Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater PS5 Review. After I saw the visual overhaul for Ninja Gaiden Black 2, I got instantly excited for what Konami planned with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. Just the idea of experiencing one of my favorite games in a new way did nothing but bring me joy in anticipation. Indeed, experiencing the offerings of Metal Gear Solid Delta was a joyous occasion, but I also have a couple more feelings to share to after my time with Virtuos’ ambitious remake.
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Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater PS5 Review
A Dominant Remaster of A Classic Game With Only A Few Flaws
The narrative and game requirements remain the same as in the original game, providing Snake’s growth from a sheltered underling to a world-renowned soldier. You still get every single cutscene from the original game and every single easter egg there is to find. This also includes all of the original voice work. Though, there is an updated version of the main theme “Snake Eater” that took the established fandom elitism right out of me. I love the new pizzazz and personality injected into the updated version. You definitely feel it during the ladder sequence, too.
That doesn’t mean that this is a mere visual upgrade, however. Every single detail in this game received attention and refinement. Grass movement is more subtle and nuanced than before. Fallen leaves rustle underfoot, and dust rises with gravel footfalls. Even how enemy sentries move got extra attention. I first got a true feel for it in Rassvet while crawling around under where you find Sokolov. Seeing some of the ties and cords wiggle while enemies walk was something that took me aback. I often thought about how enemies in the MGS franchise get so little asset attention, but the Delta team made sure to even keep sentries in mind in this visual overhaul.
Gameplay itself also receives a major update. In particular, combat while in third person feels closer to what The Phantom Pain offers with some elements of Guns of the Patriots. In regards to how Snake moves while crouched and crawling, this part of the game feels more like Guns of the Patriots. During gunplay in any stance, this plays much more like The Phantom Pain; it still feels like Snake Eater, but with more control over how you interact with the world around you.
Enhancing the Game
With that said, using the R and L buttons for shooting means that managing your inventory is different. The game manages this with the D-Pad. Left opens your items inventory, and Right opens your weapons inventory. From here, you still cycle through those menus like normal.
Speaking of D-Pads, instead of constantly needing to open and navigate menus, you can hold Up to pause the game and show a series of camo-face paint combinations to increase or decrease your camo rating. Then, you can hold Down to show a mini-radio menu to quickly save or call your allies on the fly. These shortcuts cut down on so much menu time. Even when you’re injured, a menu prompt appears for you to go directly to the Cure menu and do your field dressings.
What once was called Secret Theater is now called Demo Theater. In its stead comes Secret Theater, which consists of many of the old cutscenes from the original game as well as trailers from before the game, even those pre-gameplay trailers that made fun of Raiden. In order to access the Secret Theater entries, however, you need to collect film that you obtain from holding up enemies throughout the game. This makes for a nice little nod to Sons of Liberty as well.
War Has Changed
With this change in gameplay naturally comes changes in input. Before getting into this, though, I wish to preface that I have played through all of the Metal Gear Solid games tens of times over. I love these games. With that said, there is a lot of muscle memory that comes with playing the same game over and over. I felt significant conflicts with what I expected from my inputs and what the game presented. This simply comes down to the fact that I played these games to death as a teenager.
When you immediately flip your direction while running, Snake takes a step to stop and re-navigate. This is an animation. Other examples of this are when you interact with walls. Get too close to a wall, and you almost get stuck to it. This animation takes a second or two to complete as well. For instance, if you try to climb up an obstacle, you likely will get caught in an animation that puts you behind cover instead. You can time your button press so that you climb up as soon as you get there, but that window proves to be quite small. Many times, I either mashed the Cross button to properly time the climb or I simply rolled up it.
Another oddity particularly applies to the New Legacy 3rd person perspective, specifically when shimmying along walls. If the camera changes an angle but you don’t compensate with the Left Joystick to reflect that new camera angle, then Snake steps off the ledge. You have to be pointing the joystick in the direction Snake is going relative to the camera in order to stay on the ledge. If you don’t, then the game recognizes you want to move away from the wall and lets you drop.
While I still enjoy the bike sequence at the end of the game, the updated visuals create a strange effect. This is one of the few areas where the visual overhaul looks like a one-to-one upgrade, complete with visual oddities. The bike often slides to a complete stop without any jostling, and the Shagohod shifts and slides around as well. I respect that this part of the game remains exactly as it was. However, with it comes the limitations of the PlayStation 2 hardware in high definition. It’s still a damned good spectacle to behold, but the enhanced lighting and details make the flaws in movement that much easier to notice.
A True Patriot
With all of this said, I feel confident that the new gameplay mechanics, quality-of-life improvements, and immense visual overhaul in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater far outweigh the issues that come along with the changes. This gives more players a new way to experience the beloved classic, complete with more modern controls and mechanics without taking away from the original feel of the game.
Review code kindly provided by publisher.