Why Metal Gear Solid 3 is the Best Game in the Series (And quite possibly of all time)
Why Metal Gear Solid 3 is the Best Game in the Series
(And quite possibly of all time)

The third in a series of essays by Tyler Clemmons


Series Continuation

We are now smack-dab in the middle of the main canon of the PlayStation titles in the Metal Gear series. In the previous essay, I suggested that arguing against Metal Gear Solid 3 was difficult if one was arguing for Metal Gear Solid 2. Instead of simply reiterating all the points that were great about Sons of Liberty, I hope to bring out the positives in Snake Eater that are somewhat unique to it.

For the most part, though, I will try to focus on what makes this game perhaps the most universally accepted Metal Gear title, and therefore the best game in the series (and quite possibly of all time).

For now at least, the saga’s roots can be found here. Just like the two titles before it, Metal Gear Solid 3 (referred to as MGS3 or Snake Eater hereafter in the main text of this essay) has an element of beginnings to it. If ever there was a doubt about whether or not Hideo Kojima wanted to end the series with Metal Gear Solid 2, look no further than this game as an answer to the doubt. Why? It is a prequel, of course.

That means he did not want to add to the end of the story. But he still decided to make another game. And God bless him for those decisions, because the game we got was much better than a PlayStation 2 direct sequel to Sons of Liberty, and much much better than no MGS3 at all.

If you take into account the perspective that at least up through this title, almost every Metal Gear game was made with little or no intention of following it up, it is very important that the earliest of stories be well crafted. Of course there are some non-sequiturs and issues with retroactive continuity in the Metal Gear games, but not nearly as many as there could be. We owe at least a little bit of that to MGS3 and its ability to not only introduce new plots and characters (vital for a prequel that wants to be good) but provide us after the fact with a jumping point for the rest of the series.

It is totally this game’s fault that I am obsessed with Metal Gear. Whether it was the quality of the game, the timing in my life, or who knows what, Snake Eater was definitely the one that put me over the edge. That alone should make it enough for me to say that it is the best, right? Well, in the heat of the moment yes. If I have only a few seconds to answer, I will usually say that MGS3 is the most complete experience in the series.

It is also one of the few games that I have ever been able to watch someone play without getting to do so myself. For a couple of years I lived with a guy who I do not mind saying was better at most video games than I, and the day he brought Snake Eater back to our dorm was a turning point in my video game life. When I would go to my classes, I would actually hope he did not play it while I was away. It was such a vivid gaming experience that I did not want to jump in myself and start a game, but I certainly did not want to miss any of the action when he was at the helm.



They give us a character worthy of the legacy already created for him. Even though it was 30 years away in the future, Big Boss had a lot on his plate leading up to and in the first two Metal Gear games. Then came the bombshell about Solid and Liquid Snake in Metal Gear Solid, where Big Boss served as a sort of Bob Saccamano to the plot. Anyone who served as the main antagonist in two games, then fathered the next two games’ top bad guys – not to mention the hero of the first three titles – must have been some guy back in the day.

MGS3 takes on the challenge of showing us that guy on his quest toward greatness. And it is actually more believable than your average originally unplanned prequel (assuming, once again, that this game was not part of the original plan). Take the opening sequence of one of my favorite movies, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, for example. Everything that shapes Indy into the man he becomes seems to happen within an hour of his life. Bad prequel moment. But by the end of Snake Eater, you really do feel like this could be the greatest soldier who ever lived. Which is nice, because he already had that title to live up to.

It is possible that no theme in all of the series fits more perfectly than the idea of “scene” here. I mean, for crying out loud, they take a character that had previously been known only as not just a villain, but the villain of the series, and molded quite the heroic tale around him. It almost makes us forget about what Big Boss’s role had been in the series. He pops up in Metal Gear Solid 4, and we all think “sweet, Big Boss is here.” Then we remember his villainous role when we recall that Snake has no recollection of the events of MGS3, as he was not yet born. As such, he wants to kill Big Boss. What a scene, huh?

I think the best part of the character The Boss is how she contributes to this theme. In a later game she is described as having an almost overwhelming charisma about her, and as a character I agree. Her belief in an unchanging purpose versus the player’s adherence to mission objectives makes the two enemies this time. But between her big manifesto speech at the end and EVA’s debriefing message, the relativity of allies and enemies based on the “scene” of events is driven home one last, poignant time.

(On a side note about The Boss, in my research I came across an interesting point: despite being known as The Joy, she is almost always frowning, and carries a very stoic, consistent attitude. Her counterpart, The Sorrow, smiles almost incessantly.)

The bosses (and their respective fights) are incredible. Plus no Sons of Liberty-style letdowns. If you get tired of the lack of cathartic release in Metal Gear Solid 2, look no further. I mean, the bosses blow up! The worst of them is probably The Fury, but even he gets a cool voice actor. Thankfully they found a better character for Richard Doyle to voice in Metal Gear Solid 4. The Pain also leaves something to be desired, but at least every fight is different from the next. From that first battle with Ocelot (more on him later) that acts like an awesome supercharged combination of the battles with him and Olga in Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2, respectively, to that final encounter with The Boss, each fight at best is a wonderful cinematic and gaming experience and at worst an opportunity to focus on a different aspect of gameplay each time.

Most importantly, the atmosphere in the boss fights is incredible. What better way to fight someone named The Fear than amidst tons of death traps and poisonous arrows? With The Boss you are in a field suddenly populated with white flowers, so simple and pure, as this fight emphasizes the use of camouflage and CQC, the building blocks of this game. Or at least what differentiates its style of play from the previous games.

