#21
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS3)
YoY: -6
The peak of the Metal Gear series, and Hideo Kojima's finest work to date. Not bogged down by the often convoluted backstory that hangs around the rest of the series, Snake Eater could just largely tell its own, self-contained story of betrayal, espionage and loss. Obviously, the story is used to set up pretty much the rest of the whole series, but because it didn't have to adhere to events of any previous titles in the timeline the game is free to keep things fairly simple and non-convoluted, for a Metal Gear Solid game at least.
It's fun to discover the origins of Big Boss, see how his relationship with his teacher, her apparent betrayal, and the eventual reveal of the truth shaped him. The gameplay that added various survival elements was a lot of fun, the characters in general are among the series' best, and the music is great. The graphics are naturally somewhat dated by today's standards, but the remasters have alleviated at least some of those issues. It's just a great game, and one of the few Kojima games where I can actually say that with almost no caveats.
