Poll: How is Metal Gear Solid 2?

Doom972

New member
Dec 25, 2008
2,312
0
0
I have only played MGS1 and MGS2 all the way through, so I may have different standards regarding the MGS franchise. Personally, I enjoyed MGS2 - it improved on the original's gameplay, had a new group of interesting boss characters, and was much more aesthetically pleasing than the original. Raiden isn't nearly as good as Solid Snake, but thankfully Snake is still there - You get to play him for the first mission in the game, and he often helps Raiden and interacts with him during the game. I will mention that near the end, the plot does become a bit silly, and some people might find that annoying (I just found it funny).
 

404notfound

New member
Nov 9, 2009
99
0
0
I think MGS2 partly suffers from the same thing Final Fantasy X does, which is the fact that the character you play as for the majority of the game, Raiden in MGS2 and Tidus in FFX, is a 'whiny douche' and as such the games get a negative stigma because of this. However I personally love both games, the characters I find are not off putting and some of their interactions are very enjoyable.
As for the story, and setting, yes they're amongst the worst in terms of convolution and constriction respectively in the series, however I found that at least they made good use of the setting when they could, also I don't see how the story is more convoluted than MGS4.
 

ShadyNinja

New member
Jan 17, 2012
82
0
0
I LOVE MGS2!

MGS1 is the best for me. but I think MGS2 is a great sequel to probably one of my favorite games ever.
I really liked MGS2.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
Legacy
Jul 18, 2009
19,572
4,374
118
It's bad.

The real kicker is that it was made bad on purpose. Kojima felt he could never top MGS1, so instead of trying to he made somekind of meta product about disappointment. By the end it literally tells you 'Remember how awesome MGS1 was? Well, this attempt at replicating that quality utterly failed.' It was Kojima making a sequel about how he could never make a worthy sequel to MGS1.

Fantastic then!

It even cock teases you by initially letting you play as Snake in one of the most amazing levels ever created, only to then drop you in a rusty orange setting with Moisty McMoptop to waddle around in a lukewarm Shadow Moses secretion. And again, all of this was done on purpose.

And by the end the Codec conversations became so unbearably lenghty I actually fell asleep.
 

hermes

New member
Mar 2, 2009
3,865
0
0
I don't have a problem with Raiden...

But I did have a problem with the story. That game was the turning point when it went from spy thriller to conspiracy/science fiction. The bullshit went from "Tom Clancy" bullshit to "Dan Brown" bullshit. While the first one was weird, the second game started getting anime level convoluted, and not in a good way. The centuries old secret societies, magical nanomachines, arm possession, and omnipresent AI come from that game, and I still blame it for that.
 

RJ 17

The Sound of Silence
Nov 27, 2011
8,687
0
0
I didn't like it too much, mainly because I found the story a bit too hard to follow...that and the Infinite Ammo Bandana appears as an actual plot device, which just confused me even more.

That said, MGS2 did supply me with one of my All-Time Funny Gaming Bloopers.

Without spoiling too much, at one point in the game you have to disguise yourself as a terrorist allowing you to sneak past some guards. That said, if you can still trigger alarms and such which will dispatch the little SWAT/search team to come out looking for you. When this happens you've got two choices: try to hide, or you can actually try to slip into the search team and conduct the search with them. The problem with the latter is that if you don't behave in exactly the right way, they'll figure out something's up and you'll be busted.

So I accidentally triggered the alarm...think I was messing around in my inventory and accidentally took off my disguise right in front of a guard. I quickly put the disguise back on and run back to the only place that had someplace to hide: a tiny little lockerroom with a save point in it. Now I had already knocked out and stuffed a guard into one of the three lockers, so I hop into one of the empty ones, absolutely certain that I was about to get caught. Sure enough the search team arrives in the lockerroom a few moments later. As tiny as the room is, there wasn't much for them to do except start opening the lockers. The open the first one and find the knocked out guard I had placed there...they open the 2nd one and find nothing...and finally, here comes the moment of truth. They open up the locker that I'm in to find me standing there dressed up as one of their buddies and even using one of their weapons. They just look at me for a few moments before the alarm ends and the search team buggers off.

I just had to wonder what was going through the search team's mind when they saw one of their comrades knocked out in one locker and then going on to apparently find another one of their comrades - fully conscious - just chilling out in another locker. "Nope, nothing out of the ordinary here at all! Lets go back to the break room, guys."
 

stroopwafel

Elite Member
Jul 16, 2013
3,031
357
88
It's probably one of my favorite MGS games. Upto MGS2 basically every Metal Gear game had the same structure, so instead of rehashing similair ideas Kojima turned MGS2 into a self-aware parody on videogames and information society(while still adhering to the formal structure of a Metal Gear game). Dating back to the 2001 trailer, which preceded the central theme of MGS2 which is the manipulation of thought and behavior through information control. The game has a post-modern narrative structure and the way gameplay is implemented to tell its story is often done in brilliant ways. MGS2 came at the time of the similairly experimental Silent Hill 2 with its elaborate metaphores and pioneering themes. Konami was really at the top of it's game during the early days of the PS2.

But anyways, yeah play it but do so with a different mindset than MGS1, 3 or the fanservice that is 4. You will find many of the themes in MGS2 to be prophetic a decade later. This is a very interesting and insightful read on MGS2: http://www.deltaheadtranslation.com/MGS2/
 

ckam

Make America Great For Who?
Oct 8, 2008
1,618
0
0
I personally found MGS2 as the game that defined the series as just crazy insane shit. It's also a thought provoking experience about what it means to be a fan of this and many more stories that involve broken heroes. But yes, Rose and Raiden are very, very, very annoying together. Still a recommendation for any MGS fan.
 

