Well, I think I have finally come to the end (for now) on my journey to blindly play the Metal Gear games in chronological order. What an amazing adventure this all has been, with Metal Gear Solid 3 still continuing strong in blowing my mind away at the innovations it created for the PS2 in 2004.

Every game since the first on MSX has been insanely advanced for the time it came out, and MGS3 is no exception. Stamina, camouflage, interactive cutscenes… and most amazing of all, strongly written female characters. MGS3 not only shocked me with its crazy advanced gameplay mechanics and 4th-wall breaking, but it’s improved writing. An issue that’s been following Metal Gear since the beginning, the women in MGS3 are finally actual characters with interesting backstories and confusing morals. I had kind of given up hope at this point for Metal Gear to have well-written female characters, especially as the whole series is based around 80’s action films that were notorious for doing the exact opposite, but MGS3 had me incredibly tickled pink to see the girls now so heavily involved. It definitely had to be the highlight of my playthrough.

The rest story-wise, I was glad to see the message of Metal Gear continue, and see how it really began with Big Boss in the terrifying but real issue of “what is a soldier to do when the world becomes peaceful and their purpose becomes useless.” I liked seeing the start of this message as chronologically (in story) we next see Grey Fox tell this to Snake when he breaks down in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. It’s cool seeing how the message originally comes up in MGS3 and how it molds to fit the different scenarios of the different Metal Gear games, as what is war in the overall view really good for? We see how it hurt Big Boss, which in turn he internalized and made to hurt many others, and so the cycle continues.

I could talk in great detail on how great the mechanics are, and how wonderfully mixed the gameplay has turned to fit with cinematic storytelling, but I’m sure it’s been properly beaten into our heads with how many newer games tried to copy this perfect formula. I will say my fears that MGS2 gave me of cutscenes > gameplay made me very happy to see MGS3 didn’t follow in its footsteps, at least in that technique.

Bosses in this game have to be the best I’ve ever fought, with the most fun and challenging battles yet, the survival addition was fun and immersive, and the weapons never felt better to play around with. Overall, MGS3 really is Metal Gear at its best.

I was talking to a friend about the series, and we both agreed that we have different games within it that we personally have strong connections to (me with MG2, and him with MGS1) but we can absolutely agree that MGS3 is just factually the best made game in the series. Hell, it might be one of the best made games of all time. If you told me you felt that about the game, I definitely wouldn’t bat an eye. I know I keep bringing up the ways the gameplay immerses you, but it really is astounding how involved it makes you feel, and how every moment has you ecstatic for the next.

Metal Gear is a very, very good series, and Metal Gear Solid 3 is the juiciest, most delicious cherry on top. I’ve heard very… mixed things about the series from here on out, so I am taking a bit of a break before deciding on if I want to move forward with MGS4 and onwards. Thank you to everyone who followed me on my little Metal Gear journey! I had an absolute blast.

Feel free to check out my other reviews of my first time experiences here:

MG1
MG2:SS
MGS1
MGS2