B3yond the Special: A Look at Metal Gear Solid 2

Posted by Mark Salmela on 05.28.2008

In part 3 of the special counting down to the release of Metal Gear Solid 4 on June 12, 411’s Mark Salmela takes a special look back at Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. How do you improve upon perfection? Take a look inside.




Greetings everyone, and welcome back to the 411mania.com special hosted by yours truly. In part 3 of the 5 part series, I am about to take a look back at Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, the debut of the franchise on the PlayStation 2. For those who've missed the special so far, here's the link to part 1, detailing Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2. And last week, I wrote about the original Metal Gear Solid, which can be found here . Next Wednesday I will be detailing Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and in the final part of the series I will be detailing Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots on June 11 *the day before its release*. I'm still not 100% sure what part 5 will include, but I do know a lot about the game so you'll be sure to find some interesting information about the game before its release. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this special look back at MGS2.



Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001)



Story



Metal Gear Solid 2 takes place in 2007, two years after the events of Shadow Moses *the location of Metal Gear Solid 1*. Solid Snake and Otacon have since joined a non-government organization named Philanthropy, and are out on a new mission. You see, after the Shadow Moses incident, the blue-prints for Metal Gear Rex *the walking nuclear tank* have been leaked and development of a new Metal Gear Ray has neared completion by the Marines. Solid Snake, in the game's opening cut scene, jumps off of the Washington Bridge in New York City onto the U.S.S. Discovery, which is carrying Metal Gear Ray. But not long after arriving on the ship, a terrorist group under the command of Russian nationalist Sergei Gurlukovich arrives to hijack the ship.

Snake, making his way across the bridge to stop Sergei from taking Metal Gear Ray *Sergei also wanted to buy Metal Gear Rex from Liquid in MGS1*, encounters his daughter Olga Gurlukovich, whom he proceeds to knock out via tranquilizer in battle. Snake then makes his way down to the holds of the ship to take photos of Metal Gear Ray, which he then sends to Otacon. But things soon escalate, as Revolver Ocelot appears and assassinates Sergei, and takes control of Metal Gear Ray. Revolver Ocelot reveals that he has replaced his right arm *which was severed in his battle with Solid Snake in MGS1* with Liquid Snake's. It is then revealed that Liquid Snake has possessed and taken control of Revolver Ocelot, and is now in control of Metal Gear Ray. After clearing himself a path, Liquid *in control of Ocelot's body* destroys the tanker and Solid Snake sinks to the bottom of the ocean with the tanker. Solid Snake is presumed dead.



Things looked grim for the world with Solid Snake presumed dead. But 2 years after the Tanker incident, a reformed FOXHOUND sends rookie agent Raiden to stop the Sons of Liberty, the terrorist group who has control of Metal Gear Ray. The Sons of Liberty have taken control of the Big Shell Disposal Facility. The Sons of the Patriots include terrorist group Dead Cell, who consists of Fatman, Fortune, Vamp, and a man claiming to be Solid Snake. Assisting Dead Cell are Olga Gurlukovich and Revolver Ocelot. Using the help of Solid Snake's former commander Roy Campbell and Raiden's girlfriend Rose, Raiden planned to rescue several hostages including the President from Big Shell as well as stop Metal Gear Ray.

After infiltrating Big Shell, Raiden teams up with SEAL Lieutenant Iroquois Pliskin and bomb specialist Peter Stillman. Using Stillman's help, Raiden disables explosives planted on the Shell by Stillman's former pupil, Fatman, who is now a member of Dead Cell. Raiden manages to find Fatman and has a showdown with the member of Dead Cell, whom he defeats in battle after disarming all of his bombs. But the battle does come at a cost, as Stillman is killed in action by one of Fatman's bombs. Raiden is then assisted by a cyborg ninja, much in the same way of Gray Fox from MGS1. This new cyborg ninja claims himself to be Mr. X, and assists Raiden in locating the President.



