Latest / The Long and Short of It / Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater
Transcript
- 0:00Thanks for checking out the Long and Short of It podcast.
- 0:03You can find us on all good podcast platforms.
- 0:05Please consider following or subscribing.
- 0:07We hope you enjoy the show. Hello and welcome to the Long
- 0:17and Short of It, the podcast where we discuss each of the
- 0:20games on the Open Critic Top 100 list.
- 0:25My name's Dan and I'm joined by. This is Lawrence, welcome to the
- 0:27podcast. Welcome to the podcast.
- 0:30After a bit of a hiatus, how are you?
- 0:32How was your Christmas? Yes.
- 0:33How was your new? Year How was your day?
- 0:35It's work time. What's going on?
- 0:37Yeah, fine. It's been, Yeah, just before
- 0:40Christmas since our last episode.
- 0:41Doesn't it say Christmas was quiet, New Year was quiet,
- 0:45everything's quiet and that's all I have to report other than
- 0:50I've just dropped a lot of money on a new mattress today so I
- 0:55didn't realise how expensive they actually are and it's made
- 0:58me a little bit sick. But I've had a very bad back for
- 1:00a while so I think it's time to upgrade I'd say.
- 1:04And is it a fancy memory foam mattress?
- 1:07It is, yeah. I went to try it today and the
- 1:10gentleman salesman was was upselling all these things.
- 1:14I was like, let's go for that because you've got to invest in
- 1:16your own health, haven't you? If you can't invest in that,
- 1:18what can you invest in? And did you go for the option
- 1:21that's filled with straw? Yes, I did.
- 1:23I'm actually going to be sleeping in a barn for the
- 1:26remainder of 2026 because I'm actually a horse.
- 1:30Well, so there you. Go 2026, the year to.
- 1:32Try a new thing. That's right.
- 1:34Did you have a lovely Christmas New Year?
- 1:35And I did, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
- 1:38So I went down to Essex, saw some of the lads from the stag
- 1:44do and that was really nice. Had a nice Christmas, came back
- 1:48for New Year and kind of had to hit the ball rolling with work
- 1:54straight away, hence the sort of delay in this episode.
- 1:58Speaking of this episode, today we are here to discuss a game
- 2:02that we've already talked about, although not in this form.
- 2:07So coming in at, I actually looked this up.
- 2:11So coming in at #577 on the open critic list.
- 2:16Gosh. Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake
- 2:22Eater with a score of 85 S Pretty decent score, but it just
- 2:27goes to show how competitive that top of the list is.
- 2:31So I was interested to see some of the games that are above this
- 2:35and. Literally every other game isn't
- 2:38it it seems seems. Like all other 576 games ever
- 2:43made were above this. 1. So that's right.
- 2:45Yeah. So without further ado, what is
- 2:51Delta Snake Eater? What is the difference between
- 2:53this and the original Snake Eater?
- 2:55It's, it's a remake, isn't it, of Metal Gear Solid 3, Snake
- 2:59Eater? They've kind of rebuilt it from
- 3:01the ground up to some extent. There'd been talks of Konami
- 3:08doing a remake of MGS 3 probably for about 10 years, probably
- 3:12more, because I remember it was around 2015, sixteen, that you
- 3:15were seeing those YouTube videos with the updated graphics on the
- 3:19pachinko machines in Japan. Yeah.
- 3:22And people were kind of getting a bit hype then.
- 3:27And obviously the last real Metal Gear Solid game that was
- 3:32released was The Phantom Pain MGS 5.
- 3:35There has been Metal Gear Survivor since then, but I don't
- 3:38think people really count that. Metal Gear Survivor released in
- 3:412018, so we've. Yeah, I've not played that
- 3:44hiatus. We did get the the remasters re
- 3:50released on the in various places since then.
- 3:53But yeah, yes, it's been All Quiet on the Western Front from
- 3:56Konami for a good long time. Really.
- 4:01Yeah, and they. Returned in good form I'd say,
- 4:04in the year 2020. 5 Realistically, they they needed
- 4:09to do something, didn't they? And I think that they've been
- 4:11really careful with MGS because really, I think it's very
- 4:15difficult to do an MGS game without the input from Hideo
- 4:18Kojima. And of course, Hideo Kojima
- 4:22famously left Kanami in around about 2015 when he went on to
- 4:25found his own studio after a big fallout with them.
- 4:29It is interesting that they've started.
- 4:34I'm assuming that they're going to do more remasters like this
- 4:37one, but it's interesting that they started with #3 But I
- 4:42imagine we'll come on to that, won't we?
- 4:45Yeah. So for the sake of the listener,
- 4:51what's your history broadly? I know I don't want to retread
- 4:55too much on what we touched on in the original episode.
- 4:58For any new listeners, go back and listen to that if you like.
- 5:02Yeah. So what's your history with the
- 5:03game and where did you play the game for the podcast today?
- 5:09So I think we both agreed that when we originally talked about
- 5:12Snake Eater, which was probably about three or four years ago
- 5:15now, neither of us were particularly happy with that
- 5:18episode. I think we went through a bit of
- 5:20a phase where we just kind of rattled off the story of the
- 5:23game and then just talked about a few game play mechanics.
- 5:26The Last of Us Part 1 was a was a victim of that as well.
- 5:30So it's nice that we get a new opportunity to talk about Snake
- 5:33Eater. The original Snake Eater came
- 5:36out in 2004, and I remember I didn't really follow games that
- 5:41heavily back in the early 2000s, but I remember seeing it in a
- 5:44magazine and seeing that it had already come out.
- 5:46And that was at the time when new games cost either between
- 5:50about 30 and 40 lbs and just trying to rack up enough money
- 5:54so I can get it. And I think you're the same as
- 5:58me. We've both played this game, the
- 6:00original to death. There isn't much that we don't
- 6:04know about MGS 3. It is probably, arguably, I'd
- 6:10say the strongest of the Metal Gear games really.
- 6:14So coming into this remake with Delta, I, I guess I had high
- 6:22hopes, but at the same time I wasn't on the hype train.
- 6:25I didn't really follow everything to do with this game
- 6:27up before release. Because for me, MGS 3 didn't
- 6:32really need remaking. I think.
- 6:34I think it's very good as it was, as long as you play the HD
- 6:36Collection version with the, you know, the movable camera,
- 6:39etcetera, but which is the subsistence version of NGS 3.
- 6:44But yeah, I've played this game, MGS 3, not Delta specifically,
- 6:52but I've played MGS 3 a lot over the past 22 years, and it's
- 6:58probably in my top ten, maybe even top five video games all
- 7:02time. So a remake of it was
- 7:06interesting. And I didn't go into it with the
- 7:08same kind of feelings that I had about going into the remake of
- 7:11Final Fantasy 7. I was a bit more, I don't know,
- 7:15kind of unbothered I would say is there's the correct term.
- 7:19But I played this on the PS-5 the the base model as I do not
- 7:24have the PS-5 Pro. So yes.
- 7:26What's your history and where did you play it?
- 7:31So I'm not going to go too much detail about the history.
- 7:35Basically what you said, very similar thing really.
