Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is a highly-anticipated game that lives up to all the hype -- it's a powerfully dramatic, cinematic and realistic gaming experience! Brilliant graphics will astonish you as you marvel at the film-style cutscene and gorgeously rendered locales Heart-stopping action and in-depth strategy

In this sequel to Metal Gear Solid, you resume the role of Solid Snake, commando & spy, out to stop a new Metal Gear weapon from falling into the wrong hands

The action is more intense than ever, as you must infiltrate their compound and stop the high-tech terrorists from using Metal Gear Ray to destroy a major city

The guards are smarter this time, but you have new moves and new equipment to take them out

Stealth is the name of the game -- the less you shoot or blow things up, the better

When you do shoot, you do it in a first-person perspective that's so real it's staggering

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The first reason is the ambience. The general atmosphere of this game screams stealth. The plot has more plot twists than you can shake a stick at. Those of you with an IQ lower than butter may not be able to comprehend the full plot. Yes, some portions of the plot are, to say the least, unbelievable. At first, anyway. Most of them are explained away as the plot matures. Some are left unresolved, thus leaving the audience either wondering what happened, or wanting more. The lower percentage of you may not understand much of the story, and I can not recommend it for you, however there is plenty of action (which I will address later). There are no plot flaws, and that leaves most of us with a refreshing alternative to the regular shooter; a smart stealth action/adventure/shooter.

The second reason I love MGS2:S is the intelligence. The gaurds are not morons! If you are sneeking around in a box (fun) and you park in the middle of the hallway, they will pick it up and shoot you. If they hear gunshots, they will investigate. You cannot stay in the same place. If you kill a gaurd, and he doesn't report in, they come and sweep the area. If they see wet footprints, they will investigate. They occasionaly fall asleep, but that does not make the game much easier. There are several details that may destract you, like posters. The complexity of this game is amazing. The enemies may not be stupid, but the upside is everything, and I do mean everying is a LETHAL weapon. This includes broken glass, pepper spray, and even knocked out or dead gaurds.

The third reason I love this game so much is the complexity. The attention to detail is amazing. The graphics are superb, as is the sound and AI. Everything about this game screeches first-rate. The cinematics include in depth character and relationship development. The less intelligent may not get or appreciate this, but it adds to the complexity of the game. One example of the game's complexity is the various sidequests. Collecting dogtags is my favorite. If you hold up a gaurd (the russian ones are funny) and point the gun at his head or crotch in first-person view, eventually he will shake and drop a dogtag. They are pointless, but will add to the hours of gameplay they will sustain.

The fourth reason I love this game so much is the gameplay and replay value. If you hear the common "this game only plays four, like, six hours!" don't believe it for one second. There are well over 500 (yes, that's right, five hundered) VR missions. They may take as short as a few seconds to complete, or as long as an hour or two. These missions add to the gameplay several hours, about 70-80 hours to perfect. Yes, I have to admit, there is no multiplayer (*sigh*), and the actual story mode may take as short as 6-10 hours of gameplay, but the cinematics and cutscenes add at least 4 or 5 hours. Some people say they are boring, and I say revert to your plotless, bland games, like "Doom". Obviously, this game has proved impressive. Look at the reviews in magazines and TV shows hailing it as one of the best games ever, bar none. This game is everything it should be. No matter what people say, this game's raplay value is nothing near short.

The PROS:
The game's level design fits with the plot perfectly, and is pure genius.
The graphics are superb and state-of-the-art. Eye candy!
The sound quality is nothing less than exceptional. Movie-quality.
The gameplay is awesome. Hours of entertainment.

The CONS:
In the rain, the game slows a little. I am told this is due to the emulation of the PS2 was direct, and the time was not taken to correct it.
The storyline is sometimes confusing to the less-intelligent.
The cinematics may be a little over the top, some lasting over 30 minutes...Before the gaurds can call in, shoot their radio so they lose contact.

Keep an eye on the radar.

When trying to catch the gaurds on surprise without them knowing, when in corner veiw press the weapons button (X) and jump out and shoot them. Press (X) several times to shoot several times. Just make sure they are facing the other way when you try this.

If you have an M9 modified for tranquilizer rounds, and you knock someone unconsious (they have little stars spining around teir heads) shoot them so they fall asleep longer and probably won't bother you for a while.

