PixlBit

You may ask why I put that clip to start this off. Well, one, because it's freaking hilarious. But more importantly is that Metal Gear Solid 2 is in my opinion, exactly like Nicolas Cage. There are some people that love it and some people who hate it. But whether it's good or bad is something I have a really hard time answering. If you asked me to review it complete with a score, well, I'd go nuts. Possibly then start acting like the Fear. 

If Metal Gear Solid 2 is anything, it's ambitious. We all know how "killing" Snake off in the beginning and replacing him with Raiden was a super ballsy move. And it, in a nutshell represents MGS2 as a whole: I appreciate the idea and that they took such a huge risk, I just can't really say that they pulled it off in the best way.

Take Raiden himself for example. Playing as a rookie offers some new ideas. It makes the whole theme of the game where you want to question what is reality more plausible than if Snake did it. Snake knows what the world is all about, he's set in his ways. Raiden is more susceptible to an idea such as this and given his unfamiliarity with who he's working for, it makes it even more effective.

On the other hand, however, why Raiden is the one on this mission is not believable at all. They say up front that this would be the world's largest environmental disaster caused by mankind if this oil rig blows. Why the hell would you send a newer guy who's relatively untrained? To make matters worse, Raiden doesn't even give the air that he's competent that well. Sure, he's skilled but he'll waste ten minutes chatting it up with his girlfriend over something stupid. Snake would rightfully say there's no time to talk, there's shit to be done.

Which brings me to Rose. One of the worst characters ever. If I think Raiden being on this mission isn't believable, her giving him intel is like getting Snake to do stand up comedy. She gets easily distracted all the time with irrelevant bullshit. That's the last person you want working on a mission like this. And she never shuts up. I bet you can cut at least half an hour if you take out Rose talking about pointless crap.

As for the overall plot, fuck if I know what was happening. I know I was confused in the last third and wondering what the fuck was going on while the game was telling me everything about itself was a lie, then saying that me being told everything is a lie is a lie. Which, I'll admit, was really effective. The thing is though, it made the plot a mess.

I'm really confused still as to what happen and especially Solidus' role in everything. Something about him wanting to create his own nation, but also seek revenge against a group of master manipulators known as the Patriots. But it's then revealed that everything he did was manipulated by Ocelot, who's controlled by Liquid because he had Liquid's arm attached to his missing one, to train Raiden so he's as skilled as Snake and take out the Patriots. But then it's revealed by the Patriots the whole thing was to keep society from being stupid and filling their head with useless information. And the Patriots have been dead for over 100 years, but Ocelot, Snake, and Solidus all want to kill them.

You see why people get confused by this. Without playing 4, it's really hard to tell what everyone's role really is in this. Maybe that was the point, but it feels really clumsy in the end, at least in my opinion. There's a way to streamline this to keep all the depth to the story intact while not making it a huge clusterfuck and these guys did not find that way.

But this is a game, so how is the gameplay? It's......alright. The first part as Snake is awesome. The ship is a really cool environment that requires a lot of exploration and experimentation to get through it. Meanwhile the game employs some really cool tricks that let you know this is a PS2 game.

Once you get to Big Shell though, it gets less fun. Part of it is that the area is both a lot less fun aesthetically and from a gameplay perspective than Shadow Moses. Shadow Moses was incredible and easy to get around in, Big Shell had a color scheme that wasn't terrible, but not that visually pleasing and mostly a bunch of rooms connected by a bunch of bridges. Not the most fun area to roam around in. 

There's also a lot of parts that really drag on. A sniping/escort mission, a horrible swimming section, searching around for bombs. They're not really that fun. The bosses had a turn for the worse too. MGS1 gave a cyborg ninja and a master sniper duelist, along with other greats. This has a fat guy on rollerskates and a vampire with annoying attack patterns. Hell, in the beginning Raiden section you're met with a cutscene showing this chick who is immune to bullets, then walks away. In that amount of time I was fighting Ocelot, now I just watch a boss? 

The controls are also in this uncanny valley. This is definitely a full 3D game, but it still has that overhead perspective from 1. 3's behind the shoulder works better when you allow that much control freedom, this game just feels like it shouldn't give you the perspective it does. 1's poorer controls ironically make the game more fun to play than 2's do.

So is Metal Gear Solid 2 good? I have no fucking clue. What I do know is it is the worst game I think every gamer needs to play. And not in the "You need to see how bad it is" sense. In a "You just need to experience it" sense any great game deserves. I'm not sure if you'll love or hate it, but I'm very glad I played it.