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"MGS2: Smells of Liberties"

So Metal Gear Solid 2.
Was it worth the wait? The anticipation? The excitement of starting it for the first time?
Yes.
And no.
(Well, this is me so you didn’t expect a 100% positive did you? Bah, foolish mortals)

We all know the first one (although it technically isn’t the first one, if you know what I mean you pedantic people), and it was top. More fool me for not replaying it and capturing that original “Well this rocks” feeling, trust me, if you haven’t done so already, go back and play the original one before you crank the shiny new version.
Because the original Metal Gear is so much better.
Yep, you read that right, the PSX version is more fun than the PS2 version.
Why?
Because it’s original, innovative, sensational and ground breaking, whilst MGS2 is very good, but just another game.
Now don’t get me wrong, it’s superb fun but I expected more. Not because of the hype and yadda yadda yadda. I expected more because of Metal Gear Solid, which is why you should revisit that again to see what I mean.

MGS2 is all about the surface.
It looks fantastic, the rain effects and all the other things you’ve seen in the demo and trailer. The animation of the guards is spot-on and superbly done, my personal fav is the dude with the walkman on in the tanker hold bopping along towards you. The environment is, without question, excellent. The little touches like the parrot in the cage, the seagulls etc. You can shoot melons and crockery and whatnot and spend hours just wandering about admiring bits and bobs.
So why did I sit there thinking “Well this is all well and good, but something’s missing”?
Because, despite all the nice little touches of atmosphere, it’s the same thing level after level.
Run here, hide for a bit, kill this bloke and move to the next screen.
Repeat.
What is missing is the spark of ingenuity from Metal Gear Solid.
Remember that torture sequence? Where you had to mash the buttons to prevent death?
That’s back in MGS2 but last about 5 seconds.
Remember the helicopter attack, trying to shoot that down?
That’s back in MGS2 but it’s a harrier jet instead.
Remember the dude in the cell at the start that died from a “heart attack”?
That’s back in MSG2 but the name is different.
Remember guiding the missile through the labs to hit a panel?
That’s back, exactly the same as last time.
Remember hiding under the box to fool the wolves?
That’s back, except the box has no real purpose in this game.

And that’s what prevents this game from having the same impact or “Hey cool!” of the first one – that spark is missing from MGS2, what your left with is a nice looking game with little underneath to pull you in.
Metal Gear Solid was all about breaking your expectations, throwing you a curve ball and making you sit up and realise just how cool the game was.
Moments like spending an age searching for the CODEC frequency, only to discover it’s in a screenshot on the back of the box.
Moments like putting the controller in port 2 so that the boss couldn’t read your movements and predict your attack.
Moments like hiding under that box and getting it to pee on you so you could sneak past, or the little bit where the boss read your memory card and mocked you for playing other Konami titles.
Little instances that propelled MGS from “just another game”, touches that made me think “This is really cool, they’ve put some thought into this”
And all those little moments have been ignored for nice graphics in MGS2.
You don’t need to use the box for anything, I’ve never used the phone that receives email, nor the cigarettes, nor the chaff grenades. So many unnecessary items just there for show.
It’s lacking that extra little something that makes it different to any other game, something as simple as using a screenshot on the box for a clue. Kojima used genuine innovation, used every feature and sense at your disposal to push you into thinking laterally, rewarding you for bothering to think.
But not in MGS2.
Nice graphics, nice atmosphere, nice animations.
But it lacks that special something that made me think “Oh baby this is sweet!”.
“Snake/Raiden, get to this place and then I’ll phone you again and tell you to go somewhere else”, is how most the CODEC conversations should have gone.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s a bad game by any means, but it just doesn’t feel like it’s anywhere near as original as MGS.
Same situations repeated, same items given, same characters appear.

