Check out our video review:
The first Metal Gear Solid was a huge hit and is considered one of the greatest games of all time. I think it was a gateway to the stealth genre for many players and its cinematic style made it unique for its time. Metal Gear Solid is often credited with popularizing the stealth genre and was an influence for some other stealth franchises. The game did spawn a sequel, Metal Gear Solid 2, and its showing at E3 in 2000 was apparently so impressive that it became one of the most anticipated games for the PlayStation 2 in 2001 and the trailer shown at E3 was distributed on DVD exclusively in Japan.
Developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and published by Konami, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was released for PlayStation 2 in November, 2001. An expanded edition titled Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance was released the following year for PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC. A remastered version of Substance was included in the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for PlayStation 3, Vita, and Xbox 360. For this review, I played the HD version for PlayStation 3. I chose this version because it’s HD and because the game was originally designed to utilize pressure sensitive buttons which the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 controllers have. Regardless, I did install the PC version just to check it out.
As you can probably guess, I did consult the game’s PCGamingWiki page before installing and learned that the original retail version has compatibility issues with many video cards. A lot of the issues were fixed in the GoG release but, unfortunately, as of this review, the GoG release has been delisted. I was lucky enough to buy it before it was taken down so that’s the version I installed and it does seem to run fine in my experience. I would recommend installing MGS2 V’s Fix which comes with numerous fixes and supports Xbox 360 and DualShock 4 controllers.
One element of the story that was kept a secret before release was the protagonist switch. The player assumes the role of returning protagonist Solid Snake in the prologue but the rest of the game puts the player in the shoes of Raiden, a new recruit in the reformed FOXHOUND unit. The prologue is set in 2007 and shows Snake infiltrating a tanker carrying a new Metal Gear model, RAY, which is eventually stolen by returning antagonist Revolver Ocelot. The rest of the story is set in 2009 and follows Raiden as he infiltrates an environmental cleanup facility called Big Shell which has been seized by a terrorist faction known as the Sons of Liberty which consist of Dead Cell, a former special forces unit, and Russian mercenaries. The terrorists have taken hostages, including the President of the United States, and threaten to destroy the facility if their demands are not met. As Raiden explores the facility, he discovers that all is not as it seems and learns of a conspiracy involving artificial intelligence and a group known as The Patriots.
The plot does become a bit of a mindfuck as you approach the end but, overall, I thought it was pretty good. A little bizarre at times, but good. Metal Gear Solid 2 is another showcase for a cinematic style presentation, undoubtedly due to series creator Hideo Kojima and his passion for cinema. This is another game with a lot of exposition dumps, long interactions and cut scenes and moments that break the fourth wall. For the most part, the cut scenes are well directed and edited, making for an entertaining watch, but I can’t say I care for the frequent use of the motion blur effect. I also don’t care for some of the scene changes during certain moments. For example, a dramatic moment will come up and then the game switches to a camera showing the outside of the facility as you hear the characters interacting.
One thing I found a little odd is how characters will often switch from speaking face to face to speaking via the codec with the explanation that it’s “more secure” despite the fact they still appear to be speaking out loud. Not only that, the game will switch between speaking via the codec and face-to-face, sometimes multiple times during an interaction. I did do some research and apparently the theory is the codec allows users to talk silently somehow. But in the end, some of these interactions seem like the developers just did not want to or could not animate them. Since most of the cut scenes are well directed and animated, the random shots of scenery at pivotal moments and characters bouncing between face-to-face and codec interactions noticeably stand out and sometimes feel out of place.
The plot touches on many themes including social engineering, censorship, and existentialism among others and interestingly enough, in some ways it did accurately predict the future. Needless to say, I found the plot compelling, entertaining and very interesting even if things do get a bit convoluted. The game does a good job fleshing out most of its major characters but I can’t say I like Raiden as much as Snake. He does come across as an idiot at times. Characters will often go on rants and tangents, dumping information and drama, sometimes seemingly at random and very little of what is conveyed is actually subtle. Almost everything including the more dramatic elements like what a character is feeling is explained in great detail and I found this does make some interactions come across as overly dramatic and unintentionally humorous and silly.
Substance is the expanded version of Metal Gear Solid 2. This means it comes with additional content including the Missions mode and the unlockable Boss Survival Mode, Casting Theater, and European Extreme difficulty. But the Skateboarding minigame exclusive to the PS2 version was omitted. It also comes with Snake Tales, a set of missions that follow Solid Snake. According to my research, these are the result of the negative reception towards Raiden. Unfortunately, they are not of the same production value as the main plot. They don’t feature cut scenes or new voice work and some feel more like a rehash of events from the main story but with Snake instead of Raiden as the protagonist.
