Every series has its black sheep: the game that either fell short of the established quality mark, or tried to do something different, but didn\u2019t quite succeed. In the Metal Gear Solid\u00a0series, the title of black sheep usually goes to the second opus, Sons of Liberty<\/em>. And I would tend to agree. Compared to its predecessor, things just don\u2019t quite The storyline is intentionally designed as a sort of rehash of the first game, which distinctly impairs its impact. But the reason<\/em> it provides for said rehash opens a whole other can of worms. Kojima’s (N.B. Hideo Kojima, the mastermind behind the series) intention may have been to deliver a deep philosophical message about the increasingly virtual nature of our society, but I\u2019m sure I wasn\u2019t the only one going \u201cwhat…the…hell…\u201d during that\u2013oh\u2026 This isn\u2019t to say that the entire cast is bad. Other than Snake, Otacon also makes a comeback, providing some thoroughly random hilarity in the first part of the game by trying to imitate Mei Ling and a rather heartbreaking episode in the second one. All of that, thankfully, sans<\/em> pant-wetting. In the villain department, fan-favourite Revolver Ocelot also reappears, albeit with a somewhat disturbing twist.<\/p>\n![\"He'll](\"https:\/\/grafskaya.club\/mysst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/raidendemure.jpg\" "\\"He'll")
<\/a>gel together.\u00a0Even in the\u00a0fanservice department. Considering the game is designed for an overwhelmingly male audience and is part of a series now famous for its mild naughtiness, there\u2019s really not a lot of it. No Meryls or Sniper Wolves here, gentlemen. You have manly Olga and her armpits (way to give Russian women a bad rap, thanks!), just-as-manly Fortune, who looks like she just came out of a Pro Wrestling ring, Emma (Otacon\u2019s half-sister), straight from ‘nerdy-14-year-old-stalker’ land and Rose, who\u2019s in a whole league of her own, and not in a good way. On top of that, there\u2019s a rather lengthy section involving Raiden (a.k.a. Jack) running around buck naked. It’s a refreshing change of pace from scantily clad ladies,\u00a0but I’m curious: which part of the player base was this aimed at?<\/p>\n<\/a>1hr long?\u2013final cutscene. And yes, the cinematic overload the series is now\u00a0notorious for is beginning to be apparent here. It\u2019s still the same kind of epic nonsense as in the first game, but it somehow got turned up to 11 (cue obscure film reference). Especially the ‘radio breakdown’ episode. And naming the various rooms of the final area of the game after the stages of the digestive tract (culminating in \u201cArsenal: Rectum\u201d) might have been a liiiittle bit too\u00a0much. The aim was to give the player the sense of having been swallowed by a malevolent entity. Well, it certainly worked! It also seems like there was a lot more American patriotism going on this time around, which, I must say, feels very strange in a Japanese game.<\/p>\n<\/a>The game is split into two uneven parts featuring two different protagonists. I didn\u2019t mind it, but it certainly caused an uproar when the game came out. Snake, who is the face of the MGS series, now has to share the bill with a newcomer called Raiden. A younger, more impulsive, more emotional, more talkative, blonder and ninja\u2019er newcomer. It\u2019s like a clash of the stereotypes: the rough, grizzled Action Man vs the acrobatic, pretty (but so very<\/em> pretty…)\u00a0anime hero. In fact, he’s so pretty that one\u00a0male character mistakes him for a woman, despite the fact that he’s wearing a skin-tight bodysuit, then proceeds to grope him (…). To make matters worse, Raiden starts his section of the game being briefly codenamed Snake, just to cement that \u201chey guys, I\u2019m crashing this party!