Something went wrong. Try again later
    Follow

    Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

    Game » consists of 12 releases. Released Nov 13, 2001

    The follow-up to the 1998 blockbuster, Metal Gear Solid 2 blends tactical stealth and action. This sequel takes the action to an offshore oil cleanup facility seized by terrorists who are holding the President hostage. It helped sell the PS2, featuring advanced AI, physics and cover mechanics for its time, and one of the first postmodern narratives in gaming.

    MGS2 - My First Metal Gear, and What a Start.

    Avatar image for woffls
    Woffls

    122

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 1

    #1  Edited By Woffls

    Holy hell this is a good game. I just completed it, after having never played a Metal Gear game before, and it really blew me away. I knew it was good, but I had no idea that it could have this much of an impact.

    In retrospect I'd have liked to have played MGS1 first, but circumstances weighed heavily against it. Nevertheless, I understood most of the story and got a real kick out of the characters, not to mention the twists and surreal experiences. The gameplay itself was a bit dodgy, but I'm sure I'll get over it. I can't wait til I have time to play game this again.

    More importantly, how do people rate this among the others in the series? If it's not the best then I might actually die of joy.

    Avatar image for fr0br0
    fr0br0

    3255

    Forum Posts

    151

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 2

    User Lists: 0

    #2  Edited By fr0br0

    It's my favorite in the series, it's other's least favorite in the series. I say you should really play MGS1 because it gives the same impact, but on a more realistic scale. Still, MGS2 is my favorite MGS and my favorite game ever.

    Avatar image for arkthemaniac
    Arkthemaniac

    6872

    Forum Posts

    315

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 10

    User Lists: 0

    #3  Edited By Arkthemaniac

    You could go back and play the first, but frustration would most likely take over. To me, the third is easily the best in the series despite the complete implausibility of the camo system. The forests provided a much needed change of scenery for the series.

    Avatar image for woffls
    Woffls

    122

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 1

    #4  Edited By Woffls

    I think I will go back and play the first. As of tomorrow I will have a PS3 and will be able to play it with the virtual PS1 memory card and software emulation. At least I hope so... It's a 40gb European PS3, I've not investigated the backwards compatability that much.

    It would actually be hilarious if the first game I played on my PS3 was Metal Gear Solid 1 :D

    Avatar image for cactuswolf
    CactusWolf

    533

    Forum Posts

    441

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #5  Edited By CactusWolf

    3 is my favorite, but generally speaking, there's not an immense consensus on which one is the best in the series. Varies from person to person.

    Avatar image for toowalrus
    toowalrus

    13408

    Forum Posts

    29

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 3

    #6  Edited By toowalrus

    I went to the shady game store down town and picked up a PS1 copy of Metal Gear Solid. GOD that game is dated, but I have to push through! ...on second thought, there is a .torrent out there that has video of all the codec and cutscenes from the first three games... I may just watch that.

    Avatar image for liquidprince
    LiquidPrince

    17073

    Forum Posts

    -1

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 1

    User Lists: 5

    #7  Edited By LiquidPrince

    This is the third best, if we are only counting the main 4. I like in order:

    Metal Gear Solid 4
    Metal Gear Solid 3
    Metal Gear Solid 2
    Metal Gear Solid 1

    And I didn't realize that it went down like that, but that's my preference

    .

    Avatar image for hombregato
    HombreGato

    61

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #8  Edited By HombreGato

    The second was my least favorite, and I actually liked Raiden from the start.
    It was Fatman that I couldn't stand.  I love Metal Gear mostly for it's Villians, and I don't think any from MGS2 compare to the MGS lineup.

