An impossible sequel that subverted everyone's expectations. A mind-blowing story that is even more relevant today than it was when the game released.
Wow they made Solid Snake blonde now
There is nothing that I can say that really does justice to this masterpiece of a game. It is so deeply embedded in the idea of personal experience that anything that I try to pass off as objective would be doing the whole game’s meaning a disservice. I could say that the game refocuses the core gameplay back on the stealth aspect of the series from where Metal Gear Solid 1 took a more set piece focused structure; I could say that the game finally justifies itself being in 3D with how it very effectively utilizes verticality and its first person perspective; I could say how I think Kojima’s writing style really matures in this one, compared to the more blunt and in your face style that the prior games had, here being much more subtle and intricate while still holding on to that grandiose nature; and I could say that MGS2 is one of the most unique experiences I have ever had in this medium. But the entire game is built on the premise of building your own memories, and creating your own conclusions, so I feel a bit out of place in trying to chronicle my experience rather than just keeping my experience to myself. So, with that, I think I'm just going to leave this as a cop out review and let my thoughts about this game settle for a while, because there is truly a lot to digest. Though, I think that is probably the only objective thing I can say about Metal Gear Solid 2; that no matter who you are, you will undoubtedly find something deeply meaningful in this game, one way or the other.
Sometimes I play just for the codec calls.
wow,
This review contains spoilers
This was my first MGS game and I didn't entirely know what I was getting into, nor what happened in the game. I haven't played it since I was 14 and ooooooh I have some thoughts now.
As of writing this section I haven't given this game a rating yet because I'm really not sure how I feel about it. Overall I really appreciate what this game is going for; it's incredibly ambitious ideas and approach to storytelling is mind-blowing and a kind of creativity we don't see often in any form of art, games included. However, I think said ambitious, post-modern and exciting ideas distract the majority of players from some fatal errors made in execution.
Passed on from the first game-the boss fights are still awful. I'm not a huge fan of boss fights generally unless they're in a game by fromsoft but they are especially atrocious in these two games. The controls meant for tactical stealth don't transfer to boss fights which just makes them awkward, unengaging and frustrating (Besides fat man which I weirdly enjoyed and couldn't tell you why).
Gameplay is mostly an improvement over the first game. The addition of first person makes me feel so much cooler and able to tackle stealth missions, making the core gameplay generally more fun. I found myself not using many tools outside of my guns though but that may just be because of my playstyle and how much fun I was having telling enemies to "FREEZE!"
Despite my love of the gameplay, I was given much less of it in this game which leads into some of my thoughts on the story.
Unlike its predecessor, the pacing is very off in this one. The game begins throwing you into its most complex, difficult levels and then pulls back when you start playing as Raiden as it goes back over an unskippable tutorial that players of the first game know already and new players were just forced to figure out in the tanker chapter. What follows is a few bite-sized fragments of gameplay consistently being interrupted by an absurd amount of CODEC calls, making the early section of the big shell chapter almost like a parody of a MGS game.
Now I've heard some people say that this is part of the story. The opening Raiden section is annoying to make us kind of hate him at the beginning so we can slowly build that relationship up. But I think this kind of illustrates my issue with this game and its response. Kojima and the team came up with a cool idea, it feels shit in the moment of playing but in understanding that decision, people just accept this flaw. And for some people things like these aren't flaws which is great and I'm not telling you that my opinion is correct. But I do genuinely believe this game is given a lot of slack because of its ambition.
This problem extends to the characters for me as well; most of the cast feel like archetypes with traits I'm being told and not shown about. I think the poor character work is my overall problem with this game. While the first game presented mostly interesting characters with engaging archs, this game's eye roll worthy emotional scenes and poor voice acting from some important characters (Raiden and Rose) feel completely looked over by most people because of the admittedly cool ideas Kojima and his team tackle.
Even then, these ideas that is most of what I believe distracts people and admit are interesting aren't as fleshed out as they could be. The calls with GW at the end are cool but they stop way too quickly and I don't feel sufficiently mind-fucked given their reputation. Also, the exposition dump of and ending doesn't organically present these ideas; it kind of feels like Kojima came up with the twist and just decided not to write the 3rd act and share the bullet points with us.
I know this review has focused on the negative but I do like this game. Not as much as the emotionally engaging stories of 1st and 3rd games but I really appreciate the experiment this game is, even if not everything works. For me, the game still hits the fundamentals, leaving it as an incredible idea that resulted in a fine -bordering on really good- final draft that I understand the acclaim for, even if I think a lot of missteps are overlooked.
As of writing this section I haven't given this game a rating yet because I'm really not sure how I feel about it. Overall I really appreciate what this game is going for; it's incredibly ambitious ideas and approach to storytelling is mind-blowing and a kind of creativity we don't see often in any form of art, games included. However, I think said ambitious, post-modern and exciting ideas distract the majority of players from some fatal errors made in execution.