The Missions mode consists of VR and Alternative Missions. Each stage or challenge requires you to complete a specific objective and the different sub-modes focus on different things ranging from sneaking objectives to bomb disposal to elimination and there’s even a first-person sub-mode which is pretty cool, although the controls took me a bit to get used to. You can play as Snake or Raiden and try for record scores and times in the many challenges this mode has to offer. Much like the VR Missions from the first game, these can get repetitive after a while but there is quite a bit of content here.
Metal Gear Solid 2 is a stealth game but you can shoot your way through areas if you so desire. Overall, I think the gameplay is an improvement over it’s predecessor but the controls are cumbersome. Some buttons do multiple things and I would often fumble around the controller, especially in the beginning. Both Snake and Raiden control the same and can perform the same actions, albeit with some different animations. Metal Gear Solid 2 does introduce a lot of improvements and cool new features. You can climb onto things, aim and shoot in the first-person view, manually lock onto targets, peek around corners, jump out from cover to shoot, hide in lockers, and even hide bodies in lockers.
One of my favorite new features is holding up enemies. To do this, you must sneak up on a foe and aim your gun at him to make him put his hands up. The enemy may shake out a dog tag that acts as a form of collectible but some foes aren’t so eager give them up so you might have to threaten them. You can also shake items out of bodies but I don’t like how the game handles it. You have to pick up the body and drop them, sometimes repeatedly to get the items. It’s just a little tedious. Much like the first game, there’s a lot to unlock here and beating it with certain amounts of dog tags will unlock different things.
Stealth works pretty much like it did in the previous game. To remain undetected, you’ll need to stay quiet and out of sight and if you’re spotted, enemies will come after you. It is wise to hide bodies when possible and you can shoot enemy radios so they can’t call for reinforcements. When you are discovered, enemies enter an alert status and reinforcements will often arrive, usually heavily armored soldiers and/or soldiers carrying shields. Once discovered, you can try to evade enemies or take them all out and I do think the time it takes for enemies to return to the normal status is a little on the long side which can sometimes be annoying. When you beat the game, you will receive a code name based on your actions during the playthrough and as expected, to get the best possible code name, you’ll need to be as fast and stealthy as possible.
As mentioned before, the controls can be cumbersome and I found myself inadvertently pressing the wrong button numerous times which was frustrating. The inventory system still kind of sucks but at least this time you don’t need to switch between key cards to open doors. Once you have them, you can simply walk through their associated doors. The camera is something I disliked more and more the further I progressed. You’ll get to view the action at different angles depending on where the protagonist is located and you can’t rotate it around him. So often times you can’t see around you at more ideal angles or a certain distance ahead of you unless you peek around a corner or look in first-person which requires stopping and possibly exposing yourself. Luckily, you can reference the radar to see if enemies are nearby assuming it’s available, not jammed, or turned off. The radar is only visible for Raiden after he activates a node and each area or section has it’s own node that you have to find. But until I found them, I would have to rely on the camera, peeking, first-person view, and the AP Sensor to see my surroundings and detect nearby enemies and, honestly, I found sneaking around like this to be extremely frustrating after a while.
I admit I’m definitely used to a more modern camera and control scheme. The camera work in Metal Gear Solid 2 will require patience from the player. Seriously. Without the radar, if you don’t take things extremely slow and use the appropriate equipment, you can easily get detected and it’s very possible to be discovered by enemies you simply can’t see or didn’t know were around the corner or patrolling nearby. Often times because the camera angle renders it impossible to see exactly what you want to see. And this is only compounded by the cumbersome controls. One wrong move or button press, which can happen easily if you’re not used to the controls, can result in detection. It really drove me up a wall sometimes because some areas aren’t even heavily populated with enemies, so I can’t say they’re challenging but I found them frustrating to navigate because of the limited vision and having to stop to look around is not always ideal. It’s also worth mentioning that if you play on the European Extreme difficulty, getting spotted results in a game over. We found a mod currently in the works (as of this review, anyway) for the PC version that lets you play the game with the camera from Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence.
