In spite of historically valued declarations on the matter, and the founding notions that formed the nations relevant to their genesis, men are in fact, not created equal, when more seriously considered by the unfortunate circumstances that surround our society.

In a far less serious but relevant matter, the same can be said about video game remakes and re-releases, too.

Some complained the title didn’t deserve game of the year award on the basis the horse was in fact, not far enough away, to earn the prestigious accolade

Had a lot less time for writing today than I originally assumed I would, so not much time to put thoughts to the screen, sadly. Per some of my posts recently, last week was a rough one, but the tide turns eventually, and I look forward to some downtime and recreation with the crossed finger excitement that energy levels will return enough to reinvigorate both my spirit and replenish my sense of conviction in plowing through some gaming content once again with it. I have something on the way that will be a fun surprise, which I will be excited to write about in due time.

I’ve been reading random articles and conversations online about the Snake Eater remake, and while there has been an overall positive reaction to the game, I have seen some perspectives involving how outdated the game plays. I’ll give some of them the benefit of the doubt, in not rolling my eyes at the ridiculous oversight imbued in their comments, with the obvious mention the original game is over twenty years old, only in the sense that linguistics might be betraying their sense of expected value proposition based on industry pedigree. Some remakes that have come out, like Let’s Go Pikachu/Evee, Metroid: Zero Mission, Halo 1&2 have such a ridiculous new coat of paint on them, along with quite a few QoL tweaks, they feel almost like new games, and then others still, like multiple Zeldas, the Crash series, some of the Resident Evil remakes, nearly strain the concept entirely with how much they tweak the originals. A third tier yet still exist to mention, with titles like Resident Evil 2 and the FF7 remake feeling nearly like new titles full stop, almost acting as full re-imaginings of the genres the games fall under, so it’s understandable to have high expectations for the pedigree of remake within the space that have come before.

That’s the only type of perspective I can imagine the dissenters of MGS3: Delta are speaking from (with good faith and realism in tow). While not yet having played it myself, the crux of me attempting to put myself in their shoes is only as strong as putting forth the compelling reminder that remaking games within the magnitude of retooling they speak of take years of time and money to develop, which is not something a lot of devs have the ability or resource to take advantage of in such an uneven market, as it were. Further yet, when you break down complaints about outdated mechanics, like loading screens, enemy number allocation, physical level design; the retention of these elements are all in the name of keeping the original vision intact, for sanity’s sake, cause you start to alter just one of those elements, like making huge swaths of the game one massive continuous area, and you are fundamentally changing the structure of the original concept in its entirety, and essentially have to change the whole game from the ground up thereafter. Considering the hot water the series has been in for a minute now, with multiple factors, like Kojima’ss absence, the quality of Metal Gear Survive, and the abysmal condition the original MGS Trilogy collection launched with, and this kind of remake, especially for a game as lauded as Snake Eater, needs to be pretty much as safe as possible, for all of the obvious reasons.

I think, when you combine the already mentioned factors with the idea that devs need safe ideas with which to make money from, just for the sake of stability, but also as a sign to the publisher they are a safe bet for a higher risk investment, or one that will require more resources, and the kind of remake Snake Eater is makes perfect sense to me. With any luck, it will do gangbusters in sales, and Konami will be convinced an even greater attempt at another, far more grandiose remake will be worth their while, which may ultimately lead to the gaming hordes finally clambering for another chance at a fresh take from the property, sans Kojima.

Gaming is a business that art sometimes escape through, to have the foolish notion masterpieces come from a production line is a surefire way to mass produce disappoint more than anything else.

-Pashford