The jaunt down the river Styx or whatever with The Sorrow is a fun addition, but there is one boss battle in particular that is The End of the argument. I wish I could be new and innovative and tell you that The Fury is way better or Volgin FTW or something, but the fact remains that your time spent in Sokrovenno with The End is perhaps the most inspiring, intense, rewarding single battle in all of video games. Please do yourself a favor and never cheat yourself out of the fight against The End. It is tough to describe in words how a silent, elongated struggle across three screens against an old man could be so intense and all those other words I liked earlier, but playing it (or even seeing it in action) does it justice much better.

And then there is the true king of boss battles: the ladder. Anyone who has played the game knows of what I speak. If you have not, check it out; it is pretty epic.
Twelve shots. This time, he’s got twelve shots. It probably goes without saying at this point that I consider the characters in MGS3 to be one of its stronger points. It almost even makes up for the lack of any “Metal Gear” or “Solid” in the game (outside of a brief conversation in the game and then in the epilogue). It also even makes up for the fact that the game is named Snake Eater.



Throughout the series, one character has always stood out for me above the rest, and it is never more evident than in this title. No offense to Snake, Raiden, Big Boss, or anyone else for that matter, but Ocelot is the most well-crafted character in the series. It takes you four freaking games to finish him off. Equal parts Joy and Sorrow, in MGS3 he is young, brash, arrogant, and very good. Plus, the dynamic between Ocelot and Big Boss in this game makes for one of the more interesting character relationships in any game.

Ocelot is one of the bad guys, in the nature of the gameplay. And yet, as the game goes on, you see how he begins to really look up to Big Boss. I mean, who does that in a game? Mad props, Hideo Kojima; you pulled that one off. And just like the previous two games, Ocelot is left standing at the end. Why? Maybe he just is not the villain they want us to think he is. Then the credits roll and of course he gets the last laugh. Good guy, bad guy, or whatever, he always seems to come out with at least a tie (although the Tanker Incident in MGS2 was a landslide victory for Ocelot, so I would say he is ahead for the series).

Your experience of the game is very much in your own hands. In an almost 180-degree diversion from the style of its predecessor Sons of Liberty, MGS3 gives the player a deceptively customizable gaming experience. While it is true partially in Metal Gear Solid 2, the use of codec/radio conversations to gain information otherwise unattainable is much more prevalent in MGS3. But if you do not care about that, you can still enjoy the game – just do not try to argue with me over whether or not Ocelot’s parents are The Boss and The Sorrow. (They are; for a more detailed explanation you can read Ravi Singh’s myth article also located in the Meta section)

The removal of the radar (I assume based primarily on the “scene” of the game being 35 years before radar appeared in Metal Gear 2 and 41 years before Soliton in Metal Gear Solid) and the addition of camouflage to the game certainly changed the way stealth – or as it is sometimes called (my favorite phrase ever) TACTICAL ESPIONAGE ACTION – works in the game. Avoiding detection by the enemy becomes less of a science and more of an art; you get to choose how it is you stay out of their sights. Want to trail them in Spirit Camo and put TNT on their back? Give it a shot. Want to slap that Leaf Camo on and crawl in the underbrush until you are right under them, then put a bullet through the left nostril? Be my guest.

Before starting the game, you are asked a simple question about your Metal Gear Solid preferences, and that affects the game in various ways. The game is fairly linear, but still allows for unique routes within that larger linear direction. You can even mess with title screens and opening videos ad nauseam if you like. Blowing up the buildings that house rations and food, followed by tossing enemy soldiers poisonous mushrooms never fails to entertain. The possibilities may not be endless, but the player is so much more in control of his or her gaming experience than the last time.

The score is bookended by two incredible songs. Originally the statement was going to be something along the lines of “best music” or “best score.” Then I played through Metal Gear Solid 2 and watched a play-through (the best I can do) of Metal Gear 2 and seriously reconsidered those statements. I am not sure which game has the best music, but it is probably one of those two.

But as far as individual songs – ones that can at least sort of stand on their own – are concerned, MGS3 takes the cake. “Snake Eater” captures wonderfully the excitement and action of the game. It also kind of lets you know what to be ready for in the game. Hearing “Way to Fall” playing over the closing credits right after seeing the end really tugs at me. The fallout from Operation Snake Eater comes through beautifully in this song by Starsailor. These two songs, along with the “Metal Gear Saga” theme that borrows heavily from the music in MGS3, are the only ones that I play regularly on guitar or piano for my own amusement.

Plus, with “Way to Fall,” it is just nice to hear a normal song – no languages I cannot understand, no free-form jazz explorations, and no melodramatic renditions of the same two couplets over and over.

So I guess “Calling to the Night” from Portable Ops is actually pretty awesome as well. Hmm, I smell a segue…

About the Author/Disclaimer of Recent Fanhood

Tyler Clemmons is a recreational writer and video game player who daylights as perhaps the youngest on-air personality in all of classic rock radio. He first discovered the Metal Gear series in 2001, was first fully intrigued by it in 2004, and finally became a complete lunatic for it in 2007. Since then, he has worked diligently to gain an understanding of it that can at least coexist with that of the long-time fans. He could take or leave CQC most of the time, and is still surprised that they did not come up with a way to put Liquid Snake in this game unnecessarily.

He can be reached via e-mail at TylerClemmons@gmail.com or via phone if you happen to have his number.

Tyler forgot to mention Tecmo in this essay.