Marik2

Phone Poster
Nov 10, 2009
5,462
0
0
I like it as much as the other games in the series- they are all good in their own way.

MGS2 had Solidus who is over the top and there was a nice speech about society and helping out the next generation.
 

Spushkin

New member
Nov 2, 2011
75
0
0
Ah, the beauty of different opinions and tastes!

I for one have enjoyed MGS2 intensely the first time I played it, as well as just a few months ago when I replayed it for the 5th time. I have just started MGS4 again and find it somehow "less playable" as a sneaking game than the older iterations.

Not to mention that I loved the absolute craziness of the story by the end of the game. Again, judging by what people said here, it wasn't everyone's cup o' tea. And playing alongside Snake is just awesome, once you get through the first pangs of "not playing as Snake".

It's got its flaws, of course, but my highest recommendations for the OP to go ahead and bite the proverbial bullet.
 
Feb 22, 2009
715
0
0
It's the most fucked-up postmodern entry in the whole series, and chances are if you're playing MGS games, that's probably what you're looking for.

That said, to get to the crazy shit part, you do have to get through the Raiden-running-around-repetitive-environments-whining part that makes up a large portion of the game. But I'd say it's definitely worth it for the ending's sheer brilliant insanity (and the fact that you get a fucking SWORD).
 

EightGaugeHippo

New member
Apr 6, 2010
2,076
0
0
People bash the story a lot for being convoluted trash, but it's no where near as bad as people make it out to be.
So long as you don't have the attention span of a broom, its fairly easy to follow providing you played MGS1.

What you do need is patience, the long cut scenes and codec calls the series is know for, well this is where that all started, and yes your mission objectives are explained through these long grueling ordeals.

Raiden is meh, you either hate him, or hate him slightly less than everyone else. However, as a character he doesn't subtract anything from the experience.

That aside the bottom line is its a good game, not as good as Snake Eater, but better than MGS4 (opinions are fun).
 

an annoyed writer

Exalted Lady of The Meep :3
Jun 21, 2012
1,409
0
0
I liked it, but didn't love it. Metaphorically I consider the game as Snake's smoke break, and while it's good fun, and it has a lot of improvements over the first one, the story's a bit of a confusing mess that takes much more than the other entries to understand. It gets into that weird niche of being impossible to summarize in the way the other games can be. So play it, it's definitely worth your time if you really like the series so far, but just know you might need a bit of help untangling the mess that the last few hours f the game dumps on you.
 

Trueflame

New member
Apr 16, 2013
111
0
0
If MGS2 is subpar in any way, it's only because the other games are so amazing. MGS2 is still a good game, even if it does get a bad reputation for having Raiden as a main character for the majority of it. The gameplay is the same gameplay you know and love, it still has the MGS storyline, and is an all around fantastic game. Plus, I can never forget how unnerved I was when I was playing it for the first time and started getting certain codec calls, which I think is pretty amazing. Plus I really like how so much of the story was ambiguous, making me continue thinking about it even after I beat it.
 

PoolCleaningRobot

New member
Mar 18, 2012
1,237
0
0
Put me in the camp of it was fun and both the story and Raiden aren't as bad people make it out to be. Hell, in some ways the story was easier to follow than MGS4. And Raiden's not even out of place as a character in the game considering how dorkey most of the characters are. Its a little ironic that people want more diverse protagonists that aren't short brown haired, blue eyed, bad ass Americans but complain about controlling a skinny, long haired, blond kid[footnote]I'm not saying Snake is a bad character, but saying Raiden isn't manly enough is not a good reason for me[/footnote]
 

Exhuminator

New member
Oct 14, 2013
218
0
0
So OP, you want to know if you should play MGS2?

Ask yourself if you want to fight a roller skating mad bomber wino.

Ask yourself if you want to control a naked man cartwheeling around holding his genitals.

Ask yourself if its amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on Hari Kiri Rock.

If the answer is yes, you need scissors! 61!
 

sethisjimmy

New member
May 22, 2009
601
0
0
The more I play it, the more I like it.

To be fair, the story is all, and I mean ALL over the goddamn place. But I think that's part of why I like it. Huge characters and arcs are often dropped within hours of introduction. The ending and the antagonists motivations still make no sense to me, after having played the game probably 4 times through now. The story is probably the most "Metal Gear" of the Metal Gear games, if that makes any sense.

To Kojima's credit however, all pieces and bits and bobs are wonderfully engaging and interesting, and no matter how ridiculous things get there's always a grounded sense of reality and gravity to every situation.

The gameplay is great, no question. The controls take a bit of getting used to, like any metal gear game, but that's because they account for a huge variety of stealth moves and contextual situations on a relatively small number of buttons.

It plays differently than 3,4, and Peace Walker in a few ways. For one, your footsteps are never heard, and there's no camo. These little things in general make it a bit faster paced and acrobatic game.

As for Raiden, I like him. He's a good character, and has arguably development than Snake typically does. I also like Rose, where some find her annoying.

MGS3 is probably my favorite Metal Gear game, but 2 follows closely behind.
 

Lono Shrugged

New member
May 7, 2009
1,467
0
0
If you played Snake Eater, I can imagine you just getting frustrated with it's simplicity. It's ok enough I guess and the plot is batshit insane. But it just never resonated with me the same way as the others. I would suggest checking out an LP. Chip and Ironicus are my faves.