With the release of MGS 4 nearing, I have gotten the urge to play MGS 3, which is the only game in the series I have never played. I can pick up the regular edition of MGS 3 at Gamestop for $10, but they want $25 for MGS 3: Substinence! I know for only $5 more they now got the MGS Essential collection with all 3 of the original games, but I am only interested in playing MGS 3.

I guess my question is how better is the 3rd person view camera in Substinence over the top down camera in the regular version? The 3rd person camera angle is really the only selling point for me on Substinence, other than maybe the fact that it has the theater where you can see all the cutscenes (but this is not a dealbreaker). So is the 3rd person camera is THAT much better to warrant the extra $$, or was that not really that great of an update?

With the release of MGS 4 nearing, I have gotten the urge to play MGS 3, which is the only game in the series I have never played. I can pick up the regular edition of MGS 3 at Gamestop for $10, but they want $25 for MGS 3: Substinence! I know for only $5 more they now got the MGS Essential collection with all 3 of the original games, but I am only interested in playing MGS 3.

I guess my question is how better is the 3rd person view camera in Substinence over the top down camera in the regular version? The 3rd person camera angle is really the only selling point for me on Substinence, other than maybe the fact that it has the theater where you can see all the cutscenes (but this is not a dealbreaker). So is the 3rd person camera is THAT much better to warrant the extra $$, or was that not really that great of an update?


It is a huge improvement, and will give you a feel from how MGS4 will play. It's similar to uncharted. Regular MGS3 will feel just like 1\2, but having the 3rd person view over the shoulder feels much better.

Do you have any PS3\PS2 games you don't mind getting rid of and could trade in? Maybe check out Goozex, and you could trade for a copy. I'm pretty sure they have quite a few copies ready to trade.

one of the reasons i didn't pick up previous MGS games was because of the camera. introducing the TP camera in MGS3 subsistence is the main reason why i jumped into the MGS series in the first place. because the story was so interesting, i ended up buying the other MGS games.

anyway, personally, i really liked the new camera angle.

Does anyone know how long they will ofer the "Essential Collection"? I almost picked it up today, but wasn't sure. I don't want to buy it unless I know for sure I can put time into the games.

the third person camera really is nice, plus it will get you ready even more for MGS4 because the camera is similar. another reason to get subsistence is because you get the original metal gear and metal gear 2 with it, which i thought was pretty cool. either way, MGS3 is not one to be missed, its an excellent game.

Do either edition play in 16:9?

Do either edition play in 16:9?

No, but I played through with the fullscreen option from the PS3 enabled. Wasn't distorted too bad.

Well I trucked over to my local Gamestop and forked over $29.99 for the Metal Gear Essentials Collection which for $5 more than MGS3 alone I got all 3 MGS games and the 2nd and 3rd games are the special edition versions (Substance and Substinence). I can't wait to crack it open and start playing. Thanks for all the help guys.

I got one last question though, where in the ps3 settings do I set "fullscreen" mode so I can play these games in widescreen (yes I know they are stretched, but I hate side bars)

Go into Game Settings, second column of icons on the XMB, and it's under upscaling. Your options and Normal and Full. Some TVs have a stretch mode that only stretches the sides of the picture to fill the screen. You'd be better off using that if it's an option.

I just got finished playing all three games again and they really hold up well, even the first.

I guess my question is how better is the 3rd person view camera in Substinence over the top down camera in the regular version? The 3rd person camera angle is really the only selling point for me on Substinence, other than maybe the fact that it has the theater where you can see all the cutscenes (but this is not a dealbreaker). So is the 3rd person camera is THAT much better to warrant the extra $$, or was that not really that great of an update?


YES. It is absolutely worth it. I originally bought MGS3 and couldn't stand playing it (and I'm a huge fan of the series). The camera is horrible in the outdoor environments. So I went out on a limb and bought Subsistence. It made the game much less frustrating because you could actually see your surrounding environment.

The top-down view in MGS1 and 2 isn't a problem since the majority of gameplay is indoors. Once they brought the game outdoors, the top-down view became useless. Hence, the 3rd person view of Subsistence is such a monumental upgrade.

I liked MGS1, but couldn't get into 2. I think it had a lot to do with the camera. When MGS3-S came out I took a chance and loved it.

Go into Game Settings, second column of icons on the XMB, and it's under upscaling. Your options and Normal and Full. Some TVs have a stretch mode that only stretches the sides of the picture to fill the screen. You'd be better off using that if it's an option.

So are you saying using the stretching option on my TV is better than using the stretch option on the PS3? What is the difference? Also I have the original 60gb version that actually has the Emotion Engine chip inside of it so I know it is unable to do upscaling. Don't know if this has any effect or not since you mentioned going into the "upscaling" settings section.

The top-down view in MGS1 and 2 isn't a problem since the majority of gameplay is indoors. Once they brought the game outdoors, the top-down view became useless. Hence, the 3rd person view of Subsistence is such a monumental upgrade.

I think you summed it up well. I had no problem playing MGS 2 from top down view so I thought MGS 3 wouldn't be a big deal. But when I played the MGS 3 demo a while back I kept dying, and I think you hit the spot when saying it doesn't work because of the outdoor settings.

No, 60gb PS3s can do upscaling. IIRC the patch for upscaling came out well before either the 40s or 80s came out.

P.S. I bought MGS3 when it came out and couldn't play it. The top-down view was too awkward. Never got Subsistence, though.

So are you saying using the stretching option on my TV is better than using the stretch option on the PS3? What is the difference? Not every TV offers this but some can scale the picture so only the left and right edges of the picture are stretched out to fill the screen, leaving the center of the picture looking normal. With the PS3 scaling the whole picture to 16:9 everything will look slightly squashed. Not a huge deal but something to keep in mind.

Well since my PS3 is outputting widescreen, my TV detects this and does not allow me to use the TV's option for stretching the image so I have to use the PS3 "fullscreen" mode. What is quite annoying is that the picture doesn't even stretch to fit the entire screen, so there are maybe 1" or 2" wide black bars on the side of the picture. I guess its not the end of the world but it would be nice if it actually filled the screen all the way sideways. I am happy to report I played for 4 hrs last night and so far so good (except ps2 games look like crap on a 56" dlp)