- 7:40And all that detail is in the other episode for people to go
- 7:44in Peru if they would so like. But in terms of Delta Snake
- 7:50Eater, I too saw the basically the pachinko version was the cut
- 7:57scenes for MGS 3 in sort of PS3 S graphics and it looked really
- 8:04nice. It was same animation, but just
- 8:07these graphics that resembled MGS 4, which to this day still
- 8:11looks good. So I kind of got hyped about
- 8:16that time and then obviously they they announced Delta Snake
- 8:20Eater. As I say, it seems like Konami's
- 8:25woken up after about a decade of being in hibernation last year,
- 8:30throwing out Silent Hill two remake, which was also pretty
- 8:34good. Actually, I completed that last
- 8:37year and MGS 3D. So it's nice to see Konami back
- 8:45in some sort of form and I'm quite excited to see where they
- 8:49go from here because it's inevitable that this is not the
- 8:53end of the story for either series.
- 8:55Obviously we've just had Silent Hill F as well.
- 8:59Again, well received. I've got that game, but I've not
- 9:01played it yet. So yeah, an interesting time for
- 9:07Konami. They they suddenly realised that
- 9:11they were a game developer and they started developing games.
- 9:14So that was that was nice of them.
- 9:16I, I wasn't, I was sort of again, like you sort of hyped
- 9:20for this, but not not overly so. And I think actually the the
- 9:23release of this game was quite muted.
- 9:26Yeah, it was. I don't know if it, I don't know
- 9:28if it was because it was just a busy year last year, and I think
- 9:31it was a busy year, but it didn't feel like this landmark
- 9:37thing. It wasn't like when the Crash
- 9:39Bandicoot remake trilogy was released and everyone kind of
- 9:44went mad. It was a much more yeah, subdued
- 9:48affair, I'd say. So the version I played was the
- 9:51PS-5 Pro version, which is just a slightly enhanced version of
- 9:57the PS-5 version. It does look very, very nice.
- 10:01What I want to talk about, first of all, is the graphics.
- 10:06I want to jump straight into, I suppose the really big departure
- 10:11from the original game. What are your thoughts on the
- 10:15graphics? What do they do well?
- 10:19What don't they do well? What does it add to the game
- 10:22that is obviously a game from 2004 In your mind I.
- 10:27Again, like I said, I I don't really think that this remake
- 10:30needed to be made, to be honest. I think that MGS 3 still holds
- 10:35up. It is a very PS2 looking game
- 10:38when you play it, but I think that that lends itself and
- 10:43something that I think we might have touched on in the last
- 10:46episode if we didn't, I'm going to touch on it now is something
- 10:50that's Super Bunny Hop, which is a YouTube channel.
- 10:52I don't think we've referenced on here in a long time, but he
- 10:56did a full deep dive of MGS 3 about 10 years ago and he makes
- 11:00a reference of how campy MGS 3 is.
- 11:04And it's just like a silly spy thriller with a few serious
- 11:10elements kind of melded in there.
- 11:11And it's got, you know, elements of Bond and there's a lot of
- 11:14like tips of the hat to to Bond, etcetera.
- 11:18And I feel that the new graphics, they, they look
- 11:23incredible. I think it's running on.
- 11:26Unreal Engine. Five yeah, Unreal Engine 5.
- 11:29So it looks stunning. I mean, you and me have got some
- 11:33opinions on some of the faces, but it does look incredible.
- 11:38But I think in kind of remaking the graphics engine from the
- 11:45from the ground up, it kind of takes away a bit of the camp to
- 11:48the game. And yeah, it makes it feel more
- 11:51gritty. No, I'm not against it, but and
- 11:54it doesn't make the game feel different per SE, but it does it
- 11:59is noticeably kind of altered from the original.
- 12:04In my opinion. That isn't a bad.
- 12:05Thing Tone. Yeah.
- 12:07But yeah, the tone's different and it's very, very gritty.
- 12:10Very. I don't even know the word, but
- 12:15it it just feels changed. But in saying that, like the
- 12:20lighting in the game is incredible, some of the
- 12:22character designs, the foliage, the the areas that you are, it
- 12:27is mad. And I mean, something that we
- 12:30might have touched on. And the last time we talked
- 12:32about this game, it when I was going through playing, I was
- 12:36playing on normal. And when you got to the fight
- 12:39with the fear, oh, not the fear, sorry, the fury in the
- 12:43underground section with the guy with the flamethrower.
- 12:46I, I always forget how hard that fight is and I remember you and
- 12:50me playing it when we're at university.
- 12:52I think we're playing it on hard and we were just getting our
- 12:55asses kicked by that fight. Well, I played it on hard in the
- 12:59for the last episode, if you remember.
- 13:01Yeah. And I'll tell you that that
- 13:04fight was a pain in the. Yeah, solid, especially if
- 13:07you're trying to do it non lethal.
- 13:10Yeah, well, this is, and this is how I generally play, especially
- 13:13bosses, because obviously you unlock the camo if you do them
- 13:16non lethal, correct. So yeah, it is a it is a a
- 13:19trudge at first. I mean, jumping ahead at first
- 13:23when I got to the fury this time, I thought, oh, this is not
- 13:25too bad because obviously you'd warn me beforehand.
- 13:28It was solid. And then and then as the reader
- 13:31starts to fill up with fire and you just on fire, basically
- 13:35constantly eating through your life, you're like, I remember, I
- 13:38remember why this was annoying. Yeah, I mean, the the point I'm
- 13:42going to make with the Fury is frustrating, super frustrating.
- 13:45But that section just looks incredible with the fire.
- 13:49Oh yeah. And the light.
- 13:50Yeah. So overall the look of it looks
- 13:53superb. Like amazing.
- 13:56That's what I have to say about the graphics.
- 13:57Just different, but not a bad different, just different.
- 14:03Yeah, I'm, I'm sort of for it. And I think the campiness is
- 14:08still there. You're right, it's not as
- 14:12prominent. I think when you first played
- 14:18MGS 3 or when I first played MGS 3, the campiness was not what I
- 14:23focused on. No, the thing that hit me hard
- 14:26was the torture scene. And it felt like serious with
- 14:34funny moments, gritty Cold War spy thriller.
- 14:40And I think on subsequent playthroughs, when you when you
- 14:44see some of the stuff that's in there and some of the silliness
- 14:47and you've seen the cutscenes loads of times, so you're kind
- 14:52of focusing on different things, the campiness comes out a bit
- 14:55more. Whereas seeing it in these
- 14:59graphics kind of reverted it to that first time that I played
- 15:02it. And a good example of that is
- 15:04the torture scene. That was pretty hard hitting
- 15:12this time because of the new graphics.
- 15:15And it seems like they in the same way that they had all the
- 15:18way back there, it seems like they relished in creating this
- 15:22brutal, crunchy sort of torture scene.
- 15:27So I think it probably added to it and, and the other way I
- 15:33think it added to it was the plot itself, the story, which is
- 15:38why I've done this bit before the plot.
- 15:40I think having it in the new engine breathe new life in the
- 15:45store into the story for me. I've heard this story so many
- 15:50times. I've seen these cutscenes so
- 15:52many times. But because it was in a new
- 15:54engine and I wanted to see what it looked like, how they did
- 15:57certain things, what the effects look like at certain moments.
- 16:01So I was paying more attention and because I was paying more
- 16:04attention, I was digesting the story more and I was listening
- 16:07more. And it's almost like they
- 16:11tricked me into becoming reinvested in what can be a
- 16:17story that you turn off from because you've played it so many
- 16:19times. So and a good example of that is
- 16:24the in game stuff. I was kind of there all through
- 16:26it, but the the the moments where it goes off into like
- 16:30archival footage, I find it hard again to tune back in.
