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| Title |
Metal Gear Solid 2 |
8 |
| Publisher |
Konami |
| Developer |
Konami |
| Genre |
Espionage |
| Players |
1 |
| Version |
UK PAL |
Remarkable feat
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Life, liberty and Solid Snake
Perhaps one of the most anticipated games for the Playstation2 since it?s predecessor?s historic entry onto the Playstation a few years ago, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty had the world salivating after an early demo was released with Kojima?s own Zone of the Enders. But does the full game live up to what the demo delivered?
For anyone who has played a Metal Gear, they will know that the story plays an integral part of the game, with plot twists left right and center. The basic outline in this story, and I do mean basic as you will find out when getting into the game, is that Solid Snake, who has featured in all four games thus far and Otacon, who we first met in Metal Gear Solid, have formed their own anti-Metal Gear organisation as Metal Gear Rex?s plans were sold on the black market by a returning Revolver Ocelot. This leads Snake to board a tanker that is carrying a prototype for a new Metal Gear that is meant as a counteragent for all the other Metal Gears. Farfetched perhaps, but this is only the start of the problems.
One of the reasons Metal Gear Solid caused such a stir was down to the fact it was an espionage game, but managed it so well. The sequel takes everything that made Metal Gear Solid great, and added to it. Ten fold. The majority of the time playing, the player is called to use stealth in getting about, and must sneak around guards and security cameras in order to get to your destination. You can do this in a manner of ways, from tapping on the wall to get the guard?s attention then running around behind him, to sidling your way across a walkway by holding onto the edge, thus getting by undetected.
But of course you will never be able to finish the game the first time without being seen many times, so of course there are other methods to deal with these times. The arsenal given to you is impressive, to a degree, ranging from Socom pistols to Rocket Launchers. But it is much more fun taking out guards without them suspecting you. A new addition to this game is the way in which you can hold up the enemy. If you take them by surprise and aim a gun at them they will put their hands up and implore you to not hurt them. After a while they will even give you an item for your troubles. Of course sometimes you get a guard who is stubborn and refuses to give up the goods. In this scenario usually aiming at their head or crotch will do the trick. If not, aim a rocket launcher at them and then you get to see who wears the trousers out of the two of you.
There really is a lot of fun to be had with guards if you know what you are doing, but I will not spoil it for you as finding these out and coming up with your own ways is half the fun. To be frank, there is so much in this game that it would be impossible to really talk about it all here, but rest assured, the game contains so many fine details that you will wonder how they managed to fit it all into one game. Just as an example though, when you come across a bar in the tanker level you can see a bowl full of ice. Shooting this will knock the bowl and ice cubes onto the floor. You can then shoot each individual ice cube or even watch as they melt away. It?s pointless, but it?s the little things like this that take a good game to the next level.
The graphics really deserve a special mention also. For some reason, Konami seem like the first company to actually test the Playstaion2?s power. The models are solid and detailed and textures clean and crisp. All the graphics are anti-aliased and includes a diverse particles system that can be seen in the first level with the rain or with the shattering of glass as you shoot through it. I have yet to see a game, before or after this release, on the Playstation2 that matches it graphically overall.
The animation is also of a particularly higher standard, with Konami using motion captures from actual military personnel to give the overall finish a more authentic look and feel. This also for the voice acting as many of the previous cast return, with the new characters also giving great performances.
So, while it is clear the gameplay and graphics are both of superb quality, I can?t help but feel let down by the storyline and the way it is played out. While I don?t wish to spoil it for those who have yet to play it (it may be a good idea if you skip to the next paragraph) it has to be said that the character that you take control of not long after playing the game is a very disappointing one at that. He goes by the name Raiden and the player does not get to control Snake again. I can see the reasons why this was done ? for the player to get a different perspective on the character of Snake, and I respect that, but Raiden is really such a wet blanket that it is desperately annoying at times as he talks to Rose time and again (don?t even get me started on Rose). But the plot also, while continues the trend of plot twists through out the game, I feel that there are just too many one after the other and the player never gets to grips with one idea long enough before another is thrust into their laps, making the whole point of plot twists useless. You don?t end up believing anything that happens, as you just know there is another twist coming soon after. There are so many jumps in story that the actual end line you are left with is just too out of this world to comprehend and frankly takes away a lot of the mystique and brilliance of the first game?s storyline, and that is unforgivable.
So while the game isn?t exactly very long it does have a lot of replay factor, for instance collecting dog tags from guards for bonuses at the end of the game. While it could be thought this would be a very annoying task, for some reason it is not, and can be done with little effort and frustration. Besides, there is so much to this game that you would never be able to see it all in one sitting, and every time you come back to it, it surprises you.
While Metal Gear Solid would have scored a clean 9 out of 10 with me down to it?s superb gameplay, great sound and score as well as unbelievable storyline, Metal Gear Solid is let down by the storyline, which should be one of it?s major selling points. The musical score is new, but nevertheless beautiful, occasionally capturing the magic from the previous game.
If you don?t already own this game, I would suggest waiting until Meta Gear Substance is out, as that allows you the same game, plus many many extras. While waiting for that though, why not go out and buy Metal Gear Solid? If you already own it play it again, but leave this alone until you do.
Seth Powell |
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