Kojima truly breaks the mold with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, by making a video game masterpiece that turns being less fun than it could be into a strength instead of a weakness. I'm not sure Kojima ever again reached the level of precision he achieves here. Every seemingly innocuous detail is a laughably inspired piece of postmodern authorship that ties back into the whole of the narrative. A narrative which seems totally normal until it all of the sudden doesn't, at which point it begins discussing ongoing international conspiracies (real ones) with shocking candor and density, all the while keeping the player hooked with back to back exciting plot twists and gameplay ideas. That Kojima pulls this off while also creating a satisfying sequel to an already great game, and an emotionally powerful game in its own right, well... its all very impressive. Lack of fun boss fights and the general brevity of the gameplay put this at the bottom of the numbered MGS games for me, but its about as high a floor as I've ever seen, and I'm from New York City.