Had a very solid time with this one! Some great story as always with some of the most beautiful shot compositions during the cutscenes. The gameplay is kind of a detour from the past two, with the exclusion of the usual enemy radar, MUCH more enemies to deal with, and the new camouflage system. On top of these new mechanics, the game takes on a much more survival-oriented style, meaning you can be injured in battle and have to treat yourself and tend to your wounds. Food also doesn't heal automatically anymore, instead refilling the new stamina bar which will heal naturally when at a certain level. These new additions can be hard to get used to, but add a lot of challenge to the gameplay. The pacing for me was somewhat hit or miss in certain areas, in particular the last 2 or so hours leading up to the final boss felt somewhat dragged on for me. The final boss itself is a wonderful conclusion, testing all the abilities you have mastered and giving a beautiful, symbolic backdrop. All in all, while Sons of Liberty is undoubtably my favorite, this game is a nice change of pace. Hope it will grow on me more!

A bit of an odd case of a game. Not bad, just very strange with a lot of oversights in terms of design. Most, if not all of the new mechanics from Metal Gear Solid 2 were basically copy pasted into the game, which in theory doesn't sound like a bad idea considering how great those mechanics were, but they are not compensated for. The level design is the exact same, aside from added lockers and such for storing guards, so a lot of areas in the original which require particular caution can be dealt with incredibly easily, at no point is this more obvious than the boss battles. Some of which previously requiring careful consideration and planning, can now be easily taken down with the broken first-person aiming. Some of these may be seen as a con for some, and a pro for others, its more up to personal preference but undeniably removes a lot of challenge. Another huge change with this remake is the tone. While the original was much more dark and emotional with it's few moments of comedic break, this game leans way more into the over the top nature of its successors. While the fantastic cast of the original reprised their roles, the voice acting feels a bit more forced now. The cutscenes especially are goofy as hell. Overall, most likely a good time for newcomers, even some previous fans, but could have used more time and changes.

Probably my third playthrough since release. Ten years later, still holds up surprisingly very well! Not as mechanically varied as San Andreas, can feel very repetitive, but I had fun throughout my entire playthrough. The story is great, the characters are amazing and the acting is just superb, one of my favorite open worlds in a game for it's huge and believable environment coupled with its open-ended sandbox feel. Just an absolute blast all around with enough missions to keep you occupied post-game.