ManBeast and the Game: Metal Gear Solid HD: Snake Eater

Alright, ManBeast back in the hiz-house….and that’s enough of that talk. Down to business; they recently remade and released the Metal Gear Solid (MGS) HD collection, including Sons of Liberty, Snake Eater and Peace Walker.

Essentially the games remain unchanged, just with better visuals and updated music and dialogue, which helps some scenes make more sense once the broken English is gone. While I’m writing this for Snake Eater, most of what I say can be extrapolated to the others as well.

I’ve gotten all the achievements in Snake Eater too, so what I’m saying here, has been tested, verified and works. ManBeast certified!

Silence is Golden.

Okay, first point and this is kind of THE big one: guns are loud. Like seriously. If you aren’t picking off the only guard in the area. Pro tip: if an enemy is tranquilized, they will not wake up from loud noises.

The same can not be said for sleeping enemies – as in non-tranquilized and merely sleeping of their own accord – you are going to at least trigger a “caution” status and have the guards most likely call for backup. Never a good thing to be honest.

The most effective way to eliminate enemies, is to use silenced weapons, and shoot them in the head. It literally will take almost a full clip from the pistol to kill someone if you’re shooting at the torso. You can, and WILL run out of ammunition this way.

Play smart and aim for critical areas, yeah? Better yet, use tranquilized weapons as you avoid blood everywhere or even consider using the CQC (Close Quarters Combat) system. It works a lot better now, and you can just use the knockdown to instantly subdue a guard. Extremely useful if you’re going for a no-kill playthrough.

 The Invisible Ninja.

Silence is a good start but is rendered moot if you don’t at least try and be somewhat sneaky in your actions. Remember this is “Tactical Espionage Action”. Not shooting loud guns is smart, but let’s knock this up a notch eh?

Firstly and it’s a big one; be mindful of your profile and how you’re moving. Obviously, you’re going to be a lot harder to see if you’re crouching or laying prone.

Likewise with stalking or running; the latter of which actually lowers your camouflage index and makes you a lot easier to detect, not to mention loud, especially on certain surfaces.

Speaking of the camouflage index, as the game tells you, its the helpful percentage in the corner that let’s you know the likelihood of an enemy noticing you. If you’ve been paying attention to it, you’ll notice it drops by 10% when running, and a further 5% if you’re being loud. Say it with me: “not a good thing”.

Basically it boils down to, use appropriate camouflage to blend in with the background, and if you have to run, do it sporadically. Move from cover to cover and keep your profile low. Don’t stand up and silhouette yourself on the top of a cliff or hill. I mean honestly. Might as well set a Claymore and dive roll forward.

Shovel to the Face.

First off, that was a metaphor. What I’m trying to get at, is sometimes you’ll get presented with a situation where you don’t think you’ll be able to stealthily sneak past, or be able to eliminate the guards one at a time.

Time for what I’m calling the “Shovel to the Face” method of playing. Basically, fast and brutal. When in doubt, whip the shovel out.

Say you botch up the sneaking business; everyone does at some point and there’s parts where guards are automatically on alert. It simply cannot be helped but there is hope yet.

My advice is to forget about evading the guards, especially on higher difficulties where they are freakishly good at finding you, and just put them down. Literally, be that brutal.

One stun grenade will daze and or knock them on their collective asses and then its a simply point blank M37 shotgun blast to the face for each. Trick is, get rid of all the guards in the immediate area alerted to your presence and the alert will instantly disappear, or at least be drastically reduced in length.

Feel free to try and evade the guards, but I’d only advise it if they get a blue ‘!’ above their head, indicating that they saw something, but not sure what. If it’s red, make them dead.

As usual, any questions, gameplay or whatever, drop me a line. I’m pretty good with feedback. ManBeast out!

For more tips from the ManBeast, check out his Darksouls Article. For discussion about sequels, read his ManBeast and the Game: The Sequel. Or follow him on Twitter