312. Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance - PS2
*WARNING: HUGE SPOILERS INBOUND, INCLUDING A FEW THAT RELATE TO THE WHOLE SERIES*
Whenever I list MGS rankings, it's really hard to list enough >'s to go before this game. The fact that it's STILL made it this long before being ranked should tell you how highly I think of the series as a whole. In fact, I still think quite highly of this game in many regards.
Many people find Raiden to be a terrible protagonist. I do not. I find Raiden to be a great lead character, especially once you find that you're really just playing second fiddle to Snake and Otacon. I'd always kinda wanted to see how people viewed Snake from an outside perspective, and it's really cool to me to see how he operates when you're not controlling him. There's a little baggage there with Rose, who sucks and is a waste of time, but I'll give Kojima some leeway, as it was necessary to make Raiden's character who he was supposed to be. In fact, I enjoy Raiden much more in this game than I do in MGS4. Yeah, I said it.
The gameplay is a huge step up from MGS1, as shown from how ungodly easy Twin Snakes was. First-person is a huge help, and some very nice touches were added to build just a really fun game.
But let's get into why I don't like MGS2 nearly as much as the other 3, and it's the main reason most people like the MGS games so much: the story. On its own, I would think MGS2 is a ****ing masterpiece, but when you realize this came right after MGS1, it's almost a kick in the balls to fans of the first game. The entire time I played MGS2, I couldn't help but think to myself, "You know, it really feels like I've done all this before." It felt like that to me the entire first 2/3 of the game or so. There's even another god damn cyborg ninja. How obvious did it need to be, Kojima?
But then we get to the part with Emma Emmerich. You know the part. Finally, I felt like I was playing something new, something worth my time. All of a sudden, I felt more strongly about this game than I ever had about the first. For the third time in my life, I found myself crying because of a video game. Finally, I had been given a reason to continue. Then I got captured. The very next instant, the gameplay had taken another wild turn, and yet again, I was in a situation where I was absolutely hooked. Crazy colonel was pushing me so hard and making me laugh so badly I couldn't put the controller down. I think I'll say right now that this section remains as the most absurd hour or so of gaming in my entire life. And I ****ing loved it. I knew Kojima was setting up for something grand, and I had to know what it was ASAP.
Then Ocelot showed up. I was ****ing ecstatic. All my work was coming to a culmination of events of which I could have only dreamed. And then he started explaining this game's purpose. This was all a test to see whether the events of the first game could be replicated and executed as well as before. I was a pawn the whole time. Suddenly, everything made sense. And I wished it didn't. Not only was Raiden played by Ocelot, but I had been played by Kojima. At that moment, I realized the man had made me play through the exact same ****ing game twice. Then to make it its own commodity, he slapped a unique final few hours on it and called it MGS2. I couldn't believe what had just happened to me. I couldn't believe what I had just gone through. I couldn't believe my reward for reaching the end.
I just have to say, I'm extremely lucky I played this game third, or who knows if I'd have even tried some of my favorite games of all-time....
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Xbox GT/PSN name: TatteredUniform
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