I really loved the information control, social engineering, existentialism, and virtual reality aspects of the plot in this game. The big reveal at the end with the patriots and ocelot’s betrayal to solidus and subsequent takeover from liquid, it was all great and that last codec conversation was so haunting and largely applicable to swaths of society today. Jack and Rose’s relationship was full of dysfunction and had rampant holes in the foundation that made the revelations near the end even more impactful and it gave enormous context to the mystery & intrigue Jack was shrouded in most of the time… On the topic of jack his character arc was absolutely superb, lots of people hate it but getting thrown into this random little dude’s shoes on this random oil cleanup facility knowing just as little as him but not quite being able to relate to him because of that aforementioned mystery, great. Solid Snake’s role initially as Pliskin is super well done, you don’t know the extent to which he’s willing to work alongside you but equally you understand he’s probably not apart of the “villainous” groups present here. I don’t find much else truly worth talking about with him but his final speech was something that gave me feelings a game never provided me before.
The final two to three hours of this game are a mind-boggling experience of tremendous proportions, all the knowledge you thought you gained in the last 8-10 hours is immediately thrown far far out the window or given entirely new context. Exchanges you thought had no meaning, Plot Holes, etc… Chekhov’s gun use here is pervasive and you could argue it’s overused a bit but none of these twists and turns come out of nowhere luckily.
The gameplay was good simply put. A good variety of weapons but not too much for this semi short experience, the big shell felt a little restrictive and a ton of people seem to find the whole thing boring but I like and think most every room and piece is well made. stealth was.. well stealth; it’s purpose was served well although I’ll say it felt very good for a 2001 game. And not just feel, it LOOKED good too, beautiful game truly. One thing I do regret now is not having played the first metal gear solid because of the Shadow Moses rerun the game was building up to and a multitude of characters that I just didn’t truly get until the end or at all. It would have been great to see the improvements between this and the last game. Being someone who frequently thinks about the meaning of life and the value of humanity and the purpose and responsibility we have on this planet, this game tore me for a loop and made my head spin. The more I ponder this title the more I love, it’s truly something masterful.
That tanker mission and the sense of security you were lulled into being the “big bad super soldier solid snake” and then moving on after things go awry there to the perspective of this secret agent who is tasked with finding the president that turns more and more into an insane mission with so many questions and mysterious figures until the president provides you with a ton of answers but not to any that you particularly asked. Then you have to rescue the daughter of the quirky scientist guy and she ends up killed and they all meet up in this security room from hours before, and then things get more and more and just more and more chaotic and philosophically layered. I’m gonna think about this game for a long while, I find it hard to talk about it that well since I feel I miss some of the essence presented but I did my best showing what I thought overall. I don’t usually care about stealth games but passing this up was not an option to me and I’m so glad I didn’t.