Reviews VideoGame / Metal Gear Solid 2 Sonsof Liberty

I'm never doing a Big Boss run

Not that I will for any pre-MGS2 game either

Metal Gear Solid 2 is, overall, an average game to me, even in terms of how it works as a sequel to the first game. And by this, I don't mean I find it more of the same, I mean that it's the more interesting kind of average in that it introduces a lot of things, about half of which are good and half of which are bad.

To wit, you have new mechanics, which work pretty well. First person aiming is glorious, hanging over and dropping from rails was much needed, the rolling/cartwheeling are excellent escape maneuvers, and tranquilizer guns add a whole new dimension to how the guards work. But on the other hand, the game itself was updated to compensate for these new mechanics (particularly the first person aiming), and the manner in which Kojima updated it is... less than ideal.

The biggest problem is the new maps. To make sure you can't just take out every guard on the map with your new aiming, most of the maps are horribly enclosed. It's to the point where you can't see a single enemy at all, so that radar is damn near essential. Oh, but guess what? You have to get to a node to use it. And even if you do get it, there's still little room to maneuver in, so you'll find yourself forced to take a path that runs along some guard's patrol route way more often than in the other games. And even should you know that in advance, there will be all sorts of barriers in your way to make actually shooting the guard as difficult as humanly possible. On the other hand, a few maps have the opposite problem; they're way too exposed and have zero hiding spots, but at least taking out the guards in these maps is somewhat easier. There's no balance here, is what I'm saying. I don't really like the boss fights either; they feel like they were designed for MGS1 controls (probably intentional), but eh, one or two of them are fun.

The story is, well, bad in and of itself, but I like what it adds to the series. It poses a lot of interesting philosophical questions, that's for sure. But still, it's very difficult to get emotionally invested in, and at times to even understand what's happening (takes 2 or 3 playthroughs), a lot of the dialogue feels like Kojima ranting at you, and they use codec so much it's almost silly.

For me, the game's about on par with MGS1, and deserves at least a look