I Strongly believe that no other game series can combine stealth, action, and storytelling like Metal Gear Solid can, and many will agree that Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater shows this the best.
   

The game follows CIA covert operative “Naked Snake”(later known as Big Boss) into a jungle environment in Russia during the events of the Cold War in the 1960’s. You are tasked with destroying a weapon that has the capability of firing nuclear warheads in a Soviet research base. Throughout the story, you will encounter a unique and varied range of characters both friendly and hostile. The game features a good amount of boss battles in which the player will have to find different solutions and tactics for each one. I’m not going to say anything else about the story as it has one of the deepest and greatest examples of storytelling I have ever seen with one hell of an ending.
   

The gameplay is all about stealth, deception, and survival and will require you to use various tactics to elude or eliminate your enemies. You can use face paint and camouflage to blend in with your environments; the better you blend in, the less likely you are to be seen. The game can become increasingly difficult at times even on normal difficulty which, if you were curious, goes up to “European Extreme” where if you are seen at any point in the game’s entirety, you automatically fail alongside the fact that you die very easily. Not even I have the guts to try it. Throughout the game, you will acquire new equipment and weapons, both lethal and non-lethal, that you can utilize to your advantage like mine detectors, sonar, and of course the most effective stealth tool, a cardboard box. Even though the game gives you ample opportunity to go completely non-lethal and stealth, you can just as easily go guns-blazing and kill every enemy you see without care, just know that even a standard enemy can be a force to be reckoned with if they see you.

For those who have never played a Metal Gear solid game, or are more familiar with the most recent ones, The controls may seem awkward and confusing at first, but eventually they become easier and almost second-nature if you play it enough. If you play this game on the Playstation 2 with the original SONY Controller [as you should anyway], you can utilize the controller’s pressure sensitivity (as in, if you press the button softer/harder you can change how that button performs). This is nearly essential when for looking over or around objects gradually, or firing an automatic weapon.

As far as the graphics, there really is no other way to explain it other than incredible. Everything from the environments,character models, textures, cutscenes, and art style look amazing especially considering the fact that this is a PS2 game. It came out in 2004 and is still comparable to games made today. Since then, It has been ported to the Vita and 3DS, and repackaged with Metal Gear Solid 2 and Peace Walker on the PS3/Xbox 360 in an HD collection, further increasing its visual fidelity.

One of the reasons that this is my favorite game of all time is the fact that they absolutely crammed so much content into the game. If you pick up the “Subsistence” version of the game on PS2, it has much more content than the original, so much more that it had to be put on two discs. It Includes: The full version of the main storyline with added content and a full 360° Camera; a theatre where you can access every cutscene; a secret theatre which includes certain cutscenes from the game that were edited into a lot of comedic situations that definitely worth watching; a monkey-catching minigame inspired by Ape Escape; A duel mode where you can face off against bosses from the main game; The full version of both Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake; and an online multiplayer mode for up to eight players. The online mode is technically working, but not officially. I think it’s pretty safe to say that Metal Gear solid 3 has enough content to last anyone for a long while.

I wholeheartedly recommend this game to anyone who likes action games, or stealth games. It’s available on many consoles, but as mentioned before, I recommend Subsistence on the PS2 the most.