I’ll start by saying, I want to love this game. As an 8-bit title there is so much to be impressed by, from the brilliant presentation, to the music, to the improved gameplay, and even the story!
Metal Gear 2 definitely begins to ramp things up, as there is plenty more dialogue here than last time, as well as a more complex plot with interesting characters and tragic twists. As an early Kojima title, it’s so interesting to see this attempt at a deeper story already. It’s still easy to follow, but there’s plenty of great beats, exciting moments and slower more character driven conversations… it’s great, and so impressive for the hardware it’s on.
Gameplay overall has been improved too, you now have a radar which makes it much easier to navigate your immediate surroundings and know what to expect up ahead. Enemies are much smarter now, they will react to sounds, can actually turn their heads, and will chase you relentlessly until you get out of sight. You can crawl to stay below enemy eyesight, and there’s plenty of hiding spots you can potentially slip into.
There’s even a few set pieces that help the game standout and shake up the regular gameplay, such as tailing a guard through a dense forest or infiltrating a camp full of orphaned children.
This is in part due to the much improved presentation, this game looks great especially considering it’s an 8 bit game. The colours are way more distinctive and the locations are far easier to tell apart.
Combat is also better here, and the boss fights are mostly a step up, assuming you know how to damage them.
That’s it, the reason I can’t recommend this game, knowing what to do is once again just guesswork unless you fancy checking every single door available every time you get a new card. I won’t repeat myself but again, you need a guide to win, and that’s truly a shame - 4.5/10
Metal Gear 2 definitely begins to ramp things up, as there is plenty more dialogue here than last time, as well as a more complex plot with interesting characters and tragic twists. As an early Kojima title, it’s so interesting to see this attempt at a deeper story already. It’s still easy to follow, but there’s plenty of great beats, exciting moments and slower more character driven conversations… it’s great, and so impressive for the hardware it’s on.
Gameplay overall has been improved too, you now have a radar which makes it much easier to navigate your immediate surroundings and know what to expect up ahead. Enemies are much smarter now, they will react to sounds, can actually turn their heads, and will chase you relentlessly until you get out of sight. You can crawl to stay below enemy eyesight, and there’s plenty of hiding spots you can potentially slip into.
There’s even a few set pieces that help the game standout and shake up the regular gameplay, such as tailing a guard through a dense forest or infiltrating a camp full of orphaned children.
This is in part due to the much improved presentation, this game looks great especially considering it’s an 8 bit game. The colours are way more distinctive and the locations are far easier to tell apart.
Combat is also better here, and the boss fights are mostly a step up, assuming you know how to damage them.
That’s it, the reason I can’t recommend this game, knowing what to do is once again just guesswork unless you fancy checking every single door available every time you get a new card. I won’t repeat myself but again, you need a guide to win, and that’s truly a shame - 4.5/10