Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Osg

Rating:
Summary: Almost Perfect
Review: Metal Gear Solid 3 is an incredible game no matter how you play it. But go through it without some help and you're bound to miss something. This guide is almost perfect in everyway possible. But there are some troubling things that keep this guide down a little.

First of all, this tome is jampacked with tons of helpful tips. Everything you need in the opening pages to know about the game is there. The guide details on all the basics of CQC. From the basics to the advanced tactics. You'll be a master of CQC. The guide also spends a lot of time detailing everything about the food.

The food section tells you if you can use it on enemies or not and how. They also tell you how it taste and whether its worth eating or not. The cure section tells you all you need to cure wounds and how to do it.

The walkthrough is very well written. Each section has a detailed set of maps, the location of every guard and the location of every item. It's very well written too, with EXCELLENT boss strategies that help out really well. Each portion of the walkthrough is broken down by area rather than objective. This is great in the sense that it's more organized. The walkthrough is actually done really well with great tactics. This is easily one of the most well written walkthroughs I've ever read.

The Easter Eggs and secrets are really cool. They go into detail on some of the better ones and talk about the bonuses and such. The secrets chapter is also done well. Alongside that, the Snake vs. Monkeys is also done really well. Each strategy to take on the monkeys helps you get excellent times and even first place assuming you take them in the recommended orders.

Then there's the stuff after the meat of the game. The interviews are spectacular and help you learn more than anything about the production of the game and the MGS series. After that there's an excerpt from the Konami Comic Book of Metal Gear Solid. This is an incredible comic. It may actually make you want to by the series.

But the guide isn't without a few faults. For one, the walkthrough is only written for Normal mode. There are areas where there are more guards and such and the guide doesn't talk about that. What's the difference between playing the game on Normal and Extreme? You'd be surprised how many hardcore MGS fans just jump to Hard Mode without ever touching the lower difficulty levels.

The guide also mentions that there are "secret" frequencies to call but they never tell you what the frequency is! They mention that you have to interrogate a guard in order to get it. But they still don't detail what the frequency is or what it does...

Then there's the biggy (and the reason five stars was an impossible feet), there are several easter eggs and secrets missing! They don't mention that you can get the EZ Gun on other difficulty levels nor do they mention anything of the infinity face paint. Not only that but they never mention how it is you're supposed to come across certain ranks. All the ranks are listed but how do I get say... the "FOX" ranking? The guide doesn't detail it.

It really is a good guide, almost perfect. But the small tidbits (and the one rather large rat) are annoying at times. I wish it was a bit more detailed on some of the secrets and gave more insight for the different difficulty levels.

Either way though, this is the perfect MGS3 companion. You shouldn't have any trouble getting through the game without it. It'll help you conquer the game and even master it at some point. But be warned that this guide is only good for its walkthrough and not much else.