Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater review – naked ambition

Hideo Kojima’s magnum opus is remade for the modern era, as stealth classic Metal Gear Solid 3 gets stunning new visuals and a greatly improved control system.

It’s now 10 years since Konami forced out Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, for reasons that remain suspiciously opaque. Allegedly, it revolved around a disagreement between him and other execs over the direction of the company and the idea of embracing mobile titles over triple-A games. We’ll probably never know the full truth but shortly after that Konami began to dissociate itself from the entire traditional games industry, only recently returning with revivals such as Silent Hill 2 and Gradius Origins.

It’s still a mystery as to why they haven’t brought back Castlevania but it’s very obvious why 2018’s disastrous Metal Gear Survive is the only new Metal Gear game they’ve ever tried to make. For better and worse, Metal Gear seems like it could only ever be made by Hideo Kojima and trying to imitate his many idiosyncrasies seems doomed to failure.

Konami has hinted that they will attempt a new game at some point but for now they’re taking the more obvious route by simply remaking the older games. They’ve started, somewhat strangely, with 2004 PlayStation 2 title Metal Gear Solid 3. Ostensibly because it’s chronologically the first in the series but also because many consider it to be the best.

The obvious problem with remaking such an old game is that while the graphics can be replaced the design is rooted in the limited technology of the PlayStation 2. If it had been made new today, Metal Gear Solid 3 would’ve been a full open world title, perhaps not too dissimilar to Metal Gear Solid 5, but instead it came out only three years after GTA 3 and so what is presented as an untamed wilderness, that you can traverse at your leisure, is actually a collection of very small rooms connected by loading pauses.

To recreate the game as anything else would’ve required a Herculean effort and even then it probably wouldn’t have worked, given the design of the game is entirely based around it not being a contiguous open world. So what you get in Delta is pretty much exactly the same game with better graphics and controls.

The story is set in 1964, although the game was never very good at creating an authentic period feel. You play as Naked Snake, not Solid Snake, and while the story is filled with nonsense plot points and motivations the central narrative, about rescuing a Russian scientist from a secret base, is relatively straightforward and easier to grasp than most of the other games. The story was written as a prequel, but it’s not impossible to follow if this is your first Metal Gear.

If it is your first, you’ll probably be expecting endless, overlong cut scenes and codec conversations, since that is very much the franchise’s reputation. You won’t be disappointed but Metal Gear Solid 3 is a little more reserved in that respect, especially compared to its immediate successor. Although what’s most frustrating is when the cut scenes show over-the-top action that cannot be replicated in gameplay.

The only slight excuse for that is that this is primarily a stealth game, a concept that barely exists nowadays. Where Metal Gear Solid 3 adds an extra twist is that much of the game is set in a jungle, where you’re expected to catch and eat animals to survive, and patch up wounds or risk bleeding out.

This was all very new and unusual in 2004 but even then the way it was executed seemed very silly, as dead animals instantly transform into ration boxes and you’re encouraged to change outfits to blend in with the environment better – which involves Snake wandering around with a dozen changes of clothes in his backpack, which he switches to at the press of a menu button.

Naturally, these kinds of concepts are handled far better in modern survival games, but all of these options seemed absurd and unrealistic even back in the day. And yet despite the clunky game design, and dialogue, the game is still strangely compelling.

The boss battles are particularly good, although the famous one with The End, where the two of you are stalking each other with almost no restrictions, is one of the more obvious examples of how much grander Delta could’ve been if it wasn’t sticking so close to the design of the original.

There are other highlights that have aged better, most obviously the famous fade to black execution scene and an extended sequence towards the end, that expertly combines simple arcade action with non-interactive cut scenes. Strangely, Kojima never did anything like it again, which is peculiar because it’s far more effective at marrying cinema with gaming than simply stopping the action for 10 minutes to have a cut scene.

But then Kojima is nothing if not inconsistent, with the game frequently segueing between campy melodrama and pretentious musings about the evils of war. It fetishes military hardware and the female form with no hint of self-awareness, while making weird visual jokes about false teeth and still, somehow, taking itself completely seriously.

There’s always so much to complain about in a Metal Gear game but if you accept the idea that this is purposefully changing as little as possible the remake is as good as those self-imposed restrictions allow (Konami have stated that delta means ‘’change’ or ‘difference’ without changing structure’, which is not part of any definition of the word we’re aware of but, as with so much in the game, you just have take things at face value).

Visually, Delta is excellent and one of the best-looking games this year. Accurately simulating moving through mud still seems a little beyond current technology but otherwise this is one of the most realistic jungle environments ever seen and a great advert for Unreal Engine.

The new controls and animations are also an unequivocal improvement, with much smoother transitions between being prone, crawling, and crouching – so that Snake no longer seems to be wiggling around on the floor like a child moving an action figure. There’s also a handy stalking option, that forces Snake to move as slowly as possible, which is very handy.

Taking cover behind walls and other objects is more frustrating than it should be though, as you can often do so when you didn’t mean to, which is an old problem for the series but one you would’ve hoped would be fixed by now. The new camera system, that uses a more modern Resident Evil style over-the-shoulder view, is great though, especially if you remember how imprecise aiming could be in the original.

An on-screen compass is also extremely helpful, as is an indicator of the position of any enemies that can currently see you. This is important because the enemy soldiers now have longer range, and memories, than before, so can’t be tricked as easily as in the original.

Despite all the complaints, most of which were also present in 2004, this is still our favourite Metal Gear Solid game. The core stealth gameplay is excellent, the story is reasonably comprehensible, and the characters engaging. It does feel very much like a game of its time, no matter how modern the graphics are, but it’s an interesting novelty to see something remade in this fashion where it’s really only the visuals that have changed.

We’ll have to wait and see if any of this inspires Konami to create a brand new game, but it’s a credit to Metal Gear Solid 3 that the original can still be appreciated in such a familiar form. As with the recent Death Stranding 2, it’s impressive to see a big budget game be so apparently unconcerned about pandering to a mainstream audience, whether you enjoy everything it does or not. Kojima may have left Konami, but his spirit remains with his games.

Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £69.99
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami, Virtuos, and PlatinumGames (original: Konami Computer Entertainment Japan)
Release Date: 28th August 2025
Age Rating: 18

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