METAL GEAR SOLID 3: PS2 Best Graphics
42Extensive, edited graphics showcase with text commentary for METAL GEAR SOLID 3: SNAKE EATER PS2 version on PCSX2 (2004), Hideo Kojima's magnum opus running at 4K. Emulator accuracy and performance have drastically improved, and the game looks almost identical to the original, save for a few slightly inaccurate effects and framebuffer misalignments (due to be fixed).
This video is more of a tribute to the mind-boggling amount of work KojiPro poured into this masterpiece of a game, coupled that with beastly Playstation 2 hardware, which the team has evidently mastered. While MGS2 was a revolutionary title, MGS3 improved the graphics twofold or even threefold, and while MGS2 ran at 60 FPS -- this game does too, but not always. In heavier areas it's 30, in less intense segments it goes up to 60. There are 60 FPS patches available, too.
While it's true that Bluepoint did a stellar job on the HD Collection remasters, they simply don't compare to the original in graphical terms, from textures, lighting quality and post-processing such as rain, to camera synchronization -- 60 FPS results in incorrect, "weightless" animation, while the PS2 version uses a weird technique that slows down the camera frames at certain moments, giving a sense of weight, or for cinematic purposes like slo-mo introductions (Ocelot scene is a good example). Cloth physics have suffered in HD, too.
On top of having an blurry anti-aliasing filter which cannot be turned off.
I did NOT expect the game to look even half as good, despite having played it on real PS2 hardware before, the 480i resolution limits the amount of visible detail, and this game is filled to the brim with it. This also explains why emulation was so demanding and inaccurate due to sophisticated VFX, up until now! It's almost as if the developers were building a 7th generation game for a 6th generation console, the animation work alone beats most games EVEN TODAY. *coughs in Forspoken*
The PS2 was a mighty console with alien architecture, and the strongest of the 6th generation. A custom EE CPU, superfast VRAM type (eDRAM, later utilized by Microsoft for Xbox 360!), dual Vector Units and Graphics Synthesizer (not even a proper GPU), it could do wonders with its insane bandwidth and fillrate on a software renderer, with proper optimization of course! While Xbox and Gamecube had a 1 year advantage, and still don't offer a single game even close to this quality, save for maybe Resident Evil 4. Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 on Xbox were severe downgrades and performed poorly, so they do not count. Hell, even HL2 on PC seldom has the texture quality seen in MGS3, even if textures aren't MGS3's strongest aspect. Shader-based hardware was weaker and more demanding than PS2's techniques, and as a PC player since 1999, I can confirm this.
Rant aside, this is easily in my top 10 best video game list, from graphics to extensively motion captured animation work, to pristine sound quality across the entire board, no sound effect or music sample is compressed on this PS2 title. Everything sounds lossless, feels real thanks to fluid game mechanics and realism, and looks like an animated Bob Ross painting. I have nostalgia overdrive from this...
The jungle noises are genuine as they were recorded with high quality microphones, so the game offers therapeutic value as well. The beautiful, vivid color palette, flora and fauna contribute to this.
This is the Subsistence version, allowing for third person camera. I spent a lot of time recording, editing and rendering this, so please make good use of that 4K 60 FPS option!