    MGS
    MGS 4
    MGS 3
    MGS 2
    MG
    (never played MG2)

    Avatar image for hombregato
    HombreGato

    61

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #9  Edited By HombreGato

    Oh, and I can't figure why someone called the first MGS frustrating.  I'm the most laid back gamer (except for my picking "normal" instead of "easy" so i don't miss any twist endings)  and I played through it the first few times without a memory card

    Avatar image for daniel_beck_90
    daniel_beck_90

    3243

    Forum Posts

    -1

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 2

    User Lists: 3

    #10  Edited By daniel_beck_90

    MGS2 is undoubtedly the best Metal Gear game after MGS4 .

    Avatar image for handsomedead
    HandsomeDead

    11853

    Forum Posts

    -1

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #11  Edited By HandsomeDead
    HombreGato said:
    "The second was my least favorite, and I actually liked Raiden from the start.
    It was Fatman that I couldn't stand.  I love Metal Gear mostly for it's Villians, and I don't think any from MGS2 compare to the MGS lineup.

    MGS
    MGS 4
    MGS 3
    MGS 2
    MG
    (never played MG2)"
    Do you not think the B&B Unit were absolutely terrible though? At least Dead Cell had a backstory that mattered, the B&B just turned up then you had their stories forced on you by Drebin at the end.
    Avatar image for hiroseven
    HiroSeven

    228

    Forum Posts

    -1

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 1

    #12  Edited By HiroSeven

    Its always a bit tough to go backwards with this series because of the gameplay. MGS3 improved on so many features of gameplay that it was difficult playing MGS2 without those features, well difficult but still a good experience. I think I liked MGS3 the best from what I've played (haven't played 4 yet), to me it had a great sense of story telling and just alot of memorable parts.

    Welcome to the world of... "Metal Gear!?"

    ;)

    -hiro

    Avatar image for tordah
    Tordah

    2604

    Forum Posts

    621

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 10

    #13  Edited By Tordah

    I just played through MGS2 myself for the first time ever a few days ago. Fantastic game! It also looks really good still (I played the Xbox version on my HD-tv). I didn't have any problem with Raiden as the main character either like I've heard so many complaints about.

    Now I just wish I had a PS2 and PS3 so I could play the the 3rd and 4th ones...

    Avatar image for rivix
    Rivix

    165

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 1

    User Lists: 0

    #14  Edited By Rivix

    For me:

    MGS 4
    MGS
    MGS 2
    MGS 3

    To be fair, I haven't finished 2 and 3 completely. 
    Avatar image for moon
    Moon

    286

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #15  Edited By Moon
    1. Mgs2
    2. Mgs1
    3. Mgs3
    4. Mgs4

    This is the most definitive list you'll find in the WORLD!
    Avatar image for thiago
    thiago

    672

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 2

    User Lists: 0

    #16  Edited By thiago

    I didn't play it, but I saw the walkthrough on YouTube. What a lame story that game has. Jesus. The story is simply terrible and the end was just crazy, it looked like a soap opera. It is like Snake and Otacon: "This is what is happening..." and then Solidus "This was all part of my plan, this is what is really happening..." and then Liquid "Solidus know nothing, this is what is really really happening..." and then the AIs "No, all was a plan. This is what really really really happening...".

    The use of codecs and cutscenes seemed to be far more than MGS4 or MGS3. I think 4 is the best, 3 comes close in second. The MGS2 and 1 I won't even touch, because otherwise I would start hating the series. Better to stay with MGS4 where all is good.

    Avatar image for cl60
    CL60

    17117

    Forum Posts

    -1

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 5

    #17  Edited By CL60

    I prefer MGS3: Subsistence

    Avatar image for cl60
    CL60

    17117

    Forum Posts

    -1

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 5

    #18  Edited By CL60
    thiago said:
    "I didn't play it, but I saw the walkthrough on YouTube. What a lame story that game has. Jesus. The story is simply terrible and the end was just crazy, it looked like a soap opera. It is like Snake and Otacon: "This is what is happening..." and then Solidus "This was all part of my plan, this is what is really happening..." and then Liquid "Solidus know nothing, this is what is really really happening..." and then the AIs "No, all was a plan. This is what really really really happening...".The use of codecs and cutscenes seemed to be far more than MGS4 or MGS3. I think 4 is the best, 3 comes close in second. The MGS2 and 1 I won't even touch, because otherwise I would start hating the series. Better to stay with MGS4 where all is good."
    Just because you clearly don't understand the story doesn't make it lame.
    Avatar image for thiago
    thiago

