Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater

[Julius]

Finally officially official:

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METAL GEAR SOLID A: SNAKE EATER is a faithful remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. A new generation of players and loyal fans alike can experience the origin story of the famed Big Boss, and witness how his legend was forged in the crucible of Operation Snake Eate.

METAL GEAR SOLID A: SNAKE EATER will be available for PlayStation®5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam®.

Sorely needed gameplay imho.

Would love to hear H-o-T's thoughts on this, because that trailer - especially after all the leaks! - just felt super flat. 

Edited September 14, 2023 by Julius

[Happenstance]

 

[Dcubed]

That trailer does not inspire confidence…

MGS sans Kojima is something I do not want.

More interested in the MGS Master Collection than this so far.

[Jimbob]

It's going to be weird playing a MGS game without any Kojima input, Snake Eater is my favourite of the whole franchise.

[Julius]

New in-engine footage from today's Xbox Partner Preview:

Yep, that's MGS3 in UE5 alright...

[Dcubed]

Looks artless.  Like one of those Mario In Unreal Engine videos, but with a budget.

Might as well be AI generated.

Honestly, even that bloody awful MGS3 Pachislot machine respects the original game's art direction far more than this generic looking slop...

 

Edited October 25, 2023 by Dcubed

[Julius]

First look at the main menu from today's Production Hotline video:

This game has been marketed so weirdly. 

[Dcubed]

2 hours ago, Julius said:

First look at the main menu from today's Production Hotline video:

This game has been marketed so weirdly. 

 

On 25/10/2023 at 7:44 PM, Dcubed said:

Looks artless.  Like one of those Mario In Unreal Engine videos, but with a budget.

Might as well be AI generated.

[Julius]

Trailer from the weekend:

Hayter also turned up in Part 2 of the MGS Legacy Series...

...which also includes the first look at the Deluxe and Collector's Editions of the game:

Anyways, still not really sure how I feel about this. I think that this is the best that this remake of Snake Eater has looked - bit of a facelift from it's last showing - but a lot of the animation work definitely still looks like it's following the original just a bit too closely. 

Also, as someone who played Snake Eater for the first time just a few years ago - he says, refusing to acknowledge that it's already been 4 years since 2020 and that miserable lockdown - I just struggle to see what the pull is of this remake. Is this new coat of paint really going to be enough to get new fans onboard? I have my doubts. 

[Hero-of-Time]

8 hours ago, Julius said:

Also, as someone who played Snake Eater for the first time just a few years ago - he says, refusing to acknowledge that it's already been 4 years since 2020 and that miserable lockdown - I just struggle to see what the pull is of this remake. Is this new coat of paint really going to be enough to get new fans onboard? I have my doubts. 

This is where I'm at with the game. Snake Eater is my favourite MGS game, as well as being one of my favourite games of all time, but judging what we've seen so far, this version doesn't seem to be needed at all. It doesn't seem to be like the recent Resident Evil 4 remake where everything across the board got a huge upgrade. I'll obviously still play pick this up and play it but at the moment I still wondering why Konami decided to go down this route. Still, it looks lovely though and it's great to hear Hayter back as Snake. As much as I love Kojima, him casting Sutherland in Phantom Pain never sat right with me at all.

[Julius]

Previews are going up:

Guess I know what I'm watching while I eat breakfast this morning! 

[Julius]

Watched those previews today and I've got to say, the game is kind of looking gorgeous (overwhelming UEness of some of it aside) and I'm actually pretty happy it's keeping the mechanics and controls very close to the original. Really dig the easy swapping through types of camo too. 

Especially after playing through certain stealth sections of Outlaws this past week I found myself craving this level of stealth work (and a remake of MGS, of course), I think it's the right route to take with a very faithful remake in this instance rather than taking the REmake route or, perhaps more extreme, the VII Remake project route. I think it if it conserves the strengths of the original game while being faithful to Kojima's original ideas - and I'm really quite pleased to hear about Kojima's name being plastered all over it as well as the team apparently having a lot of respect for Kojima's work - and is basically a pretty, modern take on the game, then I can convince my friends to pick it up – which I think is going to be much easier to do than convince them to pick up the Master Collection. There aren't that many people who play games my age and younger who are willing to go back to games which are two decades old, and I do think this is clearly targeted at them. 

