![]() ![]() It’s an a capella version of the ballad, and it demands introspection - at which point we remember, this is all interactive cinema at its finest. After 30-ish seconds of quiet, we hear “Snake Eater,” the Bond-like theme song that sets the tone for 1964-set Metal Gear Solid 3 and the sensitive, sensual operation it unspools. The game is loathe to answer any of these questions, of course, but the way it calms us down is perfect. Could the place on the other side of this infinite incline be even worse? Impossibly hard? Unbearable to the dedicated soldiers who stealth their way through everything? Anxiety mounts as we consider what we’ve already seen, the bosses we’ve taken down, the levels we’ve crawled (or gunned wildly) through. Metal Gear Solid has always been about mind games, but to stick us in a tube with nowhere to go but up - or all the way down - sequesters the battlefield inside of our own heads. The ladder scene is the epitome of why Metal Gear Solid series is so much more engrossing than the other gun-toting spy games it may at first resemble. Why even bother including what amounts to an interactive loading screen as the game boots up the next area, where the real action is?īut Metal Gear Solid 3’s three-minute climb is more intermission than interruption. A cynic may think it’s just Hideo Kojima thumbing his nose at us, pulling us out of an intense boss fight to be confined to a slow, dull area for what feels like forever. ![]() To some, this sequence may seem like an absolute waste of time. The Polygon Show is available via Art19, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere else podcasts are sold. Want even more Metal Gear Solid 3? Listen to this week’s episode of The Polygon Show (start at the 43-minute mark for MGS3), where we also talk about the new Xbox Adaptive controller, Minit, and Sushi Strikers. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |