Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater Review

Metal Gear Solid has been in a tricky spot for the last decade or so. While Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was an excellent evolution of the series, it also marked the final collaboration between its creator, Hideo Kojima, and its publisher, Konami. The much-publicised split meant that Kojima had to leave behind the franchise that made his name and create something new.

When you look at what each of the entities has gone on to do since then, at least in the video game world, it’s not hard to see who came out on top. Kojima has a brand-new studio and franchise, now boasting two critically acclaimed entries. Konami, on the other hand, while consistently putting out smaller games and services like eFootball, stepped entirely away from big AAA showcases that built their name as one of the major players in video games in the 90s and 00s. This has meant that the franchise has lain largely dormant, excluding the ill-fated attempt of a Kojima-less MGS in the form of Metal Gear Survive.

However, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, a top-to-bottom remake of the 21-year-old Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, feels like a once-impressive giant beginning to stir once again. With an exceptional graphical update and a fierce loyalty to the source, this feels like the first step, if not repairing the rift between Kojima and the company, at least remembering the quality of work Konami used to produce.

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Snake is back and looking better than ever in this Unreal Engine 5 remake of the 2004 classic. The detail in the new character models is astonishing at times.

What is MGS Delta?

The pitch for Metal Gear Solid Delta is simple: update Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater with modern graphics and controls. That’s it. And with that stated goal, this is easy to consider mission accomplished. This is a fully featured remaster, with fun extras to get lost in and the versatility to set up your experience how you want.

A good example of this is the revamped camera and control system. At any time, you can flip between Legacy Style and New Style. Unsurprisingly, Legacy Style mimics the camera angles and controls of the original when it launched in 2004. These feel pretty archaic in today’s age, but for purists, you can play in this mode to get the more ‘authentic’ experience. New Style, on the other hand, plays much closer to something like Metal Gear Solid V, with an over-the-shoulder and freely movable camera.

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Delta features two distinct modes of play: Legacy Style caters to purists with its dynamic overhead camera,

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while New Style features modern third-person controls and an over-the-shoulder perspective.

What Delta manages to do nicely with this remaster is update the game for a new audience, while also never forgetting those who might want that original experience. The team behind this remaster has done a lot of great work to modernize and retranslate the systems and controls of a 21-year-old game, making something that largely stands up to the scrutiny of the modern player. Lesser remakes would be content to leave it there, but maintaining the original playstyle feels like an important dedication to the original. That dedication permeates this remaster.

A New Coat of Paint

Just saying it plainly: Metal Gear Solid Delta looks great. Some may lament the loss of the more extreme color grading and room for imagination that comes with older graphics, but as for a translation to the original game, visually, it’s hard to complain. Unreal Engine 5 does a great job here, bringing Snake into 2025 in a way that can hang with some of the best-looking games out there.

Of course, this being MGS3 and all, the cutscenes make up a huge portion of the game’s 8-13 hours of playtime, and Konami flexes its muscles here. While it looks decent while playing, a ton of work has gone into updating these cutscenes to make them pop and modernize the game. This is some beautiful video work, and it’s easy to appreciate what Konami has done here, even if the absurd length of some of these cutscenes still plagues the game.

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Seeing the classic game’s cinematic, action-packed cutscenes rendered in such high fidelity is a real treat, but some of them may have you reaching for the skip button.

It’s worth noting here, though, that just because current tech allows the developers to create a much higher fidelity, it doesn’t mean that absolute reverence for the original is thrown by the way side.

While I noticed one scene being cut from the original, I did play cutscenes from that release side-by-side with the new work. For the vast majority, it’s a perfect match-up. That feels important too. Hideo Kojima has always been visually inclined with his cutscenes, and changing even the angles could create a drastically different feel.

