User Rating: 8.3 | Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance PC
By jehurey | Review Date:
Despite what everyone might say about the game, playing this over a year and a half later after Sons of Liberty is still very engaging, impressionable, and good-looking. The great production values are still there, heck even the original Metal Gear Solid's production values are still better than half of the new games out there. The biggest setback for Substance for the PC is the absolute lack of integration for the Windows operating system. There is no Windows interface during gameplay, the only way to configure the game is during a small options menu that looks like a program made at the last minute and works like a video game emulator that you would find online like NeoRageX. In fact, because it is only available on DVD and a DVD-ROM of at least 8x is required for it to install and play, you get the belief that this is basically the XBOX DVD disc that has a small install and configuration program that fools the game to run on a computer. Oh and by the way, if you want to exit the game, the option doesn't exist in the game at all, you just push the escape button on your keyboard and it abruptly ends, which really takes some of the gaming experience from a game that totally immerses you and throws you back into reality like a slap to the face. There are definitely good things about this version of the game compared to the PS2 and XBOX. First of all, the game MOST TIMES looks absolutely great running on a pretty fast computer using a GeForce 3 or GeForce 4 Ti video card because it can run at higher resolutions. The reason why I say that it runs great most times is because it usually applies to the levels that are indoors and are not crowded with many enemies. For example, the opening tanker scene outside technically looks great when the detail is put on high, but the frame rate barely reaches into the teens. When you lower the level of detail all the way down, the frame rate is still the same even though everything looks fizzled in the rain, meaning that it seems to be a coding problem rather than a hardware problem. However, once you get inside the tanker, it runs and looks better than anything on the console versions. Unfortunately, the opening movie sequence is apparently using the game engine and therefore skips all the way thru, you'd figure that within the 7.8 Gig installation that they would put a high quality MPEG version of the movie sequence that would look as good as DVD-quality. Another reason why the game is good, its Metal Gear! Sure the game leaves a lot, and I mean A LOT, to be desired, but it still has a lot to offer. Even though I've beaten the original Sons of Liberty on the PS2 back in 2001, I am replaying the main portion again until I get to the VR Missions and the Snake Tales. So even though I haven't played any of the extras yet, the only thing that should matter is that it is more of the same great gameplay that many complained was left out of SOL. The game feels weird being on the PC, because it definitely feels like a console game, but with the right controller, the right video card (hopefully this new ATI patch works for those Radeon owners) and a little bit of patience during the half-hour installation, you would get to play a game that really is unique to the PC. The similarities to Splinter Cell are only skin deep, because both of these games have very different fundamentals, and both are equally worth owning. Anybody who hasn't played Metal Gear Solid 2 should definitely get it, whether its for the PS2, XBOX, or PC. There is no way you can dislike this game outright.

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