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PS2: Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
Tue, 2005-05-17 22:38 — PMunn
Subsistence will be a remix of MGS3 with some big new features, including an online mode and ports of the original MSX console versions of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2.
Quote:
Last is Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, a play on the eat-or-die gameplay elements and culinary subtitle of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Like Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence features the original Snake Eater with a bunch of new content.
However, unlike Substance, this content will likely appeal to many who have already played Snake Eater. Foremost, it will feature online multiplayer action, with Kojima saying his team was aiming for a maximum of eight players. The online portion will sport two modes: "Snake vs. Enemies," where multiple players hunt down one opponent and "Team Battle" with multiple players fighting cooperatively.
Also new is the addition of what Konami calls a "Third-Person View Camera," which changes the players' view to a much lower camera angle, which "provides players with an even deeper stealth-action experience." Also included are several new levels for the Snake vs. Monkey mini-game.
Subsistence also will have some very special bonus content-- ports of the original MSX versions of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Neither has been available in the US before, and both will be fully playable.
Subsistence going offline.
Konami has announced that the Subsistence servers for online play will be shut down on April 2nd, giving the game just about a year online in North America.
No word on why they're shutting the servers down, per se. Nor is there any information on how many people are actually using the service in case that's a factor.
I never got a chance to try out Subsistence's online play, having rented the game, but it certainly looked like fun in the video preview on the second disc.
Seen on Gamespy.
Finished.
After much wailing and gnashing of teeth I've managed to finish Subsistence. Now I see why the Portable Ops review was saddened by not having the incredible FMV sequences of MGS3S available in Portable Ops. The video sequences are amazing.
While I was very frequently frustrated by not being able to go great guns through the game, I still greatly admire the gameplay model, game setting, overall atmosphere, and how it gives you lots of choices on how to fool guards. Even if I hardly ever used anything more than basic sneaking, crawling, and dodging.
Unfortunately I didn't obtain something from the final fight that I thought I would have, and I overwrote my very last save point, so I may try to replay the most frustrating part of the game (for me) towards the end and get a save point at the final fight to work on doing that again.
Lots of Camo
There is a camo download feature in the game, which has what looks like over 20 designs, each of which alters Snake's abilities somewhat. A mummy camo, for example, prevents him from getting any serious injuries. The problem is each of them takes up 850k on the memory card, so you can only download a few of them to an existing card you share with other games.
Gamesznflix
I have another copy of Subsistence coming from Gameznflix.com as part of my new membership with them, so I'll get a sneak peek at the quality of those discs, how their packaging compares to GameFly, and their speed of delivery.
Disc 2 video.
I did a little hunting and found a video that includes the intro footage on Disc 2 showing Metal Gear Online gameplay. It's a very well edited video with a couple of extra bits added on the end.
I also got my replacement copy of MGS3S from GameFly today so hope to put a little time in and at least see the cut scene that ended my time with it last week.
Quality ti- ti- ti-
I spent some quality time with MGS3S this evening and made some progress. I made it up to a lengthy cut scene in time to find my GameFly rental would freeze up and crap out during movie playback.
I tried cleaning the disc a few times, which had cleared up disc reading issues I'd had earlier, but the disc is mildly scratched in several areas. It's apparently just enough to make this cut scene impassable.
I've notified Gamefly of the faulty disc and they'll send a replacement while I send the game back to them.
The most annoying part right now is that my save is at the start of the area before the cut scene, so I have to sneak through an area for the third time (after trying twice to play the cut scene) once I get a newer copy from GameFly.
That assumes, of course, that my PS2 isn't dying out.
Disc 2
I tried disc 2 out and played a few levels of Snake Vs. Monkey. It's nice, and kind of fun to run around stunning monkeys and then running onto them to capture them. Definitely a change of pace from the main game. It's not clear what I have to do to unlock the extra few SvM levels. Do I need to beat at least the highest of the top three times getting all the monkeys, or maybe the 2nd or 1st? If so I probably won't unlock much of anything. It's tough to nab those monkeys.
I didn't have enough time to try the Metal Gear Solid Online game, though. I'll take that for a spin when I get the replacement copy in the mail.
Alerts do carry.
Actually I found this isn't true. It seems to happen when the target area doesn't have any soldiers in it, if I'm not mistaken.
one big setup
Wow the opening mission is just a mini-setup for the larger game, complete with a very James Bond music video.
The thing that helped me most was to listen to Major Tom/Zero and just sneak past everyone by crawling around and shifting camouflage as needed. I did have to ice one or two guys along the way, and I think it was more luck than anything else that I didn't get discovered any more than I did.
The funniest moment involved getting discovered in high grass by one of three soldiers, jumping up, and diving into him. That caused a bowling-strike effect which sent him tumbling into his buddies. While they fell down I ran by them into the next area. Thankfully, alerts don't carry from one area to the next.
I'm happy that I've gotten used to the game mechanics of sneaking, but by avoiding CQC I think I've avoided a central part of combat so far.
The huge hunk of story that was unlocked had me staying up very late, since I decided to start playing at around midnight. It was probably an hour of exposition, but it's good stuff overall.
The paranormal stuff just barely seems to work in this story. Jack seems so ordinary compared to all of those villains. I wonder what's going to set him apart, if anything.
Wait, hit what to do what? Why am I doing this again?
I spent about 2 hours trying to play Subsistence tonight. I haven't safely made it past the first screen of soldiers. For all of my commander's pronouncements about not alerting anyone to my presence, there is no way I can ever get past any screen of soldiers without tripping up and them noticing me. And it doesn't seem to end the game, other than me having to sit around for a minute and a half anytime anyone knocked out wakes up before I can try slinking around again.
