It’s all the time fascinating revisiting a traditional recreation many years later – whether or not dusting off some previous {hardware} to play the unique, leaping into a brand new remaster, or tucking right into a full remake or reboot of an icon. The upcoming Steel Gear Strong Delta Snake Eater falls into the latter class as a brand new, visually gorgeous reimagining of MGS 3. From the trailers and gameplay snippets Konami has already launched, it appeared MGS Delta could be a deeply trustworthy remake. After enjoying the Virtuous Mission prologue, I can affirm that’s completely the case.
With shot-for-shot and word-for-word accuracy, the opening cutscenes and radio messages are recreated with a stage of faithfulness I can’t recall seeing in a correct ground-up videogame remake. The identical applies to the remainder of the cutscenes throughout this opening mission. In fact, the large distinction – which I’m positive nearly all of you studying this can have already adjusted to – is the photorealistic character fashions. Seeing Snake, Main Zero, The Boss, and co. rendered in painstaking element might be the largest allowance of inventive license in Steel Gear Strong Delta, and I believe the depiction of the unique stealth recreation’s solid is sensible.
Gameplay-wise, the atmosphere round you is in fact enhanced to an enormous diploma and appears extremely lifelike. Reflections glisten off of the swamp part within the opening minutes. You can also make out the person tooth and physique ridges of the crocs circling it. Particular person leaves and blades of lengthy grass sway in a mild breeze.
As soon as once more although, it’s ultra-faithful to the unique, with the positioning of timber, barrels, and grass patches all reflecting the format of Steel Gear Strong 3. Judging by what I performed on this prologue, missions are additionally nonetheless damaged up into small areas separated by transient fades to black. Most remakes could have in all probability regarded to make them into one seamless open space for the sake of modernity, however it’s simply one other instance of Konami being – and say it with me now, people – trustworthy to Hideo Kojima’s traditional. I’ve used that F-word rather a lot already, so why is Konami being so obsessive about Delta Snake Eater being like-for-like?
“In our opinion, the gameplay after which the storyline is ideal because it was. There’s no want to alter it,” producer Noriaki Okamura tells me at a latest preview occasion in London.
There are some modernizations and contemporary additions right here, together with a new controller scheme that extra carefully aligns with what you see in present motion video games, plus a tighter third-person digicam perspective. That mentioned, the legacy digicam and management choices are nonetheless out there within the settings menu.
That is to say that Steel Gear Strong Delta Snake Eater is strictly what most MGS3 followers will need. It portrays the sport in beautiful element and gives some useful modernizations for many who haven’t touched the unique shortly, all whereas being stoically true to, nicely, just about all the pieces.
Nevertheless, it stands in stark distinction to a different remake of a Konami traditional that I additionally bought to take a look at through the London occasion. As you’ll be taught from my Silent Hill 2 remake preview, that challenge faithfully recreates cutscenes, areas, and characters whereas additionally exercising the liberty to adapt elements or add completely new concepts. Silent Hill 2 is one other recreation with ‘good’ standing for a lot of, but Bloober’s remake finds house to innovate and construct on Group Silent’s foundations.
MGS 3 remake is a enjoyable nostalgia journey with spectacular visuals and stealth gameplay that also holds as much as this present day. However, on reflection, I want there was even a small splash of innovation current – one thing that would really shock me. Perhaps the remake strays from the unique path additional in, however from what I’ve seen and heard, I doubt it.
I’m to see how these two remakes of iconic Konami video games are acquired – one which prides itself on fervent faithfulness, and one other that massively respects the supply materials whereas additionally riffing on what made it nice. All you might want to know for now about Steel Gear Strong Delta is that it’ll be the new finest method to get pleasure from one of many biggest motion video games of all time. Simply don’t anticipate any large surprises.