Try not to use guns that are not sileced or surpressed.

Try to not use your ammo. If you can, choke the gaurds or break their necks. Practice doing this in a patrol route with multiple gaurds without being dectected. You should probably conserve ammo for when you need it.

Save often, so if you are detected, you can revert to that ideal position.

If blood makes you uneasy, you can turn it of in the options menu. The cinematics still have blood, and the "Plant" portion of the game where the introduction to Vamp is will still have blood, though.

Thanks for Reading, and good luck with the game!...

18 of 22 found the following review helpful:

MGS2.5Sep 25, 2002

MGS2 was good but I was disappointed by the lack of game play innovation. Now Konami is milking the cow presenting this port that doesn't take advantage of the Xbox hardware, but excuses itself by giving extra half-baked missions.
I think that MGS2 was made for the PS2, if you haven't played it, it is maybe worth on Xbox, otherwise get a game that was done for the Xbox like Splinter Cell.

17 of 21 found the following review helpful:

MGS2: SubstanceOct 26, 2002
By Aaron "kraus107"
I loved the PS2 version, and will definitely buy this one! That said, this game is not for everyone.

MGS2 is VERY story driven. There are times when you will sit for 10-15 minutes just watching a cut scene or viewing dialog between the characters. As a result, there is some very good character development enough so, that you can begin to sypathize with them and care about their fates as the game progresses. Some have complained that you play very little as Snake (the protagonist from all the other MG games). Although, I wish you had more time with his character, the game accomplishes its purpose in not allowing you to play as him throughout. The whole point is for you to see Snake's character though the eyes of a third party, and this is accomplished very well. (in the Substance version you can play as Snake for the whole game if you want). This game is more like having an active role in a novel, or movie than your traditional video game, never-the-less, the gameplay is excellent.

As a note, I wish people would quit comparing the game to Splinter Cell, because the only commonality between the two is that the core gameplay is based on stealth.

By the way, I did not think that the story of this game was as good as that of MGS1, but the gameplay is MUCH more developed. The only drawback, if you would even consider it such, is that the gameplay is rather short. At a leisurely pace you can finish the game in well under 20 hours. You can probably speed through it in closer to 10 if you are rushing it and not doing any exploring.

The game may be short, but would you rather play a bad game that is really long, or a short one that is really good?

Finally, I am excited that in this release you can go straight to the boss fights, which, are some of the best boss battles I have ever played!

8 of 9 found the following review helpful:

Good job KONAMI !!!Jul 30, 2003
By Andrew
First of all, I would like to say that I agreed with most of the other reviews in that Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (hereafter referred to as MGS2) is good, but not great.

However, that was before I got REALLY bored during summer and ended up playing it for several hours at a time....inasmuch that my ears hurt from the lack of music. (I suggest classical or blues in the background.) Anyway, let's get on with the review...

Let's start with graphics, shall we? By just reading two reviews, I have heard conflicting opinions. Some say it's good, some say it's bad. Quite honestly, i don't believe a thing in ANY review for ONE game where there are differing opinions. In my own opinion, MGS2 has really great graphics. They're clean, dirty in a puesdo-randomness, and the graphics engine Konami and whatever developer used works well! The graphics are SO good, in fact, that the developers felt the need to use the now so-called "bullet-time" during fights with quick moving AI (such as Tangus and bosses).

But Konami didn't stop at that. Yes, they got even more detailed. Detailed to the extent that when taking pictures and zooming in and out, you have to wait a second for the camera to focus. (Yes, I encourage to try this if you don't believe me.)

The only place graphics don't shine is when you are Snake, outside the tanker. It is because it is raining, and the framerate suffers a lot for it. That is just about the only place I have been frustrated with the graphics.

CONCLUSION: Graphics very, very good. JUST short of excellent. (A-)

Can you hear me now? Good. Without a doubt MGS2 has some of the greatest sound I have ever heard. It really takes you off guard, actually. While playing Splinter Cell I was very happy with the sound, especially that background dialogue with the cops....

Although it RARELY gets that detailed in MGS2, you can tell Konami tried to make it as realistic as possible. The sound of the gunfire is great, especially that "WHOOSH" after firing a NIKITA rocket.

