Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

The Good
MGS2 has what other games attempt to create. While many game abroad attempt to immerse you with parlour tricks and rehashed storylines, MGS2 takes to the skies with truly interactive environments. What most games call easter eggs, MGS2 calls a real world. In this game, nothing is just as you see it and everything can be touched, prodded, poked or more importantly interacted with. In addition to this, the way the environment affects YOU is indeed a wonder to behold. As rain falls you get wet, when you go inside you get dry. Bright lights bothering your eyes? Never mind tactical espionage action, smash the lights because you've got the odd and undying urge to do so. MGS2 is not a rehash of the original although it may seem so, it is an adventure that rivals the greatest movies and stories around. Not only is the technology cutting edge (allowing for impressive effects), but a convincing environment (thanks to the technology), advanced artificial intelligence (which can only add to the environment), on top of one great storyline which continously keeps you guessing and immersed as any good conspiracy should. All these good points are the tip of the proverbial iceberg and MGS2 is a very very large iceberg.

From the very get-go Metal Gear Solid 2 is a rushing rollercoaster wherein you playing the role of a top-secret operative are racing against time to save the world from terrorists. Sounds familiar? Don't worry, it gets good as you delve deeper and deeper only to uncover one layer after another which forms the most incredible rabbit hole this side of your mind. No game to date has had so many plot twists or turns in such a basic form of gameplay. Nowhere in MGS2 will you find a flaw per-se, no area is without purpose, reason or relation to another. The whole of MGS2 makes perfect sense once the whole picture is revealed and the best part is that once the game is completed your mind will be played like you never expected. The story alone is that good. Not one for cut scenes? The sneaking, the action, the graphics, sound and environment might make up for it, but you'll have to be the judge of that. Myself personally? I bought the game based on my initial experiences in MGS.

The Bad
The only true downfalls to MGS2 are the learning curve and the linearity. However, once the game is understood it can be played and enjoyed by all. I have a brother, and I didn't think he would be capable considering he is only ten years old, however with a well-thought out variable difficulty the game can be adjusted to all ages. Though the gore factor may be an issue with younger audiences. The linearity is also a mild issue because while it is a one way game, there are far too many bonuses and sidetracks along the way to be discovered.

A side note may be that the game can be finished quickly as well. A total of fifteen gaming hours worth of effort were all I needed before I saw the ending credits. (Honestly I'm being nice, it took me twelve) Mind you I also took time to locate different items and this did consume additional time. Also, some challenges and puzzles may be a bit much for the mainstream gamer. MGS2 is not for the faint of mind or nerves.

The Bottom Line
Brilliantly written & directed by Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear Solid 2 rivals even the best Hollywood action movie and the story with all its overtones could put Stephen King in the bargain bin (I hope I'm not shot for that last comment). Simply put, if you don't buy this game, at least rent it and show yourself what you're missing. If nothing else rent it and watch your buddy who loves 'games like these' so you can see a great show. I promise anybody who plays this game, you will not be disappointed.

- I've personally never played Metal Gear, though I completed Metal Gear: Solid Snake with the Game Genie, and I've completed Metal Gear Solid in every way plausible. I'm still working on Metal Gear Solid 2's "easter eggs".

The Good
The refined gameplay is incredible, and you get to play as Solid Snake and Raiden saving Manhattan from a nuclear disaster involving the new model of Metal Gear: Rey.

It's got unexpected turns, some nice surprises here and there and the music is superbly fitting in this adventure.

The Bad
The story, while nicely complicated and thought-provoking, can be a little too weird and contrived at times, but it's still an enjoyable romp in New York making urgent commentary on the dangers of warfare and espionage affecting the world at large.

I guess what I said I liked about the story can also be applied for what I didn't like as well. It's nice and complex and layered in its story, but it tries a little TOO hard, and sometimes succeeds, in confusing and alienating the player.

The Bottom Line
It's the sequel to the original Metal Gear Solid, and it's a worthy if somewhat unexpected continuation of the story. It's like any sequel trying to expand the world of an original work: it strives to be a cog in a massive work and as gaming's equivalent of James Bond I say this game does exactly that.

The Good
This game improves on the strengths of the previous game's engine. The same stealth emphasis is here only now you have more abilities to use. Most notable is the addition of being able to peak around corners for a view of whats a head and being able to hang over the edge rails by your hands.

The AI is greatly improved over the first MGS game. If you are spotted then the enemy will radio for reinforcements. If you manage to kill a guard quietly you still need to vacate the area because when the guard fails to radio in its status report, other guards will arrive to investigate.

The graphics and animation in this game are fantastic. They really show off what the PS2 is capable of. I especially liked the fluid movement of the characters. While I have problems with the actual story presented in the cut scenes they are a technical high point. They are the best looking ones presented in any game I have played.

The Bad
Like the last game, this one is quite linear and very short. This game can be easily won in a weekend. If you've played it before and know what to do, it can be beat in a single day. Apart from seeing how fast you can beat it there is not really any replay value here.

While I earlier praised the AI of various guards you have to get by, the boss characters are not very well done. The strategy for beating them was basically finding a pattern for doing damage and then repeating until they were dead. These supposedly "climatic" battles were something I came to dread. The boss fights were dull slug it out fights. And did not compare to the tense, stealthy measures you had to employ against the lowly guards!

Adding to the game's lack of replay value are the very long cut scenes. You will spend as much time watching movies as playing the game! Its obvious that the creator of this series really wanted to be a movie director but ended up in video games. Watching long cut scenes would have been acceptable of the game's plot were not so terrible.

The story is bad, soap opera bad. I don't expect much from a video game plot but when you spend so much of the game learning about the story it should at least be tolerable. There is a basic thread of covert terrorists groups working to gain leverage over a corrupt U.S. government. That would have been fine but they had to throw in a lot of bad long lost brother-sister-father-son crap. Plus a trite bit about incest and suicide and an apprentice gone bad. All this would have been comical if it were not presented so seriously.

The Bottom Line
Metal Gear Solid 2 is fun weekend rental. I really enjoy the whole stealth aspect of the Metal Gear games. Its unfortunate that these games are short on actual play value and long on soap opera plotting.