• Review: Metal Gear Solid 2


    Single Issue XII (Written by
    IlluminatiRex)




    Even if a pawn becomes a queen, it is still just a playing piece...


    Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty Reviewers Note: Played on the PlayStation 3 in the Metal Gear Solid Legacy Collection.

    I played this directly after finishing the first game, not really knowing what to expect. What I got was something that I consider to be even better (That said, while it's mechanically and technically better - it's hard for me to pick my favorite game in the series). Right off the bat, Hideo Kojima improved nearly every aspect of the first game. For starters, now you have non-lethal ways to complete the game. You can also hold up guards to get their Dog-Tag and then an item such as ammo (and some even resist at first)! A neat detail is that if you hold up a guard with a gun with no ammunition, they will attack you if you pull the trigger and just hear the “click” from there being no ammo. Little details like that help bring Metal Gear Solid 2 to life.


    Solid Snake infiltrating the Tanker

    The graphics, going from the Playstation 1 era to the Playstation 2 era, have obviously improved. The gameplay is still similar to the first game, as it is an overhead view, however you can now aim in First Person mode and can lean out from cover to shoot. As well, you can hide bodies (or yourself) in lockers, drag them around, among a variety of other actions. This is what sequels are supposed to be, something that greatly improves upon the aspects of the prior game, while retaining the good stuff. Not to mention the updated controls which can be off-putting to new players. The buttons on the Playstation 2 controller (and Playstation 3 controller) are pressure sensitive which allows for a wider range of inputs. For example, holding down the Square button with a pistol out makes Snake aim it. Letting go of the Square button quickly makes him fire it, but letting it go slowly makes him holster it. This also applies to the shoulder buttons which allow you to lean out from cover, or within a locker either a lot or a little, and everywhere in between.


    An example of the new style Codec Calls

    To truly understand MGS2 and its impact, you have to back to before the game was released. This was seen as THE gaming event of the century; it’s commonly quoted as being the most hyped up game ever. People were excited, and marketing was EXTREMELY careful in what they released. In fact, all the trailers and game info that was released prior to its release was all of the first portion of the game - The Tanker mission (and the parts that weren't were edited to have Solid Snake in them). Even the demo disk that was sent out was of the Tanker mission. People were excited to play as Solid Snake again and see where his adventure took him.


    Solid Snake after getting pictures of a new type of Metal Gear

    I had mentioned the “Tanker Mission” earlier; Metal Gear Solid 2 is separated into two parts. First is the Tanker Mission, and the second part know as the “Big Shell Incident”. The Tanker Mission takes place in 2007 near Manhattan on the Hudson river, and reveals that Solid Snake and Otacon have founded an Anti-Metal Gear organization named “Philanthropy”, and are labeled as terrorists by some due to their activities. Snake is infiltrating a tanker in which the United States Marines Corps are transporting a new variety of Metal Gear; Metal Gear RAY, which is designed to destroy other Metal Gear units. Snake is not looking to destroy it, but to document evidence of it. How awesome is that, and players knew of this well before going in. They were so excited to see what would happen to our hero and his documentation. Where would he go after this? What exactly did Kojima have in store for players after the tanker? Wait, Snake dies on the Tanker? What just happened?

    The Tanker Mission ends with Solid Snake drowning in the Hudson River. To really understand this game and what Kojima was going for you have to think of how hyped people were for this game, and how excited they were to play as Solid Snake again! And then Kojima just rips it away from them - ruining their expectations. The game then fast forwards a couple of years to 2009, where the second part of the story begins. Dead Cell, which was a former Navy SEAL’s Anti-Terrorist unit, has taken over the Big Shell clean-up facility. The facility was built to cleanup the environmental mess that was caused by the Tanker sinking in 2007, and the official story is even that Solid Snake did it! The CIA called upon Jack, otherwise known by his codename of Raiden to infiltrate the facility, save the President, and take out Dead Cell. And Raiden isn’t a cool looking hero like Solid Snake, he was long blonde hair and a pretty face - and a higher pitched voice. He isn’t your traditional hero in the slightest, and he hadn’t even ever experienced actual combat - just VR training.
    Players of the day felt betrayed by Kojimia, who had led fans to believe that Raiden never even existed. Kojimia actually did this to prove a point, and that was to not get overly hyped for games, and also ties in with the one of the game’s overall themes: substance, as Raiden is a relatively blank character.


    Raiden makes his grand enterence onto the Big Shell facility.

    Dead Cell, much like FOXHOUND of the first game, is made up by memorable characters. Characters such as Vamp (A vampire), and Fortune (A woman who can not be killed by weapons), and Fatman (An explosives expert). While I don’t think the boss battle’s are as creative as Psycho Mantis’s, they are still extremely good. The story definitely feels a lot like Metal Gear Solid’s, of course, there is a reason - and again ties into Kojima’s ruse of tricking players and the themes of the game. It’s a huge twist, and the entire ending was just mind boggling, but in a good way. When I was done I had to actually think about what happened - because the game tackled a lot of deep and complex themes; Memetics, and substance are the big ones, however smaller themes such as incest are brought up at points in the story. This wasn’t nearly as “simple” a story as MGS1 (even though that was twist filled; it was a tad more basic), and added a lot to the MGS mythos and lore. It’s a much more complex beast than the first game, but I think that overall is a good thing.


    Fatman, one of the game's bosses

    Similar to the previous game, Metal Gear Solid 2 is cutscene heavy, with one even lasting nearly 30 minutes. They are beautifully animated and voice acting is fantastic and helps bring to life the characters. Although, there are a lot of cutscenes, and you seem to get interuppted by them at every moment - which for some can be a major detractor. The Codec is also back, and functions the same (although there are little Easter Eggs in it; such as being able to move the character portraits around during Codec Calls). Even with the amount of Codec Calls and cutscenes, there is definitely more gameplay in MGS2, and as I said earlier, much of the gameplay is refined from the previous game with the new features that were added. Other than those new features, gameplay is pretty much just like Metal Gear Solid’s: Avoiding enemies, and making sure you don’t get spotted. It’s just as satisfying as it was in Metal Gear Solid, and the added tricks can make for some interesting scenarios. There’s nothing bad I can really say about it because it’s good and it works really well. The writing and humor are both top notch as well; albeit with some weird issues that I had with the previous game - mainly some lines getting lost in translation or just being campy. But again; the camp adds to series and is what helps make it special (I mean for god’s sake, Fatman, one of the bosses is a fat guy on rollerblades in a blast suit).


    Raiden using the new first person aiming

    Metal Gear Solid 2 definitely divides opinions among fans of the series, mainly because Raiden’s introduction and the story. However, I greatly enjoyed the game, as it was more of the Tactical Espionage Action that was promised. I felt the story was engaging and really good, and it holds up 13 years later. I can easily recommend Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of the Patriots, especially if you play Metal Gear Solid first.

    The game is available for the Playstation 2 in it’s Original and “Substance” version; the Playstation 3 on the PSN, HD Collection, and Legacy Collection; PC with the “Substance” (not recommended) version; Xbox with the “Substance” version; and the Xbox 360 in the HD Collection.