Technodynamic Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty Review

Solid Snake returns in one of the industry's longest lasting series. The Metal Gear games have been gracing console systems since its debut on the NES back in 1987. Legendary Producer Hideo Kojima <link>. Now that technology has evolved from 2 dimensional sprites to richly detailed 3D worlds, the series can really shine. Metal Gear Solid 2 (MGS2): Sons of Liberty is the pinnacle of the series.

In case you've been living under a rock or are new to video games, MGS2 has was one of the most hyped games leading up until its release in December of 2001. Thankfully, it had the rich gameplay and plot to back up the talk. Like Metal Gear Solid on the original Playstation, this game takes the sseries even deeper, building on top of the already revolutionary gameplay that existed. Controls will be easy to pick up from players of the previous title. While complex, everything makes sense and can be executed incredibly fast. Toward the end of the game you will be required to switch to a first person view, target objects with a missile launcher in a window a second or two long, switch back to 3rd person and high tail it. Most of the game is spent moving about various levels avoiding enemy detection. This cn be done in a variety of ways. Sneaking up to terrorists while they patrol is where the game shines most. You can study their patterns and anticipate where they will go next, allowing you to walk slowly behind them or in the shadows in order to shoot them with a tranquilizer dart, grab them in a choke hold or use any number of weapons to eliminate them. Most patrols contain numerous soldiers, so this must be taken into account. If you are discovered, they will try and radio for backup, at which point massive firepower is needed or a quick exit and good hiding spot will often save you.

The games environments, storyline and tactics are incredibly numerous and executed flawlessly. The story will seem as if it is simple when you start. You have a simple, defined game plan, but the more you progress, the more is unveiled. The games climax is at the very end where an hour long end sequence is played out. After the 'final showdown' a long involving story is explained and more questions pop up as it is explained, but the sequence is long enough that the new questions are also answered. This was a pleasant surprise, as most game endings are a few minutes long. After about 45 minutes there was a final FINAL last fight, but it was quickly and (somewhat) easily won. I don't want to give any story away, because it is definitely worth finding out for yourself.

The level of detail in this game are amazing. The different tactics that you can use go from sneaking around by crawling on the floor to being downright cocky and holding up terrorists by pointing a gun to their back. The cockier moves have much higher risk though, but the expert players can neutralize the enemies ability by sniping their radios off their belt, preventing them from calling for reinforcements, then play around with them by tapping the wall and making a noise (misdirection) or sneaking around them. Targeting an enemies head will be most effectual for tranquilizer darts (for immediate effect) and for obvious reasons with conventional ammo.

The bottom line is that MGS 2 is one of the best games I have ever played. I thought it was going to be great before I played it, and I was not disappointed after I beat the game. The unique and rich gameplay will keep you occupied for many hours. By the time you complete the game, you will have nearly mastered most of the techniques in the game and will want to try them on the first levels again. There are incentives to go through the game a second time, and collecting dog tags from enemy soldiers will also reap rewards at the end of the game (you need a lot of them though). Graphics, gameplay and story are all as good as it gets. A true gem!

reviewed by Todd Alexander

	Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty for the Play Station 2 system
	1 player, supports the dual shock control and analog capable
	multitap not used with this game
	memory card used to save progress