After locating the President, Raiden discovers that Big Shell is actually a development site for another type of Metal Gear, named Arsenal Gear. Using a highly advanced supercomputer named "GW" Arsenal Gear is capable of transmitting information over the internet. The President also informs Raiden that the Presidency is a scam, as a real group known as The Patriots are the ones actually in charge of the United States. Revolver Ocelot then makes his presence known, killing the President but sparing Raiden. With the President dead, Raiden has one mission left. Raiden must stop Arsenal Gear. Pliskin, who reveals himself to be the real Solid Snake *he survived the tanker incident* and Emma Emmerich, an Arsenal Gear engineer, assist Raiden in attempting to destroy the "GW" AI by uploading a virus. But while trying to upload the virus, another member of Dead Cell, Vamp, arrives and kills Emma by impaling her with one of his knives, right in front of her brother Otacon *Otacon and Emma are brother and sister*. This is the second tragedy for Otacon, as he was in love with Sniper Wolf whom was killed by Solid Snake in MGS1. Despite being defeated in battle by Raiden, it is revealed that Vamp cannot be killed and escapes from Raiden *Vamp is immortal*. With Emma dead, Snake and Raiden must now disable Arsenal Gear physically *the virus did manage to get uploaded however*. As Otacon escapes with the rest of the hostages by helicopter, Mr. X returns and reveals herself to be Olga Gurlukovich, who proceeds to knock Raiden unconscious by hitting him in the back with her sword. It appears as if Solid Snake has switched sides and joined Olga.

Raiden awakens naked in a torture chamber, who is greeted by Solidus Snake, the third and final clone of Big Boss *Solid Snake and Liquid Snake are the other two*. Solidus reveals that he adopted Raiden as a child *Raiden doesn't remember his childhood* and trained him to be one of his soldiers. What Raiden doesn't realize is that Solidus had actually killed Raiden's parents, and took Raiden as his own. After his meeting with Solidus, Raiden is greeted by Olga, who reveals herself to be a double agent, and helps Raiden escape. Raiden, while fleeing the compound, experiences strange codec messages from Campbell and Rose. It is here that the Colonel infamously tries to convince players to shut off the PS2, claiming that they should be doing more productive things. It is then that Raiden discovers that it is actually the GW supercomputer messing with Raiden's head, and the erratic behavior of the supercomputer is a result of the virus uploaded earlier by Emma beginning to take effect.

Raiden and Solid Snake reunite shortly after *Snake reveals that he had to set Raiden up in order to gain access to Arsenal Gear*, and embark on a final attempt to destroy the rest of the Patriots. While Solid Snake battled with Fortune, who was very upset at the apparent death of Vamp, Raiden continued forward to battle Solidus Snake. But while searching for Solidus Snake, a herd of 25 Metal Gear Ray's emerged and attacked Raiden. Olga tried to intervene, but is stopped by Solidus Snake. Olga explains that she was pregnant while battling Snake 2 years prior on the tanker and that the Patriots took her baby right after birth. Olga continues to explain that the Patriots blackmailed her, ordering her to become a double agent and make the current Arsenal Gear plan a success or her child would be killed. But before Olga can finish, Solidus kills Olga and throws her corpse out of the way. Thankfully, this bought the virus uploaded by Emma enough time to fully kick in, as the Metal Gear Ray's then proceeded to attack each other and Solidus.



In a desperate attempt Arsenal Gear launched an attack upon New York City, taking Fortune, Solid Snake, Raiden, and Solidus Snake with them. To Solidus' dismay, Ocelot *not under control of Liquid* appears and reveals that he too is a Patriot agent. Ocelot planned the entire Shell incident as a carefully coordinated attempt to reenact the events of the Shadow Moses Incident; which Ocelot designed to turn Raiden into the perfect soldier for him. Ocelot then kills Fortune, and then boards the Metal Gear Ray he stole 2 years prior. But things don't go Ocelot's way, as Liquid Snake once again possesses Ocelot and plans to hunt down the Patriots. With Liquid Snake attempting to escape in Metal Gear Ray, Solid Snake gives chase to Liquid Snake while Solidus and Raiden met for one final showdown atop the Federal Reserve building after Arsenal Gear crashed into Manhattan. It is here that Raiden defeats his "father" in battle and kills Solidus.

