Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater sends the player up an extremely tall ladder for roughly three minutes, with a vocal theme song as the only company. Fans and critics singled out the climb as one of the series' most memorable moments. Some saw it as metafiction that exposes how linear a video game can be. It later became a meme, and players now point at very long ladders in other games, such as Starfield.

  Konami released the game for the PlayStation 2 in 2004, and Hideo Kojima wrote, produced and directed it. It drops the series' hero into a Soviet jungle and strips away the high-tech trappings of earlier entries. How did a franchise built around cities and gadgets learn to hide in tall grass? Who is the mentor standing in Snake's way? And why do so many people call this one of the greatest video games ever made?

  11328

• 2. Building The Jungle

  ›

  Kojima's team first aimed at the then-upcoming PlayStation 3. The console took so long to arrive that development moved back to the PlayStation 2. From the start, Kojima wanted to change the setting drastically. He said the jungle was what both his team and the Metal Gear fans wanted. He also admitted that weather, landscape and wildlife would cause trouble. Earlier games dropped the player close to an enemy base, or even inside one. Kojima wanted more realism, with Snake starting miles from civilization and working his way toward the enemy camp.

  Rocks, dirt mounds and tree stumps explain why previous games stayed mostly indoors, according to Kojima. Consoles of the time could not portray a true jungle, and a jungle has no flat surface. The collision engine from earlier installments could not handle uneven ground, so the team built a new one from scratch. Setting up motion capture so players could walk over the mounds was another hurdle.

  Many fans asked for a 3D camera, but the game shipped without one. Kojima regarded Metal Gear Solid, Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater as a trilogy. He kept the camera the same as in the first two so the three would feel alike, even as the industry drifted toward full 3D camera movement.

  Yoji Shinkawa received a request from Kojima to make Naked Snake resemble Solid Snake. The difference was meant to be in temperament, since Naked Snake was a rookie and acted more naively. Shinkawa had no trouble with the job, and the two characters look virtually identical. Because the trailers never said that Naked Snake was Big Boss, Kojima often gave vague answers about the character's true identity.

  The love scene between Naked Snake and EVA drew inspiration from the 1963 film The Pink Panther. Kojima and Shinkawa watched the movie, though Kojima said the result might have come out differently from the original. Kojima also asked Kurt Russell to voice Naked Snake, but the actor declined. In January 2024 Russell explained that he knew the character echoed Snake Plissken, whom he played in the 1981 film Escape from New York. He added that he had no interest in reprising roles or in any project without the director John Carpenter.

  Harry Gregson-Williams and Norihiko Hibino composed the score, supplying material for both the cutscenes and the play itself. Hibino wrote the opening theme, "Snake Eater", a distinctly Bond-like vocal track performed by Cynthia Harrell. Rika Muranaka supplied "Don't Be Afraid" for the ending, sung by Elisa Fiorillo. A second ending theme broke with tradition because it was not made in-house. It was "Way To Fall" by Starsailor. Kojima later wrote on his blog that he first wanted David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and "Ashes to Ashes", because the game had a space theme. That theme lost its significance during development. A colleague then told him to listen to Stellastarr, but Kojima misheard the name as Starsailor.

  1417202224

• 3. Survival Mechanics

  ›

  Two-thirds of the game unfolds outdoors, in a Soviet tropical forest, and the environment itself is often the key to success. Climbing trees and hiding in tall grass help Snake avoid being seen. The advanced radar of earlier games is gone. In its place sit a simple motion detector and a sonar system better suited to the setting. Snake still collects weapons, from handguns to rocket-propelled grenades, but stealth remains the emphasis. The series' trademark cardboard box is still available as a hiding place.

  A number called the camouflage index measures how exposed Snake is. It runs from negative values, where he is highly visible and draws attention, up to 100 percent, where the enemy cannot see him at all. To raise it, the player swaps between uniforms and face paints. A bark-patterned uniform suits leaning against a tree, while striped face paint suits tall grass. A fake gavial head lowers the chance of detection in water, and a monkey mask is also on offer.

  Close quarters combat, or CQC, is a heavily refined version of the hand-to-hand fighting from earlier installments. When Snake is unarmed or holding a one-handed weapon, he can grab an opponent and hold him in a chokehold. From there he can choke the guard unconscious, throw him to the ground, slit his throat, or interrogate him at knifepoint. The context, the pressure on the button and the movement of the analog stick decide which action happens.