This is not a team coming in, trying to remake the story in its own vision - it’s a team trying to replicate the original creator’s vision as closely as possible. That feels quite rare for a remake as extensive as this. Unless you’re playing the game side-by-side with the original, like I was, you’re unlikely to notice the changes in Delta, So if you’re worried that Konami has gone in and changed things around for the fun of it, don’t be - this is as close to the original as you could hope for - for better or worse.

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If you know the original game inside out, you’ll be pleased to hear that all the old tricks still work.

Is MGS 3 still good?

So, in terms of a remaster of MGS3, Delta is an excellent effort. However, the question does linger - is Metal Gear Solid 3 still a good video game in 2025? Or to put it another way, if you’ve never played it, is Delta worth your time?

Largely, I’d argue, it is. While its segmented areas are much more quaint than they might have felt back in 2004, and its survival aspects feel much more embryonic compared to modern-day survival elements, there’s still a great game in here. Combat feels relatively crisp, and the stealth aspects are competent for the most part. The cutscene-to-gameplay ratio is ridiculous, but that’s also a conversation that’s been had around the game for two decades. If you can put all that aside, this is a nice, relatively short Cold War/James Bond-inspired romp that is as silly as it is action-filled.

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One minute you’re rescuing a defected Soviet scientist to prevent a nuclear threat, and the next you’re tracking down little hidden frog dolls just for fun. The trademark MGS tonal whiplash is alive and well in 2025.

However, it’s safe to say not all of MGS3 has aged with grace. Where, once, dealing with real crises and political figures felt daring and like nothing ever done in games in 2004, it feels relatively less remarkable these days when you have digital Ronald Reagan in Call of Duty. This is also true of the game’s themes around the structure of political power, the role of soldiers, and how the times change who our friends and enemies are. Back in 2004, it felt profound to have a game to wrestle with this, but it feels a little less unique these days as the medium has matured to tell lots of different kinds of stories, especially those around war and its effects.

That said, Kojima’s quirkiness still shines here, making Delta retain the distinct flavors that make his games feel distinctly him. The team behind this has nothing but love for that vision and does everything it can to retain it, most of the time for good. The weirdness of The Cobra Unit is really fun to see in high-fidelity, as are running back the boss fights that still linger in the memories of many.

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Boss fights have always been a strength of the Metal Gear Solid series, and this entry arguably has the most iconic rogues’ gallery of them all.

Of course, this is a double-edged sword too. If you had questions about how the game might update things like the gaudy sexualization of Eva, the answer is plain: it remains true to the original. For the most part, these scenes run as they were originally staged, just now in HD. This can lead to some eyerolling moments due to the sheer brazenness of some scenes, but if you know earlier Kojima, and this game, you know what you’re getting into. If you don’t, well, just be aware it’s preserved in Delta.

Final Thoughts

There is more to the Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater package that is worth mentioning. There’s a whole host of new costumes and looks you can dress Snake up in, from Tuxedos to funny masks. There is also the unlikely but welcome preservation of Snake vs. Monkey, the PlayStation 2 Ape Escape crossover mini-game you can jump into any time. There’s also a version of Guy Savage in the game, meaning that this really does feel like a complete MGS 3 package, updated for today.

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Newcomers expecting a serious military jungle survival sim may be in for a surprise. Series veterans, however, will be pleased to know that the game’s sillier elements, including the Snake vs. Monkey minigame, are all present and correct.

And that’s a good way to explain if this is for you. If you want a good remake of MGS 3, updated to play like MGS V (with the option to go back to the original camera and controls) and top-class cutscene work- this is for you. This is an excellent remaster of a classic. Even if you never played the original, there’s certainly value in playing a deeply influential title in video games’ history, warts and all.

However, maybe the most interesting thing about Delta is the sheer reverence it has for the original and the vision of the game designer behind it. Coming from Konami, that feels like a big turnaround in the vibe towards the work of Kojima, as it does everything it can to remain true to the original. Whether or not that relationship could ever be mended is another conversation, but at the very least, this feels like a publisher remembering the greatness it was once capable of - and hopefully it can hold onto that moving into the future.