CONCLUSION: Some of the best I have ever heard. Seriously. ALMOST puts HALO to shame. (A)

How did Konami mess up the control scheme? I mean really? Well, I'll tell you how: porting it from PlayStation. This emans that XBOX users need to use the "X" button to fire. Yes, that's right: the X button! I personally find this ridiculous, and it takes longer than you'd think to get used to. At some points you can change it (such as first person mode during VR missions).

CONCLUSION: Controls feel ported. That is very, very, VERY bad. (B-)

Gameplay is where stealth action freaks really like MGS2. All the peakin' behind walls, checkin radar, holdin' 'em up, shooting out behind walls, watching the enemy, dropping "BOOKS" (wink wink nudge nudge...some reading material!), finding weapons, crawling rolling, sumersaulting, shootin' lights (Only in one VR mission, sorry!), hanging, running, walking, aiming, finding silencers, using tranquilizer rounds, pretending to be a guard, using a directional microphone to listen to a HEARTBEAT(!) in a room full of hostages, sneaking through rooms full of Marines (100's of 'em) listening to a speech, meeting the president only to watch him being killed, destroying several Metal Gear(!!), watching hours and hours of cutscenes, which I'll say ARE BETTER THAN SOME OF THE MOVIES THESE DAYS, using "Codec" nanomachines implanted in your skull to talk with allies (without actually talking to them), defusing bombs, THE LIST GOES ON AND ON!

CONCLUSION: Need I say more? (A+)

It is really very easy to get immersed in the game for hours on end. The mission objectives work seamlessly with the cutscenes, providing a story that is one of the most original I have ever seen. (Not counting the other games in the MG series.)

Immersion is refined to the extent that whenever you get caught, you feel the need to retry it, because YOU KNOW how do get past that one guard now. Of course, you must have patience. And a moderate attention span, because it isn't ALL action. (There's actually quite a bit of scouting.)

CONCLUSION: You can be easily immersed if you like: a) Splinter Cell, but weren't satisfied with the story or the action or the story; or b) the previous MG games. (A-)

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! KONAMI COMES OUT WITH GAME THAT REDEFINES THE MEANING OF THE WORD "EXTRA"! I'm not exaggerating, by the way. One of the ways Konami increases replayability is through "dog tags." Simply said, enemy soldiers carry these around, and the more you retrieve by the end of each mission, you can unlock secret abilities, such as infinite ammo, a stealth suit, etc.

The VR missions are spectacular. I am 25+ hours into it, and I have only unlocked two characters (of 7(?) total), and am only 45.0% complete. They come with modes galore, such as bomb disposal, first-person mode, hold-up, sneaking, eliminate all, variety, and the actually quite fun "Photograph" mode.

Some are straight-forward, others are not. This is the only frustrating part, because it is immensely difficult to beat a level when you do not know some specifics, like the fact that there are proximety sensors on boms with some characters, and not on others. Stuff like this takes a while to work out.

CONCLUSION: MGS2 has so many extras you won't know what to do with yourself. I'm speechless! (But not textless.) (A+)

** Menus are something I think should be reviewed in the future. In any case, MGS2 passes with flying colors: they load quickly, have cool fonts, and cool graphics. (A+) **

Overall, MGS2 is a great game. It will pull you in and keep you there with very original mission objectives, bosses, AI, alarm systems, gadgets, and much, much more. Moreover (haha, it is a STEAL at under $.... However, if you don't take my word for it, you might want to rent it, or borrow it from a friend.

GAME SAFE, GAME OFTEN!

10 of 12 found the following review helpful:

In response to Matt from Ames, IA's comment-Sep 24, 2002
By D. K. Malone
"MGS Substance is basically the japanese release of the game (american version didnt have all the extras!!)" This is false. Very false. It is true that the Japanese version of MGS2 Sons of Liberty is slightly different from the US version, but the differences are relatively minor; e.g. You select the difficulty at the beginning of the game by answering questions, rather than simply choosing your desired difficulty from a list. Come to think of it, I can't name any other differences.

MGS2 Substance is much MUCH more than merely an American release of the Japanese version. The skate boarding, the VR missions, the Snake Tales missions, playing as the Ninja, all of it is brand new. Both Japan and America will have two versions of MGS2, A) Sons of Liberty and B) Substance. While I question the ethics of video game publishers milking their products by slapping on some new extra features and re-releasing it, I just wanted to clear that up.

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