  Earlier games tracked health with a simple life bar, but Snake Eater tracks injuries across the whole body. A long fall can fracture Snake's leg and lower his maximum life. The injury either heals over time or is fixed at once with a splint and bandage. A stamina gauge also drains constantly, and the player restores it by eating native plants and animals. A starving Snake aims worse, and his loud stomach grumbles can give him away. Stored food can rot, and eating it may cause a stomachache that makes the gauge drain faster.

  Sony Computer Entertainment's Ape Escape series makes a cameo through the PlayStation 2 minigame "Snake vs. Monkey". Snake has to catch monkeys, and the humor of both series comes along for the ride. Progress through its stages unlocks bonus items that can be used in the main game.

  23261620

• 4. Cold War Mission

  ›

  The overarching theme of Metal Gear Solid 3 is "Scene", which concerns how politics shifts with time and location. The game uses a narrative technique called hyperreality, which blends fiction with history. Real events and people, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Lyndon B. Johnson and Nikita Khrushchev, mingle with invented elements. The result is an alternate history of the 1960s Cold War. It is also the first chronological chapter in the larger story of Big Boss, and it sits 31 years before the original Metal Gear.

  In 1964, CIA agent Naked Snake is sent to Tselinoyarsk in the USSR on an operation called the "Virtuous Mission." His target is Dr. Nikolai Sokolov, a prominent Soviet weapons developer. Sokolov had defected two years earlier, until the Russians forced the United States to return him to end the Cuban Missile Crisis. Snake's superior, Major Zero, says that the CIA has since learned of a secret project. Sokolov is supposedly building the Shagohod, a nuclear-equipped tank that could end the Cold War.

  Snake finds the scientist, yet the mission collapses when The Boss, his former mentor, appears and announces that she will defect to the USSR. Her Cobra unit recaptures Sokolov for their new benefactor, Colonel Volgin. The Boss beats Snake in close combat, injuring him and leaving him for dead. Volgin takes the Shagohod and uses a Davy Crockett nuclear shell, supplied by The Boss, to destroy the research facility and hide the theft. Snake is pulled out by fulton extraction moments after the blast.

  The Soviet Union detects American aircraft over Tselinoyarsk and blames the United States for the explosion. Khrushchev suspects Volgin and agrees to let President Johnson prove the American innocence. Snake is ordered into "Operation Snake Eater", which has three goals: stop Volgin's faction, destroy the Shagohod, and eliminate The Boss. He expects to meet an NSA agent named ADAM, but EVA meets him instead and sends him to a lab. There he finds Aleksandr Granin, a scientist whose idea for a bipedal tank was shunned in favor of the Shagohod.

  At Volgin's fortress, Groznyj Grad, Snake locates Sokolov and is captured. Volgin kills Granin, then beats Sokolov to death and tortures Snake. Snake loses an eye while protecting a disguised EVA from Ocelot. He is imprisoned but escapes. Back inside the fortress, Volgin tells him about the Philosophers. This secret group of powerful figures from the United States, the Soviet Union and China made a pact to win World War II and create a new world order. Together they amassed $100 billion, called the Philosopher's Legacy, to fund their research and operations. After the war the group fell into infighting and disintegrated, and the Legacy was divided and hidden in banks around the world. Volgin had illegally inherited part of it, and Snake learns that the United States wants the money back.

  118263

• 5. The Cobra Unit

  ›

  Naked Snake, a young former Green Beret assigned to the CIA unit FOX, is voiced by David Hayter in English and Akio Ōtsuka in Japanese. Later games know him as Big Boss. Three voices guide him by radio. Major Zero, a former member of the British Special Air Service, offers advice and tactics. Para-Medic, voiced by Heather Halley, gives medical information along with notes on plants and animals. Sigint, voiced by James C. Mathis III, covers weapons and equipment.

  Colonel Volgin is a GRU colonel who controls electricity and belongs to the extreme Brezhnev faction. That faction wants to overthrow Khrushchev and hand power to Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin. Beside him stands a young Ocelot, who commands the elite Ocelot Unit within the GRU. EVA, voiced by Jodi Benson, is Snake's love interest, an American defector and a KGB agent sent to help him.

