This review contains spoilers
Metal Gear Solid 2 has a well written, tightly paced, and prescient story. It's full of social and meta commentary, my favorite being how Raiden's misunderstanding of his role due to the Patriots' control of information mirrors the players that expected a completely different game due to Konami's marketing. It must have been a really interesting experience for those who played it when it came out. I didn't like how much the codec calls interrupted the gameplay but these segments were generally interesting enough that I didn't think much of it. It was also funny how frequently characters would be standing next to each other and decide to talk over codec because "someone might be listening". I get why they did it though - every cutscene clearly had a lot of effort put into them so it was likely necessary in order to cut down on development time.
The gameplay innovates a lot over MGS1. The improved enemy AI actually makes them a formidable threat which is still impressive to me compared to all of the newer games I've played. MGS2 also makes full use of the pressure sensitive face buttons on the Dualshock 2 controller. I prefer how most games handle shooting with triggers but slowly raising your finger off of the square button to lower your weapon feels somewhat immersive. There are a lot of neat little things like how ice cubes melt, and differently sized pans make different noises when you shoot them. You can shoot the radio on an enemy's hip so they can't call for backup, which makes for an interesting fact but I doubt anybody made use of it since if you're shooting at somebody you might as well just knock them out, right?
The boss fights didn't really work for me. Fortune doesn't feel very engaging and I think it would be better suited as a cutscene since you don't really do much besides dodge. The Vamp, Harrier, and Rays fights are just tedious. The sword controls in the last encounter with Solidus are awkward. I did enjoy Fatman, I think because it doesn't feel like such a departure from the normal gameplay.
Overall it's a very good game and I can see why it has had such an enduring legacy.
The gameplay innovates a lot over MGS1. The improved enemy AI actually makes them a formidable threat which is still impressive to me compared to all of the newer games I've played. MGS2 also makes full use of the pressure sensitive face buttons on the Dualshock 2 controller. I prefer how most games handle shooting with triggers but slowly raising your finger off of the square button to lower your weapon feels somewhat immersive. There are a lot of neat little things like how ice cubes melt, and differently sized pans make different noises when you shoot them. You can shoot the radio on an enemy's hip so they can't call for backup, which makes for an interesting fact but I doubt anybody made use of it since if you're shooting at somebody you might as well just knock them out, right?
The boss fights didn't really work for me. Fortune doesn't feel very engaging and I think it would be better suited as a cutscene since you don't really do much besides dodge. The Vamp, Harrier, and Rays fights are just tedious. The sword controls in the last encounter with Solidus are awkward. I did enjoy Fatman, I think because it doesn't feel like such a departure from the normal gameplay.
Overall it's a very good game and I can see why it has had such an enduring legacy.