You get to relive an iconic title with modern-day technology with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. However, its performance…
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is the remake that we’ve been wanting for years. After so many years of wanting a remake of a Hideo Kojima classic, it’s great that it’s finally here. We did get a remaster of the game not too long ago, but we wanted more than that. We wanted a remake that has all the modern technology. But at the same time, the magic of the original remains. Just like Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 of 2023. Which was a success all round.
The game was so good that many people felt that it should’ve been considered as a Game of the Year contender. Now, if you remember back in 2004, we got the iconic Metal Gear Solid 3. I recall playing it when I was much younger, and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. The story, the espionage, the stealth, the combat, everything about the game was chef’s kisses.
The game was so great that I replayed it a few more times and never got bored with it. But now, I want to rekindle my nostalgia by playing it once again, this time with modernized technology, and at the same time, the magic remains. But did Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater do that? Well, we can stick around and find out together.
Now, I’m not entirely sure of what to expect from this remake. Would they maintain everything as it was from the original? That means, the locations, character models, weapons, and so on will be the same? Or did they keep most things the same, but make some changes to the original? Either way is wonderful. Again, as long as the magic is still there, you’ll be happy to know that the magic hasn’t left. Metal Gear Solid Delta is as great as the original, and you love to see it.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater’s story is exactly the same as the original, where this is actually a prequel to the entirety of the Metal Gear franchise. Set in the events of the Cold War in the mid-1960s. You take on the role of a FOX operative named Naked Snake who’s on a gritty mission to rescue a Soviet rocket scientist, compromise the Soviets’ nuclear superweapon, and absolve the United States from suspicion of the Soviets.
During your mission, you’ll encounter and relive the game’s iconic bosses, including Ocelot, Colonel Volgon, The End, and of course, Naked Snake’s former trainer, The Boss. And speaking of The End, remember that iconic Easter Egg, which was a very easy method to defeat this particular boss by simply changing and forwarding the date on your PlayStation 2 system, causing him to die due to old age?
Well, the good news is that you can still use this old trick in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. Or, you could wait two weeks for the boss to die, again due to his old age. It’s great to see that this is still around. But anyway, as for the other bosses, you’ll get to relive each boss fight as they’re just as exhilarating as the original.
For those new to the franchise who are just getting into it, you will know why these boss fights were legendary. Plus, you get to watch the cinematic cutscenes with modern graphics, which are top-notch. And by the way, you can now pause the cutscenes. Which is a huge bonus because I remember when I played the original, I was very frustrated that I wasn’t able to do that. Well done, Konami.
As expected, Metal Gear Solid Delta retains the core gameplay mechanics of the original, but they’ve been refined to fit a more modern style. They’ve made some additions; for example, you can now lie on your back and shoot.
Additionally, you can now crouch walk and perform a seemingly dancing motion. On top of that, they’ve improved enemy AI, so you’ll need to put more emphasis on stealth. If you want to eliminate enemies, you can perform brand new combat and takedown animations. They’ve updated the main menu UI to give it a modern look.
They’ve added new items to unlock, as well as new and improved suits that will help you a lot more during stealth. They’ve also included a brand new weather system and physics effects that make your experience much more authentic.
There’s also the option to use the new camera mode, which provides a traditional third-person action style camera for an over-the-shoulder effect, adding a more dramatic element to your experience. I tried it for myself, and it was awe-inspiring, as it brings more attention to the gorgeous visuals.
If you want to take stunning pictures of your gameplay, you can now use the newly introduced photo mode. And may also be happy to know that there’s a PvP multiplayer mode for you to enjoy. These are just a few examples, but to put it mildly, they’ve added things that most of them should’ve been in the original.
Now, let’s address the elephant in the room. That is the performance. Yes, unfortunately, Metal Gear Solid Delta was developed using the ever-popular Unreal Engine 5. And of course, when you hear about a game being developed with the engine, you can only and rightfully conclude that the game will run very poorly. There is some word around that the game runs poorly on the available consoles.
Yes, including the latest PlayStation 5 Pro. Which spells trouble for the game. But what about on PC? Fortunately, in my case, I haven’t experienced any frame rate issues, stutters, or similar problems. However, to be fair, my new PC features the best gaming processor, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, and an RX 7800 XT graphics card.
This suggests that you require a very powerful rig to enjoy this game. Therefore, those with much less powerful machines might be more unfortunate. But this shouldn’t be the case. In general, the performance is a huge red flag, and you should proceed with caution before getting it, especially if you plan on playing it on console.
However, the PC version, depending on your hardware, may be fine. Unfortunately, regardless of whether you’re on a PC or not, the power of your PC and the resolution you wish to play this on are irrelevant; the frames are locked at 60 fps, and there’s little you can do to modify this.
You may be able to change it to 120 fps by configuring the game’s user settings, but the performance is even worse, and it runs significantly slower, so it’s not worth the effort. Therefore, if you’re looking for much higher frames in this game, I have some bad news for you. This might be a deal breaker for some of you, but for the rest, you might be fine with that.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater manages to recapture the essence of 2004’s original, and it’s a remake that both original and new fans of the Metal Gear Solid series will be proud of. I believe that a large portion of the motivation behind this remake was to appeal to newer fans who aren’t familiar with the Metal Gear franchise, and I can assure you that you’ll love this classic.
However, the performance is the most significant factor in why it falls short of perfection. Especially for those who choose to play on console, you might get lucky on PC. We have yet another problem with optimisation due to the use of the ever-loving Unreal Engine 5.
Unreal Engine 5 is clearly a problem. A huge problem. We’ve just gotten another case of performance issues with another title that also released this month, Mafia: The Old Country. Nonetheless, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is definitely worth getting.