  The Boss, voiced by Lori Alan, co-founded FOX and once mentored Snake. She leads the Cobra Unit, a Special Forces team of five. The Pain controls hornets, using them to defend himself and attack his enemies. The Fear has supernatural flexibility and agility. The End is a venerable expert sniper credited as the "father of modern sniping". The Fury is a disfigured former cosmonaut who carries a flamethrower and a jetpack. The Sorrow is the spirit of a deceased medium. Snake eliminates The Pain first, then The Fear, The End and The Fury.

  Kojima designed the boss battles to differ from those in earlier Metal Gear games, and from games in general. He said the fight against The End best showed the free, open style of play. It takes place across a large area of dense jungle, and the player must search hard for a sniper who fires from an unknown position. The battle of attrition can last for hours. A player can skip it entirely by killing The End earlier in the game. Another route is to save and quit mid-fight, wait a week or advance the console's internal clock, and reload to find that The End has died of old age. Kojima remarked that other games offer nothing like it.

  826316

• 6. The Boss's Truth

  ›

  Snake returns to Groznyj Grad to destroy the Shagohod, only to face Volgin, The Boss and Ocelot, who has uncovered EVA as the spy. Snake defeats Volgin and destroys the hangar, but Volgin chases him in the Shagohod. Snake disables the machine, and a bolt of lightning seemingly kills Volgin. Snake and EVA then flee to a lake, where a WIG, a type of craft that skims low over the water, is hidden.

  Before they can leave, Snake confronts The Boss and defeats her. She hands him a microfilm of the Legacy, and Snake reluctantly kills her. He and EVA escape to Alaska and spend the night together. By morning EVA has vanished with the microfilm. She leaves behind a tape that reveals she is a Chinese spy sent to steal the Legacy for China. The tape also exposes the truth about The Boss. She never defected. She was ordered to infiltrate Volgin's ranks and bring the Legacy back to America.

  Volgin's nuclear attack ruined that plan. To prove American innocence, The Boss had to be seen as a traitor and die at Snake's hands.

  President Johnson awards a demoralized Snake the title of Big Boss and the Distinguished Service Cross. At Arlington National Cemetery, Snake lays a tribute at The Boss's unmarked gravestone and tearfully salutes her.

  One more twist follows. Ocelot telephones the KGB Chief Director and suggests blackmailing the United States in future negotiations with knowledge of both the Virtuous Mission and Operation Snake Eater. He then tells the director of the CIA that the microfilm stolen by EVA was a fake, and that half of the Philosopher's Legacy is now in American hands, while the KGB holds the other half. With that call, he reveals himself to be ADAM.

  826311

• 7. Editions And Remakes

  ›

  North America got the game first, and the Japanese release followed almost a month later. Europe and Australia waited until early 2005. The Japanese version offered extra downloadable camouflage patterns, some of which could only be obtained from data on Metal Gear Solid 3 soundtrack CDs. A limited premium package came with a DVD of every promotional trailer, including a proof-of-concept video shown only inside Konami. It also held two booklets and a painted 1/144-scale model of the Shagohod. Japanese pre-orders earned a special CD with soundtrack tracks, screensavers and more camouflage.

  For Europe, Konami added a difficulty setting called "European Extreme" and a demo theater for replaying cutscenes once they have been seen. A Duel Mode lets players replay the boss battles. Europe also received face paints based on national flags and two new "Snake vs. Monkey" levels.

  Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence reached Japan on the 22nd of December 2005. North America followed on the 14th of March 2006, Europe on the 6th of October 2006, and Australia on the 13th of October 2006. Earlier expanded editions had added skill challenges or side missions. Subsistence skipped those and instead added ports of the MSX2 games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, which was officially localized for the first time. It also added an online mode called Metal Gear Online and a fully 3D, player-controlled camera. So much was added that the game ran across two discs.

  In late 2011 the HD Edition arrived on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It ran at 720p and aimed for 60 frames per second, compared with a 30 frame maximum on the PlayStation 2. The picture widened from 4:3 to 16:9. A PlayStation Vita version followed in June 2012 with limited touch controls. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2010, Konami showed a Nintendo 3DS technical demo called The Naked Sample. A full game, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, reached North America on the 21st of February 2012. It used the console's gyroscope for balance on bridges and tree branches, and let players photograph a custom camouflage pattern with the 3DS camera. Controls and frame rate drew heavy criticism, yet it averaged 78/100 on 46 reviews at Metacritic.

