This review contains spoilers
Man where to start on this one. Like many people I considered this game a masterpiece back when I first played it and generally stuck to that opinion through my many playthroughs. This is the first time I've played it in about 5 years.
Let's start with the obvious. This game has aged, but that mostly has to do with the insane strides stealth games have made since its release. Really one thing I've come to realize about MGS 1/2 is that they were never really stealth games, but just Zelda-ish adventure games that emphasized stealth. You can definitely see this in the original two MSX games which were top down adventure games, and Solid 1 and 2 are very closely related to them. As an adventure game though, I still found it quite enjoyable. I think its okay to let this idea go that the first four games(1,2, and Solid 1 and 2) were stealth games. This playthrough I wasn't feeling precious about my final ranking so I was able to play recklessly with the game giving me enough wiggle room for it not to be too frustrating. I found playing stealthy could be very tedious and boring.
The most disappointing thing to me gameplay wise was definitely the boss fights which is huge considering these titles are most known for their boss fights. I feel like there were definitely fights that were designed primarily to be a cinematic showcase for graphics at the time (the Ray Fights, the Harrier fight, the standoff against Fortune), and these hold up the least well because they run too long for being very simple. The Vamp fight suffered from being too simple and taking way too long. My favorite bosses were the Fatman fight where it required you to juggle dodging attacks and defusing bombs and the final fight against Solidus which had an excellent balance between being cinematic and having fun gameplay. A big step down from Solid.
Then there's the story of course! What I still like about this game is it maintained some balance between Kojima's yawn inducing monologuing and his batshit conspiracy weaving. I still found the plot about The Patriots and their ploy to control all information captivating and fun. It leads to a lot of great, "You fool! That was OUR plan ALL ALONG!" moments which I always love. Sandwiched between that is hack metaphysical discussions. What I was also surprised by was how much I liked Raiden's story. The most disappointing thing about is that he really takes a backseat to the melodrama when there were plenty of opportunities to explore the really interesting themes of the game through his own struggle. Instead Kojima does what Kojima does and monologues every point he's trying to make to death. There's also the absolutely dreadful Otacon incest plot. I feel like this doesn't serve any purpose in this game's narrative or in the narrative of the series as a whole except to assassinate a beloved character and take up unnecessary game time.
I walked away from this game with a mixed bag. I will always love it just because I love the world and the characters, but there's plenty of flaws in its gameplay and narrative that are worth criticizing. I still personally prefer this one to 3 just because the gameplay to cutscene ratio is still in favor of gameplay on this one. If you love this series odds are you already replay these games every so often. If you're going through them for the first time and didn't feel grabbed by Solid, I don't think Solid 2 will change your mind.
Let's start with the obvious. This game has aged, but that mostly has to do with the insane strides stealth games have made since its release. Really one thing I've come to realize about MGS 1/2 is that they were never really stealth games, but just Zelda-ish adventure games that emphasized stealth. You can definitely see this in the original two MSX games which were top down adventure games, and Solid 1 and 2 are very closely related to them. As an adventure game though, I still found it quite enjoyable. I think its okay to let this idea go that the first four games(1,2, and Solid 1 and 2) were stealth games. This playthrough I wasn't feeling precious about my final ranking so I was able to play recklessly with the game giving me enough wiggle room for it not to be too frustrating. I found playing stealthy could be very tedious and boring.
The most disappointing thing to me gameplay wise was definitely the boss fights which is huge considering these titles are most known for their boss fights. I feel like there were definitely fights that were designed primarily to be a cinematic showcase for graphics at the time (the Ray Fights, the Harrier fight, the standoff against Fortune), and these hold up the least well because they run too long for being very simple. The Vamp fight suffered from being too simple and taking way too long. My favorite bosses were the Fatman fight where it required you to juggle dodging attacks and defusing bombs and the final fight against Solidus which had an excellent balance between being cinematic and having fun gameplay. A big step down from Solid.
Then there's the story of course! What I still like about this game is it maintained some balance between Kojima's yawn inducing monologuing and his batshit conspiracy weaving. I still found the plot about The Patriots and their ploy to control all information captivating and fun. It leads to a lot of great, "You fool! That was OUR plan ALL ALONG!" moments which I always love. Sandwiched between that is hack metaphysical discussions. What I was also surprised by was how much I liked Raiden's story. The most disappointing thing about is that he really takes a backseat to the melodrama when there were plenty of opportunities to explore the really interesting themes of the game through his own struggle. Instead Kojima does what Kojima does and monologues every point he's trying to make to death. There's also the absolutely dreadful Otacon incest plot. I feel like this doesn't serve any purpose in this game's narrative or in the narrative of the series as a whole except to assassinate a beloved character and take up unnecessary game time.
I walked away from this game with a mixed bag. I will always love it just because I love the world and the characters, but there's plenty of flaws in its gameplay and narrative that are worth criticizing. I still personally prefer this one to 3 just because the gameplay to cutscene ratio is still in favor of gameplay on this one. If you love this series odds are you already replay these games every so often. If you're going through them for the first time and didn't feel grabbed by Solid, I don't think Solid 2 will change your mind.