- 16:36When it's like the corner between President Johnson and
- 16:39Nikita Khrushchev and stuff at the start, yeah.
- 16:43Yeah, so it's kind of like it tricks me into being fully
- 16:51there, like for the first time all over again.
- 16:54The other wonderful thing about this graphical upgrade hit me
- 16:59about halfway through. I got to the top of the mountain
- 17:04after the very, very long ladder and I was messing around with
- 17:09first person play and third person play.
- 17:12And when I got out onto the like the, the dunes at the top of the
- 17:17mountain, I saw the the scorpions out there, I saw the
- 17:20wind blowing. I saw the background, which was
- 17:24more dynamic than it has ever been.
- 17:27And the thing that they add with this graphical overhaul is
- 17:33atmosphere. And when you go into first
- 17:36person, you're crawling across those dunes.
- 17:38It feels more real than it ever has.
- 17:40Like you can see everything. One of the things that that MGS
- 17:463 does really well is each little area is like a
- 17:49self-contained ecosystem. And within that you've got
- 17:53different animals, different plants, lots to see and do, lots
- 17:58of things to collect. And it feels alive, but they've
- 18:01taken that alive feeling one step further.
- 18:04And then when I thought about it, I was, I never used to enjoy
- 18:09that, that mountaintop area. It was just like.
- 18:11I always quite like that bit. I don't mind the first bit of
- 18:15the first piece, but not where you go through the trenches and
- 18:18you've got the the the soldiers with like the flamethrowers and
- 18:20stuff. I'm not into that bit.
- 18:21But the bit before, yeah, I like that bit.
- 18:26I gained a new appreciation for that area, and I look back and I
- 18:33thought about the jungle areas and I thought, they've done this
- 18:36all through, like every area. If a video game is made to feed
- 18:42your imagination so that you feel like you're in a living,
- 18:44breathing world, they've taken what the original did.
- 18:51They've kept the structure, they've kept the boundaries that
- 18:54were in place in the original, but they've just suggested that
- 18:59the world beyond is more and that really enhanced this
- 19:03playthrough for me. So those jungle areas, as you'd
- 19:07agree, I think are more alive than ever.
- 19:09That the foliage, the little animations of the animals, which
- 19:14have changed very slightly, and it and the rain effects are
- 19:18better than they've ever been. That was one of the things that
- 19:20always annoyed me in the original was that the rain just
- 19:23was barely there. So yeah, it just felt like these
- 19:28ecosystems come to life. And last thing I want to touch
- 19:34on with the with the graphics is for the most part, they have
- 19:40kept all the original animations.
- 19:43And this is for the most part a really good thing because those
- 19:46animations really do hold up. And that was the thing that
- 19:51really excited me about the original at the time was how
- 19:55good the CQC looked and how well animated these cutscenes were.
- 19:59Now there's the occasional wonky moment.
- 20:03That still stays in the remake, but some of them have been
- 20:09ironed out a bit. So one of the things that I
- 20:11always thought looked wonky in the original was the bit where
- 20:15you're in the sidecar of the motorcycle and it just never
- 20:18looks quite right. It always just looks a bit janky
- 20:21and not fluid and jerky. Snake.
- 20:23'S too big for that sidecar. Yeah, whereas they've made use
- 20:29of motion blur and they've made use of cinematic camera angles,
- 20:33and that section looks smoother than it ever has.
- 20:37And I was kind of again, flicking between first person,
- 20:41third person cinematic view and yeah, it looks great.
- 20:46So the only side that I think is slightly let down by keeping the
- 20:52original animations is that the facial animation, it's quite
- 20:57static by today's standards. And I think we've grown to kind
- 21:03of expect a bit more and it looks a bit jarring when you see
- 21:07the level of detail on display elsewhere.
- 21:09Now, I I'm not saying that I wanted like a huge amount of
- 21:12facial animation because I think that would have gone against
- 21:15what the original game was and had, but it was just something
- 21:20that at times looked a bit. What do they call it when still
- 21:28when something? No, it'll come to me.
- 21:31So basically when when something looks jarring because everything
- 21:34else looks realistic. So the smallest thing can take
- 21:36you out, right? Yeah, it will come to me.
- 21:41So yeah, on the whole, a really impressive, lovely looking
- 21:47graphical makeover that for me at least, refreshed my
- 21:51experience of MGS 3. Now I'm going to give you, we're
- 21:56going to go back to something we used to do because we've done
- 22:00the story and the plot in the previous episode.
- 22:05I want you to give me an overview of the plot within one
- 22:07minute and then we can dive in a bit more into some of the
- 22:10particulars. So I'm actually going to time
- 22:12you. I'm going to give you one
- 22:13minute, starting now. So MGS 3 takes place in the
- 22:221960s amid growing tensions between Russia and the USA.
- 22:28The story primarily result revolves around the protagonist
- 22:33called Naked Snake, who, if you've played the former games,
- 22:36is a younger version of Big Boss going through his first kind of
- 22:40big solo mission. Along the way, he gets betrayed
- 22:45by his mentor named the Boss. A nuclear missile is fired at a
- 22:50Russian facility, and the Kremlin basically orders that
- 22:55the Americans prove they didn't launch the nuke because it was
- 22:58launched by a bad guy called Colonel Volgin, a Russian.
- 23:05And as part of your mission, mission Snake has to kill the
- 23:08Boss, his mentor. So it's got a whole kind of
- 23:13country, Cold War, war vibe, but also a very personal element,
- 23:17too. Is that bang on a minute?
- 23:20Yeah, that was pretty good actually.
- 23:22Yeah, pretty good. There you go.
- 23:23Nice. So I think we're going to dive
- 23:27in a bit further. I'm going to I'm going to
- 23:29mention my my points that I've got written down and you add
- 23:31anything that you want to talk about as well.
- 23:35So some of the things again, because I kind of re digested
- 23:40this story this time and that was interesting.
- 23:46One thing I've always liked about Snake Eater in the same
- 23:50way as MGS 1 is it's a simpler, less convoluted affair.
- 23:58Now, probably taken on its own, it it's still probably a bit
- 24:03intimidating to someone new to the series, but for people that
- 24:07have been playing the series for years, this is simple.
- 24:10This is about as simple and elegant and stripped back and
- 24:15naked, so to speak. As the series gets.
- 24:19I see what you did, and it only gets more convoluted as we get
- 24:24on in. Yeah.
- 24:25I think the other thing is because we've got this Cold War
- 24:30setting, it feels historically adjacent and it feels a bit more
- 24:36grounded than the other entries in the MGS series, which kind of
- 24:41go off into sci-fi land very quickly.
- 24:45Yeah, exactly. I mean, you could, you can play
- 24:47MGS 1 and and by halfway you're like, OK, this is this is not
- 24:52the reality that I know, although it does start off quite
- 24:54grounded in MGS 1, and that's probably one of the other
- 24:57simpler affairs By MGS 2, it had grown into something that I
- 25:05don't think any of us do, as we've talked about back all the
- 25:10way back in the MGS 2 episode 5 years ago.
- 25:13Indeed. So episode I believe that was,
- 25:18Yeah. And I distinctly remember our
- 25:20section on Emmer Emerick, which we didn't actually go into too
- 25:24much detail. On on the United States of
- 25:26America. Yes, well, that is important
- 25:30that those are who funds us for this podcast.
- 25:33That's correct. The real.
