04-07-2025, 03:11 PM
Act 3 - "This is the liberty we have won for ourselves!"
Act 3 has long been a section myself and many others have disliked, so I went into it with some irritation and little hope of having any enjoyment. Snake taking on the persona of a TV crime series detective (trenchcoat included) isn't as fun as it may sound in a stealth game, as you tail one of the most idiotic members of an underground resistance group that you could possibly imagine. Stopping to stare at posters of a gravure model (twice), checking to see if there are PMC soldiers in his path and then deciding to walk directly into view of them on multiple occasions, dressing up as said soldiers and forgetting the gun so his disguise ends up making him look like a cyclist; this guy makes Johnny look like a veteran. The majority of this act is an annoyance, with the final tailing section culminating in this fool taking the scenic route to his destination, including (if you're on a higher difficulty) almost getting run over by a vehicle if you're lucky. I'm sorry but there really isn't anything redeeming about this entire section from a gameplay point of view. It's rubbish and it feels even more rubbish on every subsequent playthrough.
Once you're done you'll meet Big Mama/Eva who will tell you how the main cast of MGS3 conveniently all became The Patriots, and more nanomachines nonsense to explain away the rest. I will admit that there is a funny detail of this section that I hadn't noticed before, where all of Big Mama's "children" all seem to be dupes of two NPC designs, one of them being the member you tail. Even funnier (or more embarrassing, probably the latter) is Big Mama's line about these "boys" being trained on FPS games and thinking it's fun and not being prepared for the reality of war, and then you look at them and realise they all look about 40-50 years old.
After that it's time for a terribly designed bike chase where you can hardly aim at anything that's shooting at you unless you fancy using the previously-acquired Patriot, followed by a battle with Raging Raven. This is one boss battle that lets down the otherwise enjoyable set of encounters in MGS4, where you're pretty much running to the top of the tower and just trying to evade Raven's grenade launcher while she stops in mid-air to let you land hits on her. The embarrassment factor of the post-battle scene with Laughing Octopus comes back into play here, with the tears on Raven's face looking more like a translucent fluid of sorts smeared across her face in a manner that defies physics, while Snake ogles her behind before she crawls towards him on all fours with the camerawork bring up the, uh, rear.
Act 3's finale feels a bit like a torture section as we watch Liquid Ocelot stab and repeatedly electrocute Snake, before putting on his Guns of The Patriots "bang bang" show. This entire scene is at best verging on ridiculous. The sequence in which Rat Patrol and their cavalry get into position to take down Liquid Ocelot is over 3 minutes long, Johnny reveals himself to be a handsome bootleg young Snake and has clean underwear for once as Meryl decides she's actually in love with him, and Big Mama decides to throw herself on "Big Boss'" funeral pyre despite spending the entirety of the run-up to this point clinging on to her life. But, for all of its nonsense, this section is more than worth a rewatch for Patric Zimmerman alone and his incredible performance of a campy, power-mad villain. It's the first time we get to really see and hear Liquid Ocelot in full flow, and I found every single line of his utterly engrossing to listen to.
Act 3 has long been a section myself and many others have disliked, so I went into it with some irritation and little hope of having any enjoyment. Snake taking on the persona of a TV crime series detective (trenchcoat included) isn't as fun as it may sound in a stealth game, as you tail one of the most idiotic members of an underground resistance group that you could possibly imagine. Stopping to stare at posters of a gravure model (twice), checking to see if there are PMC soldiers in his path and then deciding to walk directly into view of them on multiple occasions, dressing up as said soldiers and forgetting the gun so his disguise ends up making him look like a cyclist; this guy makes Johnny look like a veteran. The majority of this act is an annoyance, with the final tailing section culminating in this fool taking the scenic route to his destination, including (if you're on a higher difficulty) almost getting run over by a vehicle if you're lucky. I'm sorry but there really isn't anything redeeming about this entire section from a gameplay point of view. It's rubbish and it feels even more rubbish on every subsequent playthrough.
Once you're done you'll meet Big Mama/Eva who will tell you how the main cast of MGS3 conveniently all became The Patriots, and more nanomachines nonsense to explain away the rest. I will admit that there is a funny detail of this section that I hadn't noticed before, where all of Big Mama's "children" all seem to be dupes of two NPC designs, one of them being the member you tail. Even funnier (or more embarrassing, probably the latter) is Big Mama's line about these "boys" being trained on FPS games and thinking it's fun and not being prepared for the reality of war, and then you look at them and realise they all look about 40-50 years old.
After that it's time for a terribly designed bike chase where you can hardly aim at anything that's shooting at you unless you fancy using the previously-acquired Patriot, followed by a battle with Raging Raven. This is one boss battle that lets down the otherwise enjoyable set of encounters in MGS4, where you're pretty much running to the top of the tower and just trying to evade Raven's grenade launcher while she stops in mid-air to let you land hits on her. The embarrassment factor of the post-battle scene with Laughing Octopus comes back into play here, with the tears on Raven's face looking more like a translucent fluid of sorts smeared across her face in a manner that defies physics, while Snake ogles her behind before she crawls towards him on all fours with the camerawork bring up the, uh, rear.
Act 3's finale feels a bit like a torture section as we watch Liquid Ocelot stab and repeatedly electrocute Snake, before putting on his Guns of The Patriots "bang bang" show. This entire scene is at best verging on ridiculous. The sequence in which Rat Patrol and their cavalry get into position to take down Liquid Ocelot is over 3 minutes long, Johnny reveals himself to be a handsome bootleg young Snake and has clean underwear for once as Meryl decides she's actually in love with him, and Big Mama decides to throw herself on "Big Boss'" funeral pyre despite spending the entirety of the run-up to this point clinging on to her life. But, for all of its nonsense, this section is more than worth a rewatch for Patric Zimmerman alone and his incredible performance of a campy, power-mad villain. It's the first time we get to really see and hear Liquid Ocelot in full flow, and I found every single line of his utterly engrossing to listen to.
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