The Biggest Game Project on this Planet

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Being the sequel (hence the 2!) to Metal Gear Solid 1.
I don't really know how to start this review properly, since, well, this is Metal Gear Solid, bloody EVERYONE knows Metal Gear Solid, I don't think I need to explain anything at all.

The game takes place two years after the events in the first game.
Well, see, this is where I'm going wrong already, cos it's not entirely true.
When you start the game, you are asked if you have played Metal Gear Solid 1.
If you say yes, you'll start the Tanker Mission with Solid Snake, two years after MGS1, if you say No, you'll immediately move on to the main story with Raiden at the Plant, which happens another two years after the Tanker incident.
This means that if you haven't played the first game, you'll miss out on a very important introductory story, as well as about 2 hours of gameplay. But if you haven't played MGS1, you have no real business playing this game anyway, since it ties into the first game rather intensively, so you won't be able to understand most of it anyway. Not for newbies this one.

What you get is basically pretty much the same game as the prequel (on purpose, but I won't spoil too much), only with a different main character, in a different setting. The dark Weapon Depot environments and Cold Alaskan Snowfields are gone, and instead you get a sea-based Power Plant of sorts, with lots of shiny weather and beautiful sunsets. I for one VASTLY prefer this setting over the original. It offers more variety, has more atmosphere and is generally better designed, as well as less cramped, which means more space to move, more maneuverability and just more fun.

So in essence, you are getting what you get so many years before, only a lot prettier, there still are the same kind of boss battles and the same kind of gameplay elements, only you get a bigger variety of means to elude the many guards, and more weapons. It's not much of a shocker gameplay wise, the real value lies in the story and the presentation, as usual.

And the story, man........it's something. To be more exact, it's completely friggin' INSANE, that's what it is. It starts out straight-forward enough, your typical Metal Gear Solid type of affair, but as you progress more and more weird stuff starts happening, and of course, this wouldn't be a Hideo Kojima game, if it didn't have some major plottwists thrown in here and there, and Mr. Kojima really went all out on this one.
By the end of the game, your eyes will be spinning in their sockets, the story will go fucking NUTS. I mean certifiedly BONKERS. Metal Gear Solid 2 has been criticized by many people for the turn of events towards the end, and it's definitely not easily acceptable for everyone, but I LOVED it. I like the odd over-the-top story every now and then, and it doesn't get much weirder than this game, I think. I'm still not sure whether I actually understood the story in its entirety, there's more twists in here than a Chubby Checker song, but man, is it totally hilarious. And you can't deny, whether you like it or not, that's it's totally original and very ingenious, and also completely off the motherfucking charts. It'll make even Al Gore go crazy probably.

I would recommend this game to anyone who values presentation and intense story-telling. The cutscenes are directed phenomenally, as usual, and the game itself is more than enough fun to warrant at least one playthrough. I'm not saying this is one of the best games you'll ever play, but like with Konami's other major franchise, the Silent Hill series, it's the combination of Solid (I'm going to drive this pun into the ground!) gameplay, brilliant presentation and deep story that makes it such a wonderfully enjoyable package as a whole.

Some words of caution though: like MGS1, this game will get very preachy sometimes, especially during the ending. Not content with "just another" story about nuclear warfare, Mr. Kojima always thinks he needs to spread the message of love, understanding and tolerance at the end, and although the packaging of the message is always very professional, it does make you cringe here and there, like when you're watching one of those American sitcoms that have the potential to be funny, but are molested by the creator's wish to put a message or some drama into the bargain.
American comedy writers need to understand that comedy is about laughing, not crying. I don't need anyone's problems, that's not why I'm watching comedy, is it?
But that's another story entirely.

And secondly, and most importantly of all, probably THE major factor that has made a lot of people badmouth this game, there is Rose. Yes, Rose. What's in a name, I hear you say? "A Rose by any other name would smell as sweet"? Well, this one smells like someone shat in a pile of puke, and then poured it over a skunk. A particularly smelly skunk.

Perhaps I need to applaud Konami for giving such an accurate portrayal of what is to me the opposite sex, and of what I deeply suspect is a sex that was made for the sole purpose OF opposing. Any man who has ever been in any kind of relationship with a female of ANY species, knows that the combination of two X chromosomes leads to chronic nagging and complaining, as well as an almost supernatural ability to find fault in ANYTHING the Blessed Y Chromosome does.

Rose is perfect simulation of the female genes. She is as annoying as a whole bunch of mosquitoes on a hot summer's night, swarming around your ears, telling you about the latest Yu-Gi-Oh cards they collected, and showing you slides of their spring vacation to the Mediterranean. She has a relationship with Raiden aka Jack (Jack and Rose, get it? It's a movie reference! Yay!), and she sees it as her duty to plague him with all kinds of relational problems, while his ass is on the line.

Firstly, she CONSTANTLY keeps asking him what day tomorrow is. I'm sure this strikes a VERY familiar chord with just about any man. Not Raiden though, oh no, the poor sod. She'll also start complaining about how Raiden never stays with her after the deed, but always goes home, or sleeps on the couch or something. Can you imagine this situation?

Rose: "Tell me, Jack, would you still love me if I were fat/crippled/blind/deaf/dumb/a Sony Executive?"
Jack: "Uhh, I'm kinda in the middle of a gunfight here...."
Rose: "EXCUSES! YOU DON'T LOVE ME!"

Or even worse, this particular dialogue actually occurs in the game (in a slightly different version), the last bit is what I was shouting myself though:

Rose: "Jack, we're fighting here too you know!"
Jack: "Well, looking at a live TV screen from a comfortable room is not exactly the same as having to maneuver your ass through a rain of bullets..."
Rose: "So you're saying I should pick up a gun and join you there!?"
Me: "AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!"

FUCK, this is really SO examplary of female reasoning that I shouted out in many years of cropped up frustration at being in a relationship with any kind of woman.
I'm telling you, they have some kind of DNA string for this kind of shit, no man could possible think like this, and read some kind of personally negative message behind EVERYTHING the other person says. Well done, Mr. Kojima, please never do that again. I play video games for escapism, the last thing I want is to be confronted with nagging women in my games as well.
Still, here's to Realism, eh?

So when all has been said and done, we are left with a fantastic experience, which I would recommend to just about anyone. As I said, the plottwists might be a little too much for some people's taste, and it's not really very accessible, storywise, for newcomers, but there is a good solid game behind all the dialogue, that's fun for almost everyone, so I'll give this a 9+.

posted by Ingen! @ 4:03 PM