- 25:36You might say. My third question, you can
- 25:39answer this if you want, is Vogue and stupid.
- 25:43Like, again, replaying this game, Yeah, seeing how many
- 25:49people around him, literally everyone is not on his side.
- 25:52Yeah. And he just doesn't realise,
- 25:57like everyone is playing him and the amount of things that
- 26:00happened throughout the story that you think, how did he not
- 26:05clock that? Like why does it take to the
- 26:07very end of the game to realise? I think that with Vogue in he is
- 26:11such like, I think they tried to give him some depth by saying
- 26:15you know about his background and the the philosopher's legacy
- 26:20and how really it's his by rights or whatever, which
- 26:22obviously isn't. But then you come back to the
- 26:26whole camp thing, and I think Volgen is the compassing of the
- 26:29entire game. Because one thing that sticks
- 26:32out to me is Volgen's captured Snake planting C4 on the fuel
- 26:37tanks of the shagger Hod, which for the listener is the big mech
- 26:42that you have to defeat at the end of the game.
- 26:45And he's got Snake, and he could just shoot him.
- 26:47Like he could just kill him and he's like, ah, so you want me to
- 26:51tell you about the philosopher's legacy?
- 26:53Fine, I'll do that before I kill you.
- 26:56Yeah, which is a James Bond nod. Yeah, absolutely.
- 27:00And it's just like he feels like the biggest meme or the biggest
- 27:04cartoon in the entire very two-dimensional.
- 27:07Yeah. And I mean, there's an element
- 27:09of that to Ocelots as well, because Ocelot is very much like
- 27:12an anime character with his weird little meows and his yeah,
- 27:18quirks. But yeah, it.
- 27:20Does, but there is more to him as you find out by the end.
- 27:23Absolutely. But no, Volgin feels like he's
- 27:26there to be the, I'd say like he's the amalgamation of what
- 27:32they want to portray as Russia, big and slow.
- 27:38And that was the opinion of the US in the 1960s, wasn't it?
- 27:44Is that like the Russia was behind like a step behind
- 27:48everything that the USA did, but they were just burly and you
- 27:52know, you shouldn't take them on head on in a fight because
- 27:54they'll knock you out. Yeah.
- 27:57Do you remember years ago we were watching Is it Deadliest
- 28:01Warrior? Yeah, I remember that.
- 28:03Yeah, yeah. The one where they have the and
- 28:04it was the old weapons and they put them up against each.
- 28:07Other, yeah. And it was like Spetsnaz versus
- 28:10some, yes, some division of the US, Yeah, yeah.
- 28:12Army, I think it was the Seals. Yeah, and, and the US guys by
- 28:19the end said we were scared of those spetsnails.
- 28:22Like they were just intimidating.
- 28:25That was a great show that just disappeared.
- 28:27It was as well. It was the the guy that played
- 28:30Faramir in Lord of the Rings was the narrator, wasn't he?
- 28:33We. Watched quite a few episodes of
- 28:34that. Yeah, we did.
- 28:34It was. A bit of a blast from the past
- 28:37and listeners there. And and it's funny, like he he
- 28:42says, oh, in that same cutscene he says Eva Tatiana, which
- 28:48actually, I don't know why it took me so long, but Tatiana
- 28:51being a reference to From Russia with Love.
- 28:55Oh, right. Tatiana, Tanya, which is the the
- 28:58name of the bomb girl in in From Russia with Love.
- 29:01Again, probably me being reinvested in the story allowed
- 29:04me to clock that. Yeah.
- 29:05So he says, oh, we're going to kill her.
- 29:08And then then the boss just marches her away and said I'll
- 29:11take care of her. Yeah, don't worry about it.
- 29:12I'll put this. No, no, we're just killer here
- 29:15because why? Why are you walking her away?
- 29:19It's just it just doesn't make sense.
- 29:22Camp Another another thing that I sent you a message about.
- 29:29I think I said this in the original episode, actually.
- 29:31Why? Why?
- 29:32Why did they feel the need to say that the boss was the first
- 29:36astronaut? Like, yeah, it's nothing.
- 29:40And it's just this weird moment and it's like, like what?
- 29:46What's that about? I don't really get.
- 29:48It it's because she's because she's badass.
- 29:51That's what that is. If you're the first person in
- 29:53space, you're badass. Not Buzz Aldrin is the boss.
- 29:57And, and I thought they were going down some lines with the
- 30:00like radioactive stuff, but they just do nothing with it.
- 30:03They just say, oh, by the way, I was the first astronaut and I
- 30:07viewed space from outside. And then I came back and I'm not
- 30:10going to give you any more details about that secret
- 30:12mission. Obviously it was off the record
- 30:14because no one knows about it. But there you go.
- 30:17That's me. It's just like a huge secret for
- 30:22someone to have. And why wouldn't he know that?
- 30:24Like, why wouldn't Jack Naked Snake know that?
- 30:27Anyway? It's just such an odd thing to
- 30:29throw up, throw in there in there, her final monologue
- 30:32before she dies. Oh, by the way.
- 30:35Just just so you know, space. I've always felt this and I
- 30:40don't know what you think. The fury always seems out of
- 30:45place in the Cobras. Yeah, he's the most grounded
- 30:49one. Like the least weird one.
- 30:53But he just, he feels like he was added later on because it's
- 30:56like in that first cutscene when you see the Cobras, he is there
- 31:00in the background if you glimpse hard enough, but he didn't say
- 31:03anything and no one really mentions him outside of his
- 31:08little section. It's just really strange.
- 31:10And when you when you find out about him and his back story,
- 31:13which actually I think is pretty cool, it's like it's really
- 31:19different from theirs. And it's like, why would this
- 31:21person be teeming with these people?
- 31:24It just, it feels like, Oh well, we need another boss.
- 31:28We'll Chuck this one in. He's also an astronaut.
- 31:31He's not the first one though, no.
- 31:33He's the Sapphire. That's actually how they met the
- 31:37boss and the Fury. They actually met in space them.
- 31:41Floating around in space. Yeah, they met on the precursor
- 31:43to the the International Space Station.
- 31:45That's what that was. My last point about the story,
- 31:50and then I'm sure you've got a couple of points that you might
- 31:52want to touch on, is despite the the astronaut thing, the boss's
- 31:58back story where she talks about being with the Cobras, fighting
- 32:03in World War 2, her history of the Sorrow, getting pregnant,
- 32:07having the the child taken away, and then which?
- 32:11Turns out to be naked. Snake.
- 32:13Yeah, Yeah. So all of this stuff feels ripe.
- 32:18Yeah. For a prequel if they were ever
- 32:21to do. Yeah, I think we've talked about
- 32:23that before, like a prequel. Plan.
- 32:24Yeah, we did. Yeah.
- 32:27And you could have, this is me just going with my imagination.
- 32:32I don't think they'll ever do this, by the way, which is fine.
- 32:35But you could have Naked Snake has a character in it, but you
- 32:39don't play it. You could see him from a third
- 32:42person perspective again. Like like a John Marston in Red
- 32:44Dead Redemption 2, but with like a little.
- 32:46Less involvement maybe, And I actually think a slightly
- 32:50younger boss would be a great protagonist.
- 32:55So. And because they never, they
- 32:58touch on it enough that it's intriguing, but they never
- 33:01really give you any of the details.
