Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 20th anniversary: Kojima’s masterful tribute to spy cinema

In a 2020 interview with BAFTA following his receipt of the BAFTA Fellowship, celebrated game director Hideo Kojima reflected on the influence of the Rambo series on the Japanese games industry of the late 80s. “At the time, my company’s instruction was to, ‘Make a war game like that popular arcade game Rambo!’ But I was against that”, he reflected. 

Operation Wolf, Commando and Contra had been setting the arcades alight, proving legions of consumers were eager to mow down waves of enemies in a jungle setting while in command of a muscle-bound action hero. Kojima took inspiration from the series in a different way. “Rambo, a clear example of this character archetype, and the series’ first film, First Blood (1982), were actually anti-war. With that notion, I then thought of a new idea of a ‘war game’ that avoids combat.” 

And so in 1987, the Kojima developed and Konami published Metal Gear was released on the Japanese MSX2 home computer — the debut title in a groundbreaking series that prioritised clandestine infiltration over frenetic gunplay. It was a pivotal initial step for a series that has since gone on to almost single-handedly define the stealth action genre.

Five games and 17 years later, Kojima looked to First Blood again for inspiration. By this point the series had shifted from 2D graphics (Metal Gear) to fully rendered 3D worlds (Metal Gear Solid). Metal Gear Solid and its sequel had been massively successful for Konami; critical and commercial smashes that pushed the boundaries for cinematic action on the PlayStation and its successive console. Both games had been set in the mid-00s — the near future at the time. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, released in 2004, unexpectedly dragged the series back to 1964. Kojima stripped away the future-tech stealth action that had so-far defined the series and instead challenged players with temperate rainforest survival in the heart of the Soviet wilderness during the zenith of the Cold War. 

It’s no secret that Hideo Kojima primarily looks to cinema for inspiration, and Snake Eater is packed full of overt cinematic nods. The title is a typical Kojima melting pot which takes elements from Apocalypse Now (1979), James Bond, Escape from New York (1981), The Great Escape (1963) and even The Fugitive (1993). Saving the game triggers a surprisingly in-depth discussion between Snake and medic support character, Para-Medic, on era-appropriate films. Godzilla (1954), Forbidden Planet (1956) and Them! (1954) all receive a mention, and a discussion of Dracula can even trigger a nightmare mini-game for Snake. 

Perhaps the most striking nod to cinema is represented in the charmingly camp title sequence. An obvious homage to the James Bond title card staple, the sequence showcases a dramatic diva-led vocal song that mimics the instrumentation of a classic Bond theme, backgrounded by abstract visuals and punctuated by delightfully absurd lyrics. Twenty years later and it’s still an audacious move — the perfect intro to the cinematic mash-up and gameplay innovations that lie in store.

Trying to describe any Metal Gear Solid plot can be a fool’s errand; the series is infamous for its baffling plot twists, fathomless mythology, and intoxicating mash-up of forensically accurate world history and wild fantasy elements that often stray into the realm of the supernatural. A pre-credits opening sequence follows lead character Naked Snake as he infiltrates the USSR with orders to extract a VIP Soviet weapon designer to the US. 

The mission ends disastrously when it’s revealed that Snake’s boss, fittingly called The Boss, has defected to the Soviet Union under the command of the power-hungry usurper, Colonel Volgin, alongside her deadly special forces team, The Cobra Unit. Volgin launches a nuclear attack on a weapons research lab after stealing a powerful bipedal tank (a pre-cursor to the ‘Metal Gear’ weapon from previous entries), thus creating a conflict between the nations that threatens to erupt into World War III. Heading back behind enemy lines, Snake is tasked with stopping Volgin, and taking down his former commander and mentor by any means necessary. 

In 2004 video game cutscenes were still mostly perfunctory — respites from gameplay that acted as bridges between levels or unsubtle exposition dumps. Building on the solid work achieved in the preceding titles in the series, Kojima crafted thrillingly cinematic cutscenes for the game that continued to push the medium though his sharp eye for scene composition and a skill for directing kinetic action. The series is somewhat notorious for their cutscene length. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots even holds a Guinness World Record for the longest cutscene of all time at a whopping 71 minutes. Snake Eater manages to keep these snippets of story engaging and well-paced, even breaking things up with brief snatches of interactivity that grant the player the ability look through Snake’s eyes (perhaps most infamously at female agent EVA’s chest in one scene). Harry Gregson-Williams’ and Norihiko Hibino’s muscular score compliments the action onscreen perfectly, effortlessly shifting between smoky atmosphere and bombastic pomp. 

Snake Eater isn’t just an odd subtitle for the game, it’s descriptive of an action that players will find essential in their fight to survive in the harsh Soviet wilderness. Introduced in this entry is a survival mechanic that was polarising in 2004, but has proved ahead of its time in anticipating the popularity of modern survival games like Rust or The Forest. 

Snake has an ever-decreasing stamina bar and the only way to keep this up is to eat whatever can be scavenged from the combat zone. Snakes, crocodiles, fruit, and plants are all edible to various degrees. Even vampire bats are reliable for providing essential nourishment in a pinch. 

The game also introduced a camouflage mechanic that brings a whole new gameplay wrinkle to the series. The Metal Gear Solid staple cardboard box is still available for quick disguise but new natural patterned uniforms and face-paint (and tongue-in-cheek items such as the crocodile cap) allow the play to simply crawl past unwitting enemies while remaining completely unseen. 

Although undeniably clunky now, the CQC (close quarters combat) system is still extremely innovative and adaptable. With it Snake can grab unaware enemies and perform a number of actions. It’s the player’s choice to knock them out, use them a human shield, or simply just judo throw them to the ground with a satisfyingly meaty thump. The combination of these three gameplay elements remains as intoxicating now as it did back then, offering a freedom in approaching complex situations that is still rare in gaming.

Metal Gear games walk a fine line between sombre reflections on global politics and all out camp, and this is reflected nowhere more nakedly than in the series’ boss fights. The six members of the Cobra Unit in Snake Eater are some of the most memorable, each forming a unique tapestry of delightfully absurd set-piece battles. The Fury pits Snake against a flamethrower-wielding cosmonaut, The Pain commands a swarm of killer bees to do his bidding, and The End is a 100 year-old sniper expert who can be defeated by simply saving the game and waiting long enough that he dies of old age. 

One of the most innovative battles is against The Sorrow — a ghost who commands the spirits of all the enemies that Snake has killed in the game thus far. Video games rarely make players directly reflect on the carnage they have wrought, and this battle forces the player to reflect on their deadly actions – the more they have been willing to use lethal force, the more vengeful spirits they will have to contend with.

Twenty years later and Snake Eater may still be the peak of the series, maybe even the stealth action genre as a whole. Konami seem to agree, with a faithful remake of the game deep in development (notably without the involvement of series director Hideo Kojima). Stuffed full of fourth-wall breaking Easter eggs, satisfying stealth action, unforgettable characters, and a cinematic flair that pushed the medium forward, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater remains a masterpiece from a genuine video game auteur.