And the cut-scenes. Lengthy, cinematic but drags the game down every single time they appear. And if you think they’re “Amazing, unbelievable man”, I promise you that the 2nd time you play through, you’ll skip them.
And the CODEC.
How many times can you be contacted right in the middle of the action?
Talk about yanking you out any atmosphere created.
“Cool, I’m Snake and this is a tense moment here swimming through the flooded section. What I really need is a 3 minute chat with Rose, who will blather on about King Kong movies and love!”
Rubbish.
If you are going to create an atmosphere with excellent graphics, don’t keep shattering the momentum with pointlessly long and irrelevant CODEC chats please.

So, apart from the annoying CODEC and cut-scenes, the overly-familiar characters, the same old sections and “tricks” being used in identical situations, the lack of momentum by continual phone calls, the “This is the same as MGS” feeling, MGS2 is a good game.
It’s nowhere near brilliant, and the more I think about it, the less impressed I am by it. But it’s certainly a good game, but I don’t feel it should be called “Metal Gear Solid 2”, because for a game that came out a good few years ago, it doesn’t stand up in comparison.
And there’s no VR training, which is rubbish.
And if you start on easy, you begin as Raiden and completely miss out the tanker section with Snake.

Metal Gear Solid 2: It’s Mediocre But Fun.

I know it's gauche to blow your own trumpet, but I've re-read this topic and it's one of my better ones.
I'm saving this one for future usage.

Almost, I'm at the final battle now.
That's playing Thurs night from 10pm-1am, Saturday from 11am - 6:30am and some on Sunday.

I dont have a burning need to go through it again to be honest.

Goaty, have you cleared MGS2 yet?

Goatboy wrote:

>I can see the scene now:

Lot's of scary stuff going on in your head again today then? :-)

Meka Dragon wrote:
> From reading that I guess it would be better having not played the
> original?

----

Possibly that would make MGS2 a bit more enjoyable.
But my main gripe about MGS2 is that, compared with a version that has been out for years on a less powerful system, it's just a better game.
Not relying on graphics, not relying on flashy visuals.
Kojima used fantastic gameplay and innovative tricks to make MGS so good.
But that's why the expectation was fever pitch for the sequel, because the original was so fantastic.
But, for me, it lost the essence of why I enjoyed MGS - it was something different. I dont mean the story or sneaking about, I mean things like needing to swap controller ports.
Just little touches that had never been seen before or since.
MGS2 lacked anything like that, just a straight-forward game.
Not a bad one at all, just doesn't even compare to the original.
And considering how long this has been in production, surely someone must have said "Y'know Hideo, there's no tricks in this one."
I can see the scene now:

Kojima "Metal Gear Solid 2, very good game"

Lacky "We'll have cool touches again, like the memory-card being read yeah? Except with the PS2, we could come up with something else perhaps?"

Kojima "Tortue sequence again!"

Lacky "Ummm..ok, but what will be different about it?"

Kojima "Name of character!"

Lacky "Er..ok, so what about the invisible Ninja? Something like that? Something where you need the thermal goggles to see him? Ok, this could be cool"

Kojima "Excellent, we'll bring the Ninja back!"

Lacky "Invisble again? But that would be lazy Hidy mate"

Kojima "No, not invisible. Ninja return as is!"

Lacky "...so we're not going to put in any little surprised like the wolves peeing on the box to sneak past?"

Kojima "Boxes! We'll have those again! This will be best game ever! Boxes and Ninjas and, ooo ooo, what about that steerable missle again!"

Lacky "But how will it be different?"

Kojima "Through a vent this time!"

Lacky "...this will be a let-down, I'm telling you"

Kojima "I've got it! A new character, not Snake to control!"

At this point Lacky collapes and goes to work for Rockstar

me forgot about stars wars. they're all good. I susspose that games squels are just like film as all they are is the same character etc but a differne a story.

do not rely

There are exceptions though.. but you can get away with that in films because you can stop a story short which cries out for a sequel/prequal (eg. Star Wars).

Games its a lot more difficult because you're not watching, you're interacting and whether you like it or not games to not rely on the story they tell.

Sequels tend to be pants. Such as any of the texas chainsaw massacre sequels.

As most sequels are.

Thats the problem with sequels. People buy them cos they're like the first game, but are gutted then when they realise they could have just played the first game again.

There's no real solution to this though.