MY VIEW
Games: 'Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater'

By Julius Pecson
Special to The Advertiser

The Verdict: Five THE RATINGS 5 — Outstanding: Add it to your collection now. A must-have. 4 — Great: Buy it or rent it — definitely play it. 3 — Good: Worth playing despite some flaws. 2 — Fair: Unless you're a fan of the license or series, don't bother. 1 — Poor: You'd have more fun playing Pong.

Console: PlayStation 2.

Developer/Publisher: Konami.

Genre: Tactical Espionage Action.

Number of Players: 1.

ESRB Rating: Mature (for violence, crude language).

The premise: Set in the thick of the Cold War during the 1960s, an elite CIA soldier named Snake must infiltrate Soviet territory to rescue a nuclear scientist before he can create a weapon for a renegade group of Russian soldiers called the Cobra Unit.

Game play: The jungle setting moves most of the action outdoors in the wilderness, where you'll need to use face paint and various camouflage uniforms to blend with the environment. A camo-index percentage at the top of the screen shows how well you're hidden. Survival also means having to manually heal your wounds and gather food to maintain stamina. Lack of food affects Snake's aim and overall awareness of his surroundings, although he'll come across numerous critters in the jungle. Close quarter combat has been improved as well. Aside from the main story missions, there's an amusing Snake vs. Monkey mini-game that involves — you guessed it — catching monkeys.

The good/bad: The forest environments are a welcomed addition to the usual industrial backdrops of the stealth genre. The thrill and intensity of having an enemy just inches away while you're hiding, prone in the grass with just an 80-percent camo index, is exhilarating. The boss fights are memorable, the graphics are beautiful, and the cinematic cut scenes, polished and presented to perfection, are quite possibly the best in the industry. The audio is also first-rate, with the usual excellent voice casting, poignant sound effects, and incredible music score. While the new game play mechanics are an overall improvement to the series, I found it a little tedious to have to keep going into menus to mend Snake's limbs, change his camouflage or feed his need for stamina-filling animals/herbs. But at least hunting is easy enough never to be a chore, and it's fun to experiment with the vast array of wildlife to chow down on to see what Snake likes. The controls can be convoluted for those new to the series, and the inflexible camera can lead to some frustrating occasions. Fortunately, the codec conversations are reduced, allowing you to truly experience the excellent and emotional story.

Tips: Snake can blow up the various storerooms with TNT. After doing this, the guards in the area will have very low stamina and will complain about how hungry they are. At this point, if you throw food to the guards, they will run after it. It would be a shame if that food were spoiled. ...

My take: This is the best Metal Gear game yet, and that's saying something for this celebrated franchise. I'm a big fan of director Hideo Kojima's work, and his latest epic doesn't disappoint. Games of this high caliber don't come around often.

Julius Pecson, a student at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa and a longtime gamer, reviews games on various consoles for The Honolulu Advertiser. Have a game or CD you want to review? Reach Island Life deputy editor Dave Dondoneau at ddondoneau@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Upcoming releases

Dates are tentative

Nintendo DS (a new hand-held system)

• Dec. 14: "Rayman DS"; "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 DS"
• Dec. 28: "Zoo Keeper"

Playstation 2

• Dec. 22: "NFL Street 2"

Gamecube

• Dec. 14: "Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2"
• Dec. 22: "NFL Street 2"

Xbox

• Dec. 22: "NFL Street 2"
• Dec. 18: "MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf — Limited Edition"

List provided by Toys n' Joys, with shops in Kaimuki (735-4546) and the Westridge Shopping Center (487-8697) in Pearlridge. See www.toysnjoys.com.