- 33:03It's this sort of chapter that exists within the realm of Metal
- 33:06Gear Solid that we never hear fleshed out, and that's
- 33:11interesting. So yeah, that those are my
- 33:15points on the story. Other than that, I think it's
- 33:18quite a cohesive up and down narrative that works really.
- 33:24Yeah, I mean, I think the story is the strongest parts of MGS 3.
- 33:30However the gameplay is also maybe not right up there with
- 33:37it, but it's it's a close second.
- 33:41But I think I agree with you, a prequel for the boss would be
- 33:46interesting, particularly more information about the Sorrow
- 33:52because you know, there's the you can find all this
- 33:55information out if you play with the the radio and talk to
- 33:59paramedic in the major quite often.
- 34:02But it's like one of the little Easter eggs.
- 34:03I love. I loved it in the original.
- 34:05You know, it's cool that it's there is when you've got your
- 34:09arm broken, you've been thrown off the bridge at the start of
- 34:11the game during a virtuous mission.
- 34:12You've got to cure yourself. You move the camera around.
- 34:14You can actually see the corpse of the sorrow from when the boss
- 34:18took him out four years before, or whenever it was.
- 34:23But yeah, I mean, it isn't the tightest story of all time, is
- 34:27it? It's, But I don't think it's
- 34:29meant to be. And they haven't really touched
- 34:32the story at all in this game. It is just a gameplay overhaul
- 34:36and visuals, which is fine. Yeah, it's just changing the
- 34:39engine, which, yeah, the story didn't need changing, and I'm
- 34:44glad they didn't. Yeah, I agree.
- 34:46And it's the fact that in this game you can still tackle any
- 34:49particular area in 17 different ways if you want to.
- 34:53You know, it's the fact before you fight Ocelot for the first
- 34:56time, towards the beginning, you go past a little base, it's got
- 35:00a helicopter in there. If you blow that helicopter up,
- 35:02that helicopter won't show up when you're up in the mountains.
- 35:05Stuff like that. I love it.
- 35:06And taking out the end early. So instead of having a massive
- 35:10sniper fight with him, you end up taking on an Ocelot unit.
- 35:14And taking out Ocelot and causing a time paradox.
- 35:17Yes, quiet. There's just so many cool
- 35:20things. Yeah, in in this game.
- 35:23There are, and they're all still there in in the remake, which is
- 35:28cool. This was, I mean, we'll talk
- 35:31about the remake elements in a bit more detail in a moment
- 35:35probably. But this is a lovely, lovingly
- 35:37made remake, and for that I like it.
- 35:41And I and I agree, each area is like this little self-contained
- 35:45playground full of, as I say, an ecosystem, but also full of
- 35:49these enemy kind of dynamic patrol routes and a number of
- 35:54ways that you can tackle them and a number of things that you
- 35:58can play within the environment. This isn't the finest MGS
- 36:04gameplay. It's surpassed by MGS 4 and 5,
- 36:10but it's still pretty good with this they've made.
- 36:13It it brings it back up, doesn't it?
- 36:15Like the game play in this game is very similar to MGS 5, you
- 36:18know, with adding things on the Crouch walk, etcetera, you know,
- 36:20that kind of thing. Quality of life upgrades.
- 36:23Yeah. And one of the other things that
- 36:25I like is like when you're aiming, when you're on the
- 36:28ground, like Snake will roll onto his side now and you.
- 36:32It's just that fluidity again, that wasn't in the original
- 36:34game. So I like that stuff.
- 36:36I think that stuff doesn't take anything away, and in fact only
- 36:39adds. It's, it's the, it's the case of
- 36:43they didn't need to add stuff here because you, you look at, I
- 36:46think we've talked about it before.
- 36:47When you look at the, the twin Snakes, which is the remake of
- 36:50MGS 1, which came out on the game cube.
- 36:53That game was broken by the fact that you could, because it used
- 36:56the same engine as MGS 2. The game was broken by the fact
- 37:00that you could then go into first person and take out
- 37:04whoever. Yeah, I agree with that.
- 37:06I, I, I love that game and I've got a real fondness for it.
- 37:09But yeah, you can, yeah, you can exploit certain parts of it.
- 37:13Not all of it, but yeah, certain parts of it.
- 37:15You can exploit it for sure. OK, so on to our ever present
- 37:22featured gameplay is king. Is Metal Gear Solid 3D fun to
- 37:27play? Yeah, of course it's it's the
- 37:29same game as as what came out in 2004.
- 37:33And and there were certainly times when I was playing it, I
- 37:35was going back into areas or purposefully dying so I could do
- 37:38those bits again. Like messing around with the I
- 37:40think the area is called Deleno Vodno with the the bridge with
- 37:44the the ropes and just messed about with that and cutting the
- 37:47ropes. So stuff like that.
- 37:49It's very replayable. It's almost got an element of
- 37:53like Hitman to it where you can just try certain areas different
- 37:57ways. So yeah, very fun to go back to
- 38:00and very fun to play. And I'm assuming that you will
- 38:03probably agree. I started playing this after you
- 38:06obviously, and I've, I've just finished it on Friday.
- 38:09I think I finished it and I was deliberately playing like a bit
- 38:16of a cowboy, but not, not, not meaning I was going around
- 38:19killing everyone, but I was just messing around and I would swing
- 38:23from stealth to going around assassinating people and
- 38:27everything in between just to, to to push the game and see what
- 38:31I could do. So I had quite a fun playthrough
- 38:33of it, really. Yeah, it's fun to play, without
- 38:36a doubt. It's it's it's the game that you
- 38:38remember, but with a new coat of paint.
- 38:42How does this game compare to other remakes, recent remakes,
- 38:46or any other remakes? Would you say is it more
- 38:49successful, Less successful? What do you think?
- 38:52Well, like you said, this game kind of went under the radar and
- 38:55I've not really talked, heard many people talk about it either
- 38:58since, whereas Silent Hill 2A load of people have talked about
- 39:03that and how good that remake is.
- 39:06And yeah, I mean, the only other remakes I can think of on the
- 39:09top of my head, there aren't very many remakes these days.
- 39:12It's more remasters, isn't it? Obviously you've got Final
- 39:16Fantasy 7, you've got the remasters of The Last of Us,
- 39:21you've got, like you say, the Crash and the same trilogy,
- 39:23You've got the Spyro Reignited trilogy.
- 39:28I don't think that you can call the recent Oblivion release a
- 39:31remake. It's a remaster, so it's hard to
- 39:35say. But I mean, it does everything
- 39:37right in my opinion as to what people would want from a remake,
- 39:41I think. I think enough time had passed
- 39:45between the original and this that that lick of paint really
- 39:49made a nice difference because there were times when the
- 39:53original was showing its age a bit visually.
- 39:56So it was it was the right time. And you feel like this coat of
- 40:01paint will last another 20 years, which, yeah.
- 40:06So they've done a good thing here.
- 40:09So let's talk about the audio in every respect.
- 40:12So the voice work, the music, the ambient sounds, all of it.
- 40:17Let's lump it in here. Yeah, I mean, they, they updated
- 40:21the, they got a lot of voice actors back I think, didn't
- 40:24they? Well, it's it's all the same.
- 40:27It's all the same audio from the original game.
- 40:29Oh. Is it?
- 40:30I thought that they'd, yeah. Have they just upscaled it then?
- 40:34Yeah, they've just, they've just used probably higher quality.
- 40:37OK, So it's exactly the same recording.