    672

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 2

    User Lists: 0

    #19  Edited By thiago
    CL60 said:
    "thiago said:
    "I didn't play it, but I saw the walkthrough on YouTube. What a lame story that game has. Jesus. The story is simply terrible and the end was just crazy, it looked like a soap opera. It is like Snake and Otacon: "This is what is happening..." and then Solidus "This was all part of my plan, this is what is really happening..." and then Liquid "Solidus know nothing, this is what is really really happening..." and then the AIs "No, all was a plan. This is what really really really happening...".The use of codecs and cutscenes seemed to be far more than MGS4 or MGS3. I think 4 is the best, 3 comes close in second. The MGS2 and 1 I won't even touch, because otherwise I would start hating the series. Better to stay with MGS4 where all is good."
    Just because you clearly don't understand the story doesn't make it lame."

    Haha. I do understand it, and it is lame. MGS2 is not good. First the controls are all different, how are you supposed to sneak around if you can't just point the camera in the direction you are going. Most of the time you are using that overhead view.

    Solidus is probably the worst boss I have ever seen in the series (Big Boss with tentacles?). I think Kojima created him just to reenact the "Solid Snake vs Big Boss" thing. Was MGS2 meant to be last of the series? It felt like it was trying to pass the torch from Snake to Raiden.

    If it was indeed supposed to be the last then probably Kojima thought "You know what, F**K THIS THING" and did a whole new game, with far more interesting gameplay and story, in MGS3. The story is like 100x better than MGS2.
    Avatar image for bigboss1911
    BigBoss1911

    2956

    Forum Posts

    488

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 3

    User Lists: 3

    #20  Edited By BigBoss1911

    1.MGS 2
    2.MGS 4
    3.MGS 1
    4.MGS 3

    Avatar image for fr0br0
    fr0br0

    3255

    Forum Posts

    151

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 2

    User Lists: 0

    #21  Edited By fr0br0
    thiago said:
    "CL60 said:
    "thiago said:
    "I didn't play it, but I saw the walkthrough on YouTube. What a lame story that game has. Jesus. The story is simply terrible and the end was just crazy, it looked like a soap opera. It is like Snake and Otacon: "This is what is happening..." and then Solidus "This was all part of my plan, this is what is really happening..." and then Liquid "Solidus know nothing, this is what is really really happening..." and then the AIs "No, all was a plan. This is what really really really happening...".The use of codecs and cutscenes seemed to be far more than MGS4 or MGS3. I think 4 is the best, 3 comes close in second. The MGS2 and 1 I won't even touch, because otherwise I would start hating the series. Better to stay with MGS4 where all is good."
    Just because you clearly don't understand the story doesn't make it lame."
    Haha. I do understand it, and it is lame. MGS2 is not good. First the controls are all different, how are you supposed to sneak around if you can't just point the camera in the direction you are going. Most of the time you are using that overhead view.Solidus is probably the worst boss I have ever seen in the series (Big Boss with tentacles?). I think Kojima created him just to reenact the "Solid Snake vs Big Boss" thing. Was MGS2 meant to be last of the series? It felt like it was trying to pass the torch from Snake to Raiden.If it was indeed supposed to be the last then probably Kojima thought "You know what, F**K THIS THING" and did a whole new game, with far more interesting gameplay and story, in MGS3. The story is like 100x better than MGS2."
    You didn't PLAY the game. You cannot have an opinion of how it plays as. If you don't like the story, then fine. But you can't say it controlled like crap if you never even controlled it.
    Avatar image for parttimeninja
    PartTimeNinja

