Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
[Xbox]

Following the incident on Shadow Moses Island, Metal Gear’s top-secret technology was leaked into the black market through the machinations of Revolver Ocelot. As a result, countless variations of Metal Gear have sprung up in every corner of the globe, making the weapon an increasingly common sight in the armed forces of nuclear powers. In the midst of all this, Solid Snake, now a member of the anti-Metal Gear group "Philanthropy" has learned that a new prototype Metal Gear has been developed by the U.S. Marines and is being transported in secret to an unknown destination. To find out more about this prototype, Snake must infiltrate the transport as it makes it’s way down the Hudson River disguised as a tanker. However, just as Snake is about to begin his mission, the tanker is seized by a mysterious armed group.

The "Big Shell" is a huge offshore cleanup facility constructed off New York’s coast that serves as a symbol of environmental preservation and is now occupied by a terrorist group calling themselves the "Sons Of Liberty." The President, who was on a tour to inspect the facility at the time, has been taken hostage, and the Sons Of Liberty have demanded a large sum of money from the government in return for his release. If this demand is not met, that have threatened to detonate a series of bombs placed around the Big Shell, releasing huge amounts of chemical toxins into the sea and unleashing a massive environmental disaster. Faced with an unprecedented state of crisis, the government has called on the newly reformed FOXHOUND to handle the situation. FOXHOUND’s chosen agent, Raiden, must single-handedly infiltrate the "Big Shell" from underwater and carry out a covert operation...

This game is divided into 2 separate sections. The first part of the game takes place on a military tanker overrun by a terrorist group, which is when Snake is playable. The second, much longer section, takes place on "Big Shell" and this is where Raiden comes in. Snake is the same old bad ass that was in Metal Gear Solid. Raiden, on the other hand, is a "completely green" killing machine...so it seems. This is an addictive story with more twists than a large intestine. If, on your first play through, you follow this story to a T, you have mad skills. Seriously, it’s deep. Even though it’s epic story is of Tarantino proportions and is essentially the staple of this title, I can’t help but feel as if there is way too much cramming at some points in the game. Honestly, I could do without the near hour conversations and cutscenes that take place fairly often. It breaks up the action and makes it terribly unbalanced and sometimes frustrating. For example, the ending (if you sit through the credits for the extra tidbit of information) is somewhere between an hour and a half and two hours long. I suppose I should just let this slide as, like I said earlier, the story is the staple that makes Metal Gear Solid 2 so great.

If you enjoyed the graphics of Sons Of Liberty on the PS2, this is a replicate. It still looks good, and I absolutely love the way the scenes are delivered. It’s seamless with the action. Using old footage from the PSone Metal Gear to tell back story is sheer genius as well.

Necks crack, guns blaze, and guards ponder out loud what that is hiding under the beverage bar. Excellent sounds and scores make this game whole. It’s one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle and it couldn’t fit any better. It deserves much glorification. When all is quiet, nothing breaks it like a silenced M9.

Controls can pose as a dilemma. Not saying the games layout is bad, it’s just the fact that certain things happen that shouldn’t. When pressed against a wall or when crawling, the controls change according to direction and camera which means that they’re sporadic and get the gamer in lots of trouble in sneaky situations. Another thing that bothers me is when I sneak up on a baddy who is unaware of my presence, and all my hard work is spoiled when Raiden/Snake throws the baddy instead of putting him in a chokehold. Snake and Raiden aren’t very skilled at climbing either. It usually takes 3 or 4 presses of a button to get them up there, as they seem to want to press their backs against things the first couple times. Lastly is the X-Box’s negligence of the restart button and the games negligence to include a soft reset. This means that if you want to start from your last save because you made a stupid mistake, you actually have to pop out the disc tray or turn the system off, then back on. All in all, the control scheme works very well. Exception being the first person mode in VR missions which is just awful, and the previously mentioned problems.

Gameplay is seamlessly blended with story telling cutscenes to formulate an awesome experience. Substance flows pretty smoothly until the end, when confusing twisted story takes over. The mechanics are all there. Hiding in a fruit shipping box in the postal office doesn’t work, which just goes to show that a good bit of thought was put into making sure the A.I. was intelligent. If you put a tranq. dart in a guards foot, it takes a while to kick in. If you put one in the back of his head, I’m guaranteeing he goes down instantly. If you shoot a guard in the head, he’ll leave a bloodstain on the ground. Better drag him and put him in a locker or the others will notice and call the attack squad. The attack squad is not a good thing to have on your very vulnerable ass. There are some places where you will be told to do something, and not really know where to do it, or what to do in general. It’s not often but I will say that one of the bombs is a total b¡tch to get to. One of the only things I didn’t enjoy was swimming with Emma. That was not fun in the least. The boss fights are pretty entertaining, but some of them are hit or miss. No real skill required. The first and final battles were the standouts in my opinion. To sum it up, this is more of a detailed story book that you happen to be participating in. It is done very well though. Oh yeah. I should mention that the ass load of VR missions and Snake Tales are a ton of fun to boot.

I don’t think it’s quite a masterpiece, but I do think that Metal Gear Solid 2 has the best story-line on the gaming market. It’s actually a lot better than most movies. At the low price on both PS2 and X-Box, I have to give it my highest recommendation.

9/10

---Frayed