METAL GEAR SOLID 2: One of the Bravest Games Ever Created ~

  One of the bravest, boldest, games ever to grace the gaming world, metal gear solid 2 forever carved out its name in the great statue of the finest games ever created. Released in 2001 ( the same year that halo left its mark) MGS2 was not only the first classic of the 2000's but the work of a master(hideo kojima) in the peak of his craft.

Of course even though the critical reception was incredible(gamerankings:95%/Metacritic:96%)MGS2 still dropped with its fair share of controversy. Front and foremost was the bait and switch mechanic of the lead protagonists...replacing the iconic solid snake a few hours in to the game with the long blonde haired(and slightly more feminine) character "raiden". Raiden in many ways was the complete opposite of snake from both a design standpoint. Raiden was slender and more ninja like compared to snakes steady gruff American soldier persona. Raiden was kojimas brilliant fusion of stronger Japanese elements into the metal gear solid series. But for me personally i found it really interesting that hideo allowed us as players to play with snake for the first portion of the game (to satisfy that MGS1 craving) and then allowed us to team up with snake(almost as comrades) while playing as raiden. Allowing us to see snake from another angle, and also allowing for a natural progression of snakes character. Its very apparent that snake has become a bit older now ( as he and otocon have joined an anti metal gear radical group PHILANTHROPY) and its was interesting to see snake from another perspective.

This character switch was particularly effective because all of the ad campaigns and previews released before the game dropped ONLY showed snake. So once the game dropped everyone(gamers and critics alike) experienced the twist together and the gut reaction from the media(if the review scores are any indication) was that the move was a success. It was only later that the more vocal raiden haters came out of the woodwork. A small percentage of gamers decided that raiden simply wasnt "manly" enough and that they needed a more "testosterone fueled" character like snake. Cuz only a "mans man" could be the hero in an action game right? Wrong. Personally, i think raiden may be the best thing that has every happened to the series.Not only is raiden a more interesting character aesthetically...but he also allowed the series to grow. We learn that raiden was a killing machine by the age of 10 and the fellow soldiers he fought with as a child called him "white devil" and "jack the ripper"...surprisingly brutal nicknames(for a character most called effeminate)... which eluded to a surprisingly dark past within hideos new warrior. By infusing a character as powerful as raiden he could later could bring back throughout the metal gear saga and continue some of the more interesting storylines that developed in MGS2(like raidens rivalry with vamp). Snake and Raiden above all else made a great TEAM and with raiden hideo kojima found a way to bring in a new audience in(while ironically alienating more close minded gamers) while still keeping snake right there along side the player for most of mgs2.

Sons of Liberty is also exploding with IDEAS. From the start of the game you never ever feel like a single moment throughout the 10 hour or so playthrough is wasted. Whether the player is snapping photographs of the new metal gear, engaging in incredible boss fights, diffusing bombs ingeniously planted throughout the facility,or swimming through flooded offices to save a young girl...i really felt like there truly is never a dull moment. Even the more familiar portions of the game, seem to brim with more life than 99 percent of games available. take the Sniping section for example. Kojima has the player immerge into a beautiful sunset scene as he guards a young girl ( "emma" otocons niece) across a fence line floating above the water. Oh and Snake himself is helping assist you in this act of protection..how cool is that? Also knowing what is at stake with emma and the relationship she has developed with raiden (and us the player) makes it all the more gut wrenching when vamp leaps from the water and takes her life in an epic standoff. Even when kojima is treading familiar ground, hes leaving footsteps in a manor we wont soon forget.

Visual speaking (even playing the game again 9 years later) MGS2 is one of the finest looking games available. This may only further contribute to the classic nature of the game as we the player can go back and play mgs2 for many years to come and it will still look incredible. Leave it to hideo kojima to push the boundaries of what the ps2 was capable of. Its incredible to think that sons of liberty was a first generation PS2 game. From a hype standpoint all eyes were on MGS2 at the time of its release back in2001 after the unbelievable success/impact of the original MGS, Kojima made sure that MGS2 would be remembered as a landmark for visual presentation in a video game.Also,You know that metal gear theme that you just cant seem to shake from your head? Well that also started with sons of liberty. First heard in the games opening cinematic sequence the theme would eventually find its way into every metal gear game to come.

There is really very little wrong with MGS2. Some criticize the complexity of the plot toward the final section of the game...but after further analyzations everything does truly make sense...its just alot to swallow in one sitting. Hell ive probably played MGS2 about 5 or 6 times in my lifetime and i feel like i unravel a bit more of its depth every single time i play it. So for those who played through the game once and were left scratching their heads a bit, i understand. But at least for me personally it was incredible refreshing to find a story crafted with so many layers of complexity (and consistency) that i can still enjoy it 9 years later.....and almost enjoy it MORE than my first playthroughs. A brilliant story that resonates within your soul and leaves its mark, leaving you in awe after the final credits roll.

