By Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D: The Naked Sample
Developed by Konami, slated for release this year
Estimated Demo Length: 10 minutes
Wait time: 5 minutes
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D has the same story and setting as the 2004 PlayStation 2 game Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater. Konami staff mentioned during the title’s stage show that by being the first game in the Metal Gear Solid series chronologically, this is an ideal game for 3DS gamers and other newcomers to the MGS series to jump into with (as well as being related to another portable Metal Gear Solid game, Peace Walker). The visuals, which were quite impressive and some of the best on the PS2’s, are similar on the Nintendo 3DS, except now they have had 3D effects added to them in an effective manner. The demo received large booth space at Nintendo World 2011 despite being a bare bones interactive demo designed only to show the 3D capabilities of the 3DS. All viewers could do was use the Slide Pad to change the camera angle, but what happened in the demo was preset and could not be changed.
Featuring no real gameplay, the demo follows Naked Snake as he sneak-crawls through a jungle attempting to avoid being detected by enemies. This is where the 3D effect truly shines, and I managed to enjoy the whole demo with the 3D dialer at the highest setting. The 3D felt highly immersive for such small device, with objects, such as animals, twigs and plants being moved aside as Snake crawled through the environments. Field depth is clearly present in the demo.
There is one segment in which Snake hides behind a bush and a tree, with an enemy soldier on the other side. The enemy soldier drops a pack of cigarettes, which fall right beside where Snake is hiding, so the soldier reaches his arm through the bush in an attempt to get the cigarettes back. The arm reaches out into the 3D space, and so does Snake as he tries to keep away from getting touched by the enemy’s arm. The demo properly uses 3D to convey the distance and space between two different objects. There were other 3D effects utilized, such as Snake getting attacked by wasps, a scene meant to give the viewer the sense that he or she too would be stung by those insects. There was one sequence showing some giant letters in the environment background that Snake would hide around, showing the viewer the space and gap between objects. The demonstration ended with a knife-fight between Snake and a woman named Boss. Their battle would occasionally pop out of the screen.
For a demo meant to show the Nintendo 3DS’s visual and 3D capabilities, it was surprisingly effective. Taking around 10 minutes from start to finish, Konami and Kojima Productions have convinced gamers that the 3DS can handle PS2-level visuals and 3D visuals in an immersive way.
