E3 2003: MGS3: Snake Eater

Watch twelve minutes of high-quality Metal Gear Solid 3, in whole or in chunks - plus the first screenshots, and our impressions.

Odd subtitle, fabulous looking game! That's pretty much all that can be said about the amazing trailer video shown of Konami's newest installment in the uber-popular Metal Gear Solid series.

Gamers who attended this year's E3 got a chance to take a sneak peak at Hideo Kojima's latest masterpiece, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. First at Konami's Pre-E3 Conference, and then throughout the show, large crowds formed around every display that showcased the video demo, with onlookers looking on in amazement.

Metal Gear Solid 3 looks poised to break new grounds in visual story telling, gameplay, video graphics and physics. Having sat through almost twelve minutes of visually stimulating MGS3 video, showing Solid Snake doing his thing in a jungle setting, I can say that fans of the series are definitely in for a treat.

Some of the coolest points in the video were when Snake hid up a tree and began to slowly but methodically take out the enemy guards one by one in a variety of cool ways - including holding from a tree branch with one arm, and firing his pistol with the other. He even had enough time to take a lunch break and bite down into a nice sized fish he just yanked from the water and didn't bother cleaning or cooking.

The graphics shown were quite phenomenal with amazing attention to detail. The lush looking rain forest, the beautifully modeled and textured trees, long lifelike grass, rippling water and character designs (especially Snake's different outfits) just brought the game to life. The lighting effects were done remarkably well. With the sharp graphics and all the intricate details, you'd be forgiven for thinking the game was being shown on a high end PC.

The anti-Raiden people will be glad to see that he was no where to be found in this installment of Metal Gear. Personally, I liked Raiden and thought he made a pretty cool side kick to Solid Snake. Solid Snake appears to be taking back his role as the lead character of the Metal Gear Solid series - so all is well.

All said and done, Metal Gear Solid 3 will hopefully introduce new levels of depth, gameplay and plot twists into its spectacular world of espionage with new, highly detailed levels, new characters, high-tech weapons, physics, and fully interactive environments.

Unfortunately, other than the video, very little else is known about the game since Konami seems to be a bit tight lipped about it so far. A release date has yet to be announced beyond '2004' - as amusingly revealed at the end of the trailer itself. Hopefully the wait won't be too long before fans can hide Solid Snake up trees and bring him crashing down onto an enemy sentinel's head.

Be sure to check out our various footage of the complete twelve-minute trailer, and prepare to be amazed.

Joseph Jackson
Staff Writer, Kikizo Games