Metal Gear Solid 2 does technically only build off the foundations of the original, but it also took the series to stratospheric heights in terms of both production values, and overall depth of experience for us the player. Above all else for me personally as a gamer, metal gear solid 2's themes of free will, controlling information, and finding something to believe in, keep the game cemented within a special place of my gaming heart forever. A game that even after everything else it accomplishes finds a way to infuse such interesting philosophy throughout the very fiber of its being. A true masterpiece.  
 
So i know this game is crazy controversial but what do you all think??
mo

ddddddddaaaaaaaaammmnnnn i aint readin all that shiet
 
 
 
But yeah MGS 2 had some balls

I loved it but MGS1 was still my favourite.

What the hell is "bravest" supposed to mean? That it took the most risks?
 
A.) No.
B.) No.
C.) They're not synonymous.
D.) No.
E.) All of the above.

MGS2 was  Kojima's big fuck you to everyone, and I respect him for that (even if I thought it was totally bullshit then).

yeah, it's not that raiden's not manly enough, it's just that i personally found his behavior to be a little douchey and anime for my tastes.  the gameplay was still fun though.  i never finished it, as of yet, i only got to maybe the halfway mark. 
 
do you ever get to play as snake again in the game?  i'd think that would be the best way to do it.

Hey guys remember when Samus took her clothes off. 
 
I was like whoa.

" ddddddddaaaaaaaaammmnnnn i aint readin all that shiet    But yeah MGS 2 had some balls "

Two minutes after watching the ending of MGS 2 I went on my computer and played Counter-Strike. 
To this day, I still can't fathom why anyone would still bother with this game even going so far as to write a comprehensive narrative about how it deserves to exist. I will always think of that game as an inferior MGS game and your thesis didn't change that at all.

Agreed! MGS2 is definitely my favorite in the series. And I completely agree with what you said about it being multi-layered, took me a good 5 playthroughs to understand it all.

Yes, MGS2 was a bold move by Kojima.
NO, RAIDEN WAS NOT ONE OF THE BEST THINGS ADDED TO THE SERIES.

Yes. And I have been meaning to create a similar thread on the breakdown of MGS2's story, much maligned as it is.  The ideas floating around in the storyline are nothing short of prophetic and risque.
 
Be on the look out for that folks, coming soon.

i ain't reading all that. MGS2 was probably my favourite of the series though.

" Crazy to think that it's nearly 10 years old now. I was 10/11 at the time it came out, and was actually naive/gullible/stupid enough to believe the game was actually broken once you reached arsenal gear and the AI messaged you trying to convince you =P No game ever had effect before or (thankfully, for my self esteem) since. Still one of my favourite games of all time. "

I enjoyed MGS2 but yes, all the way through I was wondering when I was going to play as Snake again.

I still remember E.E's death totally bumming me out, alot to take in for an 11 year old at the time. =D

cool story bro....................jk...........not really though

It is the best game in that franchise.

good read, never played the game but sounds cool.

Indeed, MGS2 was so brave. Truly an American hero. 

For me it has to be MGS > MGS2 > MGS3 > MGS4

I really disliked 4, not entirely sure why but it just felt off.

Wall of text. But nonetheless, it's so self-aware and takes the chance for us to understand.

Brave? Indeed, but it was also shite, in the rubbish bin it goes.

TO MUCH READING FOR A FORUM POST.......No way im reading that.  But i do remember MGS2 good times.  A lot of hours out into that game. that series all together

@B017
 
Thanks for the constructive criticism.....spell checkers these day fail! Err...perhaps grammar is not my strong suit. Nonetheless thanks for the kind words and i agree with almost everything you said.

Good post. I agree, that MGS2 took some great risks.
 
And i really like the convoluted plot in the end.. I almost dropped my controller at one point. Expert storytelling, and challenging the mind of the player. 
 
Good stuff.

Raiden is terrible. MGS2 was a mess in terms of story. MGS3 was more coherent, but then Kojima slipped back into long-winded conspiratorial gibbering with MGS4. At least the first three had great gameplay, but MGS4 was more of a watch than play experience. 
 
Just my $0.02 on the series.

@killer rabbit
 
Absolutley!
 
Even after everything mgs2 accomplishes it leaves strong moral themes imprinted in my mind. I cant remember mgs1 and mgs3(as great as those games are) leaving any sort of mark quite as deeply in my conciousness.
 
