Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

You are Solid Snake and you have been sent to stop another uprising in a secret military base!

+) The controls have been greatly improved. Snake has more weapons, he can actually crawl now and hide, and he has more items to use.

+)The story is better than the original. This is the "real" beginning of the Metal Gear saga. Codec calls now help tell the story instead of just "go here next Snake," that was in the original.

+)The music is great

~ Still you have to do some "trial and error" gameplay at certain points ~Item management still kinda is clunky ~Might required an online guide to get through certain parts as it is very vague.

Surpassed the original Metal Gear in almost every respect. The graphics were much improved and Snake got a little more personality this time round. (He also looked suspiciously like Charlie Sheen in Hot Shots 2). The stealth aspect was much more stable this time around, with none of the irritating rocket-man sequences that plagued the first installment. Familiar characters from Metal Gear turn up once again with new roles to play in the proceedings. The gameplay too takes a turn for the better. Notably the boss characters are a little more imaginative, in comparison to Metal Gear's 'man with shotgun', 'man with machine gun', and 'man with flamethrower'. The radar system is also a welcome addition, allowing you to make sure that your next screen change won't put you into the middle of five alert guards. All in all, an excellent sequel.

It's a shame this is probably the least known Metal Gear game in the series, however this is probably down to the fact that it was only officially released outside Japan in 2006. When many people mention the Metal Gear Solid series they think of MGS (PS1) as the game which set the foundations of the series we all love today, in fact they are wrong, the foundations were set 8 years earlier, in this game. MGS1 merely converted MG2 into 3D, I'm not picking on MGS1, I love it and it totally revolutionised the cinematic experience of games with it's awesome voice acting and great cut scenes. But in terms of game-play the game doesn't differ that much from its predecessor. In fact a lot of elements from MG2 were carried over to MGS1 and reused!

Having to warm/cool a key. Running up several flights of stairs with guards chasing you. Meeting up with a woman dressed like a guard in the women's restroom. Getting a call from a person claiming to be one of your fans. Being ambushed in a elevator by 4 guards. A fist fight. Entering the first building using an air vent. A fight with a Hind D.

Anyway, like I said, this isn't a dig at MGS1, it's just that I think Metal Gear 2 doesn't get the credit it deserves.

What makes this game so good that I claim it's the best in the series?

Well, the story...which is a big improvement on the first Metal Gear (which didn't really have an in game story). It's got twists, turns, betrayals, returning characters, motives, love affairs and a huge confrontation between Snake and the second biggest character the in whole saga. The story is portrayed through text dialogue, mainly over the radio screen but it's to the point and not much waffle which is nice. There are some sad parts, some funny parts and some downright cool parts. Solid Snake's accomplice on this game is called Holly White and she's downright less annoying than Meryl from future MGS games, in fact her and Snake seem to hit it off well, they have chemistry and it comes off really....cute. They seem perfect for each other, where as with Meryl, she's like a damsel in distress, she acts immaturely and it seems like Snake is always babysitting her. With Holly it's different, Holly is funny, she has nice banter with Snake, she's got attitude and her and Snake just seem a lot more suited to each other.

Colonel Roy Campbell is here as your main point of information and unlike Metal Gear 1 you won't repeatedly get the same radio messages every time you visit the same area, that was an irritating bug in the first game. There are some other people here to help you out over the radio, each with their own specific knowledge who you will have to call at specific times in the game in order to understand what the hell you are suppose to be doing. That's another plus about this game, it has puzzles, it's not easy, some puzzles in the game will resort in you using trial and error methods unless you cheat and use an FAQ.

This game introduced a much welcome 9 screen radar system at the top right of the screen. The screen with Snake on will always appear in the middle and you can see where guards are on the different surrounding screens to help you get by undetected, it's a cool feature in the game and a feature used in the later games and it was amiss in MG1. Snake can now crouch and crawl, there are hole in walls you will need to crawl through and there are some spaces you can hide in if you trigger alert mode. You can knock on wall to lure guards, another big element used in the later games.

The sound is great. It has a nice variation of music, all 8 bit renditions of course but like I said; the variation is there....frantic, weary, calm, sad. The music is just all around excellent. A huge improvement on Metal Gear 1 where all you heard mostly was "Theme Of Tara" which is a good tune but it gets very monotonous quickly. Metal Gear 2 has many more songs suited to the different environments in the game and they're all very atmospheric.

A lot of MGS fans choose to snub these two games, because they are "BORING N CRAPPY 2D GAMES WITH NO STORY". MG1 might fit that description although I don't think it's boring, but MG2 just took it to a whole new level. I much prefer the story of Metal Gear 2 to that of the likes of Portable Ops or even MGS4. These fans call for these games to be remade and frankly, I'd hate for this game to be remade. It is so far ahead of its time and really did set the foundation for the games these "fans" enjoy. Remaking this would just turn what's already an great game into a 3D, over the top, retcon filled piece of garbage. This game explains itself well; it's got a story, a great story. It's got good game-play, solid game-play. In fact the dialogue between the final boss and Solid Snake is the best I've seen in the series, the intentions, the emotions and the motives of both characters are expressed brilliantly.

This game is worth 4 hours of anybodies time who likes a great game with fun game-play and a good story to boot. If you're an MGS fan then you really should have played this game by now, you can find this game along with its predecessor Metal Gear 1 on the second disc of MGS3: Subsistence for the PS2. The fact it was made in 1990s testament to what a great developer Hideo Kojima and his team are.

While I never finished this game, I still found it enjoyable and interesting. The building at the end of the game was just too tough for me, and I eventually grew tired of the game. But then again, I had no semblance of patience back in those days. If I had the chance, I would love to play this game again. This was a great send-off to a game which set new standards at the next level.

"Metal Gear 2:Solid Snake" surpassed it's original successor in almost every way possible: it looked better, it played better, it sounded better, and most of all, it was a true sequel to a great series created by "Hideo Kojima". When I first heard that there was a true sequel to the original "Metal Gear" only released in Japan, I knew I had to play it, because here in America we got a bad sequel. I finally played "Metal Gear 2:Solid Snake" the year it came out in 1990 in Japan, I fell in love with the game, it was fun and exciting and wonderful when I first glazed eyes on it's amazing graphics for an old 8-bit game, it's truly unbelievable and it quickly became my favorite game, and it still is to this day followed by many others I will keep to myself at this time. If you played "Metal Gear Solid" or "Metal Gear Solid 2:Sons of Liberty", you MUST play this awesome amazing sequel only released in Japan, find a rom or visit Ebay and look for it, whatever it takes you need to play this game to see how wonderful it really is, and it also has a very interesting plot. Simply put:"Metal Gear 2:Solid Snake" is a great game not played by many. Find it now! good luck and enjoy this awesome breathtaking sequel masterminded by it's creator, "Hideo Kojima".