MGS2, One of the best games of all time and underrated in its own time, the perfect game to show off what makes the series so great as well as just what makes games as a medium so much more engaging than any other, It takes the cake for the most consistent game in the series.
Gameplay, It's a perfect growth from what was started with MGS1 but refining and adding on top of it, There's now a first person aiming system and outside of some awkwardness due to controllers being awful at precision aiming it feels great to use and adds a lot of depth to every combat encounter, hand to hand combat is now not only better but you can take out guards without having to either slam them to the ground where they stand or sniping them with a suppressor due to the changes to how guard alerts work, they no longer alert just because you grabbed them immediately notifying all the other guards in the area to close in on you immediately, and you don't get instantly failed for getting spotted by a guy who you could barely see due to the radio system, Guards need to radio in to HQ before alerts are set off, but if they're in progress of sounding the alarm OR are an officer who consistently checks in for status reports a search team is sent to check, and if the guard spotted you before getting knocked out the guards will go into a Caution phase for a while, this adds a lot of depth to the otherwise quite simple (and easy) systems from the first game.
Level design is just a massive step up from the first game, taking what worked from the original by having you navigate through a facility back and forth without feeling like you're constantly backtracking, you're constantly unlocking new areas without needing to trudge through a completely alien environment, and being a simple facility means it's easy to set up all sorts of hidden goodies and places to hide yourself or any victims bodies.
Bosses are incredibly fun, switching from this tactical espionage to this almost ninja like combat, and all the bosses have very interesting unique mechanics that practice core elements of the game, Fat Man being my favorite of them all, though the fight with the Rays near the end of the game is incredibly irritating.
Story is master class, balancing greatly written characters, interesting narratives and plot twists, and all the politics and deeper symbolism of it all wrapped in a nice bow
It's in an incredibly consistent game, probably the most consistent in the trilogy with only having one major snag with the pacing near the end, the game had my attention and I was all for it from start to finish, even with what we know now with the continuations of the story in MGS4 (and how a lot of them were explanations where they weren't needed or originally intended) the story feels perfect for bookending the story from MGS1.
It's one of the first games in a long time where I came out of it thinking to myself "I cannot wait to play this game again" and I consider that a massive praise by my own standards.
A must play, as is with all the games in the trilogy, but this is the game where it absolutely peaks and needs to be seen.
Gameplay, It's a perfect growth from what was started with MGS1 but refining and adding on top of it, There's now a first person aiming system and outside of some awkwardness due to controllers being awful at precision aiming it feels great to use and adds a lot of depth to every combat encounter, hand to hand combat is now not only better but you can take out guards without having to either slam them to the ground where they stand or sniping them with a suppressor due to the changes to how guard alerts work, they no longer alert just because you grabbed them immediately notifying all the other guards in the area to close in on you immediately, and you don't get instantly failed for getting spotted by a guy who you could barely see due to the radio system, Guards need to radio in to HQ before alerts are set off, but if they're in progress of sounding the alarm OR are an officer who consistently checks in for status reports a search team is sent to check, and if the guard spotted you before getting knocked out the guards will go into a Caution phase for a while, this adds a lot of depth to the otherwise quite simple (and easy) systems from the first game.
Level design is just a massive step up from the first game, taking what worked from the original by having you navigate through a facility back and forth without feeling like you're constantly backtracking, you're constantly unlocking new areas without needing to trudge through a completely alien environment, and being a simple facility means it's easy to set up all sorts of hidden goodies and places to hide yourself or any victims bodies.
Bosses are incredibly fun, switching from this tactical espionage to this almost ninja like combat, and all the bosses have very interesting unique mechanics that practice core elements of the game, Fat Man being my favorite of them all, though the fight with the Rays near the end of the game is incredibly irritating.
Story is master class, balancing greatly written characters, interesting narratives and plot twists, and all the politics and deeper symbolism of it all wrapped in a nice bow
It's in an incredibly consistent game, probably the most consistent in the trilogy with only having one major snag with the pacing near the end, the game had my attention and I was all for it from start to finish, even with what we know now with the continuations of the story in MGS4 (and how a lot of them were explanations where they weren't needed or originally intended) the story feels perfect for bookending the story from MGS1.
It's one of the first games in a long time where I came out of it thinking to myself "I cannot wait to play this game again" and I consider that a massive praise by my own standards.
A must play, as is with all the games in the trilogy, but this is the game where it absolutely peaks and needs to be seen.