@sixpin
Mgs4 was designed as a conclusion to the series. So anyone who is playing the game has been emotionally invested in the MGS saga for over a decade, which makes the high cinematic ratio a necescity. Your not converting new fans with a 4th game afterall! lol
 
Why is raiden terrible?
 
 
have a great one
mo

Sorry about reviving a four-year-old thread. I knew nothing about MGS until Drew and Dan started playing it, so I'm late to the party, but let's talk about it!

Raiden is not a good character. He's not supposed to be. He's a whiny pos with no field experience who idolizes Snake for a reason. Kojima knew what he was doing, and that was pissing off and making fun of the fans of MGS1. Raiden IS the sterotypical MGS1 fan. Whiny, entitled, wants to be the cool guy Snake and kill fools. He's been through all the same VR mission that you have, because his VR missions and MGS1 are one and the same.

Kojima hated the fans who liked his stupid hollywood action game so freaking much that they forced a sequel on him that he didn't want to make. MGS2 is one of the greatest video games ever made, and by FAR my favorite video game story, but not for any of the reasons you listed. Of course it took risks, because Kojima was so pissed off he decided to make the most expensive art game ever made. He wanted the series to fail. He wanted people to stop caring so much about this stupid thing he made that he was forced to make sequel after sequel instead of making something new. He raised both middle fingers high in the sky and found inspiration in his frustration, and actually did wind up making something new and incredible. He made the most personal video game I've ever seen at that budget level. There's no other word for it, but "art". It is the very definition of the word.

If you take anything that happens in the plot literally, you're not getting it. It doesn't matter who's in league with who, or the logistics of anything that happens. None of that matters. Things aren't supposed to make literal sense, or have definite answers. They all exist to serve the game's subtext of bitterness, mockery, and frustration.

Literally everything about MGS2 exists to undermine and cheapen MGS1 and the people who loved that game. Liquid comes back to make you feel like you didn't accomplish anything in the first game. Vamp comes back to life to fuck with your expectations, because no boss in MGS1 comes back. You never lay a hand on Fortune to make you feel powerless, weak, and worthless. Kojima was trying to tell people that sequels for the sake of sequels are worthless, have nothing new to say, and shouldn't be forced on creators for the sake of bringing in the bucks. The fact that the series continued on from that game proves that nobody listened.

The best Metal Gear Solid IMO.

@davidh219: So Metal Gear Solid 2 is a garbage game made shitty on purpose because Metal Gear fans are idiots? It's tempting to agree but I think it's a little more logical to assume that Kojima is just a hack.

@davidh219: So what you're saying is that MGS 2 is the Seinfeld series finale of video games.

@sieferx2: I just finished it. It was freaking amazing especially considering what game came before

Other than the main character looking different the sequel is not a bold departure from the original MGS. It's a great game but the whole main character thing being a big deal says more about how crazy people are than how crazy the game is.

The only reason the bait and switch was even necessary was because Kojima can't cut a trailer less than 5 minutes otherwise he could have just used footage from the first mission of the game. I'm not complaining the comittment to surprising people was funny.

@davidh219: I disagree a bit on how bitter Kojima was with this game. I feel like Kojima was trying to make the player ask questions internally and still provide a substantive game play experience. It didn't seem made out of spite but out of hope that it would get people to look at subtext and meaning. MGS2 felt like Kojima poking and prodding his audience to see who he was dealing with. A lot of it is vicious, "did you just say nerd?", but at the end Solid Snake apologies for it, "I know you didn't have a lot in terms of choices this time but everything you felt is yours.", so it seems like Kojima didn't just want to say fuck you so much as "please understand what I was going for the first time!"

If Kojima wanted everyone to get pissed off I don't think he would have temporarily said that games can't be art in reaction to MGS2 negative reception. I also have trouble seeing Kojima taking umbrage with the idea of sequels when MGS1 is the third game in the series.

Raiden is kind of an incoherent character. You can't be a mass murderer at 10 and then turn into such wuss when you are older. He is highly unrealistic, besides that even if you give a character an interesting background doesn't make him a good character, his dialogue is boring and has 0 character to him. Snake on the other hand I personally thought was awesome even before I learned the limited background stuff we have on him, the background has to be an extra when you are making a character.

the whole point of MGS 2 is really discovering who you are and finding what actually matters in life. The games story itself is meant to be a convoluted mess and never meant to be concluded ( MGS 4 Is fan service nonsense) in order to make sense of the games subtexts.

When Ryan Payton use to work at Kojima Productions. In one of the KP Reports, he talked about the origin of Raiden. Konami had a focus group test. There was a female gamer. She complained that Metal Gear Solid had too many old guys and could not relate to Snake. The feedback affected Hideo's moral. He wanted Metal Gear to be more accessible to women.

Sounds like an easy pull but he probably should've just made a female main character instead of a wet blanket who got outstmarted by a robot wife. Although by this point he hadn't given us the Boss.