Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater Review - A Perfect Resnake
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is an Unreal Engine 5 remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, which was originally released in 2004 on the PlayStation 2, and for many, it’s not only considered to be the best game in the series but also one of the best video games of all time.
However, two decades have passed since the original Konami release, and the industry has evolved when it comes to what’s expected of modern gameplay mechanics and visual fidelity.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is rebuilt from the ground up with vastly improved visuals and enhanced gameplay that welcomes both new audiences and improves on what veteran fans may have found frustrating about the original release.
When it comes to the story of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, it does not need to be modernised, because it’s aged like fine wine. Granted, the recorded dialogue of its characters and environment audio have been remastered, but in terms of its script, cut-scenes and Codec interactions, nothing has changed, and I love it for that.
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Everything in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater sounds crystal clear, almost as if it were recorded today. Hearing the iconic voices of David Hayter as Naked Snake, Lori Allen as The Boss, and Jodi Benson as Eva brings all the nostalgic feels into 2025. Not to mention, the mesmerising Cynthia Harrell singing “Snake Eater” has never sounded so good.
Thanks to being powered by Unreal Engine 5, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is the best the series has ever looked. Not only with the redesigned character models and reworked animations, which now have the stars of the game moving and acting more lifelike, but the fictional jungles of Tselinoyarsk, a region within the Soviet Union, look incredible.
The original Metal Gear Solid 3, in terms of map size, was never massive. In fact, despite having some freedom to explore, it was always a predominantly linear game. But its wonderfully crafted locations gave you a feeling that you were exploring a massive jungle.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater brings that feeling of being part of something bigger, and then some. The jungle is vibrant, full of colour, density and even more wildlife going about their daily business or at least, that’s what the remake has you feeling.
The jungle feels more real due to small improvements, not only with its wildlife, but also with real-time leaves sticking to Snake as you crawl through long grass, mud dripping, as well as blood stains on his clothes, after being shot by the enemy. All of which are subtle ingredients that make the experience feel more immersive.
More importantly, how does Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater play? I love the original game; it’s a masterpiece. However, even back in the day, as deep as all of its gameplay mechanics were, I hated its camera with a passion, and I still do today.
The original release of Metal Gear Solid 3 has a fixed camera, with a bit of wiggle room to move it about, but you certainly couldn't freely rotate it (that option became available in updated versions of the game). In Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, not only do you have complete freedom with the camera, but tons of quality-of-life gameplay improvements have been made.
When Snake leans against a wall, tree or box, he does it automatically, and will stay there until you move him. One of the things that annoyed me about the original Metal Gear Solid 3 is how you’d have to keep the direction pressed in for Snake to remain against a wall but due to the awkwardness of the camera, I’d at times lose a brief sense of direction, resulting in Snake moving away from the wall, alerting the guards and blowing my cover. That is no longer an issue.
Snake can also seamlessly go from a standing, kneeling to a prone position when holding the command button in, instead of previously having to press a button to perform each as a sequence. This helps massively when trying to remain hidden, and it’s a bit less annoying when you inevitably get spotted by the enemy, making it easier to get up and run away.
You can now also run and shoot, instead of standing there like a moron getting shot at by guards in a stationary position. Even this simple improvement makes Snake feel like the elite soldier that his lore tells him to be. When firing - or just admiring the view - you can also move about in a first-person perspective, which not only helps when shooting at the bad guys, but also becomes a godsend when looking for hidden collectables in the dense jungle.
Furthermore, by holding the D-Pad up, you can switch your camo disguises on the fly and by pressing the D-Pad down, you can call your comrades via the Codec; neither requires you to pause like in the original game.
That being said, if you don't like the new camera, controls or quality of life gameplay improvements, you can choose to play the game in ‘Legacy’ mode, which almost perfectly replicates the old-school experience but with much snazzier graphics.
Making a triumphant return, ‘the Snake vs Monkey’ bonus mode is back with multiple stages of Snake humorously trying to catch primates from the Ape Escape series. Each stage encourages you to catch the apes in the fastest time possible. So expect to be hooked on beating your best times. Without giving too much away, ‘Snake vs Monkey’ also features cameos from one of the best PlayStation exclusives of 2024.
With Ape Escape being a PlayStation exclusive franchise, ‘Snake vs Monkey’ is not available on Xbox, but is on PC. Instead, Xbox gets ‘Snake vs Bomberman’. Unfortunately, as I reviewed the PlayStation 5 version, I was unable to test ‘Snake vs Bomberman’. That being said, I have pre-ordered this game on Xbox, so I can’t wait to try that out.
There is another additional mode, one that I never knew was going to be included in the remake, and that’s ‘Guy Savage’. This was initially a nightmare sequence for Snake when he was thrown into prison. It’s a weird hack-and-slash mini game that somewhat resembles Konami’s Castlevania series. ‘Guy Savage’ was originally in the PS2 version of Metal Gear Solid 3, but now we have a visually updated version in the remake. Albeit repetitive, it’s still a fun blast from the past.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater will also include a multiplayer mode called ‘Fox Hunt’. Unfortunately, that mode does not go live until later in the year, so it wasn't available for review. What we do know, at the time of writing, is that it will not have crossplay, which is a shame.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is quite possibly the most faithful remake I’ve ever played, and it’s a concept that Konami wears proudly on its sleeve. For its time, many considered the original Metal Gear Solid 3 to be a near-perfect game. Naturally, being over 20 years old, its gameplay feels a bit dated. But its story remains as captivating today as it did in 2003.
Konami has improved on near-perfection by leaving all the original story beats, cutscene direction and dialogue alone, and instead, focused all of its attention on improving the visuals and gameplay experience. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a masterpiece reborn. I envy those who are new to this series, who are going to experience this game for the very first time, but for those returning, they will have a long-lost love rekindled.
Pros: Sublime updated visuals, much-needed gameplay improvements, faithful to the source material
Cons: Some may find it too faithful a remake
For fans of: Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
9/10: Exceptional
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is out on 28 August 2025 on PC, PlayStation 5 (version reviewed) and Xbox Series X/S. A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.
Topics: Reviews, Konami, Metal Gear Solid, PC, PlayStation, PlayStation 5, Xbox, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X