$20 Game of the Week: Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance (Xbox, PS2, PC)

This week, Metal Gear Solid 4 hits the Playstation 3. As Metal Gear Solid 3 was a tale set in the past, this makes MGS 4 the long awaited follow up to the events of MGS 2, which was released almost 7 years prior! As such, series newcomers will want to check out the franchises past entries. While Metal Gear Solid 2 may have gotten a bad rap for a few key issues, (most notably the complex plot and the fact that you play as someone other than Solid Snake for a majority of the game) Metal Gear Solid 2 is still every bit a classic as any other game in the series. While the original version is still available, players will want to grab this special edition which contains several hours of new content and marks the first and only time that Metal Gear Solid has appeared on a Microsoft console.

Along with the full “Sons of Liberty” game (which involves Solid Snake and new Metal Gear Solid hero Raiden getting to the bottom of a military conspiracy), there is a heap of new content. There are several dozen VR levels, which are throwbacks to the original Metal Gear Solid. They get progressively harder in difficulty, and can be tackled with each character. There are also several ‘alternate’ missions, which are similar to the VR missions, but take place in the game’s various environments. There are 5 ‘Snake Tales’, which are basically Kojima’s way of addressing the complaint that Solid Snake didn’t have enough play time. They are non-canon storylines, complete with narrated text, which feature Snake in the various environments and situations that you played through as Raiden during the main game. There are even VR missions in which you play from a first-person view. There are several unlockable costumes for the characters, including Snake’s tuxedo and ninja Raiden. There are other surprises too, such as photo missions, a theater mode in which you can replace the in-game models, extra hard European difficulty, and a (PS2 exclusive) skateboarding minigame. Even if you don’t wish to play through the main game, there is still enough cool stuff on this disc to keep it in your game console for months. While fans of the series probably will have already played through this game several times by now, people who are new to the series will enjoy this game just the same, even if it may lack the cool stuff from later entries.