  An enhanced port called the Master Collection came in 2023 to the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and Steam. A remake, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, was developed by Konami with support from Virtuos. It was announced at the May 2023 PlayStation Showcase and released on the 28th of August 2025.

  Satoshi Hase wrote a novelization that Kadokawa Shoten published in Japan on the 25th of January 2014. Konami's parlor subsidiary KPE also made a pachislot machine, housed in a cabinet called the "Big Boss" with a 32-inch full HD LCD monitor. It reached parlors across Japan on the 17th of October 2016.

  2830313236

• 8. Reception And Legacy

  ›

  By December 2004 the game had sold 2.38 million units in Asia and America, and it reached 3.6 million copies worldwide by August 2005. That fell well short of Sons of Liberty, which had sold 7 million. Sales passed 3.7 million by September 2005 and eventually topped four million. In Japan, Subsistence sold 133,339 copies and Snake Eater 3D sold 79,284.

  Metacritic reports "universal acclaim" for the game. IGN gave it 9.6 out of 10, GameSpot gave it 8.7, and Edge gave it 8. GameSpot called it "richly cinematic" and "a great achievement". GameSpy hailed it as "probably the best Metal Gear Solid game yet". Eurogamer judged it "overwhelmingly superior to MGS2: Sons of Liberty". Critics welcomed Naked Snake after fans had been disappointed by Raiden in the previous game. Several reviewers also found the story a pleasing throwback to the original, with less of the "philosophical babble" of Sons of Liberty. GameTrailers scored it 9/10.

  The camouflage system split opinion. Edge praised the thrill of lying camouflaged in short grass inches from a patrolling enemy. GameSpy dismissed it as "just a number to monitor and not a terribly interesting one". GameSpot named it "the most important and best implemented" of the new features. Reviewers also faulted the frame rate, which was 30 per second against 60 in Sons of Liberty. IGN called the camera "dated" and Eurogamer called it "off-kilter". Edge found the cutscenes "visually exciting and evocative, beautifully shot" but said the script "ranges from awkward to awful". GameSpot felt some humor "falls flat, as if lost in translation from Japanese". Subsistence averaged 94 percent at Metacritic, with reviewers saying the 3D camera removed the "only grade-A problem". IGN named it the best PlayStation 2 online game in December 2006.

  At IGN's Best of 2004 awards, the game won Best Overall Action Game, Best Overall Story and Best PS2 Use of Sound. GameSpot's Game of the Year awards gave it Best Story, Best Sound Effects and Best New Character. It was a runner-up in GameSpot's categories for Best Action Adventure Game, Best Graphics, Artistic and Best Original Music. The 9th CESA Game Awards named it a recipient of the Award for Excellence. In August 2005, the theme song won Best Original Vocal Song - Pop from the Game Audio Network Guild at the Game Developers Conference. The game also won Best PS2 Game at Germany's Game Convention that year. The 8th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards nominated it for Console Action/Adventure Game of the Year, and nominated David Hayter's performance for Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance - Male.

  Snake Eater is the first chronological chapter, and several direct sequels followed: Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots arrived in 2008 as the numbered sequel, while Peace Walker came in 2010. In 2011 Kojima revealed that he had floated a Metal Gear Solid 5 set during the World War II invasion of Normandy, showing the help of The Boss and the Cobra Unit. The team hesitated, and Kojima later felt that "simply dropping MGS5 on the younger staff members was a bit heavy." He also said Naked Snake is "not really the Big Boss yet", and Peace Walker was meant to explain how he became Solid Snake's enemy.

  Publications have kept ranking the game on best-of lists. In 2009 IGN placed Subsistence third on its Top 25 PS2 Games of All Time. GamePro put Snake Eater and Subsistence eighth among the 36 best PS2 games in 2010. That year IGN ranked Snake Eater second on its Top 100 PlayStation 2 Games and said it had "the best story in the franchise". In 2013 GamesRadar placed it 22nd among the 100 best games of all time and tenth among the best videogame stories. In 2015 USgamer placed it second on a list of the 15 best games since 2000.

  96262336