As a life-long Metal Gear Solid fan since I first beat MGS1 as a nine-year-old, I’m a little bit of a purist when it comes to the franchise.
I don’t like spinoffs, I don’t like the Twin Snakes remake on GameCube, and usually anything without Hideo Kojima’s involvement isn’t worth my time. Thankfully, Konami’s new remake of the iconic MGS3, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, seems to be worth every second and cent thus far, judging from what I played today.
I got about 40 minutes of hands-on gameplay time with MGS Delta at a special pop-up event in New York City today, and other than the obvious note that the game is gorgeous on Unreal Engine 5, I came away from the experience more excited for the full game than I thought possible.
We were unable to record any pictures or videos, but I got to play the opening moments of the game, which have been faithfully recreated in nearly every way when it comes to cutscenes and presentation. It’s the same exact voiceovers and same cutscenes from 2004, but with an unreal coat of 2025 paint that shines with every detail down to the chin hairs on Snake’s beard or mud remaining on his suit in cutscenes. And thankfully, the facial motions and mouth movements match up perfectly to the English voiceover, which is a lovely departure from the original title.
Starting out, you get to make the choice of which MGS is your favorite, just like in the original. This time, you can choose anything from MGS1 through MGS5, and each choice gives you unique starting items, such as specific camos or face paints. But then I got into the thick of it, with the clock ticking and little time to play.
Gameplay-wise, the controls have been overhauled and modernized, and they are very different from the original game, but for the better. You can choose between a new over-the-shoulder perspective or stick with the classic camera angles from the OG game, but the new controls are a bit wonky in that regard. Unfortunately, I did not have time to check if you can swap to a classic control scheme.
Playing on PS5 Pro, the new scheme uses L2 to aim (third-person view with an aiming reticle, but you can swap to first-person), R2 to shoot or attack, left and right on the d-pad for items and weapons respectively, and right analog stick to scroll through the options.
Snake can crouch with O, roll with triangle, reload with square, and interact with X. Holding down L1 will make Snake walk very slowly and stealthily to sneak up on foes, and R1 switches Snake into first-person view, just like in the original.
The most intuitive and fun change, for me, is the ability to change uniforms and face paint on the fly, utilizing MGS3’s famous Camo Index feature to swap your colors near-instantly (hold up on the d-pad to bring up the on-screen menu as shown above) to blend into the different environments. Snake’s health, stamina, and camouflage percentage are at the bottom of the screen at all times, and swapping your camos is not only encouraged but necessary, especially on higher difficulties, as enemies seem to be able to see you from further away.
You can still open up the main menu to select your camouflages manually like in the original, but it’s just so simple and easy to swap quickly and near seamlessly. The enemy guards are reminiscent of those in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which is not all that surprising, and they seem to be a bit more lethal when it comes to combat now, too.
I breezed through the Virtuous Mission portion of the game, saving those cutscenes for my big screen TV at home, but also because I wanted to play the game as much as I could. I messed around with sneaking through cover, using the camo index liberally, and fighting enemies where I could. The tranquilizer pistol has some serious bullet drop-off this time around, and CQC attacks can be done with one tap of the R2 button when you get in close, but I was only playing on Normal difficulty, so I would assume things are tougher on higher ones.
Playing with the new controls and camera angle makes MGS Delta feel like a different but familiar game. Snake feels weightier than before, moving methodically through the battlefield. I also think that tweaking things like the color filter to give it the same hues as the original, or even changing it up to one titled Action Movie, could make for many unique-feeling playthroughs, along with camera angle swaps, different masks and uniforms, and other silly changes.
As I skipped some more cutscenes, the new opening credits sequence played, including a newly-recorded version of the classic Snake Eater theme song, with singer Cynthia Harrell returning to put a slightly different spin on it. It was as lovely as ever.
I was able to get to the end of the Ocelot Unit fight when someone in the venue turned on the lights and signified that my time was up, but I can’t wait to play more as soon as possible. My main takeaway from my playtime, though, is that this is a very, very faithful remake of MGS3, but with enhancements to the gameplay that better the experience for all players.
I’m sure the mega-purists will find stuff to take issue with (they always do), but for those of us looking to re-live MGS3 with some incredible new visuals, or new gamers who haven’t played the original title from 2004, this is looking like a must-play for 2025.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater launches on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on Aug. 28.
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