Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake Impressions

TOKYO--Konami is proving the old adage true: you can't keep a relentless optimizer down, at least when it comes to mobile games. The masters of Metal Gear have released a mobilized version of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake a bare month after losing the original game over the network, prompting a stir on both sides of the Pacific. After a session with Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake in Konami's NTT DoCoMo kiosk at the Tokyo Game Show, we've decided that Konami's compressed release schedule makes a lot of sense, given that this game is a seamless extension of its counterpart.

To clarify, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake has little to do with the NES version of Metal Gear 2 released in the US. Instead, this Japan-only game, originally for the MSX, focuses on Solid Snake's travails in Zanzibarland, another heavily militarized terrorist pseudo-state located somewhere in the Third World--possibly adjacent to the smoking ruins of Outer Heaven. Solid Snake is granted no respite whatsoever after turning Outer Heaven's nuclear dreams to extra fine grade carbon; rest is a four-letter word to FOXHOUND's ace saboteur, who once again begins the game as a half-dead fugitive. The difference this time around seems to be that Zanzibarland has learned from Outer Heaven's example, and it has doubled its level of readiness from the start.

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake is a much more difficult game than the already challenging Metal Gear, even though it seems content to more or less duplicate its predecessor's look, feel, and play. Those Japanese mobile gamers who didn't get their fill of Snake the first time around will probably be thrilled to whet their skills on a brand-new evil regime. Western cell phone owners, unfortunately, may be in for a long wait.

For more updates, be sure to check GameSpot's coverage of the Tokyo Game Show 2004.