I don't rate this game because I don't consider it a "normal" game, therefore I won't judge it as one.

He Fucked the Girl Out of Me is something quite unique, it's mostly a "narrative", they just choose the game format to tell that story.

Mind you, it's hard to describe it with adjectives because of the mixture of complicated feelings and topics it handles, but you should know it is not a very enjoyable.

If you find it interesting I encourage you to play it, but try to see it as something "human" rather than a product or piece for you to consume or enjoy.

Good sequels take the original and twist it into a new shape, reinforcing and undermining everything that came before at the same time. And MGS2 is a great sequel. MGS1, refracted on itself in a feedback loop until it becomes an upgrade, a derivative slog, its own twisted bizzaro world nightmare of itself.

The geopolitics have somehow become more absurd, as it was the only way to make them more insightful. The US develops metal gears. Russia steals them. Every intelligence agency in both countries probably thinks Ocelot is a triple agent for them. "Intelligence" is actually a myth, and if you think you possess any then you're being played, if you trust anyone then their plan is working. Patriot is a bad word. It probably should be. The villains are terrorists. The terrorists are eco terrorists, or are they pro metal gear, or are they anti metal gear, or are they anti American (after all, they are exmilitary), or is it about something else entirely? Who cares what they want or where they came from anyway? They're terrorists (the kind with a capital T). The terrorists' leader is a secret genetic experiment who was maybe designed by the illuminati. Who is also the former president of the United States. Imagine joe biden running around in a Doc Oc suit committing terrorist acts off the shores of New York. That's what we're working with here. (Btw nearly all of this information is revealed during the introductory cutscenes.)

The game feels like such a departure from the cold, dry militarism of the first. It tries to stand out in every way, except for its gameplay, polished to an inhuman level. Even when trying to be cynical, the game can't help itself from making cool & memorable environments, bosses, characters, aesthetics. Names are pulled from Paul Auster stories, the credits end with smooth lounge music, all the rain and the skyline and the politics, its characters all live in New York or lived in New York and it's all so singular for a military action game setting. The credits song is great, but the same could be said for every other song on the soundtrack. There's lots of little things to unlock, too, in the main game or as rewards for completion or whatever. There's an entire new set of VR missions attached, with their own entirely separate soundtrack. There's a bonus skateboarding mode. It's easy to overlook the countless small things this game does right in favor of the monolithic insane psychotic shit that's the staple of the whole series.

Mgs2 is always up to something, always operating on some unseen level that goes one step beyond what it's willing to show you. It's like playing the first game all over again, re-experiencing that moment when you're like "wait why tf is this boss doing literal magic?" It lies to you. You think it's a spy game, but secretly it is another spy game, that is secretly is a different spy game, but secretly it was actually designed to reach through your tv and kill you in real life the whole time. And then the current president of the United States shows up and grabs your junk.