- 40:40Yeah, I mean the it's the same as 2004 then just upgraded a
- 40:46little bit, I suppose in terms of the quality.
- 40:49And you know, like I think anyone who's an MGS fan would
- 40:53agree that the voice of Snake is David Hayter.
- 40:57It is in Keith. Sutherland I can't express
- 41:01enough, and I know I have my moans in the MGS 5 episode.
- 41:06I can't express enough how happy it made me feel in a game
- 41:12released in 2025 to have David Hayter's voice as Snake.
- 41:16Yeah. It's the only it's the only
- 41:22correct choice for for that voice and I I don't know if if
- 41:26Kajima had to fall out or something during MGS 5 or or.
- 41:29Whatnot. I don't think they did.
- 41:31He just, he always wanted to replace him, didn't they?
- 41:33Yeah, we wanted a movie started in the house.
- 41:35What? Kajima's like weird.
- 41:38But no, the the voice acting still on point.
- 41:40And the thing that I always find funny whenever I think I've
- 41:43like, I've known this for years and years and years, but the
- 41:45voice of the boss is the same voice for the news reader on
- 41:50Family Guy, the woman. Yeah, I don't know why I find
- 41:54that funny, but yeah, I think the the voice acting is
- 41:58brilliant. And you know, big fan of.
- 42:01The Little Mermaid. Oh, really?
- 42:04Yeah, so, so the actress that played Eva, she went by a
- 42:10pseudonym for MGS 3, which was Suzetta Minet, which was the
- 42:14name of her dog, I think, which was Suzette Monet.
- 42:19And it's the actress that played The Little Mermaid, I think in
- 42:22the in the cartoons, maybe I'm not big on The Little Mermaid,
- 42:27so I couldn't tell you much. But yeah, so famous actress they
- 42:31got to play her. OK, interesting.
- 42:34But yeah, like the voice acting still quality and the music
- 42:38itself. I'm kind of lifting again from
- 42:40what from George in the Super Bunny Hot video mentions, but he
- 42:45talks a lot in that. I've not seen that video for a
- 42:47few years, but he talks a lot about how the music in that
- 42:51film, in that film, in that game is so perfectly designed because
- 42:56it's Harry Gregson Williams that designed the did the music
- 42:59design how it's. MGS 2 onwards.
- 43:02Yes. How it's so perfectly designed
- 43:05in line with the environment and what's going on is you know,
- 43:09when you're in a section of caution after you've been
- 43:13spotted and you know that they're looking for you, you've
- 43:15got strings that are being plucked.
- 43:18That would kind of the the the sound that the strings make kind
- 43:24of suggest mischief or something going on that shouldn't be.
- 43:29And it's just the music in this game is superb.
- 43:33It always has been. And I'll always say that.
- 43:35And I think MGS music in whole is always brilliant.
- 43:40And then the I think. It was one of the first games to
- 43:42really add a filmic quality to its music.
- 43:47And then you've got the Foley of everything that's going on
- 43:49around you in the jungle in, you know, the.
- 43:51Amazing. Yeah, it is.
- 43:53It is superb. So the the sound design is still
- 43:56a a big tick. Yeah, One thing I was thinking
- 44:01when I played it this time was how much silence there is.
- 44:04Yeah. And, and this this is a
- 44:06compliment by the way, I think especially in the setting that
- 44:11you're in, building that atmosphere, hearing the crickets
- 44:16and everything else in the jungle and just the occasional
- 44:19silence that you have it, it's really powerful.
- 44:23And when those music cues kick in, they mean something.
- 44:26So when you finally hear that famous MGS soundtrack, the main
- 44:30theme towards the end of the game, it means something and
- 44:34it's earned. And I will never forget.
- 44:37It's always stayed with me, like when when the theme comes in at
- 44:40the end, when when State goes into the Oval Office and sees
- 44:45President Johnson. Like, I love that.
- 44:47It's just such a nice moment. And one thing that I think this
- 44:52remake does is it really punctuates those moments, like
- 44:57visually and with audio. So the stuff with the boss in
- 45:01that field, it's more stunning than it's ever been.
- 45:04Yeah. And it's just they've refined
- 45:08that, they know what those powerful moments are and they've
- 45:10really honed in on them and it's lovely.
- 45:14What was your favourite camo? I to be fair when whenever I've
- 45:20played it I always go with the camo that's best suited for the
- 45:24the area. But if it was one way it didn't
- 45:26really matter. I'd always go for the like the
- 45:30green scrubs, like the just the normal green camo, you know with
- 45:37the splitter face paint. Yeah, yeah, sorry.
- 45:40I go for the splitter body and the splitter face paint where I
- 45:44know that there's a cool cutscene coming up because he
- 45:47looks like something from Predator and it's just cool.
- 45:49Yeah, I mean, because I because I pre-ordered it, I mean, I
- 45:52completed this back in December, so I've not played it for a
- 45:56while, but I got some of the pre-order yeah, I mean perks.
- 46:00So like I've got like the gold, the gold camo and something
- 46:07else. I can't remember what it is.
- 46:08And then there's the tuxedo and stuff as well.
- 46:10The white tuxedo, Yeah. So yeah.
- 46:13Homage to. Bond, obviously, and that's
- 46:16actually a homage to your wedding suit, I believe.
- 46:19Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, it is.
- 46:21So it was obviously a nod to Bond in Goldfinger, and there's
- 46:26a lot of love for Bond in particularly MGS 3.
- 46:30But there's also that famous thing that when, when in MGS 2,
- 46:39so when Big Boss takes his his, his mask off, he's supposed to
- 46:43look exactly like Sean Connery. That was what he was written to
- 46:47look. Like, oh, solid a snake.
- 46:48Obviously, yeah, yeah, obviously an older, an older Sean Connery.
- 46:52Yeah, OK, Yeah. So there is, there's lots more
- 46:58camo in there. There is the blobby camo.
- 47:00There is the blobby camo which? Which is a nod to our podcast
- 47:04of. Course that is correct.
- 47:06Thank you. Yeah, Kojima World Order.
- 47:10So OK, if you know, I've got a couple of questions on the
- 47:17Question of the week. This is an interesting one.
- 47:22Can a remake totally replace the original?
- 47:26Can it make the original sort of null and void?
- 47:30And it becomes the only option. Yes and no.
- 47:35I think that for for people like you and me who love the original
- 47:42and we're in our our mid 30s, then no you can't.
- 47:47However, if you were suggesting someone that wanted to get into
- 47:52the like, like I've said a few times, listener of the podcast
- 47:55and friend of mine James, who I introduced to the MGS games in
- 48:01around 20/15/2016 when when when we lived together.
- 48:05He'd never played any of them before and he struggled because
- 48:08they were quite aged. They were a bit dated by that
- 48:10point, particularly MGS 1. If today he was like, oh I want
- 48:15to play one of the MGS games, which one should I go for?
- 48:18I said, well, if we are not going in canonical order, start
- 48:20with MGS Delta because it will be the easiest for you to pick
- 48:24up and play in line with what gamers are used to in terms of
- 48:28control schemes, in terms of what they expect from games
- 48:30these days. So for newcomers to this series
- 48:34and newcomers to this game, then I'd say play the new one because
- 48:38you're not losing anything by playing it.
- 48:40It isn't different. The story's the same.
- 48:44Whereas Final Fantasy 7 Remake I'd say play the original
- 48:49because the story deviates. Different cases, isn't it?
