A complex but enjoyable stealth adventure.
A good rule of storytelling is to keep things simple. This way, the story can explore a few concepts in great depth without confusing the audience or weakening the plot. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty flagrantly breaks this rule, telling one of the most complex stories in any video game. Despite this, the game still succeeds. True, the plot isn't completely tight, but it somehow manages to tell a cohesive story with very well thought out points without collapsing in on itself. On top of that is a careful, methodically paced stealth system rewarding to anybody willing to give it a chance.
It all begins with rogue spy Solid Snake sneaking aboard a Navy tanker to incriminate the US government on their development of Metal Gear RAY. After a series of catastrophic blunders, a new agent named Raiden is essentially sent in to clean up the mess that Snake started. For those looking for a visceral appeal, Sons of Liberty has enough tense cinematic action scenes, unpredictable plot twists, and memorable, well developed characters to keep you going. However, this is not the game’s main appeal. Instead, its main goal is a criticism of video games itself. Half the lines of dialogue reference Raiden’s time in VR training, but in a sick, mocking tone. Not only does the game show you that Raiden is not up for the tasks ahead of him, but it also goes into painstaking detail as to why and how. While this is certainly a noble aim that it carries as far as logically possible, it cannot carry it far enough. A lot of the game’s meaning is derived from the previous game in the series; in fact, knowledge of the original Metal Gear Solid is needed to make sense of what is going on.This severely limits the appeal behind the story, especially given the base level of complexity that is already present. While a brief synopsis of the events of that game is present in the form of a text addendum, this is not enough for what the story demands.
Fortunately, the narrative has an alternate, much stronger way of creating meaning. In addition to the critique of video games themselves, Sons of Liberty also tackles the concept of legacies/legends and how hard it is to live up to them. Unlike the previous topic, all the information necessary to understand these messages is self contained and much more evident. Over the course of the narrative, several characters fail spectacularly in their attempts to live up to their idols or somebody who was just better than them before them. Nowhere is this better seen than in Raiden himself. Following in the footsteps of the great hero Solid Snake (both because of VR training and the fact that you initially play as Snake), Raiden is at least somewhat aware of the legacy he has to live up to, going so far as to mimic Snake’s vocal patterns during his introduction (perhaps unconsciously). Yet it never quite works for him. While Snake is calm and always in control, Raiden is cocky, abrasive, and manages to screw up a lot during his time at the Big Shell. Where Snake has several accomplishments to his name, Raiden is a completely empty human being. This is just one example among many of the game’s attention to detail in its writing.
But it is also because of this level of detail that Metal Gear Solid 2 is plagued with long, frequent, and incredibly dense cutscenes throughout. While it is good about letting you play a lot of the more exciting parts of the story, about half the experience is simply watching exposition, waiting to return to the interactive parts of the game. This may have been forgivable if all the details were absolutely necessary, but the reality is that a lot of it is simply filler on technical details that, while appreciated, aren’t entirely required. However, the problems that the density of the writing creates go further than simply slowing the pace, as they also make the story harder to understand. While the pace is slow in terms of story action, it is quite fast in terms of information presented to you. Any one cutscene is absolutely saturated with information in a small amount of time, making it near impossible to make any sense of just what is going on. Although this eventually brilliantly contributes to how the game creates meaning, the investment required to reach this point may be too high for those not patient enough to endure such long bouts of non-interactivity.
It is also surprising how many leaps in logic slip into the story despite the attention to detail seen elsewhere. This does not include anything characters simply announcing their entire life philosophies or overabundance of robotic ninjas, as the writing demonstrates some level of awareness of how ridiculous such elements are. There are, however, much larger moments in the plot that are much harder to justify. For instance, one segment tasks Raiden with identifying a hostage while an enemy guard patrols the area. While you are only given a short amount of time to complete this task in the events of the game, the story sees the two characters holding a conversation (nevermind that the hostages had their mouths taped shut and removing this tape would likely attract attention) for several minutes. In general, several of the events seem far too convenient, as if all the elements necessary for the story to continue forward lined up ever so perfectly just when they were needed most. Eventually, it is revealed that every last detail in the story was part of the villains’ plans all along, but this carries with it its own host of problems. In order for this to work, the antagonists would require an inordinate amount of control over the situation, despite the fact that the story introduces several factors the villains would have no control over, even the things you would think they would have a reasonable amount of control over. Explanations behind this tend to be more implausible. This is in addition to relatively minor writing mistakes found throughout, such as lines of dialogue that do not go anywhere or generally odd creative choices. While these flaws do not completely invalidate the achievements Metal Gear Solid 2 can claim, they certainly do make it a more cautious purchase.
But Sons of Liberty is more than just an espionage action thriller. While the game might succeed on those merits alone, there are also gameplay mechanics to consider. Unlike many other games (but just like predecessors from its own series), the focus is not on simply shooting your way through a level, but rather on getting through completely unnoticed. Understandably, this embodies a very high investment on the player’s part. Sessions tend to be very slowly paced as you scan the environment and learn what challenges lay ahead. Given the complexity of the levels and just how much there is to deal with, there is almost never any other way around this. The game will swiftly punish any other method with swarms of infinite enemies that you are not equipped to fight. Should you fail, the only options are either to die or agonizingly wait it out somewhere out of enemy view.
However, these are not flaws with which to stigmatize the game. Rather, they are the very reasons that it succeeds. The slow pace of the levels creates a delayed gratification effect for the amount of thought you put into observing the environment. One such example is in the tranquilizer gun, perhaps the most frequently used weapon in the entire game. This is not because it instantly incapacitates enemies. Far from it; when they go down depends on how far you hit them from the head, meaning a perfect shot requires that you not only know where the enemy is going to be when you fire (lest another guard discover his unconscious ally), but also that you’re ready to fire at just the right time. Needless to say, getting it all to work results in a very tangible feeling of accomplishment. Yet even failing something like this can bring with it a sense of accomplishment when you manage to fix what unlucky mistake you previously made.
The only real downsides to the gameplay come when it strays outside these tried and true systems for something more action oriented. As mentioned previously, you are not well equipped to fight the enemies in Big Shell. Aiming in first person prevents you from moving, and while enemies often take many bullets to kill, you go down in comparatively fewer bullets than they do. While these are great motivations not to face enemies, they make the times when you are forced to that much more awkward and unpleasant. These moments feel less like an unfair challenge and more just something that must be dealt with, wrestling against the controls to get anything done. In fact, this may explain the varying quality of the boss battles; those that allow you more time to shoot and avoid enemy fire (such as the Hind D and the inevitable fight against Metal Gear) are enjoyable, while those that expect faster reflexes (such as Fatman or Vamp) tend to feel rough, unrefined, and mediocre.
Yet these words are difficult to apply to Sons of Liberty as a whole. The stealth gameplay is highly tactical and rewarding. It leaves you no other option but to play by its rules, but at the same time, comes off not as unfair but as a legitimate challenge to overcome. This is in addition to a story that, while overly complex and stuffed with detail, still has a lot to say not just on how trying to emulate a legend is a doomed endeavor, but on video games themselves. While certainly not for everybody, Metal Gear Solid 2 offers a lot to those who are willing to give it a chance.