Passed on from the first game-the boss fights are still awful. I'm not a huge fan of boss fights generally unless they're in a game by fromsoft but they are especially atrocious in these two games. The controls meant for tactical stealth don't transfer to boss fights which just makes them awkward, unengaging and frustrating (Besides fat man which I weirdly enjoyed and couldn't tell you why).
Gameplay is mostly an improvement over the first game. The addition of first person makes me feel so much cooler and able to tackle stealth missions, making the core gameplay generally more fun. I found myself not using many tools outside of my guns though but that may just be because of my playstyle and how much fun I was having telling enemies to "FREEZE!"
Despite my love of the gameplay, I was given much less of it in this game which leads into some of my thoughts on the story.
Unlike its predecessor, the pacing is very off in this one. The game begins throwing you into its most complex, difficult levels and then pulls back when you start playing as Raiden as it goes back over an unskippable tutorial that players of the first game know already and new players were just forced to figure out in the tanker chapter. What follows is a few bite-sized fragments of gameplay consistently being interrupted by an absurd amount of CODEC calls, making the early section of the big shell chapter almost like a parody of a MGS game.
Now I've heard some people say that this is part of the story. The opening Raiden section is annoying to make us kind of hate him at the beginning so we can slowly build that relationship up. But I think this kind of illustrates my issue with this game and its response. Kojima and the team came up with a cool idea, it feels shit in the moment of playing but in understanding that decision, people just accept this flaw. And for some people things like these aren't flaws which is great and I'm not telling you that my opinion is correct. But I do genuinely believe this game is given a lot of slack because of its ambition.
This problem extends to the characters for me as well; most of the cast feel like archetypes with traits I'm being told and not shown about. I think the poor character work is my overall problem with this game. While the first game presented mostly interesting characters with engaging archs, this game's eye roll worthy emotional scenes and poor voice acting from some important characters (Raiden and Rose) feel completely looked over by most people because of the admittedly cool ideas Kojima and his team tackle.
Even then, these ideas that is most of what I believe distracts people and admit are interesting aren't as fleshed out as they could be. The calls with GW at the end are cool but they stop way too quickly and I don't feel sufficiently mind-fucked given their reputation. Also, the exposition dump of and ending doesn't organically present these ideas; it kind of feels like Kojima came up with the twist and just decided not to write the 3rd act and share the bullet points with us.
I know this review has focused on the negative but I do like this game. Not as much as the emotionally engaging stories of 1st and 3rd games but I really appreciate the experiment this game is, even if not everything works. For me, the game still hits the fundamentals, leaving it as an incredible idea that resulted in a fine -bordering on really good- final draft that I understand the acclaim for, even if I think a lot of missteps are overlooked.
This review contains spoilers
Jack Metal Gear
seeing raiden as completely naked is the least gay-oriented thing in this game
Bastabte sexo
This game was Fantastic. Loved the story, characters and even how it takes place in the middle of the ocean. Gameplay in MGS games is always amazing and still fun in this game with tight spaces. I know some don't like the MGS games that take place in the future but the love goes both ways for me in this franchise. PLAY THE SERIES!!!
não e com snake
peak cinema
everything about mgs2 is amazing and beautifully written and id happily glaze it all day long
I think what went wrong with my playthrough was I played on the now bunked PlayStation Now game livestreaming service. I remember the controls being really bad at times, especially when aiming down the sniper sights. Don't know if that what intentional game design or not, but the controls definitely messed me up at many points.
Laugh and grow fat!
Everything was so perfect except for Big Shell's Level Design, I didn't like it
Kojima san, how many cutscenes and codec calls do you want in your game?
Kojima: yes.
I'd really, really love to rate MGS 2 higher, but to be honest, the game was a slog to play through. Mainly because it's not really a game. It's an interactive movie that occasionally let's you play for 5-10 minutes.
80% of the game consists of loooooooooong cutscenes and codec calls. I get that this was revolutionary in 2001, but it's kinda boring nowadays. I think MGS 1 had a better gameplay-to-cutscene ratio, which made it more entertaining. Plus, while there is some humor in MGS 2, it's missing the over- the-top, ridiculous dialogue that is in MGS 1.
The extremely samey looking environment throughout the whole game and the constant backtracking also didn't help to make the game more fun.
I also felt like the bosses were much more unique and interesting in MGS 1. Here, they were just kinda meh.
The ending and the plot twist towards the end of the game was really memorable though. It's crazy how relevant the game's message is today. That 4th wall breaking moment with colonel was downright creepy.
The game also has some really cool mechanics that were really impressive to see in a game from 2001.
