November 13th, 2001. One of the most anticipated PS2 Games is finally released, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Hideo Kojima blows your brains out with this incredible story. Nine years ago, MGS2 was one of the hot topics in video gaming news, speculation was abound for what would be the next chapter in the story of Solid Snake. Retailing for them probably about fifty dollars, now you can pick this game up at a Game Stop for 4.99 at least thats what the tag on my copy says, but I bought it a year ago.Now, I jumped on the Metal Gear bandwagon kind of late, starting with Snake Eater, and then played the rest of the series in rather obscure order with Snake Eater, Sons of Liberty, Guns of the Patriots and finally finishing off my Metal Gear obsession with the remake of MGS, the Twin Snakes. For a while, until Guns of the Patriots anyway, Snake Eater was my favorite game of all time, what I considered the best in the MGS series as well. But lately as I've tried to force myself into playing it again, I just cant. I dont know why. It could be that I beat it so much I got tired of the game, or perhaps it's because Sons of Liberty intrigues me a lot more now than Snake Eater does. Don't get me wrong now, Guns of the Patriots is my all time favorite game, next to Mass Effect (1 and 2), hell I still regret trading my PS3 in for a 360 for the simple fact I cant play GotP, one year later. But I believe Sons of Liberty has replaced Snake Eater as my second favorite in the series.
The story of Sons of Liberty is as usual from a MGS game, in that it has many twists and turns that both aid and screw you over throughout the game. Snake returns in the beginning chapter two capture exclusive photos of a new Metal Gear prototype in the works, only to be surprised by the appearance of his rival Ocelot, and his brother Liquid Snake who takes over Ocelot's body through a transplanted arm, seems Ocelot really was Liquid's "right hand" man. Afterwards it's believed that Snake is killed in the following explosion, leading you to take over the character of Raiden.
His inclusion to the game caused a deal of controversy for MGS fans, because everyone was led to believe Snake was going to be the main character, hell Kojima and crew even edited screen shots of the game to make it look like it was Snake in most of the game just to throw you off. Controversy or not, Raiden goes through the classic trials and tribulations of a hero throughout the game, having to deal with skating mad bombers, "vampires", and even multiple copies of huge Metal Gears at once. It sure seems like this guy picked the wrong day to show up for work.
Story wise, its still amazing, and will always stand the test of time for me. Like a good movie, you know when the good parts are, and when the bad parts are, but they're never so bad that you want to stop playing, just bad enough to make your skin crawl (Raiden naked anyone?). It's a story of redemption, and the never ending power struggle between the Patriots and someone else looking to over throw them, with Raiden and Snake right in the middle.
Graphics wise, I believe it still holds up today as something elegant to look at, not something you'd expect almost ten years later in a game. The textures look smooth, and the animation is top notch as always. And the voice acting is great, I'm a big supporter of a MGS movie, and a live action one would be great. But, I'm not dis-counting a animated version so David Hayter can reprise the role of Snake at all. The controls take some time getting used to if you've been playing GotP a lot, or even Snake Eater, because every little tweak they made that you might not notice in those games, is a big difference in this one. However it just makes the game more challenging for a return play.
Overall, nine years later, and for only 4.99 it's a great buy, and I'd recommend anyone dropping five bucks for this great game that'll give you hours of fun gameplay, intelligent story, and gripping action. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty gets a 5/5 from me.
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