Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence Review [SPOILERS]

Our story begins in 1964, at the height of the Cold War. Tensions are higher than they’ve ever been between the USA and USSR, with the Cuban Missile Crisis still fresh in everyone’s minds. Naked Snake, an agent of the CIA unit FOX, is sent behind enemy lines to rescue Dr. Nikolai Sokolov, a Soviet nuclear engineer who defected to the US but got sent back as part of negotiations to end the Cuban Missile Crisis. Snake is aided in this “Virtuous Mission” by supervisor Major Zero, medical expert Para-Medic, and his former mentor, an elite soldier called The Boss. Snake also learns that one of the many reasons Sokolov is so important is that he is responsible for designing the Shagohod, a massive and powerful tank with nuclear equipment capable of ending the Cold War. 

Snake infiltrates Russian territory and locates Sokolov, and is ready to get him out of there, when he is suddenly betrayed by The Boss. The Boss tells Snake that she is defecting to the Soviets, and suddenly Sokolov is captured and given to Colonel Yevgeny Volgin, a member of GRU who is against Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, and is in favor of Leonid Brezhnev replacing him. The Boss quickly defeats Snake in close combat, leaving him for dead, while Volgin captures the prototype Shagohod, and uses a Davy Crockett nuclear warhead to destroy the research facility. After falling into the river below, Snake miraculously survives and treats his injuries thanks to medical advice from Para-Medic. The CIA then manages to retrieve Snake through Fulton extraction. 

Afterwards, while Snake is recovering, the US has a difficult situation on their hands. The Soviets suspect that the US could have been the ones to drop the Davy Crockett on the research facility, while Khrushchev himself is still wary of Volgin. In order to prove the United States as innocent and prevent nuclear war, Snake is sent on another mission, back into Russian territory. The mission, entitled Operation Snake Eater, has three main objectives, which are to stop Colonel Volgin and his rogue faction, destroy the Shagohod before it can be completed and mass produced, and eliminate The Boss. 

Snake’s first goal upon entering Russia is to find ADAM, an agent of the NSA who infiltrated the soviets along with agent EVA. Snake finds EVA, but ADAM is nowhere to be found. EVA gives Snake directions to the lab where Sokolov is, but they are then surrounded by soldiers, led by a young Ocelot (who should be very familiar to those who have played the last two MGS games). EVA saves Snake from certain defeat before escaping, and then Snake is able to escape himself.

Along the way to the lab, Snake avoids detection by sneaking through the jungle, and eventually comes face to face with Ocelot again. Snake gets the better of Ocelot this time, and escapes into a cave, where he finds The Pain, one of the elite Cobras who serve The Boss. Snake defeats The Pain and makes his way into the lab. Sokolov is already gone, taken by Volgin and forced to complete preparations for the Shagohod. However, Snake does meet Soviet scientist Aleksandr Granin, in a drunken state rambling about how he had a better idea for an advanced nuclear weapon, a bipedal tank called Metal Gear. However, his idea was rejected in favor of the Shagohod, and he tells Snake that Volgin, Sokolov, and the Shagohod are located in Groznyj Grad, a nearly impenetrable fortress. 

Snake heads towards Groznyj Grad, encountering two more of the Cobras along the way: The Fear, who is able to turn invisible, and The End, an old man who is known as the father of modern sniping. Snake is able to defeat them both, and then encounters EVA again on a mountaintop overlooking Groznyj Grad. It is here that EVA tries to seduce Snake, but Snake is hesitant. Snake then observes the fortress below, and see Volgin torture Granin to death with his electric powers. EVA is also down there now, playing her other part as Tatyana with the Soviets. Snake then heads for the fortress, defeating the final member of the Cobras, The Fury, along the way. 

Snake gets into Groznyj Grad without being detected, and finds Sokolov at last. However, Volgin finds them, and sees easily through Snake’s disguise. He beats Sokolov and captures Snake to be tortured. During the torture, The Boss tells Volgin that it is useless, as she trained Snake herself to not give in to it. Volgin orders The Boss to cut out Snake’s eyes, but Tatyana (EVA) protests, saying he’s suffered enough. Ocelot then suspects EVA of being the spy, and gets out his guns to test her. Snake throws himself at Ocelot to save EVA, and one of the bullets fires, taking out one of his eyes. Apparently satisfied, Volgin and co. leave Snake in his cell. 

