Yeah, I got nothing.
But anyway, I forgot to cross-promote an article I wrote on the themes and such of Metal Gear Solid 2. This was meant to be a 10th anniversary piece on the eve of the game’s actual anniversary, but I’ve been grappling with it for a long, difficult month and it’s now very late. After so much time trying to wrestle it into shape, I kind of hate it! But it’s netting nothing but praise and compliments, which once again proves that the less I like my work the more popular it is. Any people wonder why I seem so angsty sometimes.
As someone who has played the game at least fifteen times over in the last ten years. I feel you did an excellent job with this essay. the game was admittedly changed from what Kojima originally imaged but I feel you examine it very well for what it is.
Don’t tease Super Robot fans with mentions of Raideen. :c
MGS2 was a brilliantly daring game, but it pissed off a lot of people and the brand was severely damaged because of it. Worst of all, so many people left the franchise afterward that they missed out on MGS3, one of the best darn games on the PS2. I guess people don’t like being lied to!
MGS2 was absolutely bonkers, and I loved every minute of it. Whenever you over-analyse something, it tends to suck the enjoyment from it, I find. At the very least, I doubt we’ll see another game as big as this take so many chances.
The game was absolutely at the top of its class when it came out. Nothing felt so revolutionary since OoT. That’s kind of lost now.
Most people are surprised by the notion that MGS2 actually contained relatively deep narrative and formal themes and that it isn’t a total brainless clusterfuck. So when you explain that to them eloquently, I’ve usually found that the response is generally a positive and appreciative one.
I’ve been replaying this thanks to the HD Collection, and now that MGS4 dispelled all of the cliffhanger bullshit, I can see the forest for the trees, and I gotta say, this might be one of the most fucked up games ever made, and I love it. It is by no means a masterpiece; after all, it did irreparable damage to the series’ canon, but goddamn do I love its ambition.
This was one of the finest articles I’ve read in games journalism.
MGS2 may not be most fans’ favorite game in the series, but you have to admire it’s subversive (and maybe even good) intentions in trying to portray a world where it’s become increasingly difficult to distinguish the real from that which has been altered to appear truthful. Like it or not, it’s the world we live in. The best way to convey deception is to embody it, even if it’s at the player’s expense.
MGS taught us to love; MGS2 taught us not to trust.
While I enjoyed MGS2 it definitely wasn’t entirely successful and had it’s bairnless and badly written moments. In retrospect it’s a lot better than I thought when I first played. Excellent article by the way.
I don’t think MGS4 is going to stand up in retrospect like MGS2 does, really didn’t enjoy that game.
I agree. MGS4 sacrificed too much in order to tie up three games’ loose ends. If the game had been consistent with the tone and design of the first two chapters all the way through, it would have been a masterpiece.