- 48:52Yeah. And same same with the Crash
- 48:55Bandicoot games, I'd say play the new one because I mean it's
- 48:58slightly harder than the originals but you're not losing
- 49:01anything really other than nostalgic charm which these
- 49:04people won't have because they weren't playing these games in
- 49:06the 90s when they were bought out.
- 49:10Yeah, yeah. Would you go back and play the
- 49:14original now though? Yeah, yeah, 100%.
- 49:19I mean a pain actually. No, it wouldn't be a pain in the
- 49:20ass because that'd be a pain in the arse because I'd have to
- 49:22sort my PS3 out, but I wouldn't. I'd just get the the newest HD
- 49:27remake or whatever. So yeah, 100% like I'd probably
- 49:31play the original over this one. Not because I didn't like it,
- 49:35but just that's, that's my jam. You know, I'm used to that one
- 49:40and I like it more. Things don't have to be new and
- 49:43shiny to enjoy them. I wanted, I want to dig more
- 49:48deeply into the remake because there's a lot of stuff in there.
- 49:52There's a lot of additions, there's a lot of stuff to unlock
- 49:54that I haven't done yet. So it's kind of awakened.
- 50:01And don't get me wrong, I probably won't replay it
- 50:03straight away like I did with MGS 3 when we did that for the
- 50:06podcast, but I do want to jump back in.
- 50:11And there, there was that urge because the secret theatre,
- 50:16yeah, we talked about this before we recorded, like you
- 50:19said. Oh, I wonder if that's in there.
- 50:21And I said, surely not. Surely they won't.
- 50:23But they have. Yeah, they've redone the secret
- 50:25theatre. So all those ridiculous cut
- 50:29scenes that we talked about in the original episode that are
- 50:32really funny. Yeah.
- 50:33Well, when we were sending it to each other back then, we were
- 50:36like crying, weren't we? Because we were laughing so
- 50:37much. Yeah, yeah, but they've done
- 50:39them in the in the new graphics, like they're there and you can
- 50:43get them. You've just got to unlock them.
- 50:45And there's there's so much other stuff as well.
- 50:47There's there's there's like the invisibility, stealth suit,
- 50:52infinite ammo, bandana, all that stuff is in there for MGS
- 50:57stalwart. So yeah.
- 51:02OK, let's, let's let's go to our wrap up and we can we can dive a
- 51:07little bit deeper on this. So is at 577 is Metal Gear Solid
- 51:16Delta Snake Heater with a score of 85.
- 51:20Is it one of the best games ever?
- 51:21I can't say. Is it in the top 100 because
- 51:23it's not technically this is a bonus game for the new year.
- 51:27This was our New Year's episode, our New Year's celebration
- 51:30bonanza. We hope it's done that for you.
- 51:33Certainly done it for us, I say with a bit of sarcasm.
- 51:38But there we go. I I don't think that it does it.
- 51:43I mean, I can't remember where MGS 3 is.
- 51:46I know that it's quite high up, but this doesn't replace MGS 3
- 51:51on the list for me. I kind of see it as a
- 51:53supplement, like if you liked this, then give this a go or if
- 51:57you want to play that game, but you're a little bit worried
- 52:00about that again from 20 years ago or 22 years ago.
- 52:02It feels a bit archaic. Do this one.
- 52:05You're not. There's not much difference, and
- 52:07you can't have them sharing the same spot on the top 100 list.
- 52:10So I kind of put them together, but I would say that #3 outranks
- 52:15Delta. But maybe that's just from a
- 52:18point of nostalgia because I like the original.
- 52:22So would I say that 500 and something is the correct place
- 52:25for it? I don't think so.
- 52:26I'd say that it probably should be a bit higher than 500 and
- 52:28something, but this isn't. This doesn't even feel like it's
- 52:32a real release, it just kind of feels like it.
- 52:35Yeah, partly because of that muted release as well, wasn't
- 52:38it? Yeah, I think so.
- 52:41So it's not in the correct place in my opinion.
- 52:43But at the same time maybe it is because this is just a just a re
- 52:50release of a game from 22 years ago, but it's put some makeup on
- 52:53really. What do you reckon I was?
- 53:02It took me a bit of time to get into it, as I say it really
- 53:07clicked sort of up in the mountains and I was messing
- 53:11around for quite a while with the end as well.
- 53:13Brilliant boss. Bastard, I appreciate that
- 53:16thought. In this version I do the
- 53:17original. Yeah.
- 53:20Again, it just feels really alive, that environment where
- 53:23you fight him. Yeah.
- 53:26So yeah. Whereas in the original, I feel
- 53:29like it becomes a bit like I've done this before, like becomes a
- 53:33bit rote. So again, it, it breathed life
- 53:36into it. So once it did click and I sort
- 53:42of realised what they were doing, which actually was quite
- 53:46simple what they were doing. But once it just started to vibe
- 53:50with me, I really thoroughly enjoyed it.
- 53:55This is, I know it's a remake of one of my favourite games, but
- 53:59this to me is A10 game like this is really, it doesn't get much
- 54:05better than this for me personally.
- 54:08And I think the stuff that they've brought to the table
- 54:13have been positive additions. And as I say, for me, it
- 54:18breathed new life into certain elements.
- 54:21It made those environments feel more alive than they have ever
- 54:25felt it. As I say, it allowed me to
- 54:31breathe in that story like I hadn't done in probably quite a
- 54:34long time and appreciate it. And because of that, I had a bit
- 54:39of a moment with it. And I'm not saying that I'm
- 54:42going to have that moment again every time I play it.
- 54:44I'm not because, but it's the same moment that I had probably
- 54:48when I played the original, maybe not quite as good as that
- 54:50original moment, but it's up there.
- 54:53And for me that makes it pretty special because those moments
- 54:59for me in games are few and far between now.
- 55:01It doesn't happen very often. I agree like the I will say I
- 55:05had like the biggest grin on my face booting the game up for the
- 55:09first time and seeing Snake do the Halo jump part of the the
- 55:12aircraft in the opening courtesy and I was like like madness is
- 55:15so cool. Although my nitpicky brain did
- 55:22did immediately think he's just throwing his cigar on the floor.
- 55:25The doors opened and then it's taken about 15 seconds for the
- 55:29extreme amount of wind that will be going in there to make the
- 55:31cigar move. And then he stands on it and I
- 55:33was like, I hate being an adult. Why have I noticed that?
- 55:37Well, that again is like that. So the phrase I was thinking of
- 55:41earlier uncanny valley, where things look so realistic that
- 55:45the smallest thing that doesn't stands out like a sore thumb.
- 55:50And and there is a bit of that in this game.
- 55:51It's like when you're when you're outside Granin's factory,
- 55:57the dogs, the way that the light shines on them, they look a bit
- 56:00shiny. And I thought, oh, that doesn't
- 56:01look great. Yeah, like, it it those things
- 56:05stand out more because everything else looks so good.
- 56:08But yeah, so I, I had a moment with this.
- 56:11I can understand why Konami went to this one first because I'm
- 56:18I'm trying to avoid saying Kojima because I think actually
- 56:23it dismisses all the work from everyone else.
- 56:27He left 11. This game exactly, and it wasn't
- 56:30a one man production. Yes, he's got his fingerprints
- 56:33all over it, but there are so many other Eurges.
- 56:36And Carl? Yeah, exactly that that you see
- 56:40in almost every MGS game credit sequence.