For example, the way the enemies are patrolling, communicate with each other on the radio and call reinforcements. You can also disguise yourself by wearing the enemy's uniform and carrying their gun.
They also added lots of new equipment, which are really fun to use. For example, the tranquilizer gun, the microphone or the coolant spray.
There are lots of new additions in this sequel that I really appreciate, but the problem is that there is just not enough gameplay. So you don't really get to have fun with your new gear that much.
It's weird, because despite all the new additions, I still feel like this sequel was a bit of step back compared to MGS 1.
Kojima: yes.
I'd really, really love to rate MGS 2 higher, but to be honest, the game was a slog to play through. Mainly because it's not really a game. It's an interactive movie that occasionally let's you play for 5-10 minutes.
80% of the game consists of loooooooooong cutscenes and codec calls. I get that this was revolutionary in 2001, but it's kinda boring nowadays. I think MGS 1 had a better gameplay-to-cutscene ratio, which made it more entertaining. Plus, while there is some humor in MGS 2, it's missing the over- the-top, ridiculous dialogue that is in MGS 1.
The extremely samey looking environment throughout the whole game and the constant backtracking also didn't help to make the game more fun.
I also felt like the bosses were much more unique and interesting in MGS 1. Here, they were just kinda meh.
The ending and the plot twist towards the end of the game was really memorable though. It's crazy how relevant the game's message is today. That 4th wall breaking moment with colonel was downright creepy.
The game also has some really cool mechanics that were really impressive to see in a game from 2001.
For example, the way the enemies are patrolling, communicate with each other on the radio and call reinforcements. You can also disguise yourself by wearing the enemy's uniform and carrying their gun.
They also added lots of new equipment, which are really fun to use. For example, the tranquilizer gun, the microphone or the coolant spray.
There are lots of new additions in this sequel that I really appreciate, but the problem is that there is just not enough gameplay. So you don't really get to have fun with your new gear that much.
It's weird, because despite all the new additions, I still feel like this sequel was a bit of step back compared to MGS 1.
i love jack and rose’s codec calls sm 😭😭
Quite a game, but not as good as....
Dude this game is way ahead of its time. The stealth is so unforgiving in great ways. And the story is absurd in all the right ways.
This review contains spoilers
TWO MGS GAMES IN ONE MONTH??!!! Perhaps a third??? nay... .lest?
yeah this game fucks so hard and has no problems at all except i find solidus not very compelling but who tf cares its president snake in power armour
my god this game held me hostage for a week but it felt like years, in a good way. i will think back on this time when i reflect on my mgs era, i will think about the ending til i am dead, i will think about the 'TURN THE GAME CONSOLE OFF' moment and how much it made me shit myself every day til im infodumping on the poor ppl in the nursing home about it and they strangle me to shut me up and collect the insurance payout
just as campy, exciting and compelling as its predecessor with infinitely improved gameplay, flawless soundtrack, amazing and extensive voice acting. i dont quite know what else to say about it, except what i keep saying to my very patient friends; this game feels complete. it feels like they did absolutely everything they could to finish this game to the highest quality and fit everything they wanted to in it. no part feels unfinished or neglected, everything you interact with and engage with is rewarded. i would kill someone, like a nice old lady or a toddler, to be able to wipe my memory and play this again from scratch
yeah this game fucks so hard and has no problems at all except i find solidus not very compelling but who tf cares its president snake in power armour
my god this game held me hostage for a week but it felt like years, in a good way. i will think back on this time when i reflect on my mgs era, i will think about the ending til i am dead, i will think about the 'TURN THE GAME CONSOLE OFF' moment and how much it made me shit myself every day til im infodumping on the poor ppl in the nursing home about it and they strangle me to shut me up and collect the insurance payout
just as campy, exciting and compelling as its predecessor with infinitely improved gameplay, flawless soundtrack, amazing and extensive voice acting. i dont quite know what else to say about it, except what i keep saying to my very patient friends; this game feels complete. it feels like they did absolutely everything they could to finish this game to the highest quality and fit everything they wanted to in it. no part feels unfinished or neglected, everything you interact with and engage with is rewarded. i would kill someone, like a nice old lady or a toddler, to be able to wipe my memory and play this again from scratch
A game that barrels past cinema into something else entirely. It's sloppiness will make it charming forever.
The one where you play as that other twink
Goated game
Jogaço of The Porra
Não vou elaborar
Não vou elaborar
the la/li/lu/le/lo aproves
LA LI LU LE LO
When I think about this game, I keep thinking that there's a lot of slow parts in it. But then I'll see a video clip or something and realize there really isn't.
This review contains spoilers
Raiden learns his entire existential purpose is being a mere political weapon and Snake at the end is like "nah it ok"
peak