fault, remake of Metal Gear Solid 3. There is nothing here that they missed and nothing that they added (well, one thing, but it’s not much and I’ll get to that). If you were like me and worried that it might have some liberties taken… worry no more. This is just “What if Metal Gear Solid 3 were released today instead?” and nothing more than that. Almost sounds dismissive to not say more than that, but… as my tagline says, perfection doesn’t need changes. They kept it all, up to and including the frustrating bits, such as solving how to defeat The Sorrow. This is exactly what I hoped it would be, and exactly what it needed to be in my opinion. Because of this, I’m not going to spend much of this review focusing on the game’s story or content because all reviews and impressions written since 2004 are entirely relevant to Delta’s release. My opinion of the story? 10/10, I’ve beaten it 2 dozen times or more, here goes a couple more.

With series frontman Hideo Kojima long out of the chair for the series, any additions to Delta would be risking fallout with fans. While other games such as Resident Evil were able to create remakes that remained faithful while twisting the formula, I am not confident that the charm and understanding of the formula is possible with anyone else making decisions. Kojima is a special kind of mad genius that is one of a kind. That’s not to say someone else couldn’t make something good with Metal Gear Solid as a series, but… it cannot do proper justice to what is to be expected from the series. All of that is none to worry about though, because as I mentioned, this appears to have been a fully faithful adaptation to the original Metal Gear Solid 3.

They even remade the Guy Savage minigame in Metal Gear Solid Δ! That’s… I did not see that coming, and would’ve denied any possibility of it reappearing in this release. To my understanding, it was meant to be a short demo for a potentially upcoming game that never came to be, and remaking it entirely just because it was in Metal Gear Solid 3 was a level of faithfulness that was beyond what could have been hoped for. As well as that, of course the Ape Escape crossover minigame remains as well. The Ape Escape game is available from the beginning, and Guy Savage once you complete the story.

Along with the beautifully redone visuals, Metal Gear Solid Δ has redone the controls to fit into more modern expectations. No more do we have to confuse American audiences by using the PlayStation controller in its originally intended format by hitting circle to confirm on the menu. No more do you have to slow walk by pressing on the DPad. No more are you fighting with the clunky controls as much as you are the enemy. Okay… it wasn’t that bad, but you have to admit that Metal Gear Solid 3 was very obtuse sometimes back in 2004. In my opinion, this updated handling and control is done very gracefully and a welcome adjustment to make it feel proper as a current release.

So… what more is there to address? Not much. The remake of Metal Gear Solid 3 is as well done as you would’ve hoped it would be. I did mention one addition above, and I’ll at least make sure you’re not left hanging on that. So, in Metal Gear Solid 3, each loaded area had one hidden toy frog somewhere within the zone. These collectables unlocked you a special camouflage that just made you invisible. Often, these were in well hidden spots or just hard to hit locations (looking at you, motorcycle chase levels). Well, to all of my Metal Gear Solid 3 veterans returning for Delta: don’t you worry. Now you’ve got a second collectable to find. This time by the way of ducks wearing ghillie suits. And you thought the frogs were hard to find and hit. These suckers blend in with the environment. You can be looking straight at one and still miss it. Good luck. I have no idea what they unlock, because I could not find all of them in time!

If you’ve played Metal Gear Solid 3 before, then you know what you want. Do you want Metal Gear Solid 3 exactly as you remember it, but looking much better and running much better? If so, then great- you want Metal Gear Solid Δ. That’s that. Have you never played Metal Gear Solid 3, been interested, but deterred by the fact that the game is 20 years old? If so, then great – you want Metal Gear Solid Δ. Just get it, you know you want it. It’s as good as a remake is ever going to be.
Note: Konami provided us with a Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater code for review purposes.