Review #2

As I finished the game on my PS2 emulator and seeing the credits roll, All I could really think was "what the hell just happened." But don't get me wrong, I mean this is in a good way.

Metal Gear Solid 2 has been described as one of if not the most profound game, which is definitely deserved from my point of view. As someone that's spent a lot of my life in the cesspool that is the internet...I still see some of the things this game talks about at the final codec call to this day, which is incredibly impressive for a 2001 game. With the invention of AI programs like ChatGPT it only feels like this "junk data" as the game says is only going to become more and more of a problem for the foreseeable future. Sure, the AI might not be prone to ideologies and ideas that make us, the more "immature" species change the "truth" just a tiny bit to fit our side. But AI can often have grammar mistakes to outright getting important details wrong. Not only this but it was correct about it building an algorithm to suit our "tastes". But I find it to be the exact opposite because it's been confirmed that platforms like Facebook actually push "rage bait" onto us to engage more with the platform...arguing with strangers to give those controlling the algorithm more money and power in the process. I'd say Raiden was kind of right about this feeling like a nightmare we can't wake up from. While in my previous review, I did shit on people for "doomposting" but it's genuinely understandable for being a bit scared because with the way things are going, the internet is only getting more and more unsearchable and unusable, the bot accounts on Twitter, YouTube or any Social Media platform you can really think of seems to be getting worse as time goes by. flooding discussion with oddly horrifying comments/replies trying their best to act human. In some cases they're able to reply to each other. It's just so wrong and odd to see, I'm not sure why I find it as creepy as I do. So far, this has mostly been about the internet but I'd say this fits really well with the main theme of the game, being "memes" yes, you've definitely heard this word being thrown around a lot in discussions about metal gear solid 2. But I feel like the internet is a new way to find out about different ideas, cultures and history. Of course, this is great seeing as pretty much at least half of the world population has access to a device that can access the internet...on paper though, the AI I've discussed about is the NEW problem I'd say, some of the problems I've talked about can more than definitely be done by a human being, altering information just enough to enforce their agenda or even outright spread misinformation...now, books and news papers or just any form of old media was obviously suspectable to this but those had professionals checking over if the information was correct...but, what makes someone a "professional"? What makes another human more worthy of another? Humans are inherently biased...I think what this game is trying to say that finding the absolutely unbiased truth is pretty much impossible. Which is obviously a horrifying thing to think about...or actually kind of beautiful in a way, Snake's speech reflects a different side of coin to the GW. Sure, there might practically be no "unbiased truths" but we can all have our own "memes" to pass onto the future, that's what I and I'm sure many others are doing with these reviews. To share with others how we felt with a specific piece of media, culture, history or anything really. Our world is definitely in a flawed state right now and definitely will be for as long as it exists but I have faith that things will get better, even if they're unrealistic beliefs.

I'm sorry I didn't really go over much about the gameplay or the actual plot, I will say that the gameplay is a huge improvement over the first game but I still found myself a little frustrated with some parts like the swimming and the freezing bombs being a bit too long for my liking. But tranquilizers and hanging were really fun to play around with even if I wish hanging was encouraged to be used more by the player. The characters are stellar of course, it's metal gear. Raiden is such a perfect protagonist for this game, having no "personality" and his own ideas until the ending to me feels like growing up together with Raiden, Raiden was immature at the start of the game but most people who played this game back in the day probably HATED this dude for not being Snake. But he grows alongside you and you two have sort of a "friendship" and develop as more it goes on. This definitely might sound ridiculous but it's how I feel. There's also something really cool about both the player and Raiden knowing something one doesn't, Raiden with his suppressed trauma and the player knowing that Snake is obviously Pliskin, Campbell acting odd and out of character as well. I don't think I've seen many other games do this besides maybe Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations?

This will be my last part of the review but the most personal as well...get ready for quite the sob story, feel free to stop reading if you don't want to haha. But the scene where Emma dies and Otacon is mourning broke my heart...the part where he said he did his mother made me laugh a bit more than it should've lmao but I felt awful for otacon, seeing as Sniper Wolf. Another person he cared about died as well...the voice actors did a phenomenal job. Raiden, Snake and Otacon are an amazing trio and wish we got more of the game with all three of them together. But I didn't really begin to cry until the scene where the parrot starts talking to Otacon. Saying "Hal, I miss you..." It's clear that Ema has been talking to the parrot and repeating it so much to the point where even the parrot could repeat it on it's own. Then Hal breaking down into tears before the part that made me have a mental breakdown, which was his speech about finding love. Now this is going to be really personal but I've pretty much have always been alone for most of my life, being the weird kid no one really cared about. With my grandfather passing away not long before I played this..."you and I, we always wanted to be loved." Yep...again, that hit way too damn close to home and began to cry like a damn baby. I don't think I've ever really felt so "seen" until now...which I can't thank this game enough for. Thanks, Kojima.

A story that is an ode to the beauty of the information age and the democratization of knowledge sharing that came with it, but also a forewarning of the profound artifice that would come along with the digital age.

Even that is an extreme simplification of this game though, because this game still has so much more to say. About individualism, the nature of a person's legacy, about regret and the repetition of history. The story bursts from the textual to the meta-textual in such a mind-bending and thought-provoking fashion that it gives whiplash. The good kind.

I'm not the greatest story analyst but even i feel like I could go on and on until this becomes an essay. I haven't even mentioned the flawless stealth gameplay that is simultaneously pristine and daring. Basically, I'm just trying to say that the game is good.