Literally peak fiction. This is my favorite game of all time. Gameplay is a massive improvement from the original and is quick and snappy. The cover peeking and first person aiming makes the game more fluid to play and allows the level design to evolve. Rooms have less forgiving sight lines and utilize verticality to a much greater extent, but the expanded abilities of the player make for a satisfying difficulty/learning curve. The game also completely revamps the alert system. Guards no longer immediately trigger an alert when you're discovered, instead having to retreat and inform their friends on the radio. This allows a skilled player to prevent an alert by either neutralizing the enemy or shooting their radio. Enemies also have new behaviors during the evasion phase, thoroughly investigating hiding places such as lockers and checking crawling spots. Boss fights have improved as well, with fun simple gimmicks like Fatman's timed bombs and Vamp's vertical boss arena. The battle against the Metal Gear Ray units is incredible in terms of presentation and is a fitting difficulty spike. Unfortunately, like every Metal Gear, it does suffer pacing issues. The game will require you to backtrack at a few different points to obtain new weapons/items to progress, and the first act of the Plant chapter is slow comparatively speaking. In context of the rest of the game, the gradually paced opening works as a breather before the mid point where the plot builds considerable momentum and doesn't let off until the final cutscene plays. I also must mention the returning VR missions, where players can hone their skills in stealth, weapon use, bomb defusal, and other challenges. While the Variety levels aren't as diverse or creative as the first game's selection, it makes up for it with more characters who have exclusive missions. Generally the mode sets an example for stealth level design, allowing different methods of solving the puzzle yet encouraging you to play levels again and again to find the most efficient tactics.

Characters are just as memorable and well crafted as the original game. Solid Snake returns but for a supporting role this time which gives him a different air of coolness, and he still gets a lot to do as a deuteragonist. His camaraderie with Otacon is simultaneously funny and endearing, and his role as the de facto mentor to new protagonist Raiden allows him to share meaningful dialogue with both him and the player. Raiden was a controversial character at release and he took a while to grow on me, but he is certainly in contention for the best player surrogate character in video games. He doesn't immediately have the cool factor of Snake but instead builds a connection with the player through his past in VR training (playing games) and his fed up attitude toward the increasing absurdity of the plot. Beyond being a self insert for the player, his personality is a nice change of pace compared to Snake and he's still just as goofy at times. Raiden's entire character has the rug pulled from underneath him in the final act which enriches and recontextualizes some of his previous dialogue. When Raiden's true past is revealed, he chooses to shed his previous identity as Snake's memetic clone and resolves to take his own path. Overall he's a worthy successor to Snake and the biggest pillar of the game's story. Otacon gets a subplot involving his step sister Emma that feels like an intentional repeat of the one with Sniper Wolf in MGS1, trying to attempt that kind of story again with proper backstory and screen time. It mostly succeeds and also serves to elaborate on Otacon's trademark survivor's guilt. Raiden's support during the Plant chapter consists of his girlfriend Rose and Colonel Campbell. The scenes with Rose are essentially hit or miss. The intent of her inclusion may have been to emasculate Raiden and the player, but even so some codec dialogue feels out of place. Regardless, her role in the final act of the story involves a scene with the best voice acting in the entire game and twists that build serious tension. Ocelot makes an explosive reappearance during the Tanker chapter and is the main catalyst for the plot. He takes a backseat from then until the final act but it gives the player time to consider his role in the story. It is also revealed that Ocelot procured a new arm from the deceased Liquid Snake, resulting in Liquid taking over his mind. A goofy plot point that obviously stems from a regret over having killed off Liquid Snake, but it manages to work here for the most part and definitely has charm. I also prefer the take on Liquid Ocelot here as a supernatural possession rather than brainwashing, and having Liquid manifest when Snake is nearby is a cool idea. Olga Gurlukovitch or Mr. X, is a great double agent character. Unlike Grey Fox, the identity of the ninja character is revealed much later in the story which increases the sense of confusion and isolation of Raiden and the player. Her forced role as an agent for the elusive Patriots over her child being held hostage is tragic and makes the Patriots seem that much more threatening. Solidus Snake is the main antagonist and remains a memorable villain. Despite being a Snake, his main relation in the plot is to Raiden as his surrogate father. Raiden's past as a child soldier in Solidus's Small Boy Unit shaped him into a killer and essentially ruined his life to the point where he heavily represses his traumatic memories and refuses to acknowledge it. This is juxtaposed with how other people have influenced Raiden, like Snake's advice and the Patriots' manipulations. However, the true villains of the story all died 100 years ago. What has been left in their wake is a system whose reach has eclipsed every facet of American society. The Patriots are a deep state AI organization that aims to control the populace and safeguard humanity's evolution through the digital age. They have an ominous vibe in the story because they never appear directly, only being alluded to by the other characters until it's revealed that they were by Raiden's side the whole time. Not only that, but they orchestrated the entire Big Shell Incident. Every part of Raiden's mission and the circumstances that drove him to action and make choices were artificial. In a meta sense, Raiden and the player only have agency in that they can either quit or continue playing the "game" as it was scripted for them. The AI Colonel's last scene with Raiden is easily the most memorable part of the game with Paul Eiding's voice giving off a very chilling monotone sound that combined with the music makes for an unsettling atmosphere.

