Given the last decade, it’s no surprise that anything Konami does is met with the kind of skepticism that it is, but the company’s upcoming of MGS3 is actually looking really solid. We’ve seen a couple of trailers of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater by now, and so far, it seems to be shaping up to be a promising remake of a beloved classic. By the looks of it, it’s going to be an incredibly faithful game that’s going to recreate the original’s story, content, and mechanics with little to no changes, while modernizing the experience from a visual, technical, and quality-of-life perspective. There are, however, still a handful of more specific changes and improvements we’re hoping to see with the upcoming remake, and here, that’s exactly what we’ll be talking about.
REVAMPED BOSS FIGHTS
Metal Gear Solid is one of those franchises that has always prided itself on its excellent boss fights, and though Metal Gear Solid 3 certainly does boast a few excellent ones of those itself, it would also definitely benefit from some polishing on this front. Given how long it’s been since the original game came out, it’s not controversial to say that most of its boss fights could do with some tweaks and polishing, while some may even be in need of straight up redesigns. For instance, the fight against The Pain, though conceptually an interesting one, can be a bit rough to get through, especially if you go back to the game today, so we’re hoping to see Konami make so fixes to it with the remake.
IMPROVED CAMO SYSTEM
Metal Gear Solid 3 boasted a number of ingenious gameplay innovations when it first launched back in the day, with its camouflage system being high on that list, and obviously, it’s once again going to be an integral part of the gameplay in the remake. It could, however, do with some improvements. For instance, it sure would be useful to have shortcuts for camos – perhaps through a radial wheel that you can pull up at any time – rather than having to go through several menus and manually select the camo you want to equip every time you want to change in and out of camos. Beyond that, could Konami also add new camos and terrain types to add to the complexity of the stealth gameplay? We wouldn’t be opposed to the idea, that’s for sure.
REVAMPED UI
It’s safe to assume that we’re going to see a fair bit of this in Metal Gear Solid Delta. Sure, Konami has said that the remake is going to be as faithful as possible in terms of its actual content and design, but we’d be shocked if the company didn’t take this opportunity to polish up everything around that stuff. We already mentioned how we’d love for there to be camo shortcuts, and there’s probably plenty else that Konami can do in the game along those lines to refine the overall experience that much more. Make the menus faster and sleeker, include more shortcuts, and allow players to cut down on the downtime- that sort of stuff.
GUY SAVAGE MINIGAME
There’s a good chance that many of Metal Gear Solid 3’s fans may not even know what this is, because after all, there’s only one version of the game that even has the Guy Savage minigame. The hack-and-slash minigame – which, interestingly, was a test run for an idea for a game that Konami would go on to eventually cancel – was a nightmare sequence that Snake finds himself in in the game’s PS2 version. Subsequent versions of the game – whether that’s the HD remaster, the Master Collection, or the 3DS version – cut that minigame out, which means there’s a chance that Konami doesn’t bring it back for the remake either. We sure would love to be wrong, however, because though it’s ultimately a minor detail, it would be a great way to pay homage to the original game.
SNAKE VS MONKEY MINIGAME
Speaking of minigames that never made it past the original MGS3’s original PS2 version, here’s another one that we’d like to see brought back. The Snake vs Monkey minigame was, of course, meant as a crossover for the Ape Escape series, which means it’s likely that licensing issues were why it never made another appearance in subsequent re-releases of the game. Of course, that also means that the remake is unlikely to feature the minigame as well, especially given the fact that Delta is also going to release for Xbox.
BRING BACK SECRET THEATER
A secret unlockable in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence on the PlayStation 2, the Secret Theater is by no means an essential part of the Metal Gear Solid 3 experience, owing to its very nature. But though it’s understandable why, given that, it hasn’t come back since its first appearance, it’s also exactly the sort of hilarious homage we’d love to see Delta make as a remake. The Secret Theater cutscenes were hilarious, bite-sized takes on iconic scenes from MGS3, typically with unexpected and cartoonish conclusions, and we’d be more than a little interested in seeing them remade in Delta’s gorgeous visuals.
BRING BACK DUEL MODE
This, alongside Secret Theater, was one of Subsistence’s many new additions to Metal Gear Solid 3. Duel Mode was effectively a boss rush mode, where you had the option to jump into any of the game’s boss fights directly, and even experience them with various gameplay modifiers. A similar mode in Metal Gear Solid Delta would go a long way towards increasing the game’s replay value outside of its main story. Though the latter will obviously be the star attraction, a boss rush mode that perhaps also has a competitive scoring element would be a nice bonus.
BRING BACK “I LIKE MGS1, 2, AND 3” OPTIONS
Now this one is highly specific, but an interesting one nonetheless. Starting with the aforementioned Subsistence, all Metal Gear Solid 3 re-releases have let players choose between multiple options before starting a new game, where you pick your favourite of the first three MGS games (or a fourth option for series newcomers). The changes that these options made to the game were minimal at best, being largely cosmetic and applying only to the opening cutscene, but for repeat playthroughs and series fans, they were neat little tweaks nonetheless. Bringing this feature back is obviously not critical for Delta by any means, but it sure would be a boost for veteran fans.
EUROPEAN EXTREME DIFFICULTY
First added in the Subsistence re-release, the European Extreme difficulty setting has become something of a fan favourite over the years. And what exactly does it do? In a nutshell, if you get seen by an enemy, it’s literally game over, which, as you may imagine, is an exciting challenge to take on for hardcore stealth fans. We’ve seen games experimenting with difficulty options and similar modes with plenty of success in recent years – including another recent remake in the form of The Last of Us Part 1 – so we’re hoping Konami includes the European Extreme difficulty option (or something analogous, at least) in Delta.
SKULL FACE AND XOF
As the first game in the Metal Gear series’ chronology, Snake Eater has ties to pretty much every game in the series, but its ties to some are more interesting than others. Metal Gear Solid 5 villain Skull Face was, for instance, one of Major Zero’s underlings at the time of Snake Eater, and even led a clean up op in the jungles of Soviet Union after Naked Snake’s antics there. Might we perhaps see some new cutscenes in Delta that make those ties between the games more overt? Yes, Konami isn’t changing the game’s story, but does that mean there maybe cannot be a new scene right at the end of the game where we see glimpses of a younger Skull Face in the jungle, cleaning up after Operation: Snake Eater? It’s unlikely, but fans would love to see something along those lines.
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