I also think doing it this way, rather than diving into the REmake methodology, might help garner some trust in Virtuous, because the next game after this to remake is either going to be Metal Gear or Metal Gear Solid (doubt they'll touch Peace Walker because of how different its flow is and goals are, or Ground Zeroes/Phantom Pain stuff because, well, they don't need remakes) and so a solid but faithful Snake Eater remake which gives them the tools and foundation to start making remakes of those games could be a smart move for the franchise with where it's at and also not needing to make wholly original stories which depart from Kojima's works. In terms of keeping the franchise as a whole relevant in this day and age? I honestly think it's probably the most respectful way they can go about it – and worst case, the originals are still there, and are readily available at that. 

Not saying I'm all-in on it just yet, and I think we need to see more of the game with some raw gameplay footage to instill more confidence (even with these previews we're still seeing a lot of recycled footage from trailers and gameplay from the original to get certain points across) – and with Konami being set to turn up at Tokyo Game Show next month, as well as the PS Blog recently revealing that we'll learn the game's release date by the end of the year ("release date [is] to be revealed later this year."), hopefully we won't find ourselves waiting too long. 

Fingers crossed, eh? 

[Julius]

The game will be playable at TGS, so I imagine we're going to see a whole lot more impressions come two weeks' time: 

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We are currently working hard to prepare a playable corner for MGS [Delta] and a photo spot that expresses the game's worldview! More details will be announced on this account and the official website at a later date, so stay tuned for further updates!

Some more details also came from the Production Hotline held earlier this week. 

On the feedback they got from the most recent preview event:

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Overall, 88% percent of the reporting was positive on the game, and 12% was a mix of positive and negative coverage.

By adhering too closely to the original, it doesn't feel fresh." "The loading screens between stages feel very outdated.

On the loading screens between stages:

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But that's just how the game was designed. The rhythm and the shifting pace of gameplay flows from that choice.

If we had done anything to change that overarching design, it would have changed the game entirely.
And given what we were setting out to do, we questioned whether that really fit with the vision for this project.

On staff credits and what they're going to do about A HIDEO KOJIMA GAME:

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You might notice that a lot of Metal Gear titles start with the line, "A HIDEO KOJIMA GAME."

But in MGSΔ: SE, you'll see it says "BASED ON METAL GEAR SOLID 3" instead.

And I just want to take a moment to make sure everyone understands why that is.

It's always been the case that games Mr. Kojima didn't personally direct don't have "A HIDEO KOJIMA GAME."

Pretty straight and fair answers, and I think it's sensible to advise what they're going to do about Kojima's credits way ahead of time to avoid any crazy controversy at launch. 

Can't tell if I'm just hungry to play another MGS game or what, but I'll be honest, this project is starting to excite me. 

[drahkon]

Can't wait for this.
Been excited for it the moment it got revealed

2 minutes ago, Julius said:

But that's just how the game was designed. The rhythm and the shifting pace of gameplay flows from that choice.

If we had done anything to change that overarching design, it would have changed the game entirely.
And given what we were setting out to do, we questioned whether that really fit with the vision for this project.

Understandable and I completely agree.
Every "stage" can kinda be seen as a puzzle. Remove the transitions and the game changes. And while it seems like an interesting idea, it would not be in line with the original.

I'm gonna eat this game up

I think I'm gonna keep a lookout for a good deal on MGS: Master Collection Vol. 1. I could use some Metal Gear Solid in my life again.

[Julius]

Second trailer for the game coming out of TGS, and this time focused on Virtuous Mission. 

Keeping us waiting on that release date still, huh? That kind of sucks. 

Looks so freaking good, though. I'm all abroad. There's definitely still that Unreal Engine-ness to it in its appearance when it comes to faces and the like - looks *very* similar to what we've seen so far across VII Remake and Rebirth - but I love it nonetheless, the textures on the fabrics and stuff like that are what's really making this feel new and shiny and just so great to look at for me. 

Cannot wait, think the characters look fantastic. Really hope I can convince some of my friends to check this out, if it turns out well enough I feel like this would be the easiest way to get them into MGS! 

Edited September 27 by Julius