Once glance at the Metal Gear Solid fandom will tell you that Big Boss is a smelly little fellow who needs to be snuggled and protected. Far from a chemically engineered killing machine, the man with hundreds of confirmed kills who pulled off the world’s first HALO jump doesn’t want to slit your throat, only to be understood. He’s a soft boy, and we’ll be stepping into his shoes once again with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. I’ll never get used to that name.

This week we received our very first look at gameplay courtesy of the Xbox Partner Preview where Konami and a number of other publishers and developers were present to showcase their upcoming titles. Snake Eater distatic.aayyy.com/topic/dn/’t get a massive look, but there was more than enough for fans like myself to dig into ahead of next year. Turns out it will be pretty faithful, which is no massive surprise given that we already know the game will make use of original voice acting performances. Konami is bringing us a technological and visual evolution, but not a fully-fledged remake.

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It’s a strange but welcome decision, given the recent launch of the Master Collection which now makes the original Snake Eater available on modern platforms. We’re accustomed to greedy publishers trying to pull vanilla products from digital shelves in order to focus our attention on a shiny new experience. But Konami seems to value and understand the history it is dealing with and wants Metal Gear Solid Delta to stand on its own, while simultaneously unleashing the original masterpiece onto a new generation of players who may never have played it.

It looks amazing as Snake crawls through murky bodies of water and huge swathes of mud, all manner of liquids and solids sticking to his overalls or dripping back onto the floor. For the first time it feels like the character is truly entrenched in an escapable jungle, becoming one with nature to hide from his enemies before striking them from the shadows. He’s a grubby boy, now bonding to cover and into shrubbery in order to hide from patrolling guards in ways that resemble Phantom Pain way more than the original Snake Eater. So much so that fans have already put together video comparisons showcasing near identical animations. Konami could be translating the modern gameplay formula into this remaster, while nipping assets or mechanics from past masterpieces and hyper budget pachinko machine advertisements.

Time will tell whether level design from 2004 will hold up alongside relatively new mechanics and animations, or if we’ll end up with a toolset that doesn’t quite match up to the levels we’ll be let loose into. I can see it being a mixed bag, but given the original game is still so good, I will be more than satisfied with a new coat of paint and general quality of life improvements.

We don’t see much else aside from the opening act’s iconic bridge and shots of different environments and camouflage options for our mucky boy to make use of. I’d love to know if the menu used for equipping different clothing options will be naturally activated in Delta, much like OctoCamo in Guns of the Patriots where Snake can lean against nearly any surface before taking on its properties. If I’m covered in mud, I expect to be brown, while my body hidden in tall grass should make it harder for enemies to spot me regardless of what I happen to be wearing. Keep the blueprint the same, but make its inner workings do more.

Either way, it’s exciting to see Konami put so much effort into Metal Gear Solid again after almost a decade without series creator Hideo Kojima at the helm. Even if it ends up using loads of existing assets from past games and pachinko machines the majority of fans have come to resent, at least now they’ll have a home that looks towards the future. Who knows where we will go from here with the second Master Collection in the works and Delta all but intended to turn Metal Gear Solid into a property worth caring about again. Snake Eater is the best place to start.

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