\u201d feeling. Certainly not the best way to win support. But you know what? Despite having been warned multiple times about him\u2026I actually liked<\/em> him. Shocking, I know. He was a nice change of pace from Snake\u2019s \u201cI don\u2019t have time for this crap\u201d attitude, especially since the structure of the game allowed for a direct comparison between the two. I\u2019ve heard him described as whiny. Well, I\u2019d certainly whine for a lot less. Yes, Snake also has his share of baggage and bears it quietly, but I don\u2019t mind that Raiden is more open about his issues. Not that \u201copen\u201d is quite the proper term. I\u2019m pretty sure he would\u2019ve dwelt on them a lot less if not for his girlfriend, Rose.<\/p>\n<\/a>Oh. Dear. God. Rose. \u201cJack, what day is it tomorrow?\u201d \u201cJack, you seem upset.\u201d \u201cJack, you\u2019re in the middle of a dangerous mission, you could die at any moment, and I shouldn\u2019t bother you, but\u2026do you really care about me? Do you? Do you really<\/em>? Because I don\u2019t think you do. In fact, I think that you\u2019re scared, and you don\u2019t let me in, and your room is empty, and I bet you enjoyed rescuing Emma, you pervert, and\u2026\u201d *gets shot* I have rarely encountered a character that annoyed me to this extent. Raiden deserves a damn medal simply for putting up with her. And before you ask, yes, \u201cJack and Rose\u201d was intentional.<\/p>\n<\/a>Moving right on, due to the game\u2019s insistence on rehashing its predecessor, much of the villain cast feels like a pale ersatz. There\u2019s a Grey Fox stand-in and the Foxhound-wannabe Dead Cell. It\u2019s a little difficult to take someone seriously when they\u2019re riding around on rollerskates in a bombsuit while drinking wine from a straw (heresy!). That\u2019s Fatman, and although the battle against him\u00a0definitely qualifies as annoying, he\u2019s no Vulcan Raven. Secondly, where Sniper Wolf scored a winning combination of cleavage, stealth and\u00a0shadiness, Fortune wears a swimsuit (this isn’t a JRPG<\/abbr>!), and flaunts those glistening man-thighs and that enormous railgun. Not to mention that her <\/a>unique\u2026condition all but nullifies the point of her boss battle. The only one that manages to equal his predecessor is Vamp, who,\u00a0despite sharing Fortune’s condition,\u00a0is just as disturbing as Psycho Mantis (if not more, due to the lack of fourth-wall-breaking tendencies) and certainly just as nefarious. To top it all off, you have Solidus Snake, who gives off a distinct Doc Ock vibe, but is otherwise a sorry excuse for a villain.<\/p>\n<\/a>To round things off, a few words about combat. It\u2019s almost identical to The Twin Snakes<\/em>, but for some reason, I had a lot less trouble with the controls this time around. Maybe because the PS2<\/abbr> controller is more ergonomic. Or maybe I simply got used to them. In any case, for anybody who\u2019s only played the original Metal Gear Solid<\/em>, it\u2019s a significant improvement. You still get a codename based on your performance upon completing the game, alongside a pin code made up entirely of letters. This was originally intended to be entered on a special website to get the statistical breakdown for your playthrough. However, it’s no longer available, due to the age of the game.\u00a0I must also say that collecting dog tags is now noticeably more difficult. There are quite a few tricky ones, even on Normal mode, and one memorably hair-tearing instance at the end of the first part of the game, where there\u2019s a whole military meeting going on. The final series of battles is also particularly nasty this time around. Having to fight through roomfuls of guards before finally facing the big bad has a tendency to deplete rations. This resulted in my restarting\u00a0several times to get the hang of the Metal Gear RAYs (yes, that’s a plural). Not to <\/a>mention the ensuing smackdown against Solidus. There are a lot of things he is not, but \u201cgoddamn annoying\u201d certainly applies as much to him as it did to Liquid, if not more. Let me also say just how much I hate<\/em> the HF<\/abbr>\u00a0Blade, which is mandatory for that battle. Who thought that controlling a katana with a joystick was a good idea? Doesn\u2019t help that you\u00a0obtain it right before the final series of battles, meaning that you don\u2019t have time to properly get used to it, short of running around slicing at thin air.<\/p>\n