Snake escapes and gets back into Groznyj Grad, encountering the ghost of The Sorrow, another one of the Cobras who died long ago, along the way. Snake plans to destroy the Shagohod with C3 explosives that EVA stole from the Soviets. He plants the explosives, but is caught again by Volgin. Volgin tells Snake about the Philosophers’ Legacy, a massive pool of wealth created by the Philosophers, who were composed of powerful figures in the United States, the Soviet Union, and China. Volgin has the Legacy, and has been using it to fund both his weapon developments and the construction of Groznyj Grad, while the US is trying to retrieve it. Snake defeats Volgin in combat and escapes the fortress with EVA, but the two are pursued by Volgin, piloting the Shagohod. Snake is able to heavily damage the Shagohod thanks to EVA rigging a bridge to explode with C3, but it survives. However, the damage exposed weaker armor plating on the Shagohod, allowing Snake to destroy it. Volgin gets out of the tank, but is killed by a bolt of lightning as a thunderstorm begins.

Snake and EVA continue their escape, while still being pursued by Russian soldiers. EVA is heavily wounded, but Snake patches her up and the two head towards a lake, where EVA set up an aircraft for them to get out of Russia. All that’s left is one final showdown with The Boss. Snake faces his mentor alone, in a field of white flowers. The Boss tells Snake that her one true goal is to make the world whole again, and reunite the Philosophers. She also explains her past to Snake, including how she was sent up into outer space and also had to kill The Sorrow in battle. She also says that The Sorrow was the father of her child, who was cut out of her and taken by the Philosophers. She says she is the last child of the original Philosophers, and that her father was killed by the subsequent Philosophers. After thanking Snake for letting her talk about herself, the two engage in one final battle. Snake finally gets the better of his former mentor, and she asks him to kill her, saying there is only room for one Boss. Snake does so, and the white petals around him turn to red. Snake gets to EVA’s aircraft, and the two escape, but not without another encounter with Ocelot and pursuit by Soviet jets, which end up being ordered by Khrushchev to turn around.

After the mission is finally over, at the safe house in Alaska, Snake and EVA have a night of drinking, happiness, and passion. The morning after, Snake finds that EVA is gone, as is the film containing the Philosophers’ Legacy. EVA has left behind an audio recording, which Snake listens to. EVA explains that she is not with the US or the Soviets, rather she is a spy for China, who also want to secure the Legacy for themselves. She planned on taking out the real ADAM as well as the real EVA, but ADAM never arrived. Her goal was to get the Legacy and the Shagohod data to China, who has been lagging behind the US and USSR in terms of weapons and technology development. EVA herself was trained by the Philosophers to charm anyone, and the only person who saw through her was The Boss. The Boss told EVA a great deal back at Groznyj Grad, which EVA then relayed to Snake. EVA says that she was supposed to kill Snake, but couldn’t, out of a promise she made to The Boss. EVA says that The Boss didn’t truly defect at all, and that she was part of a mission to get the Legacy to the US and destroy the Shagohod. However, once Volgin fired the Davy Crockett, The Boss had to die in order to prove America’s innocence, and her life would be ended by her greatest pupil, Naked Snake. No one would know her true story, and she would go down as a traitor to America and the cause of a nuclear catastrophe to the Soviets. A war criminal. After the tape finishes playing, it self-destructs.

Snake is then honored by President Lyndon B. Johnson for his heroics in Russia, and is awarded the title of Big Boss. Big Boss accepts this honor, but is visibly demoralized, not shaking hands with the CIA director or even Major Zero. He then visits the unmarked grave of The Boss, as the story ends. However, like the previous two Metal Gear Solid games, there is a post-credits audio scene. Ocelot calls the KGB director, telling him that Groznyj Grad and Granin’s lab were both destroyed, and that Khrushchev’s time as Soviet leader was nearly up. He also says that their knowledge of the Virtuous Mission and Operation Snake Eater could help blackmail the US in future negotiations. After this call, Ocelot then calls the CIA, saying that EVA’s Philosopher’s Legacy she brought to China was a fake, and that the real Legacy was split between the USA and USSR. He also says that he got the blueprints for Metal Gear from Granin before his death, and that he was a triple spy, working for the CIA and Volgin. Finally, Ocelot reveals that he was the real ADAM the entire time, and an agent of the Philosophers who plan to use the Legacy to revive their American faction. 

