SNAKE REHEATER

METAL GEAR SOLID DELTA: SNAKE EATER is an excellent remake of a classic game

- By Rich Stanton

From the moment you load up Metal Gear Solid Delta to when the credits roll, Hideo Kojima hangs over the production like The Sorrow, a long-dead member of the villainous Cobra Unit. The Sorrow's emotion is sadness. The melancholy of lost camaraderie, and the scars of the battlefield that never leave. Yet the character is presented as a prankster. Like a jilted lover, The Sorrow's defining characteristic is much simpler: he just can't let go.

Metal Gear Solid Delta has been a long time coming and, you'd think, has been the subject of some truly tortuous soul searching at Konami HQ. Metal Gear remains the company's biggest series, yet one that, until 2023's Master Collection, it seemed scared to touch, let alone move forward. Delta's inspiration is obvious: Capcom has made a fortune with its excellent Resident Evil remakes, simultaneously paying homage while making them feel new again. But where Capcom's remakes are bold, Metal Gear Solid Delta is utterly faithful, even devoted. The opening cutscene plays out with the original credits intact. Every time something happened in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, it happens again in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. It looks a hell of a lot better, of course, but most of us really have been here before.

SNAKES AND DAGGERS