- 56:45But he gets overshadowed. Input into this game.
- 56:49It's not just a Kajima game, it's it's an MGS game by
- 56:55Foxhound Studios. And so I think it's their finest
- 57:01hour, not his their finest hour. And I hope I'm not against
- 57:08seeing another MGS game. I think it's been long enough.
- 57:11I I don't think it disturbs that original lot of MGS games.
- 57:15No, it will be a new cycle. Yeah, and This is why focusing
- 57:19on a different character could work, stepping away from that
- 57:25Solid Snake story or that Naked Snake story.
- 57:30And I hope it's given them the confidence to do that, because
- 57:34they did deliver on this one. Like they delivered more than
- 57:37anyone really thought they would.
- 57:39They did exactly what they set out to do, and they achieved it.
- 57:43So I think it's the finest hour and I can see why they picked
- 57:46this one. I think I'd be interested to see
- 57:49if they would do MGS 2 after this, because MGS 1 obviously
- 57:57had the Twin Snakes remake. MGS 2 sort of been untouched
- 58:01since. Yeah, subsistence or substance.
- 58:04Sorry. And I feel like it could do with
- 58:08a bit of an overhaul really. And I'm still waiting for that
- 58:13remaster of MGS 4. I was thinking about this
- 58:16structurally. I feel like MGS 1 and MGS 2 are
- 58:21sister games like. Yeah, and then MGS 3 plays like
- 58:26it's on his own, as does 4. Ah, but I but I think MGS 4 and
- 58:29MGS 3 are sister games because I feel like I feel like MGS 2
- 58:35plays on some of the things and your expectations from one.
- 58:39Yeah, of course. And I feel like MGS 4 does that
- 58:42with three. There's a lot of anti war stuff
- 58:46here and there's a lot of things that are said in MGS 3 about the
- 58:49climate of war and how humans are destined to kind of go from
- 58:53one war to the other. Yeah, something.
- 58:55Like MGS 4 is the realisation of that.
- 58:57Friends can become enemies as fast as the wind changes or
- 59:00whatever, which, to be fair, time of recording in late
- 59:04January 2026 feels very prominent.
- 59:09Yeah, and and I feel like MGS 4 took that idea and created a
- 59:14game where we had these proxy wars.
- 59:17It was the natural conclusion of MGS 3.
- 59:20So I see them as one and two assists to games, 3 or 4 assists
- 59:24to games and five, just as the yeah, a very strange thing.
- 59:30And do do go and listen to that episode because we do have some
- 59:33thoughts on it. Obviously gameplay wise.
- 59:35Great if you if you want a cutscene where Snake is in the
- 59:39back of a Jeep with Skullface. That's the that's a great.
- 59:46Yeah, yeah. I don't think this is the best
- 59:49MGS in terms of gameplay. I think that goes to four or
- 59:54five. I'd say five.
- 59:55Reason. I think I'm torn, and I'll tell
- 1:00:01you why. Because Four has the curated
- 1:00:04little playground environments that, yeah, all the other games
- 1:00:09had. And you've got that skill set
- 1:00:11within them and they're slightly larger, whereas 5 goes full open
- 1:00:14world. And because of that, I sometimes
- 1:00:16think it loses a bit of direction.
- 1:00:19So I feel like 4 is a more curated, directed version of
- 1:00:23that gameplay, whereas 5 is let's take all the barriers away
- 1:00:28and see what the player does, which in a way is liberating.
- 1:00:33But at times I like that more curated approach.
- 1:00:36And replaying this reminded me of that.
- 1:00:38OK, that. So for me, I think it does
- 1:00:44deserve to be up there. And I'm not saying that it
- 1:00:51replaces that original game in terms of the effect that that
- 1:00:55had on me, but what it did do was remind me of the feeling
- 1:01:01that I have playing the original game and the love that I have
- 1:01:05for that game. And as I say, moments are few
- 1:01:09and far between these days. So I'll take that.
- 1:01:12And I kind of appreciate that. And I don't know if it replaces
- 1:01:19it, but I will say that I'll probably go back to this one
- 1:01:23sooner than the original. Yes.
- 1:01:26And that's a win in my eyes. Yeah, of course it is.
- 1:01:30That makes. Sense.
- 1:01:30So yeah, I'll I'll leave my thoughts there.
- 1:01:33I think. Yeah, set at the table.
- 1:01:36Yep. So what do we have coming up
- 1:01:40next for the avid listener? We have a slightly shorter game
- 1:01:45next time, which some of you may be glad to hear won't take us as
- 1:01:49long. I imagine a couple of weeks.
- 1:01:51We're playing a game relatively recent game came out a year or
- 1:01:55two ago on every system called Bolottro, which I kind of
- 1:02:02stumbled upon when I got my gaming PC.
- 1:02:06So I had three months free of Xbox Game Pass PC version.
- 1:02:10And I kind of heard people talk about it like on the gym,
- 1:02:14Inquisition and a few other places.
- 1:02:16So I tried it out and I became hooked instantly.
- 1:02:19And funnily enough, I found another game that's very similar
- 1:02:22to it called Clover Pit, which I've been playing on Steam.
- 1:02:26Very, very addicting. And yeah, is good.
- 1:02:32I think you'll be an interesting episode.
- 1:02:33Have you started it at all? No, so I've downloaded it on my
- 1:02:37Switch to I'm away this week for work as I am for the next month.
- 1:02:43Really not not completely away all the time, but I'm away for
- 1:02:46at least two nights per week. So yes, I will give that a good
- 1:02:50run around there. So we're going to do 2 shorter
- 1:02:53games and one bigger game in the background and hopefully get
- 1:02:58those out to you within the next.
- 1:03:00Sort of, yeah. That was a long.
- 1:03:02Month. A couple of months, yeah, yeah,
- 1:03:04whatever it is, yeah. So yeah, that'll be next time.
- 1:03:06Bilotro should be an interesting episode.
- 1:03:10As always, if you like this episode, you know, we always
- 1:03:12appreciate a a comment, a like or a share the the usual calls
- 1:03:16to action. And yeah, if you want to get in
- 1:03:20touch with this with a long shortofitpodcast@hotmail.com or
- 1:03:24we are on Instagram. But yeah, that's pretty much
- 1:03:28everything from me today. Is there anything?
- 1:03:30And a final question from me, we said a few times in the lead up
- 1:03:34to this this episode about that original episode and, and not
- 1:03:39having done it justice. What's your thoughts today?
- 1:03:42And I've got my own thoughts, but yeah.
- 1:03:44I feel that we've done the MGS 3 universe justice this time
- 1:03:51because we just weren't barrelling off out of the story.
- 1:03:54I feel that we've been a bit more balanced, which I'm glad
- 1:03:57about. Yeah, I feel like this is a nice
- 1:04:00companion piece for that original episode.
- 1:04:02And if you take them both, we probably covered most of it.
- 1:04:07Probably not for some people, but yeah, for us at least.
- 1:04:10So yeah, I thought we did all right.
- 1:04:11No, I agree. So yeah, on on to the next one.
- 1:04:15Hopefully it will be also a very good episode.
- 1:04:17Gives a round of applause. Yes, please.
- 1:04:21Please clap. As Jeb Bush once famously said,
- 1:04:25yes. But yeah, we will see you in
- 1:04:29probably a couple of weeks for Blot Trope, but in the meantime,
- 1:04:31take care, Cheerio. See you on the next one.