Collection essentials #487 & #488: Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (PS2 & Xbox)
And now for what I consider one of the greatest video games ever made.
Metal Gear Solid on the original PlayStation had recently set a new bar for cinematic-style storytelling in games, with a gripping plot, interesting characters, and fully-voiced dialogue. But it was still limited in some aspects by the PlayStation’s hardware limitations, which is incredibly evident if you so much as look at the faces of the characters. With the new and much-more-powerful PS2, there was so much more potential. And Konami wasn’t going to waste time making their big new Metal Gear Solid sequel (which everyone knew was coming due to a hint at the very end of the previous game).
The game first released on PS2 only in November of 2001 under the title “Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty”. A year later, an updated version called “Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance” came out for the Xbox, which added new content, most notably dozens of “VR missions” for people who enjoy gameplay which contribute many hours of play time. Substance would come to the PS2 a few months later, with an amusing bonus skateboarding minigame.
This is a very story-heavy game that quickly became well-known for having some very long cutscenes. This did turn some players off, and the story wasn’t to everybody’s liking for various reasons. Now, sadly, I want to avoid spoilers in this blog so I can’t discuss the story in depth. One thing I do feel is okay to mention is the issue of the game’s protagonist. Promotional material before the game’s release let players to believe that you play as the same character as the previous Metal Gear games, that being Solid Snake. You do start out this game playing as Snake, but after completing the initial mission, the game jumps further in time and then you’re suddenly playing as a completely different character named Raiden (rhymes with “Biden”). Raiden has a very different personality and some players disliked him, further upset that they were apparently deceived. I’m okay mentioning this because it doesn’t come off as a big spoiler if you simply play the game without context, as it was more of an advertising secret rather than an in-game one.
But if you ask me and very many others, this game’s story is downright brilliant. And Raiden works very well as the main character, and in fact the story simply wouldn’t be the same if Snake were in his shoes instead. Again, I can’t really give details, but the story is far ahead of its time, as it tackles themes of things like artificial intelligence and fake news/echo chambers among others back in the very early days of the internet, and in a way that’s very thought-provoking. This was freakin’ 2001 before social media was even really a concept, and it feels downright prophetic that it saw problems coming with developing technology which hardly anyone was taking seriously in those times. Metal Gear Solid 2 has aged like fine wine.
With the story being such a big deal, I’m happy to say that they didn’t neglect the gameplay. Metal Gear Solid 2 also plays far better than the previous game. Like that one, this is largely a stealth-based action game where you generally want to avoid getting into fights (because reinforcements will come and overwhelm you if you do), though you will have to battle an occasional boss. Right off the bat MGS2 feels much better to control, which is helped by the fact that it was designed for a joystick rather than a d-pad. Possibly the biggest change to the gameplay is the ability to shoot in first-person view. MGS1 had a first-person button, but you couldn’t actually do anything while holding it other than look around. But now, while in first-person, you can take out, aim and fire a gun, which provides huge and very welcome changes to gameplay.
I’m not going to list every single change and addition to gameplay because that’s too much. But there are many moves, items/weapons and techniques that add a lot of spice to gameplay. The developers had a lot of attention to detail and made many significant and/or interactable elements in the game’s environments, some of which are frivolous while many are significant. The AI of the enemy soldiers was made quite a bit better this time around, too. And multiple difficulty levels help give the game replay value.
In terms of the two versions of the game presented here, the PS2 version is generally considered superior. In addition to having a bonus minigame, the Xbox version has a bit of slowdown for the first mission of the game while outdoors in the rain, which doesn’t really ruin anything but is nonetheless a notable difference. There is also a difference in how the Xbox version controls, as first-person mode is handled differently. On PS2 you hold down the R1 button to switch to first-person. Xbox didn’t have the extra shoulder button for that, so instead you press down (not hold) the left joystick to switch to and from first-person mode. I’m only really including both of these versions because I’m a big fan and because I have a history with this game on both PS2 and Xbox.
Speaking of history, I knew people back in the day who enjoyed Metal Gear, and in 2004 at age 14 was when I first gave it a try for myself. At that time I grabbed a remake of MGS1 that had just come out (which I haven’t covered in this blog yet), and when I got my PS2 that spring I grabbed MGS2: Sons of Liberty as one of my first games. I didn’t grab Substance, because I wasn’t aware of the version differences back then, plus Sons of Liberty was more widely available and only cost a few bucks at GameStop. So I first played Sons of Liberty on PS2 that year, and then a few months later when I got an Xbox I chose to grab Substance for it since it was cheaper and easier to find than Substance on PS2. I played through the story a second time on the Xbox version, plus I completed all the VR missions, and that took quite a while.
As I went through adulthood, my memory of MGS2 became fuzzier than it should have been and it was apparent that it was really due for a revisit. I played a newer HD version of the game and immensely enjoyed it, able to appreciate the story to a greater extent. The game was cemented then as one of my all-time favorites. And despite having tons of other games to play, I certainly do think I will be replaying it again at some point in my life.
It goes without saying that I highly recommend Metal Gear Solid 2 to any gamer. The only reason I say not go out and play it right now is because you really do want to play Metal Gear Solid 1 in some form beforehand, as MGS2 is a direct sequel. Thankfully these games are readily available on modern platforms as part of the “Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection”. It’s a true quintessential essential to me, one of the greatest video games in history.
Comments
Post a Comment