GamingPickz
Game vs game · side by side

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater vs Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is an action-adventure game from Konami (2004) while Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is an FPS open-world game (2015).

Quick answer: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain are too close, or too thinly reviewed, to separate on the numbers; the table below shows what each holds.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

2004 · Konami

91Metacritic

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

2015 · Studio not listed

8.2GamingPickz Score

$19.99

Steam: Very Positive

What each one is

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is filed under Action-Adventure. In contrast, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain under FPS and Open-World.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is a 2004 action-adventure stealth game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2. It was released in late 2004 in North America and Japan, and in early 2005 in Europe and Australia. Written, produced and directed by Hideo Kojima, the game is the fifth mainline installment in the Metal Gear series and the first chronologically, serving as a prequel to the entire series. Set in 1964, 31 years before the events of the original Metal Gear, the story centers on the FOX operative codenamed Naked Snake as he attempts to rescue Russian rocket scientist Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov, sabotage an experimental superweapon, and assassinate his defected former boss.

Description from Wikipedia

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Ushering in a new era for the METAL GEAR franchise with cutting-edge technology powered by the Fox Engine, METAL GEAR SOLID V: The Phantom Pain, will provide players a first-rate gaming experience as they are offered tactical freedom to carry out open-world missions.

Description from its Steam store page

Story, characters and reception

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Plot

Setting Snake Eater takes place in an alternate history of events, set within the Cold War during the 1960s. The game's story acts as a prequel to the entire Metal Gear series, exploring the origins of several events covered by previous games, as well as being the first chronological chapter in an overarching story following Big Boss. Characters Main article: List of characters in the Metal Gear series The protagonist of Snake Eater , Naked Snake ( David… (Wikipedia)

Characters

Main article: List of characters in the Metal Gear series The protagonist of Snake Eater , Naked Snake ( David Hayter / Akio Ōtsuka ), known as Big Boss in subsequent games, is a young former Green Beret assigned to the CIA unit FOX . During his mission, Snake is assisted by fellow FOX members over his radio: Major Zero ( Jim Piddock / Banjō Ginga ), commander of FOX and a former member of the British Special Air Service (SAS), who provides Snake with… (Wikipedia)

Reception

Snake Eater was a commercial success, selling 2. 38 million units in Asia and America by December 2004, and 3. 6 million copies worldwide by August 2005. (Wikipedia)

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Plot

Setting In the aftermath of the events of Ground Zeroes and the destruction of Militaires Sans Frontières (MSF), Big Boss ( Kiefer Sutherland / Akio Ōtsuka ) falls into a coma. Nine years later, he awakens and helps lead a new mercenary group, Diamond Dogs . Adopting the codename " Venom Snake ", he ventures into Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War and the Angola Zaire border region during the Angolan Civil War to track down the people responsible… (Wikipedia)

Characters

See also: List of characters in the Metal Gear series In contrast to previous Metal Gear installments, Kojima Productions conducted the voice acting and motion capture with English-speaking actors and stuntmen first. While facial motion capture was used before for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots , it was done separately from the actual voice acting. The Japanese voice acting was dubbed over the English cast's performance afterward, in contrast… (Wikipedia)

Reception

Critical reception Reception Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic . Reviewers considered it to be one of the best Metal Gear games. It has also been cited as one of the greatest stealth games, and one of the greatest video games of all time . (Wikipedia)

At a glance

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake EaterMetal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
GamingPickz Score—8.2/10
Steam rating—Very Positive (92%, 107,873)
Critic aggregate91/10091/100
PriceUnknown$19.99
Install size—28 GB
Steam DeckUntestedplayable
Released20042015
DeveloperKonami—

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater vs Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake EaterAction-adventure game
    Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom PainFPS open-world game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake EaterNo descriptive tags
    Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom PainStealth, Open World, Action

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake EaterMetacritic 91
    Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom PainMetacritic 91

    Metacritic's critic aggregate, from the game's Wikipedia reception where it was never on Steam.

  4. Content and scale

    Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater—
    Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain107,873 reviews · 13 add-ons · 28 GB

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake EaterUnknown
    Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain$19.99

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

Across the rounds a number can settle, it is level at 0 each. Which one is "better" is the part no figure decides, so we leave it to what you want from the two.

Where they differ

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is also

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is also

StealthOpen WorldActionStory RichTacticalCinematic

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.

System requirements, side by side

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake EaterMetal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Minimum GPU—NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 (2GB)
Minimum CPU—Intel Core i5-4460 (3.40 GHz)
Minimum RAM—4 GB
Install size—28 GB

Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater · Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and 1 for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

If you like one, also try

Close to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Common questions

How different are Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain in scope?

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater lists little scope data. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has drawn 107,873 Steam reviews, ships 13 add-ons and installs in 28 GB.

Is Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater or Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain better?

Neither carries enough reviews for us to score it reliably, so we do not call a winner. The table above shows what each does have.

Which is cheaper, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater or Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain?

One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.

Should I get Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater or Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain?

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain are too close, or too thinly reviewed, to separate on the numbers; the table below shows what each holds. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

All comparisons

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

More on each