I understand this is a sneaking game, but everything seems so clunky and slow. I'm still annoyed at how Kojima likes to make circle the "do" button and X the "cancel" button in every menu.
I know how to use camouflage. That's easy. I know how to slink along a tree, slink along the ground, even pop up to take a look around. The problem is the Close Quarters Combat.
I slink along the ground, slither up close to a guy, only to stalk him and then not be able to figure out the right distance at which I can try to deck the guy or maybe get him in a chokehold from behind. There are little tutorials out on the main menu describing the Close Quarters Combat moves, but I'm having a really hard time getting used to them. It doesn't help that it takes a comparatively long time to slink into position to try and take out the bad guys each time I have to continue and try to learn how combat works again.
There are soldiers everywhere. You have to time it just perfectly to take someone down with a throw or a grab or a hold and hope the nearest soldier didn't just see it and turn the whole level into a shooting gallery where you're the bullseye. Add in organic, confusing levels where you don't really know where the way out is so you end up slinking around unsuccessfully, running into soldiers when you just don't know where to slink to next, and you've got a real pain in the neck.
It's very frustrating and it's making me think I don't have the time or patience for this kind of thing anymore. Maybe this makes sense given that I have absolutely no interest in the Splinter Cell sneaking games. Maybe my tolerance for this kind of artificially slow-moving game has disappeared as my available gaming time has shrunk.
If it wasn't MGS, I wouldn't be giving more tries over the next couple of days to see if I can catch on.
preorder out of stock
Doh, Outpost emailed me that MGS3:S is out of stock so my preorder is now on backorder.
Gamespy: 5 stars, Outstanding.
Gamespy gives MGS3:S 5/5 stars and an Outstanding multiplayer rating.
preorder, Gamespot
Dealnews carries word of two preorder deals, the cheaper of which gets you MGS3:S for just under $27 with free shipping.
I ordered mine. Ground shipping doesn't bother me. It'll arrive probably by the time I'm finished with Deadlocked.
Gamespot has given MGS3:S a 9.0 with an Editor's Choice nod.
PS2: Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
IGN has a review of Subsistence, giving it a 9.8.
Re: PSM gives it an 11 -er a 10.
Well, they gave it a 10, but they wished they could give it an 11. They advise springing the extra $10 (over the apparently $30 MSRP) for the collector's edition to get the 3+ hour DVD movie.
They also detail every level in the online game, which they really like, in the issue.
I should note that the pre-orders of MGS3:S that include an extra DVD is not the movie DVD in the collector's edition. That DVD is apparently a 35-minute history of the Metal Gear Solid franchise. So says the EBGames page for the product.
The movie would look beautiful on my PSP. I'm interested in the movie but not the game. Why buy the game when I can play it, what, once a month with my buddies? Not worth the scratch for me, but maybe for someone who hasn't already played through it.
PSM gives it an 11 -er a 10.
This month's PSM -- which I was graciously allowed to read at The General's house since my copy hasn't arrived yet -- gave MGS3:S an 11.
Well, they gave it a 10, but they wished they could give it an 11. They advise springing the extra $10 (over the apparently $30 MSRP) for the collector's edition to get the 3+ hour DVD movie.
They also detail every level in the online game, which they really like, in the issue.
I should note that the pre-orders of MGS3:S that include an extra DVD is not the movie DVD in the collector's edition. That DVD is apparently a 35-minute history of the Metal Gear Solid franchise. So says the EBGames page for the product.
Re: no movie in US release
No worries, if we can't buy it then we can find it online somewhere.
no movie in US release
It looks like the DVD movie "Existence", the compilation of MGS3 scenes in movie form with footage of major fights cut in will not ship with the regular retail MGS3: Subsistence game in the US. Gamespot notes that it should be in a limited-release edition of some kind, but the main retail game will come with just the two discs with the MGS3:S single player game on one, and the online game and bonuses on the other.
Gamespot impressions
Gamespot spent some time with the JP release of MGS3:S and posts their online impressions. Gameplay videos are also up, but I haven't checked them out yet.
import hands-on
Gamespot has hands-on impressions of the JP release of MGS3:S. The NA and EU releases are due in March.
They have positive things to say about the online game (on disc 2 with the other extra mini-games), and do say that the new camera mode in the single player game on disc one might draw in players who had a hard time getting into the mechanics of the original MGS3.
The third disc is a full movie made from the cut scenes of MGS3 along with some extra narration and well-edited footage of boss fights. Gamespot likes this as well.
I was recently, um, invited to sell off all my PS2 hardware and software so I could get a PSP, but this is one of the few games left coming to the system that I really want to play.
PS2: Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
Some info on the PSP/PS2 connectivity with Subsistence and Metal Gear AC!D 2.
http://www.konami.jp/gs/game/mga2/english/solid_ilf.html
February 2006
EGM has a February 2006 release date for Subsistence.
multiple discs
Subsistence will come with multiple discs with different names, and there are apparently videos out there of the multiplayer mode seen at the TGS. Gamespot has lots of details about gameplay modes, unlockable movies, and so on.
Gamespy
Gamespy has updated impressions of Subsistence from a media event, including the ideas that players will play as one of three units when online, and will earn the ability to play as top characters in those units. For example, only the best scores for a player in Ocelot Unit will let them be able to play as Revolver Ocelot.
screens, controllable camera
There are some MGS3:S screens here, along with a tidbit in the Game Information section that says the camera is controllable.
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