When Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance was announced earlier this year, fans of Hideo Kojima's memorable character-driven and stealth-inspired action game undoubtedly rejoiced at having the chance to relive the intense sequences from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty in the form of literally hundreds of new missions involving everyone's favorite commando, Solid Snake, as well as the newbie Raiden. But while Substance is very much still on schedule to release later this year, the game will be available strictly for the Xbox--at least until 2003 rolls around. PlayStation 2 (and PC) owners hoping to get an additional dose of Metal Gear Solid 2 will have to wait until the early months of next year for the release of the subsequent versions of Substance. That doesn't mean, however, that Xbox owners will be the only ones getting a new Metal Gear Solid game this year. To appease PS2 fans who'll have to wait an extra few months before the release of Substance, Konami will be releasing The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2, a PlayStation 2-only interactive documentary on the making of Metal Gear Solid 2, in the coming weeks. We recently had the chance to peruse the many different sections of this game, and being the Metal Gear fanatics that we are, we were pleased with what we saw.

Document has five VR missions that will test your combat and sneaking skills.

The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2 is notable for the fact that it isn't so much a game in the traditional sense as it is a reference guide on all things Metal Gear. In fact, it's not really a game at all--there's little gameplay to speak of, and most of the content it does have isn't all that interactive, either. Document is best likened to a special features section of a typical DVD, as it's broken down into several distinct parts, each of which contains video, photos, and design notes on that specific element of the game's design. In a nutshell, Document breaks down the development of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty into eight individual stages--character design, mechanical design, level design, cutscenes, programming, sound, game design, and script--and also includes four additional sections that further chronicle the development process of this game. These four include a timeline of the game's entire development process, a detailed staff list of the design team, additional footage of the game in its early stages and of the research that went into making the game, and pictures of the numerous merchandise that this single game spawned after and before its release. But Document isn't all reading material--the game will also have five VR missions that, as either Snake or Raiden, will test your skills in stealth, combat, and weapons handling, though the appeal of Document will clearly be in its reference material. Let's take a closer look at these components.

You can add and remove numerous weapons and clothing items from the 3D models of the MGS2 characters.

Characters: The first section of Document's reference guide examines all of the characters that took part in the story of Metal Gear Solid 2, from the leading men to the bit roles. Here you'll find the actual in-game 3D models that were used in MGS2, as well as numerous hand-drawn sketches for each of these characters. Included in this section are 3D models and drawings for characters like Solid Snake, Iroquois Pliskin, Raiden, Otacon, Emma, Rose, Colonel, Ninja, Olga, Solidus, Fortune, Fatman, Sergei, Revolver Ocelot, and Scott Dolph, as well as for the Navy SEALs, Richard Ames, Peter Stillman, and President Johnson. There are also 12 different models for the hostages that were trapped on Big Shell, five different types of NYPD officers that were seen in the closing moments of the game, seven different US Marines from the tanker episode, and eight different Gurlukovich soldiers, including the mysterious Arsenal Tengus. You'll even find a cel-shaded version of Mei Ling that was used by Hideo Kojima and Yoji Shinkawa to demonstrate 3D modeling to students at Konami's training facility, as well as interesting sketches of some unused Metal Gear Solid 2 characters like Oldman, Chinaman, and a female named Max.

Using the PlayStation 2 controller's L2 shoulder button, you can bring up an options menu that will let you adjust the background color, ambient light color, texture color, and the location of the light source to your liking. Some 3D models will also have the option of adding various items to their person. For instance, you can add a cigarette, a pair of sunglasses, and an M4A1 assault rifle to Pliskin's character. Additionally, Document uses a unique hyperlink mechanic that, by using the R2 button, will let you quickly jump to any material that's associated with whatever you're looking at. When looking at the 3D model of Olga, for example, you can quickly jump to sketches of Olga by selecting them from the R2 button, instead of canceling out of your current menu, going back to the main menu interface, and selecting sketches from that screen. It's a simple yet innovative addition that will make surfing through the rest of Document's sections a breeze.