As Shay has already mentioned, I was finally able to get my hands on the Limited Edition of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence last week. So, for the few days, I’ve been draped under a blanket drinking hot tea to soothe my cold and a Dual Shock 2 in my hands the entire time. So, here’s a review of my experience thus far.

Disc 1: Subsistence

This is the main Snake Eater disc. The new camera mode alone is enough to buy Subsistence. The new camera mode offers a third-person perspective, allowing the player change the ENTIRE view with the use of the right analog stick. If you want to return to your original view, simply tap the L1 button to bring the camera to Snake’s back. This new camera mode allows you to see the depth of the environment and characters combined; the details hit you in the face when you experiment with the camera. The camera also offers a more cinematic feel to the gameplay.

You also come equipped with a set of facepaints that represent 9 different countries, all of which were in someway or shape or form related to the Cold War. You also come with 3 new camoflages when you start off. There’s a new option before you start new a file, giving you a new option “I like MGS3!”, which allows you to download 20 other camoflages.

Finally, there’s the new European Extreme difficulty mode. This was originally only a part of the UK version of MGS3, but was added to Subsistence. Pretty much, the game ends when you enter Alert mode. Good mode for those confident players!

Disc 2: Persistence

I’ve been playing the re-releases of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake more than anything else on Subsistence. Ever since beating Snake Eater a couple years ago, I’ve felt a desire to replay the old-school games again. Alas, I didn’t have an NES anymore. I wish Konami would’ve mentioned changing some of the item locations; I spent a good 45 minutes trying to find the enemy uniform in Metal Gear ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT THEY CHANGED ITS ORIGINAL LOCATION FROM A ROOM TO THE SIDE OF A WALL NICHE. So, that was frustrating. Still, it didn’t keep me from dropping my controller.

I managed to borrow a friend’s broadband adapter to test out the online portion of Subsistence. I was everso slightly skeptic about the online idea until I actually experienced it. MGO (Metal Gear Online) hit me square in the face. It’s a genius idea to combine a fast-paced shooter wtih Metal Gear mechanics, such as CQC. You’re able to choose amongst several characters from Snake Eater (Big Boss, Ocelot, and Raikov are the only onces I’ve been able to see so far) to lead your team of GRU or KGB units into battle. With five different modes of multiplayer (Sneaking Mission, Capture Mission, Rescue Mission, Team Deathmatch, and Deathmatch), it’s to imagine getting completely bored of a particular style. I loved watching our Ocelot unit sneak past Big Boss’ unit using our cardboard boxes. Imagine about 8 or 9 moving cardboard boxes casually climbing a tower. It served as a good laugh.

Also with the Persistence disc is a new Snake vs. Monkey (if you haven’t played the Snake Eater version, think Ape Escape meets Metal Gear Solid). Several new items along with a couple of new levels. Fun fun! I was so hooked on this mini-game back in the day.

Disc 3: Existence

Part of the limited edition copy of Subsistence comes with a third disc that is dedicated solely for the fans. It contains a demo theater of all of the cutscenes and important dialogue of Snake Eater formatted for fans to relax and enjoy the tear-jerking plot of MGS3. Now, this isn’t like the demo theater that came with Xenosaga when you pre-ordered Xenosaga II, where they simply placed cutscene after cutscene still leaving the viewer in confusion because they don’t know what happens in between each scene. Konami actually went a step higher to incorporate every piece of important dialogue along with the cutscenes to give the viewer a background of the game. With the pieces of gameplay, they changed the camera angles to give the theater more of a cinematic feel. Very well done, if you ask me.

There’s also a trailer of MGS4: Guns of the Patriots with Disc 3. This is the trailer from the 2005 E3 show, so I’m sure many of you have seen it. There’s a bit of surprises at the end, however, so it’s worth another watch.

Metal Gear Saga vol.1

As I’ve stated in a previous post about a month ago, when you pre-ordered MGS3: Subsistence you received an extra DVD. This DVD is Metal Gear Saga vol.1. It’s pretty much a documentary from the beginning of the Metal Gear series in all of its entirity. The placement of the games is shown according to that particular game’s setting, so it goes: MGS3 (1964), Metal Gear (1994-1995), Metal Gear 2 (1999), MGS (2005), and MGS2 (2007-2009-2010).

Metal Gear Saga is produced by Kojima Productions, so you have the mastermind behind it all giving an indepth (yet very fast-paced) look at the leading one of the most successful titles in the world. There are also some secrets to be revealed, which I wish he left out. One of the beauties of Kojima was that he never subsided with anyone’s theories about the games, leaving the the series vast interpretations totally up to the player.

There’s also a series of trailers created by Kojima Productions that covers MGS4, Subsistence, and Metal Gear Ac!d.

So that concludes my review for MGS3: Subsistence. I hope it helps any of you in terms of information.