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E3 2002Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance impressions

The trailer for Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance was on display at Konami's booth. Details inside.

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For the last two years in a row at E3, the Konami booth's video board has drawn swarms of show goers primarily because it's traditionally been used to reveal new information on Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and other anticipated games. This year will be no different, as the main attraction at Konami's booth will undoubtedly be the trailer for the 2866518recently unveiled Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, a follow-up to Sons of Liberty that will add nearly 300 stand-alone missions, and the ability to play as Solid Snake throughout the original game, among other exciting features. We were given a sneak peek at this trailer before the start of the show, and in true E3 fashion, we were left wanting more.

Substance will let you assume the roles of a wide variety of Metal Gear Solid 2 characters throughout the various scenes of Sons of Liberty, and as such, much of the video we saw featured clips of Solid Snake sneaking around the Big Shell facility--something that fans of Metal Gear Solid desperately wanted to see in Sons of Liberty. One of these clips was of Snake leading Emma Emmerich around by the hand, while fending off several armed CYPHERs. Other scenes depicted Snake clad in a black tuxedo aboard the deck of the tanker, Snake (a.k.a. Pliskin) in his Navy SEAL uniform inside the tanker, and Raiden fighting off Russian soldiers with his sword in the tanker area as well.

Apparently, Substance will also let you play as some of the characters from the original Metal Gear Solid. We saw a high-poly version of Snake in his collared sneak suit from Metal Gear Solid, crawling around the tanker for a few seconds. You'll even be able to play as a ninja that looks remarkably like Grey Fox (the agile cyborg from MGS) throughout the game, and interestingly enough, his mask is opened to reveal his face. Some of the clips shown in the video trailer were clearly meant to cause confusion for those who've played Sons of Liberty. They included a chance meeting between Snake and Ames, and a showdown between Olga and Snake in the bridge of the tanker. And as strange as it may sound, there were even a few clips of Snake skateboarding, executing tricks, and stringing together combos on Big Shell, almost exactly like in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. This is particularly interesting to note because Konami's forthcoming Evolution Skateboarding will feature Solid Snake as a locked playable character, and Big Shell as a hidden level.

Before coming to a close, the trailer showed a few seconds of the VR missions that you can expect to find in Substance, and one of them involved Snake avoiding two Metal Gear Ray-sized Russian soldiers--a mission that seems carried over from the Japanese release of Metal Gear Solid Integral.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance is scheduled for release on the Xbox this November, with subsequent PC and PlayStation 2 releases to follow. We'll have more information on this exciting follow-up to Sons of Liberty as it becomes available.

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