After killing Solidus Raiden meets with Solid Snake one last time, who informs Raiden that only he can choose what to believe in, and that he must pass on what he believes to be true. Solid Snake planted a homing device on Ray, and Solid Snake and Ocelot leave to pursue Liquid Ocelot's location as well as the rest of the Patriots. As Snake leaves, Raiden is reunited with Rose. In the epilogue Snake and Otacon discover that all 12 members of the Wisemen's Committee *the Patriots' high council* have been dead for approximately 100 years.





Boss Fights

Just like the original Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty had some awesome boss battles.

The first boss battle in Metal Gear Solid 2 is against Olga. Olga is pregnant at the time, but that doesn't stop Solid Snake from fighting her. The fight with Olga is classic MGS action, as Olga uses her surroundings to her advantage. For starts Olga releases a tarp to cover her movements, as the pouring rain and terrible winds help to keep her secluded from Snake's vision. Olga also shines a spotlight on Snake, in an attempt to blind him. While the boss fight is far from difficult, the fight with Olga is still an enjoyable experience, especially considering MGS2 is now over 6 years old. Solid Snake doesn't kill Olga, but does knock her out with tranquilizers.



The fight with Vamp is among my favorites in a Metal Gear Solid game. Vamp's name pretty much gives him away, he's like a vampire. While Vamp isn't affected by sunlight, Vamp does have a thirst for blood, has pale skin, is immortal, and has a very sexual overtone. Vamp had sexual relations with Fortune's father, and is Fortune's best friend. The fight with Vamp is pretty easy, although the concept that his knives can pin down your shadow, thus forcing yourself to shoot out the lights and fight him in the dark, is a cool one. Since Vamp is immortal, you can expect more from this dancing vampire in the upcoming MGS4.

Fortune's name is purely ironic. You see, Fortune's parents, husband, and child were all killed right before the events of MGS2. This led Fortune to joining the army, where she ended up as a member of Dead Cell. When you fight Fortune, you have the option of either hiding, or getting annihilated. As Snake runs for his life, Fortune fires her railgun and destroys everything in her path. Sadly Vamp stops the fight before it can get really awesome, but you can't deny the path of destruction left by Fortune. It's too bad she was killed before we could get another crack at Fortune.



Defeating 25 Metal Gear Ray's has got to feel good. The fight against the Metal Gear Ray army differs depending upon the difficulty level. While defeating Metal Gear Ray turned out to be easier than expected thanks to its weak knees and vulnerable heads, you have to admit that it was quite an impressive sight. Seriously, what would you do if you ran into 25 giant walking nuclear tanks? From what I understand Liquid Ocelot's prototype Metal Gear Ray from the beginning of MGS2 is still around, something players are going to have to deal with in MGS4.



Finally there is Solidus Snake, another one of my favorite bosses from MGS. Solidus Snake's political career didn't go over so well, so like a normal human being he coped with it by gaining metal tentacles. But rather than just getting standard tentacles, naturally Solidus' had to shoot missiles. Solidus lives up to the standard set by the other two Big Boss clones, and provides for an awesome boss fight atop the Federal Reserve building. The one-on-one sword fight between Solidus and Raiden in MGS2 is similar to the fist fight that Solid Snake and Liquid Snake had on Metal Gear Rex in MGS1. It's very well done, and provides for a satisfying conclusion as Raiden kicks Solidus to his death off of the Federal Reserve building. MGS2 lives up to the reputation set by the other Metal Gear titles by providing some of the best boss fights ever in a video game.





Gameplay and Development

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was released for the PlayStation 2 on November 14, 2001 in America. The Japanese version was released 2 weeks later, and the European version was released on March 8, 2002. A direct sequel to MGS1, MGS2 was the first game in the series to run on PlayStation 2 hardware. While the title was going to be released on the PS1, it wasn't long into development before they switched it over to the PS2. Metal Gear Solid 2 has gone on to sell over 7 million copies worldwide, and has a 95% rating on Game Rankings.

Metal Gear Solid 2 made a lot of improvements to the gameplay set by Metal Gear Solid 1. In MGS2 players could now shoot in a first person mode, and could now attack enemies in a variety of ways. For example players could now blind enemies by a steam bath, distract them by shooting fruit, or could even destroy items such as radios that would stop enemies from requesting back up. Players could also hold up enemies instead of just killing them, where enemies would eventually drop their dog tags and allow players to hold them hostage as they advance through the game. Players could also now fire around corners, whereas they could only previously look around cover in MGS1.

