Warning: This article contains spoilers for Metal Gear Solid 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4. It’s been a long time coming but Metal Gear fans finally have something concrete to look forward to. Although series creator Hideo Kojima has moved on to other projects, his long-beloved stealth action franchise is making a grand return to the forefront of gaming with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater .
Now that we have our first look at Delta’s gameplay from the new trailer shown at the Xbox Games Showcase , we’re even more excited to get our hands on it. But for now, we want to take a look back at the original Metal Gear Solid 3, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year on November 17th, 2004. Specifically, we’re going to talk about how MGS3 tells a more vital prequel narrative than most other franchises can match.
What was at the time seen as a course correction from Metal Gear Solid 2’s lack of Solid Snake playtime and perhaps even a delaying action of paying off 2’s narrative threads to the eventual Metal Gear Solid 4, the benefit of hindsight has shown that MGS3 is a critical installment in the series’ mythology. Sure, it received great reviews on release, but why does the story not really work if you just played MGS1, 2 and 4 as a trilogy when they happen in chronological order? Let’s take a look at what makes MGS3 so essential. After two games set in a “few years in the future” sci-fi setting, Kojima went in an entirely new direction with Metal Gear .