Monday 14 January, 2008

January 14th
Summary
Snake is a secret stealth operative that receives a mission to stop a group of supernatural terrorists led by his former mentor: The Boss. The boss has a series of pupils that embody a specific emotion that they carry into battle.

Design
After turning on the console, I got an immediate feel for the tone of Metal Gear Solid 3 (MGS3). The historical ambience of Metal Gear Solid 2 was consistent in the third one, but the coloration and artwork displayed an older tone. This sense of age proved to be a recurring theme throughout the game. Aside from it being a prequel, the first two villains Snake interacts with are The Boss, snake's former mentor, and Ocelot, who is more of an upstart that doesn't have as much experience as the other characters. After the story took off I was relieved to see that this game would not be a disappointment from #2.

Gameplay
As for actual gameplay, I was not as much of a fan for the system in MGS2, the character in the game was a Next Generation Super Soldier, whose extraordinary capabilities were repeatedly disregarded under Snake's veteran conviction, and undeniable expertise due to experience. Because of this, the character's fancy moves always had limits, which annoyed me as a player. In MGS3, the narrow halls and industrial furniture are stripped away and the player is allowed a broader playing field. MGS3 puts the player in a natural environment where instead of geometrical spaces the player has to deal with real world curves and edges.

Another key difference in MGS3 is the player does not have radar. Instead, the player must use camouflage to avoid detection. The radar was a much safer bet because the player could always stay just outside of the guards' line of sight. In this game, the player has to use instinct and problem solving to get past their enemies. The player has to try different approaches and learn from their mistakes. In MGS2 a player would know they screwed up because a guard saw them, in MGS3 a player has to use their camouflage differently with their surroundings and use different routes, because nothing is familiar.

To make up for this, the game relaxes time more in MGS3. There are plenty of opportunities to plan ahead MGS3. Instead of stalking around in a death trap of an oil rig, MGS3 gives the player a chance to safely conceal themselves in nearly any environment, and to attack with the element of surprise.

Please edit your gamelog to add section headings (Summary, Gameplay, Design) so we know where these sections begin. The Design one is especially important, so we know where your design critique begins. If your entry doesn't have these headings, we will have to dock some points.

- Jim Whitehead

roger