I'm talking mostly about gameplay, though the story is great too !
I tried to come back to every Metal Gear Solid games but no matter what I play, MGS2 is the only one I can come back any day of the week.
MGS2 more than holds up, it still plays like a dream. It's so surprising because it managed to make its technological improvements at the service of fun, and still retaining a rock solid 60fps on top of that. It's not a Far Cry 2 situation where their engine was mostly irrelevant to what the game's mechanics were about. The attention of detail was made to be a blast to play to discover new things to interact with. That moment with the shadow of Vulcan Raven in the tanker ? That was great.
It all goes at a brisk pace too. You go to the tanker, you move around, every room is a puzzle to take care of and then you're done. Then you take control of Raiden and it goes even faster as he is nimbler. Some rooms are even more intricate, sometimes even with a dash of verticality, but you can always go to your destination in less than 15 seconds if you so wish in every room.
And the bridges that connects the struts are SO good, it's another type of stealth, it's less about hiding and more about solving what's in front of you. Will you take care of the guards or the drone ? Do you move around with the ledge and risk not having enough grip or do you just make a run for it ?
The Big Shell is also just so fresh too...in a visual way. This mix of orange with blue sky and sea makes it like you're in another world entirely, and not just next to Manhattan. It's like you're at the beach in a way, I feel I'm breathing this fresh air that is so different from the oppressive look of Shadow Moses.
MGS2 is like the arcade equivalent of the MGS series, it's inviting you to try again and do better everytime you come back to a strut. And obviously it works all in the context and the theme of the game and Raiden as a character. It's a game with a game-like structure, you're basically playing VR missions but you have to walk to the next mission in each area. And we all know VR Missions was the best part about MGS1 ;)
MGS2 simply nailed what needed to be nailed: it's fun, responsive, packed with details and fast-paced. My only nitpick is that I can't invert both X and Y axis in first person mode, but that's mostly because I'm a monster since even games released in 2018 doesn't do that.
It's the only MGS I can come back to at any time and have a lot of fun. Going back to MGS3 after it was such a slog, it's like controlling a dying horse.
What's your opinion on the gameplay of MGS2 ?
I tried to come back to every Metal Gear Solid games but no matter what I play, MGS2 is the only one I can come back any day of the week.
MGS2 more than holds up, it still plays like a dream. It's so surprising because it managed to make its technological improvements at the service of fun, and still retaining a rock solid 60fps on top of that. It's not a Far Cry 2 situation where their engine was mostly irrelevant to what the game's mechanics were about. The attention of detail was made to be a blast to play to discover new things to interact with. That moment with the shadow of Vulcan Raven in the tanker ? That was great.
It all goes at a brisk pace too. You go to the tanker, you move around, every room is a puzzle to take care of and then you're done. Then you take control of Raiden and it goes even faster as he is nimbler. Some rooms are even more intricate, sometimes even with a dash of verticality, but you can always go to your destination in less than 15 seconds if you so wish in every room.
And the bridges that connects the struts are SO good, it's another type of stealth, it's less about hiding and more about solving what's in front of you. Will you take care of the guards or the drone ? Do you move around with the ledge and risk not having enough grip or do you just make a run for it ?
The Big Shell is also just so fresh too...in a visual way. This mix of orange with blue sky and sea makes it like you're in another world entirely, and not just next to Manhattan. It's like you're at the beach in a way, I feel I'm breathing this fresh air that is so different from the oppressive look of Shadow Moses.
MGS2 is like the arcade equivalent of the MGS series, it's inviting you to try again and do better everytime you come back to a strut. And obviously it works all in the context and the theme of the game and Raiden as a character. It's a game with a game-like structure, you're basically playing VR missions but you have to walk to the next mission in each area. And we all know VR Missions was the best part about MGS1 ;)
MGS2 simply nailed what needed to be nailed: it's fun, responsive, packed with details and fast-paced. My only nitpick is that I can't invert both X and Y axis in first person mode, but that's mostly because I'm a monster since even games released in 2018 doesn't do that.
It's the only MGS I can come back to at any time and have a lot of fun. Going back to MGS3 after it was such a slog, it's like controlling a dying horse.
What's your opinion on the gameplay of MGS2 ?