    362

    Forum Posts

    184

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 2

    User Lists: 2

    #22  Edited By PartTimeNinja
    thiago said:
    "CL60 said:
    "thiago said:
    "I didn't play it, but I saw the walkthrough on YouTube. What a lame story that game has. Jesus. The story is simply terrible and the end was just crazy, it looked like a soap opera. It is like Snake and Otacon: "This is what is happening..." and then Solidus "This was all part of my plan, this is what is really happening..." and then Liquid "Solidus know nothing, this is what is really really happening..." and then the AIs "No, all was a plan. This is what really really really happening...".The use of codecs and cutscenes seemed to be far more than MGS4 or MGS3. I think 4 is the best, 3 comes close in second. The MGS2 and 1 I won't even touch, because otherwise I would start hating the series. Better to stay with MGS4 where all is good."
    Just because you clearly don't understand the story doesn't make it lame."
    Haha. I do understand it, and it is lame. MGS2 is not good. First the controls are all different, how are you supposed to sneak around if you can't just point the camera in the direction you are going. Most of the time you are using that overhead view.Solidus is probably the worst boss I have ever seen in the series (Big Boss with tentacles?). I think Kojima created him just to reenact the "Solid Snake vs Big Boss" thing. Was MGS2 meant to be last of the series? It felt like it was trying to pass the torch from Snake to Raiden.If it was indeed supposed to be the last then probably Kojima thought "You know what, F**K THIS THING" and did a whole new game, with far more interesting gameplay and story, in MGS3. The story is like 100x better than MGS2."
    You didn't play the game though. How the hell can you critique it???
    Avatar image for icemael
    Icemael

    6901

    Forum Posts

    40352

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 20

    User Lists: 20

    #23  Edited By Icemael

    I played it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It sucked major ass. After being burned by this and Lunar Knights, I doubt I'll ever buy a Kojima Productions game again.

    Avatar image for leominor
    LeoMinor

    282

    Forum Posts

    122

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 3

    #24  Edited By LeoMinor

    MGS2 was the first Metal Gear game I played and I loved it as well.  Not so much for the story, but the level of detail and sense of humor.  Then I played MGS1 and became a die-hard fan of the series.  I'd say it's my favorite series in the past 10 years.  

    Avatar image for thiago
    thiago

    672

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 2

    User Lists: 0

    #25  Edited By thiago
    Fr0Br0 said:
    You didn't PLAY the game. You cannot have an opinion of how it plays as. If you don't like the story, then fine. But you can't say it controlled like crap if you never even controlled it."

    The camera position is pretty bad.

    Avatar image for samcotts
    samcotts

    2434

    Forum Posts

    253

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 1

    #26  Edited By samcotts

    Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 are my favourite of the series, and I'd definitely recommend playing the first. I haven't played MGS3, but I've watched a walkthrough of it (plan to play through it myself at some point). MGS4 is a great game, just not a great MGS game in my opinion, if that makes sense. Some of the acts were tedious and the whole feel of the game didn't really do it for me in comparison to previous MGS games, but like I've said I still found it to be a great game.

    Avatar image for origina1penguin
    Origina1Penguin

    3530

    Forum Posts

    2867

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 1

    User Lists: 2

    #27  Edited By Origina1Penguin

    With (1) being my favorite:
    (1) MGS
    (2) MGS2
    (3) MGS3

    «Have not played MGS4...yet»

    They are all really good, so I can recommend all of them.  I spent the most time playing MGS2 because I collected every dog tag on all difficulties.

    Avatar image for subject2change
    subject2change

    2971

    Forum Posts

    50

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 1

    User Lists: 5

    #28  Edited By subject2change

    MGS4 > MGS1 > MGS3 > MGS2

    MGS and MGS4 are on thes ame level to me the better controls in MGS4 just make it more enjoyable to playthough and MGS4 just wraps its up nicely, loosens up the stealth element and is visually impressive. MGS3 had a great story, good gameplay, some cool boss fights. And MGS2 was good but turned out to be weird at the end.

