How crisp and 4K-ified a nostalgic menu appears to be like on an enormous TV is the silliest factor I’ve ever been enthusiastic about, however Metallic Gear Strong Delta: Snake Eater is a shot-for-shot remake which luxuriates within the little issues.
What makes Metallic Gear Strong 3 the most effective video games of all time isn’t essentially its sneaking or its plot, however its inventiveness and reactivity. In case you whip the digital camera round Snake within the medical display screen too shortly he falls to his knees and blows chunks if you return to the sport, in the event you shortly snipe a boss after a cutscene hours earlier than his scheduled combat, he’ll be useless if you’re alleged to face him, and rabbit would possibly style fairly good, however instantaneous ramen noodles are nonetheless the best meals recognized to man.
It’s stuffed with bespoke, purpose-built mechanics which had by no means been used earlier than or since, all of which had been so thrilling of their nerdy however approachable simulation. Whether or not it’s digging out bullets with a fight knife and bandaging the wound or burning off a fats leech with an equally stubby cuban cigar within the Remedy display screen, or snaring vampire bats, rats and reticulated pythons to recuperate your stamina, every transferring half is so merely applied, however with an accessibility that made them iconic.
Metallic Gear Strong Delta interprets the unique’s quirkiness superbly to a brand new technology with MGS5-esque controls and trendy Unreal 5 engine textures and lighting which don’t a lot reinvent the traditional, however leverage the soft-focus of reminiscence. Delta appears to be like such as you bear in mind MGS3 wanting, quite than the sharp, polygonal actuality of a 20 12 months previous PS2 sport.
The visible enhancements are, by-and-large, unbelievable, going above and past the stretched and muddy environments of a typical HD remaster to ship lush jungles, dusty mountain trails and austere laboratories which really feel dense with granular element and distinctly completely different from each other.
You would possibly spot a tough clothes texture here-and-there, however given MGS’s proclivity for crawling by way of the undergrowth and extra portrait shut ups than faculty image day, every part and everybody appears to be like good.
This provides a brand new lease of life to one of many extra underrated facets of Kojima video games, the kinetic cutscene digital camera work and shot choice. When you discover how dynamically and playfully the remade cutscenes are introduced, and the way a lot that contrasts with the legendarily (infamously) verbose codec scenes, it drives residence much more clearly how good Metallic Gear Strong is for this visible overhaul.
Nevertheless, inside the remake realm, Metallic Gear Strong Delta occupies an fascinating spot. Whereas there’s now been a plethora of remakes, remasters and reimaginings from all kinds of studios and genres, it’s apparent that Konami was most impressed (each judging by this and their latest Silent Hill 2 remake) by the Resident Evil remakes.
The entire Resident Evil remakes are nice however they make such an fascinating distinction with Metallic Gear. In Resident Evil 4 Remake, which I anticipated to be much more just like the dogged, reiterative model of Delta, the event group, comprised of lots of the individuals work had labored on the PS2 model, took the chance to “repair” fan-favourite flubs and memes which they clearly felt undermined the imaginative and prescient they had been going for however, I really feel, misplaced among the magic in doing so.
Resident Evil 2 Remake alternatively was completely triumphant in its reimagining of the unique sport. It felt like a contemporary sport designed with the spirit of the traditional that gained a very modern impetus from the brand new applied sciences and mechanics developed for Resident Evil 7 that it added, creating one thing which didn’t simply reanimate the bones of the previous sport, however augmented them into one thing tangibly thrilling.
Metallic Gear Strong Delta, for all its strengths, doesn’t do this. The entire enjoyable stuff that you just bear in mind continues to be right here, prepared and ready for you want a gavial underneath the waterline. However exterior of the brand new taking pictures controls, that are an unlimited enchancment even in the event you try to argue that the unique was a extra tactile and practical simulation of the complexity of really firing a weapon, Delta feels comparatively untouched creatively and mechanically.
I’m not saying I wished Ocelot to immediately begin to hunt you thru the jungle like Mr X in Resident Evil 2, however inside the wider context of what’s clearly impressed Delta, it doesn’t fairly attain the heights of one thing you’ve by no means seen earlier than – which is ironic given the greatness of MGS3 lies in its originality.
Nevertheless, that’s to not say that Delta is low effort in any sense. Its painstaking recreation, which brings again one in every of gaming’s best ever Easter Eggs that was lacking within the MGS HD Assortment, is saved from tautology each by its completeness and dedication to not offering the trail of least resistance.
To offer extra examples, it could’ve been very simple to forgo the Snake vs Monkey Ape Escape mode as a license not well worth the effort, or to brighten up the cave advanced after The Ache lest trendy gamers assume their HDR is damaged, quite than letting Snake’s eyes naturally modify to the gloom.
So, whereas there are at least 5 different variations of Metallic Gear Strong 3, Metallic Gear Strong Delta: Snake Eater is now the definitive place to play a bonafide traditional in a means that feels each accessibly trendy, however nonetheless genuine to the unique expertise.