Despite my issues with the camera, I was able to deal with it and get the hang of things and I admit that once I got used to the controls, Metal Gear Solid 2 was a joy to play for the most part. When I wasn’t fumbling around the controller, sneaking around, dropping foes and holding them up was a lot of fun. Much like the first game, there’s a lot of little details and touches that make for fun, tense, and even what I’ll call immersive situations. You can spray coolant to not only neutralize bombs but also put out fires and make bugs scatter. When enemies are down, you can hear their commanding officer radio them and when he doesn’t get a response, reinforcements are dispatched to investigate. If you press a certain button during codec interactions, you can hear the protagonist’s inner thoughts. You can take enemies as shields and other foes will be hesitant to shoot at you. Snake and Raiden can hang and shimmy along ledges but only for as long as their grip lasts. If you manage to do enough pull ups, you can increase the grip gauge. Both protagonists can bleed out, as in they will slowly lose health, but you can consume rations to replenish health or apply bandages to stop the bleeding. Furthermore, some of their health will replenish when they are lying down.
Snake and Raiden will get their hands on plenty of weapons and equipment to aid them during their missions. Much of the equipment will be familiar to series veterans and all the items on offer allow for multiple ways to approach situations. You can distract enemies with adult magazines and empty gun magazines, shoot cameras or use Chaff Grenades to temporarily disable them, sneak around in cardboard boxes, and kill or knockout foes or simply try to sneak past them. There’s always a way to get passed obstacles without resorting to shooting your way through. Sometimes the game does throw you into hostile situations but for the most part, there’s always ways to get through areas undetected.
The gunplay does feel good in both the third and first-person viewpoints although I do feel some weapons sound a little weak when fired. The protagonists will be able to utilize lethal firearms as well as guns that fire tranquilizer rounds that will knock foes out instead of kill them. The environments are mostly linear with a lot of corridors and areas with rooms off to the sides. You’ll get to crawl through ducts, take elevators to different floors, and backtrack every now and again. Exploration will lead you to items including weapons, equipment, ammo, and rations and if you don’t explore, you may miss certain things that can prove to be helpful. Enemy soldiers are the primary threats you’ll face and will often be found patrolling the numerous areas but you will also have to be mindful of cameras, lasers, claymores and Cyphers which are UAVs that fly around.
As expected, at certain points you will need certain items to progress and listening to interactions and contacting the appropriate NPCs via the codec are a good way to ensure you don’t get stuck. Metal Gear Solid 2 does include several bosses and I felt the boss battles here are a little easier than those in the previous game. On the Normal difficulty, that is. Many of them do feel somewhat creative, requiring certain strategies for success. But I can’t say there’s any battle as memorable as the fight against Psycho Mantis, just simply in terms of how the boss must be defeated but I did enjoy most of the battles here. The only one I didn’t care for is the fight against Vamp. If you don’t figure out the proper strategy or most efficient methods, the fight will just drag on.
For the most part, I would say this is a decent HD remaster. Some textures do appear noticeably blurry, especially when viewed up close but that’s the only real eyesore I can think of. Much of the presentation consists of shades of blues and greens with some tan here and there so I can’t say Metal Gear Solid 2 is a super colorful game but the environments are detailed, the character and weapon models look nice, and the animations are solid. As for the audio, most of the sound work is good but as mentioned before, I do think some weapons sound weak when fired like the M4. Now this is another entry with a great soundtrack. You’ll hear a lot of moody and ambient tunes and more dramatic and intense stuff that kicks in during certain encounters or when you get spotted and I felt the music really adds to the game’s cinematic quality. On the technical side, this HD version ran smooth most of the time with only a few dips here and there but it did crash on me once.
Ultimately, I enjoyed Metal Gear Solid 2 more than the previous games. Despite the cumbersome controls and my issues with the camera, I think it’s the best game in the series up to this point. This is definitely one of the more interesting plots I’ve ever experienced in a video game. I did find some aspects of the story to be bizarre, some elements seem overly dramatic to the point they come across as humorous, and I can’t say Raiden is my favorite protagonist but, overall, I was impressed with the plot and writing. It actually made me think and there’s a lot of memorable characters here along with many quotable lines. The series brand of stealth or “tactical espionage action” is in full force here with many refinements, new additions and improvements and there’s plenty of content to keep the player coming back. But even without the other game modes, I feel the story does offer a good amount of replay value on its own. From the numerous difficulty levels to the dog tags to the different approaches to trying for the best code name or rank. Plus, the amount of items and equipment on offer allow for multiple ways to approach situations and overcome obstacles so each playthrough can be somewhat different. It’s also the kind of game you can replay and find new stuff like easter eggs and little details that you may have missed the first time around.
I would absolutely recommend Metal Gear Solid 2. It’s a great title in the Metal Gear franchise and I would even say it was ahead of its time in many respects. The story is compelling, the gameplay is fun, and everything that gives these games their unique charm can be found here including numerous fourth wall breaking moments and some interesting equipment. Definitely check it out.