Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is every bit better than its predecessor.
The strongest aspect of the original Metal Gear Solid was certainly its story, but the story of Metal Gear Solid 2 is every bit better then the original. The games story explores any themes, such as memes, social engineering and corrupted politics, meaning that it can be difficult at times to follow, but also meaning that if you do understand it you'll think it is a complete masterwork of video game story telling.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty follows a plot of a terrorist organization called the 'Sons of Liberty' (including anti-terror unit Dead Cell and Russian mercenaries) who seize control of an off shore environmental rig called the Big Shell. The leader of the terrorist group is a man who calls himself 'Solid Snake'. At the very beginning of the game Solid Snake is apparently killed, but because the terrorist leader calls himself the same name nobody really knows for sure whether or not Solid Snake actually died. To investigate Foxhound sends Raiden, under the orders of Colonel Roy Campbell, to the Big Shell to investigate. His mission: to stop the terrorist threat and find out the real identity Solid Snake.
The original Metal Gear Solid heavily used character interaction to advance the story and Metal Gear Solid 2 also does this. The Codec makes a return, and for those of you who liked how the Coded progressed and fleshed out the story of the original title will be very pleased to see it make a return. Just like in the original Metal Gear Solid you'll have many conversations through Codec. Because you play as Raiden instead of Snake there's a whole new set of people to communicate with through Codec this time around. Roy Campbell is the only character brought across from the first game, and he acts in pretty much the same manner this time around – again being the source of objective information.
While Campbell was pretty much the most important character you solely communicated with in the original Metal Gear Solid he isn't in Sons of Liberty. Well I use the term 'important' loosely. You talk to a girl called Rose, who is Raiden's girlfriend. Raiden has a mysterious past that you don't know much about, therefore a lot of Codec conversations with Rose revolve around her trying to find out more about Raiden's life before they met. The relationship is quite similar to Snake's relationship with Meryl, because you get to see a side of Raiden that you pretty much wouldn't have without her inclusion.
In the original Metal Gear Solid you talked to a few people through Codec, but you only met two of them throughout the course of the mission. While you talk to less people through Codec in Sons of Liberty you actually meet more of them. One of the most important characters in the game is Lt. Junior Grade Iroquois Pliskin, a Navy Seal. You don't know too much about Pliskin, but he seems to know a lot about Raiden's mission and the Big Shell in general, therefore he'll help you out a lot. You also talk to and meet somebody called Mr. X, who is similar to Deepthroat in the original.
So, we've already established that Metal Gear Solid 2 has a better story then the original, but it also made enough game play tweaks that made the game every bit more enjoyable. Metal Gear Solid 2 is, without a doubt, the best stealth game I've ever played, and this all comes down to how well the stealth was integrated in to game play. The first Metal Gear Solid had a solid game play system which was let down by sometimes idiotic enemies, but the enemies in Metal Gear Solid 2 are every bit more intelligent.
This time around the enemies work in teams. If one spots you, instead of coming after you single-handed, he'll call for attack teams to come and hunt you down. Also, because the enemy AI has been increased dramatically, they are a lot more self aware. If the enemies heard a noise or saw a glimpse of you in the original they simple walked around to investigate. This still happens in Metal Gear Solid 2, but the enemies also call for extra help looking for you. If you knock an enemy unconscious, either from beating them up or using your tranquiliser gun, they'll call for reinforcements when they awaken. They don't forget that you've attacked them. This goes a long way towards immersing you in the game.
Some of the other game play tweaks aren't as important as the enhanced enemy artificial intelligence, but they also help you out a lot. For instance, this time around, if you knock out an enemy you can drag their body around and hide them inside lockers, hiding them from plain view for other enemies to see. This way your handy work will go undetected. While pressing the 'X' button will still crouch you, and moving whilst crouched will make you crawl along the floor, you can now shoot while crawling. You could look around in the first-person mode in the original title, but this time you can also shoot. It's no longer a view simply for looking around at your surroundings. Also, pressing the 'X' button while running will make Raiden sort-of jump, which you can use to clear small gaps. You can also jump over the edge of pathways and shimmy. Shimming really comes in handy if an enemy is on a bridge, because it'll let you get across without him seeing you at all. All in all the new game play tweaks make for a much better experience.
Visually Metal Gear Solid 2 is one of the best looking games ever released for the PlayStation 2. This is actually quite surprising really, when you consider that it was released rather early in the PlayStation 2's life span. For its time the game really looked near-life like, and even playing it now you'll realise that it still holds up extremeley well.
The games music though is even more impressive. One of the main reasons why the music is so good is down to the fact that all the music is done orchestral. MIDI music wouldn't have done the soundtrack justice. Also another reason why the sound track is superb is because Hollywood music composer Harry Gregson-Williams (a British composer) scored it. Gregson-Williams is one of Hollywood's most prominent musical figures, composing music for a string of Hollywood block busters. He is one of the most respected film composers of his era in his musical style. Metal Gear Solid 2 was the first video game he scored, but he didn't disappoint at all.
While I think that Metal Gear Solid 2 is every bit better then the original, I feel that it could still have been improved upon. As I mentioned earlier the enemy AI has been enhanced, but the enemies still have their 'field of vision' present on the Soliton Radar. Again, you will only be seen if you step in to their vision. Sure the fields of vision's range has been improved, but it can still sometimes be a problem. Also, like the original, the story seems to take too much precedence over the story. Length wise Metal Gear Solid 2 should take about 15 hours to complete, but again half the total play time is taken up by Codec conversations and real-time in game movies.
If I'm to sum it up Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is certainly a game you should play. It's every bit better then the original, completely refining the game play and beating its story telling. But that's not to say the game is perfect. The story is again the centre of attention, taking up a hell of a lot of time. The game play tweaks made certainly let the game get past its short comings, but be warded that you still aren't 'technically' getting a whole lot of game here.
Review by: James Widdowson
Score: 9.5/10