Kojima has stated that the theme of Metal Gear Solid 3’s story is “Scene,” or the nature in which politics change with time and location. This is apparent in The Boss’ final monologue, in which she says that the USA and USSR were once allies, are now mortal enemies, and that they will likely not be enemies in the future. Overall, I found the story to be incredibly interesting, and I grew to like most of the characters (besides people like Volgin, who is a very hatable villain). One thing I thought really added to the story was its use of hyperreality, which was part of previous Metal Gear games’ stories but was a major part of MGS3. Real-world events played a key role in the story, and real historical figures like LBJ, Khrushchev, and Brezhnev were all very important to it. The game also presents the contrast between Big Boss and his eventual clone, Solid Snake, very well. Big Boss during the game is a heroic soldier almost exactly like Solid Snake, but the death of The Boss ultimately demoralizes him, and leads Big Boss down the path of villainy he eventually takes in Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2. Solid Snake, meanwhile, does not experience such an event, and he does not change as a result.

The gameplay of Metal Gear Solid 3 is similar to that of its predecessors, but with a few very notable additions. Snake’s mission in the jungles of Russia has much more of an emphasis on survival, which is apparent with the new systems in the game. Snake now has a stamina meter, which is refilled by eating food, which can be found by hunting the various flora and fauna in the jungle. There is also an injury treatment system, in which Snake has to treat his various wounds with bandages, disinfectant, and other medical equipment. In addition, there are different types of camouflage for Snake to equip, changing his appearance and helping him blend into different areas. Although all of this may sound daunting and complicated, I found these features to be additive to the overall experience. Another element that really stood out in the game were its boss fights. Some of them such as The Pain and Volgin are relatively standard battles, but others have truly unique structures. The battle against The End is a true test of patience, as it is a sniping duel taking place across three areas of the map. There are numerous methods to more easily win this battle, such as using the Konami code to find where The End is on the map, waiting a week in real time for The End to die of old age, or even just killing The End at an earlier point outside Granin’s lab, bypassing the fight entirely. 

Two other boss fights I found to be unique and memorable were The Sorrow and The Boss. The Sorrow’s fight isn’t really a fight as much as it is a cinematic experience. During this sequence, Snake wades through a river while facing the ghosts of everyone he’s killed up to that point, including the other Cobras. At the end, Snake himself dies before using the CIA revival pill to come back. Meanwhile, at the very end of the game, the climactic duel with The Boss is legendary. The setting with the field of white flowers is just beautiful, and the fight itself is difficult but rewarding. In order to defeat The Boss, Snake must use the CQC techniques that The Boss passed down to him. It took me several tries, but in the end I got the job done and really felt like I had earned the title of Big Boss. 

The graphics, music, and presentation of Metal Gear Solid 3 are also incredible. Despite the game being released on the PS2 rather than the PS3 as intended, the game is still visually stunning, as by that point the developers were able to get everything they could out of the PS2 hardware. I think it holds up pretty well today, even though HD remasters and even a full blown remake are available nowadays. MGS3 is presented in a lot of ways like a James Bond movie, which was intended by Kojima as the game takes place in the 1960s. This is most apparent with the game’s cinematic intro being like that of a movie, and featuring the iconic opening theme, “Snake Eater.” Kojima himself loves movies, and specific movies from the sixties and before are frequently brought up during the game through the codec, specifically during conversations with Para-Medic while saving the game. Beyond “Snake Eater,” I liked the rest of the soundtrack as well, especially the choice for the end credits music, “Way to Fall” by Starsailor.

In conclusion, I found Metal Gear Solid 3 to be an incredible experience. The story was intriguing and exciting, and explains a lot about the Metal Gear world’s past, tying really well into the events of the previous games by the end. The gameplay was similar to before, but I also found the new additions to be very worthwhile. Since it chronologically takes place first, it can be a jumping on point for people new to Metal Gear, but I personally think knowledge of the prior games enhances the experience. I personally played Subsistence, which fixes the original release’s camera and some other things, but any version is worth playing. In addition to the PS2 original and Subsistence, there is an HD remaster on the PS3 and Xbox 360, a port for the 3DS, a port via the Master Collection on modern platforms, and a full remake, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. The Metal Gear Solid series has been excellent so far, and the third entry is no exception.