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ajgrau's Metal Gear Sold 2: Sons of Liberty (PS2)
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| [February 8, 2008 11:20:25 PM]
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SUMMARY
Metal Gear Solid 2: Son's of Liberty's first hour takes place on an oil tanker off of New York. The player plays as Solid Snake, who is apparently a protagonist from previous installments, as he attempts to infiltrate this ship to take photographs of a new piece of Metal Gear, a sort of war machine, called RAY and expose it. So the object is to sneak around the ship amongst a good number of military personal in order to get the photographs and escape.
GAMEPLAY
This is definitely on my top 5 games list now. It plays so smoothly, the controls are so responsive (gently hold the 0 button to shoot out a laser sight, push harder to shoot), the enemies seem to have some amount of AI, the characters are really interesting and conflicted, and the story seems to be such a cool vigilante-esque type of dark hero story in a Batman sort of way that I personally find rather intriguing. And it doesn't seem to matter what my mood has been all day, every time I push play, the game wipes me clean and gets me in such a good mood. Possibly the greatest point to the game is the unique first person/third person shooter feel to it. It requires much more stealth than any other sort of action or shooting game I've ever played. Walking to fast or loud will alert a soldier, who in turn calls his cronies, and that complicates the game a wee bit. Most of the ones I'm used to require little more than walking into crowded rooms with some absurdly large gun and mowing them all down, so the change of pace certainly is nice.
As much as I love the gameplay, and as good a mood as it gets me in, the confusing story line is a huge turn off. All the characters are really dark and strange, and I really want to know a bit about them, but I can't do that without having played previous editions or making a Wikipedia search. The same goes for the storyline, but I have only a vague idea of what Metal Gear is and what Solid Snake actually does, or why he does it. The game should come with some sort of a guide that catches all those unfamiliar with the series up to date, but it doesn't, and it makes me sad all day. Aside from the confusing plot, the only other thing that threw me off a little bit was that there is no multiplayer, and watching it is only so fun for so long. I prefer playing socially, and that just didn't work with the game. Overall though, I really like this game.
One hour of playing later...
GAMEPLAY
One hour later, the game is still really fun to play. It gets me in a nice, euphoric, escapist mood, and the shooter setup is still really stealthy and cool. This time around, though, I have progressed to a new level and the next character that comes with it. This time, I am Raiden, I work with an organization called FOXHOUND, and I am rescuing the president from a terrorist organization, who is currently holding the president on an ocean clean up facility (I think). The game plays really easily and requires minimal thought, which can be nice, as it flows very directly and succinctly. I could play this game as long as the story keeps progressing, as it is very fun.
Alas, though, the story and characters put me off, only because I do not and cannot know anything about them. Raiden's girlfriend is somehow involved in the mission, they keep calling Raiden snake, and I'm not entirely sure what is going on at all times. I mean I know what to do, I just don't know how I got there or why it's all happening, if that makes sense. If that wasn't the case, I think this might be the ultimate game for me personally, as everything else from the graphics to the control set-up is spot on. Definitely some of the best gameplay I've ever experienced.
DESIGN
Whoever designed this game has really good ideas as far as games go. Players are kept occupied with different types of tasks that range from stealthy snooping to bomb location and diffusion to shoot outs and all back again. It all goes down in innovative, complex levels that don't occur in too many other games, which is nice, as the levels also help to set a really dark mood through the use of shadow and darker earth-toned hues to match the dark story line and secretive, edgy characters. The game keeps the player in constant conflict with all the tasks and the confusing story and the hints of serious confusion within Raiden, as bits of this nefarious scheme and his relationship with his girlfriend are all unraveled and complicated though a series of events. And all of this is guided by the semi-occasional cut scene, that unfortunately usually leaves me more confused than confident with what I was doing.
Like I keep saying, all I would change about MGS2 is the unnecessarily tied up story and the lack of any socially redeeming qualities to the game. It would be so unbelievably cool to have a little one on one fight to the death between you and your buddy as Raiden and Solid Snake on a grungy oil tanker filled with hostile Marines. It would be even cooler to know what I was doing, but thems the breaks. I can only assume that the story will keep getting really quirky until at some point it all becomes clear through some crazy event and then all will be spanky. The fast pace and mini puzzle things are really fun, and completing them is very rewarding. All in all, there are many more hours of playability in this awesome game, and I hope to enjoy that at some point soon. Go buy this game.
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ajgrau's Metal Gear Sold 2: Sons of Liberty (PS2)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Saturday 2 February, 2008
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