In MGS2 the AI also saw a vast improvement. In MGS2 the AI would often work together as a real squad instead of acting alone. If players got caught back-up would be called in and the enemy would even use advanced tactics to flush Snake out of hiding and flank his position. In addition to the normal guards there were also strike teams, who would often have shields and would have much greater firepower than normal guards. A search team could also be called in, and they would be much more likely to find Snake if he was hiding under a box or in a locker. MGS2 still focuses primarily on its trademark "Tactical Espionage Action" and players would have to use stealth if they wanted to survive.

According to an interview with Kojima in Metal Gear Saga Vol. 1, the original story of MGS2 had to do with weapons inspections in Iraq and Iran and Snake trying to stop Metal Gear while on an aircraft carrier. But due to the Middle East becoming a hotbed of military activity, Hideo Kojima and his team reworked parts of the storyline, and only the beginning tanker part was kept *although reworked*.

Also, with September 11 occurring only a couple of months before the game's release, parts of the ending were also changed. Originally when Arsenal Gear crashed it was supposed to destroy the Statue of Liberty and send its remains crashing through Manhattan. Also, at the end of the game a scene was supposed to air showing Ellis Island as the new location of the Statue of Liberty. These scenes were taken out as well as a scene of Raiden cutting off an American flag that would fall onto the corpse of Solidus Snake *more images of the American flag were also removed*. There were also going to be references to the novel City of Glass, but these were all removed from the final version, and I have never read City of Glass so I can't go into major detail.



In September of 2002 The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2 was released for the PS2. The Document of MGS2 was a special interactive documentary that allowed players to do things like view actual character models and play the music from MGS2. There were special behind the scenes footage as well as storyboards, which made it a very good pick-up for fans of the series. Also, the Document of MGS2 included 5 special VR training missions, just like the Metal Gear Solid VR Missions game for the PS1.

A multiplatform edition of Metal Gear Solid 2 came out for the Xbox in 2002 called Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance. In addition to the Sons of Liberty game, 300 VR missions and 200 "Alternative Missions" were added to the game. Players could play as either Snake or Raiden, and players could unlock alternative costumes such as the cyborg ninja suit that Raiden wears in MGS4. Although just to clear things up, the reason Raiden wears a cyborg ninja suit in MGS4 is because his normal body was destroyed when he was tortured by "The Patriots" according to Yoji Shinkawa *sometime after the events of MGS2*. Only Raiden's head and spine remains, and according to Kojima Raiden looks so pale because he has artificial white blood now. Any who I'm getting off topic now, I won't be covering MGS4 for another two weeks.

MGS2: Substance also came out for the PS2 in March 2003 along with a PC version. Substance also included 5 non-canon storyline missions called "Snake Tales" that featured alternative versions of MGS2, such as fighting Meryl instead of Olga at the beginning of MGS2. MGS2: Substance was also included as part of Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection for the PS2 in March of 2008.

While MGS2 has been met with critical success, some people did have a problem with the storyline. Some critics cited the extremely long cut scenes that often broke up the gameplay, and claimed that the storyline was unnecessarily complicated. There are a lot of deep themes in MGS2, such as meme theory, artificial intelligence, and the manipulation of free will and the nature of reality. While some people do not like the deep storyline, others, including myself, love the storyline and consider MGS2 to be one of the best storylines ever in a video game.




I hope you guys have enjoyed this special so far. It's been really hard for me to put my thoughts and feelings for Metal Gear Solid into actual words; I just love the series so much. I know that there are many things that I've left out in these specials *thanks to the commenter's for keeping me updated on what I left out* and I appreciate everyone's comments. I must admit that there are things about the Metal Gear Solid franchise that even I do not know *it's been a while since I played MGS2, so I was a little rusty*, so I'm not claiming this list to be the official standard or anything. I'm just a fan like each and every one of you guys who can't wait for the final installment of Solid Snake, and wanted to give something back. Tune in next week as I cover Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.