Metal Gear Solid 2 is simply put one of the most fun, unique and ambitious titles on the Playstation 2.
Seeing as I haven't played the original MGS on Playstation, I had to get used to the sometimes difficult control scheme. It took a while, but it was well worth it.
The game is split in two different chapters, the Tanker chapter, and the Plant chapter. And if you put your heart in it you can probably complete it in 6-7 hours. I completed it in 18 hours, my excuse is I haven't played any of the MGS games before and the story was hard to follow, some of the character names were hard to remember. I had trouble distinguishing Ocelot and Otacon sometimes.
And I guess I just sucked at it sometimes, but I didn't let my frustration get in the way because I realised it was called "Tactical Espionage Action" for a reason. The game doesn't really have much besides the main campaign, but that's enough for me, in my opinion the game has much replay value, and you can achieve your objectives through different methods and gadgets. I found myself using that tranquilizer gun alot, and the cardboard box is as Snake says, the heart of the soldier, treat it with care.
As I was saying, the controls are a bit off if you haven't experienced it before, like taking cover behind a wall seemed like an impossibility, and aiming in first-person while not being able to move seemed like a chore.
But I got over that after spending about an hour on the game, it was simply a wonderful experience playing through MGS2 for the first time.
And I'm quite sure I won't be experiencing the feeling of playing it for the first time for quite a while. It stands the test of time very well, it has been almost six years since it was released in the US, and I can safely say it is one of the best games I've played in a while.
The story is... surreal, to say the least, it was hard to follow, but it was interesting. Shadow Moses this, Outer Heaven that, but I think I got what the story was about. I guess I shouldn't spoil much of the story, it's wonderful, and I guess I couldn't really quite explain it in a way that makes sense, because, let's put it this way, Hideo Kojima has some weird stuff going through his head, weird and excellent.
The voice-acting is also very good, it's almost cartoon like. But it fits the series, just like the musical score, it's just amazing.
There's just something about this game, it makes you feel it has "it", whatever it means, you have that feeling as soon as you watch the intro and hear that fantastic music, it sticks right to the very end of the game.
Metal Gear Solid 2 is simply put one of the most fun, unique and ambitious title on the Playstation 2, and you should not doubt buying it if you have a Playstation 2. It's one of those games that will have its own place in the back of your mind, while most last-gen games will be long forgotten.
I can safely say that I have become a major fan of Metal Gear Solid, and will buy the following games in the series as fast as I can.
And I can also safely say that I will have MGS4 no matter what platform it is released on.
I just love it.