Series : Metal Gear
Original Developer : Konami
Port Developer : Konami
:
Genre : Stealth games
Themes : Cyberspace
Military
Other Tags : 2007
2009
Port of :
Metal Gear Solid 2 (2001 PS2)
Part of Collection :
Metal Gear Solid HD (360)
Achievements : trueachievements.comCOMPLETED
The original Metal Gear Solid (1998), directed by Hideo Kojima, was one of the most interesting and well-made games for the PlayStation. You played as a badass secret operative, Solid Snake, infiltrating a base, sneaking past or killing enemies and fighting against over-the-top boss characters. The sequel from 2001 was very highly anticipated, and its trailers generated extreme excitement among fans. The trailers, the cover, and all the press coverage never revealed the very subversive choices made for the story of this game.
The storytelling subversion is so profound that the whole game seems carefully structured around it. Like its predecessor, the fourth wall is constantly broken. The game seems very forward thinking for 2001, and it even concludes with questions about the nature of reality and truth.
The way the story is told is my least favourite part, but I was interested enough to suffer through constant interruptions in the form of voice calls, performed with stiff voice acting and repetetive dialogue.
Regardless of expectations, this game is a technical marvel. For example, this game has realistic reflections (not screen-space), and simulates eye adaption to light intensity.
Image source: xbox.com
Facts
- The water where Raiden first enters the plant has Thermal Googles in it.
- The AK-74u is in the lower level of Strut F, and requires a Level 2 keycard.
- R1 is first person free aim, L1 is lock to target.
- Lie down to cure bleeding.
- This game seems to have location-based damage on the enemies. Shoot them in the arm, and they can't use it anymore.
- This game has an early example of simulated eye adaptation. When you enter the Plant interior from the outside, the scene will be dark at first, then become brighter after a little while.
- You can equip a box and jump on the conveyor belt in Strut E to quicktravel.
- In classic PS1 fashion, you can return to main menu by holding LT+RT+LB+RB+Option+Menu.
- You can fire a Stinger missile and then lock on while it's in the air. Very useful for the RAYs.
- The final corridor fight alongside Solid Snake determines your equipment for the Metal Gear RAY fight. You get 1 Ration after this fight, you should try to get through it with 4.
- The Metal Gear RAYs are quicker to kill if you hit them in the leg first and then the head.
- Olga's child is Sunny from MGS4. Sunny was taken from Olga by The Patriots and injected with nanomachines that would kill her if Raiden died. This forced Olga to cooperate with Raiden. She was later rescued by Solid Snake.
Analysis
- I didn't finish the game yet, but I think I have mostly formed my opinion on this game. I think MGS2 is incredibly impressive in its graphics, to the point of pushing the boundaries of the medium in 2001, and exceptional in the level of detail of its systems, something it has in common with the other games in the series. The story it tries to tell is ambitious and has political and philosophical aspects unlike anything in the medium for years to come.
- However, there are things I don't like at all, which makes this drop down below a bunch of other games in the series. The pacing is my biggest problem. It is almost intolerable how often you are interrupted by codec conversations, and the quality of the character writing and the acting does not at all live up to the sheer amount of it. I would most certainly like the game way more if the codec conversations were cut down to a quarter. The characters are interesting, some of them interesting in a way rarely seen before in the medium, but they are mostly unlikable and incredibly awkwardly portrayed. Raiden is especially hard to listen to. I do realize that the standard for acting in video games at the time set a pretty low bar that this game easily jumped over.
- I actually enjoy the info-dumps and cutscenes, because the story is so fun and crazy, but the character interactions ruin it for me.
- But then, when you're *playing* the game instead of listening to dialogue, it's a different story. The game perfectly balances carefully designed encounters with an impressive room for experimentation with a large selection of equipment. Again, this is something the games in this series mostly do incredibly well. However, enjoyable as it can be to experiment with the systems, certain key actions are too difficult to execute. A good example is: standing against a wall, moving to the edge of the wall, jumping out and shooting someone. This is possible, and incredibly useful in this stealth action game. Executing it is tricky, though: First you must equip your gun with RT if you haven't already, then hold the stick in the direction of the wall and keep it there, use LT/RT to shimmy along the wall and peek out, then hold X to jump out with the gun and then, while holding X, hold RB to free-aim, aim for the head, and release X to shoot. It's almost too much to ask, although it is very satisfying when you nail it.
Article: A Critique of Metal Gear Storylines
After reading the MGS2 story summary in the book 'Metal Gear Solid: Hideo Kojima's Magnum Opus', I started thinking about the problems I have with the Metal Gear storylines in general and the MGS2 story in particular.
Read more...
Quotes
- Raiden, turn the game console off right now!
- Infiltrate the enemy fortress Outer Heaven! Destroy the final weapon Metal Gear!
FISSION MAILED
. I love the fake game over screens.- The A.I. Campbell and Rose:
The untested truths spun by different interests continue to churn and accumulate in the sandbox of political correctness and value systems. Everyone withdraws into their own small gated community, afraid of a larger forum. They stay inside their little ponds, leaking whatever 'truth' suits them into the growing cesspool of society at large. The different cardinal truths neither clash nor mesh. No one is invalidated, but nobody is right. Not even natural selection can take place here. The world is being engulfed in 'truth.' And this is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper.