Speaking of that I want to mention the music quickly. Norihiko Hibino managed to make a score that has a totally different sound from the original yet is just as good. The ambient sneaking tracks are all pretty good and feel as atmospheric as it should, and Yell Dead Cell is a banger boss theme even though one of the samples sounds like a dying seagull. Also Twilight Sniping is a Silent Hill tier ambient track and easily my favorite piece of music in the game.

The story is part deconstruction of the original Metal Gear Solid and a vehicle to discuss modern American political themes, and other relevant issues such as the impending digital age and the fears that come with it. Metal Gear Solid 2 takes a drastic turn from expectations at the start of the Plant Chapter, with the player being forced to control Raiden instead. The game takes every opportunity it gets to destroy the power fantasy of the player, as Raiden's first task is to clean up Snake's mess. Raiden's first "boss fight" involves trying to simply survive in an unwinnable encounter. Several characters treat Raiden with little respect and make the player feel like a rookie, instead of a legendary soldier. The major story beats of the first half of the game play out eerily similar to MGS1. The terrorist takeover, the hostages, the ransom, the nuclear threat, the ninja, the mysterious deaths of Ames and the President. Instead of using the familiarity to make the player feel nostalgic it instead makes them feel uneasy, as Raiden's reality is continuously put into question. It is of course revealed that the game's events were hollow, fabricated recreations. Because Raiden and the player wanted to fulfill the fantasy of becoming Snake, they accepted the false circumstances provided by the game. Snake tells Raiden and the player during the ending that although they didn't have much in terms of choice with the game, everything they thought about and felt was authentic; validating the player's experience.

The main theme of the game is legacy, choosing what things you value in your life and what you'll pass on to the next generation. This is tied together with the digital age in Snake's iconic post credit speech:

"Life isn't just about passing on your genes. We can leave behind much more than just DNA. Through speech, music, literature, and movies... what we've seen, heard, felt... anger, joy, and sorrow... these are the things I will pass on. That's what I live for. We need to pass the torch, and let our children read our messy and sad history by its light. We have all the magic of the digital age to do that with. The human race will probably come to an end some time, and new species may rule over this planet. Earth may not be forever, but we still have the responsibility to leave what traces of life we can. Building the future and keeping the past alive are one and the same thing. "

While it's true that the digitalization of society does further enable things like fake news, cognitive dissonance, and echo chambers, it does allow us to share our experiences, thoughts, ideas, values, etc. on a grand scale. Each generation has always needed to learn from the previous one in order to make better choices. Snake's message encourages us to utilize the internet to contribute to human culture and ensure that our history is authentically preserved for future generations. An incredibly relevant and meaningful sentiment to end the game on. It's also pretty fun. Play Metal Gear Solid 2.