Metal Gear Solid Delta’s 7 Best New Features

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is mostly a painstakingly accurate retracing of the two original PS2 versions, Snake Eater and Subsistence. It may have new Unreal Engine 5-powered visuals, but it has the same setup and voice acting that many players will instantly recognize. However, Konami has taken it upon itself to add some things to the 2005 stealth classic. These alterations are not enough to completely change the game — it is still sticking to the “Delta” principles of not “changing structure” — but they do make it more modern and give it a reason to exist alongside its Master Collection Vol. 1 variant (which is just mostly a port of the 2011 HD Collection).

As such, here are the seven best new features in the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake.

1) Crouch Walking

Crouch walking is technically not a completely new feature in Delta since it was part of the oft-forgotten 2012 3DS version, but crouch walking is a brand-new feature for all other versions of MGS3. This feature, which debuted in 2008’s Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, immediately changed the franchise. Being able to huddle over and move forward gave players a middle ground between running and crawling in a way that so naturally fit the stealthy series.

And it is just as fitting for Delta. Being able to tiptoe around like this gives Snake a bit more mobility without breaking the game and turning it into a cakewalk. While the old versions are still playable, lacking crouch walking is going to make those other ports a tiny bit harder to go back to.

2) Traditional Third-Person Shooter Controls

Again, traditional third-person shooter controls were also in Snake Eater 3D, but this is the first time other versions have had more conventional shooting mechanics. In Delta, players aim and shoot like they would in most other third-person shooters, including Metal Gear Solid 4 and Metal Gear Solid V.

This smooths out the sneaking and combat since it’s so much like other shooters. Getting shots off in the earlier versions of MGS3 could sometimes be a little finicky due to not being able to move and shoot accurately or having to rely on auto-aim. Delta empowers players by letting them move and shoot and go quickly in and out of moving. This makes playing aggressively a more viable option when compared to the originals, but also helps when nailing that key tranquilizer shot under pressure to avoid an alert.

3) Camo and Radio Quick Menus

Metal Gear Solid 3 has plenty of great mechanics, but just about all of them require going into a menu, which can considerably slow down the pacing. Crawling from a mountainous region over a snowy patch back to a mountainous region? Prepare to go in and out of the camo menu a few times. Need to save? Another menu. Get stung by a scorpion? Yes, another menu.

Delta smooths that out by having an assortment of quick menus. While not as fluid as Metal Gear Solid 4’s incredible and automatically adaptable OctoCamo, Delta’s new camo quick menu is functionally pretty similar. Just holding up on the D-pad immediately brings up a selection of camo and face paints with colored arrows that succinctly show what uniform and face paint combo is the best at that current moment. A simple button press and short transition screen is all it takes to see the new duds in action. It makes one of the more tedious parts of the original into a painless experience.

There’s a similar quick menu for the radio, and even though it’s not as important to the moment-to-moment gameplay as the camo menu, it’s still another improvement that smooths out the experience. Treating injuries is also context-sensitive, as once Snake takes a piece of shrapnel or gets bitten by a snake, players can press up on the D-pad and get transported instantly to the appropriate menu. With these shortcuts, Delta has a lot less friction than any other version of the game and lets players stay in the jungles for even longer.

4) A More Explanatory UI With Better Stat Tracking

Delta has all the same Kerotan frog collectibles in the same places. And, for some reason, it now has 64 additional doodads to find in the form of GA-KO ducks. Doubling the amount of toys to hunt is a strange choice since there are already enough of them (especially during the bike sections) and they aren’t the most engaging little guys to track down, but it does highlight how much better collectibles are handled here.

For one, players can easily see in the pause menu whether or not they’ve collected the collectibles in the given zone. This is also all especially important since collectibles are now saved on a profile level, meaning players can shoot a GA-KO duck, exit out, and have the duck still count. This is crucial for players who want to save scum their way to victory since they don’t have to go back and blast every little plastic frog and duck each time they need to reload.

But this is just part of the picture, since Delta is just more straightforward and clear across the board. Stats can now be tracked during a run, meaning it’s easy to see what counts as a kill or keep track of how many alerts have been triggered without needing to wait until credits have rolled. The effects of special camo are now clearly explained in the camo menu. It’s possible to see the exact requirements for each rank, in addition to each reward they yield. The compendium on the main menu lists out each collected camo, flora, and fauna, so completionists can more easily check them off. While the optional boss tutorials lift the curtain a little too much, this more open approach is welcome and is a great way to streamline the experience.

5) Autosaving

Going for these more rare rankings can be laborious since the process of saving and reloading can be frustrating. However, Delta addresses this through its autosave system. It’s always possible to make a manual save by calling Para-Medic, but the game saves automatically when entering another area. This lets players once again spend less time in menus and stay in the game’s world. This also makes going for the aforementioned harder ranks even more doable, especially since the load times in Delta are blazingly fast. Quick saving would be nice, but this is the next best thing.

6) Photo Mode

Even though its character models can look a little dead-eyed sometimes, Delta is still a pretty game with its abundance of exquisitely detailed jungles and Russian buildings. Thankfully, it is possible to get more creative when admiring these visuals since Delta comes with a full photo mode. It’s possible to get some truly captivating shots and study Metal Gear Solid 3 in a way that previously wasn’t possible. There’s no ability to add new lights or pose Snake in any way, which is limiting, but there are still a fair bit of frames, filters, and options that enable would-be polygonal photographers to find the best shot possible.

7) Snake vs. Monkey/Bomberman and Guy Savage

Snake vs. Monkey is not technically a new mode, but it has more or less been lost to time since it is only available on the original PS2 version of Snake Eater and Subsistence. Not even the PS2 version of 2008’s The Essential Collection came with this silly Ape Escape crossover. It was also absent from the 3DS remake, HD Collection, and Master Collection Vol. 1, likely because these ports all appeared on non-Sony platforms. It is truly a rare artifact.

Thankfully, Delta resurrects this lovingly dumb mode and finally gives it the widespread attention it deserves (and even comes with a special new crossover featuring a recent PlayStation franchise). While it retains the stealthy elements of both franchises, it focuses more on the goofy heart the series has almost always had. This only applies to PS5 and PC players, as Xbox owners get a completely new mini-game that has Snake going against another Konami legend, Bomberman. It’s more aggressive than Snake vs. Monkey since it fittingly is about explosions and grenades. Hopefully, this exclusivity expires and means every player gets easy access to each mode.

And speaking of unique modes, it’s great that the Castlevania-esque Guy Savage mini-game has been remade, too. This version features some radical changes over the original, as the location, color palette, and cutscenes are basically all new (a stark difference from the base campaign that’s mostly the same). This strange nightmare was unfortunately snipped out of the HD Collection, 3DS remake, and Master Collection Vol. 1, so it’s hard to play in the modern age. And not only has been been preserved in some form here, it is also accessible in the main menu after playing through the sequence and completing the game.

What is your favorite new feature in the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake? Let us know in the comments below!

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