    Avatar image for toowalrus
    toowalrus

    13408

    Forum Posts

    29

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 3

    #29  Edited By toowalrus

    I've got 1-3 and still haven't played them... I'll get to it, I swear!

    Avatar image for luce
    luce

    4056

    Forum Posts

    39

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 4

    #30  Edited By luce

    mine was metal gear solid for PSX but it was a demo.

    the first one i beat was MGS2

    Avatar image for thehbk
    TheHBK

    5674

    Forum Posts

    0

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 3

    User Lists: 6

    #31  Edited By TheHBK

    MGS2 was the first Metal Gear game I played and I am not sure if it was for the best.  I played it and then going back to play the original MGS, gave me a greater appreciation of the first game.  MGS2 was great but as i played MGS, i just kept thinking why couldnt MGS2 be more like this.  The plot was confusing in MGS2 and it had nothing to do with the fact that i hadnt played MGS, also, the whole dead cell thing seemed stupid, I hated fortune and Fatman, Raiden i figured out was a bitch, and how the game doesnt have a good ending for the whole MGS storyline.  I felt it started being less realistic and more over dramatic with its moral and how vamp couldnt die.  Then also, MGS3 was worse, it was interesting from a story standpoint, except for the guy who could turn into bees, the old dude I just blasted like nothing and the ghosts?  What the fuck?!?  Also that a woman was the mother of US special forces?  No offense to women but that just seemed like a stretch, also, how many fucking times do they have to say CQC?  Thats also retarded when CQC is mentioned for the first time, and it seems to be so important to them.  I think MGS4 would have have been better if the cutscenes were not so long and they should have kept Big Boss dead, him coming back being made from pieces of Solidus and Liquid was retarded.  So In conlusion,
    1.  MGS
    2.  MGS4
    3.  MGS2
    50.  MGS3

    Avatar image for cl60
    CL60

    17117

    Forum Posts

    -1

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 5

    #32  Edited By CL60
    thiago said:
    "Fr0Br0 said:
    You didn't PLAY the game. You cannot have an opinion of how it plays as. If you don't like the story, then fine. But you can't say it controlled like crap if you never even controlled it."
    The camera position is pretty bad."
    You are such a retard thiago..
    Avatar image for al3xand3r
    Al3xand3r

    7912

    Forum Posts

    3

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 0

    User Lists: 0

    #33  Edited By Al3xand3r

    If you have access to Twin Snakes on the Cube get that. MGS1 may be kind of shocking in the difference in quality, be it the visuals or the artificial intelligence of the guards and such. The Twin Snakes remake doesn't make it quite as good as MGS2 but it gets quite close. The downside is some of the scenes have been done all Matrix like, a little more over the top than they were in the original. Still, I'd say the story is intact from what I've seen of it. I like MGS1 the best of them all myself.

    Avatar image for fr0br0
    fr0br0

    3255

    Forum Posts

    151

    Wiki Points

    0

    Followers

    Reviews: 2

    User Lists: 0

    #34  Edited By fr0br0
    Al3xand3r said:
    "If you have access to Twin Snakes on the Cube get that. MGS1 may be kind of shocking in the difference in quality, be it the visuals or the artificial intelligence of the guards and such. The Twin Snakes remake doesn't make it quite as good as MGS2 but it gets quite close. The downside is some of the scenes have been done all Matrix like, a little more over the top than they were in the original. Still, I'd say the story is intact from what I've seen of it. I like MGS1 the best of them all myself."
    I thought the gameplay of TTS was well done. But man I HATED those cutscenes. I would take the head-nodding mouth-no-moving scenes over the skipping-on-missiles scenes any day.

    This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.