Who cares if you play as Raiden? This is still one of the best PS2 games out there – if not the best, period.
Sadly, that’s just plain wrong. You see, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance is one of those games that takes the previous release and vastly improves an already great game.
While the core of the game, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, has not changed, it doesn’t need to. The story is still about the new character Raiden running about a place known as Big Shell, trying to take out a new terrorist group known as the Sons of Liberty… supposedly run by Solid Snake.
While this pissed off many people (including one reviewer for this game who gave this game a 2.0, apparently mistaking it for the original MGS2), I found it quite nice. While I love Solid Snake, Raiden came into his own as a character, and running alongside Snake just proved how badass Snake really was in the first place.
In any case, that’s not what this re-release is about. Instead, this re-release is about the bonuses added to the game.
Packed onto a single PS2 disc, Substance brings many new features to the game – the biggest and most hyped feature of this being the Snake Tales – featuring Solid Snake running about Big Shell as himself. Well, not quite.
Instead of running about as Solid Snake during Raiden’s story (or with Snake replacing Raiden), game creator Hideo Kojima actually crafted five new stories for the player to go through.
The first of the tales, A Wrongdoing, features Solid Snake being sent to the Big Shell in order to save hostages from the terrorist known as Fatman, the bomb fanatic.
The second tale, Big Shell Evil, has Otacon asking Solid Snake to infiltrate the Big Shell in order to save his sister from a serial killer supposedly running about the Big Shell.
Confidential Legacy features the return of Meryl to the Metal Gear mythos, but things aren’t as they seem.
The fourth mission, Dead Man Whispers has Snake assisting with soldier training on the Big Shell when the leader of the exercise, Vamp, seemingly goes insane.
The final and longest mission, External Gazer has Solid Snake trying out Otacon’s newest VR Mission helmet… and the repercussions of a similar incident featuring a creature from another dimension, known as Gurgulon. On a fun note, though it’s the hardest mission out of the five, External Gazer is almost completely tongue-in-cheek in terms of its sense of humor.
The depressing part about the Snake Tales, despite them being excellently done, is the fact that there is no voice acting for any of the plot segments. Instead, the player reads text on the screen before moving on to the next section. It’s a little disappointing, but the Snake Tales themselves are well-done enough that I can’t complain.
However, a larger note is that there is no radar in the Snake Tales – instead forcing the player to use literal hope-and-hide stealth. The only way I was able to complete the Snake Tales with this handicap was after getting used to no radar after playing MGS3. It’s a flaw, yes, but the Snake Tales themselves don’t suffer from the lack of it.
Another new feature added to Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance is the VR Missions. Compared to the Snake Tales, these feel a little redundant and more than a little tacked-on at points. Despite that, one certainly can’t complain that there’s a lack of them.
Instead of playing as just Raiden or Snake, there are seven characters to use – Raiden, Ninja Raiden, Raiden X (this one has to be played to be believed), Solid Snake, Pliskin, Tuxedo Snake and finally MGS1 Snake.
While the general levels of all but Raiden X are similar, the contents are different enough to still be unique. For example, MGS1 Snake spawns without any equipment whatsoever in his levels – forcing the player to gather any and all weaponry from the level itself.
Ninja Raiden, however, only has his sword to use. Tuxedo Snake uses the M9, where Pliskin is focused on killing everything in sight.
Little changes make it so much nicer – not to mention that for the bonus VR missions, entirely different levels are used. Raiden X, however… is different. I won’t say why, but it’s easy to see once the player unlocks it.
On top of VR missions, we’ve also got Boss Survival mode, which pits the player up against every boss in the game – moving from Raiden to Snake as the story did with each boss. Honestly, this mode is pretty insane, and can be quite fun. It’s hidden away under options, but it’s still worth checking out.
For many people, this is more than enough to put in one game… but Substance still isn’t done yet. You see, we’ve yet to cover the skateboarding mode. Yes, that’s right – skateboarding.
This mode is basically a demo for the Konami game Evolution Skateboarding. While ES was a very average game on its own, the game becomes a neat little mini-game for MGS2:S.
The set-up is rather simple: Choose either Solid Snake or Raiden, and play through that character’s level – achieving as many of the five objectives as possible in the time-limit. Really, it’s rather like a nostalgic throwback to the early Tony Hawk games, and the play is rather similar; the move sets for both Snake and Raiden being familiar for those who have played Tony Hawk as well.
While it’s not a particularly deep mode of play, it’s still entertaining to run about as Raiden or Snake, grinding away at the Big Shell – as well as setting off Fatman’s bombs around the Big Shell. At the very least, it’s definitely worth a look for the curious.
The final bonus for this game is a sorrowfully limited theater mode – wherein the player can view a limited number of cinematic scenes from the Sons of Liberty game. While the selection is limited to eight scenes, the player is then able to change about the people involved into the cinematics into whoever they wish to see.
Wanna see Meryl take down Rose as the #1 MGS girl? You’ve got it.
Wanna see Otacon suddenly display Vampiritic properties? Not a problem.
What about Solid Snake and Ocelot facing down for once? Once again, it’s there.
However, this is sadly limited by the fact that some of the character models used were not meant for this kind of movement – making the included MGS1 models of certain characters in particular more than a little useless.
Despite the fact that it’s not a perfect cinematic mode, it’s still worth watching for the hell of it.
In short, this game just builds off what’s already fantastic about Metal Gear Solid 2 and ramps it up another notch or three into legendary. While I would have worshipped a fully-blown ‘movie’ mode to re-watch the plot of MGS2 without having to play through the game, there’s already so much here, I can’t complain without seeming greedy.
The only real problem with this game is the fact that this game is really hard to find these days – online stores often charging at least $50 per copy. I was lucky enough to get this for only $27. If you can find this for less than the retail price, this is easily worth it. Otherwise it comes down to whether or not you’ve played MGS2 before and how big a MGS fan you are.
Either way, it’s worth every penny.
Final Score:
10 Out of 10 – PERFECT.