Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
is a 2001 action-adventure stealth game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2. It is the fourth Metal Gear game produced by Hideo Kojima, the seventh overall game in the series, and a sequel to Metal Gear Solid. The game was originally released on November 13, 2001, while an expanded edition, titled was released the following year for the Xbox and Windows, in addition to the PlayStation 2. A remastered version of the game, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - HD Edition, was later included in the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PlayStation Vita. The HD Edition of the game was included in the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 compilation for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S, which was released on October 24, 2023.
The story revolves around the Big Shell, a massive offshore clean-up facility seized by a group of terrorists who call themselves the Sons of Liberty. They demand an enormous ransom in exchange for the life of the President of the United States and threaten to destroy the facility and create a cataclysmic environmental disaster if their demands are not met. The motives and identities of many of the antagonists and allies change throughout the game, as the protagonists discover a world-shaking conspiracy constructed by a powerful organization known as the Patriots.
Metal Gear Solid 2 received acclaim for its gameplay, graphics, and attention to detail. However, critics were initially divided on the protagonist and the philosophical nature and execution of the game's storyline, which explores many themes, such as memetics, social engineering, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and the internal struggle of freedom of thought. The game was a commercial success, selling seven million copies by 2004. It has since been considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time, as well as a leading example of artistic expression in video games. The game is often considered ahead of its time for dealing with themes and concepts such as post-truth politics, fake news, alternative facts, synthetic media, and echo chambers, that became culturally relevant in the mid-to-late 2010s.
Gameplay
Metal Gear Solid 2 carries the subtitle of "Tactical Espionage Action," and most of the game involves the protagonist sneaking around to avoid being seen by the enemies. Most fundamental is the broader range of skills offered to the player. The first-person aiming mode allows players to target specific points in the game, greatly expanding tactical options; guards can be blinded by steam, distracted by a flying piece of fruit or hit in weak spots. Players can walk slowly, allowing them to sneak over noisy flooring without making a sound, or hang off walkways to slip past below guards' feet. The corner-press move from Metal Gear Solid, which allowed players a sneak peek around the next bend, is expanded to allow players to fire from cover. Other abilities included leaping over and hanging off of railings, opening and hiding in storage lockers, and sneaking up behind enemies to hold them at gunpoint for items and ammunition. Players can shoot out the enemy's radio, so they are unable to communicate with others on their team. The environment also has a more significant impact on the stealth gameplay, taking into account factors such as weather, smell, atmosphere, and temperature.In Metal Gear Solid 2, the enemy guards are given more advanced AI "to prevent an imbalance of power", and unlike the original Metal Gear Solid, work in squads. They call on their radios for a strike team upon seeing the player, then attempt to flank him and cut off his escape while avoiding the player's attacks. Often strike teams will carry body armor and riot shields, making them a greater threat. Even if the player escapes to a hiding place, a team will sweep in to check the area. The game has a collective enemy AI, where enemy guards work together in squads, can communicate with one another, and react more realistically towards the player. The game's enemy AI was considered one of the best in gaming for many years.
The game expanded its predecessor's cover mechanic, with Solid Snake or Raiden able to take cover behind walls or objects and pop out to shoot at enemies, while the improved enemy AI allowed enemies to also take cover from the player character. The enemies will often take cover to call for backup, but during battle, they will take cover then pop out and shoot at the player or blindly throw grenades from behind their cover. The game features a laser sight mechanic, where a laser sight helps assist with manually aiming a gun. Boss battles and set-pieces remain a case of finding a strategy that bypasses the defenses of the enemy. However, in a major break from action game standards, it is also possible to clear the entire game, including boss fights, without causing a single deliberate death, through use of tranquilizer guns, stun grenades, and melee attacks.
Synopsis
Setting
Sons of Liberty takes place within an alternate history of events, in which the Cold War ended during the late 1990s. The game's story focuses on two narratives that occur around and near New York City the first in 2007, two years after the events of Metal Gear Solid; and the second in 2009. The game's plot is the fourth chapter of an overarching plot concerning the character of Solid Snake.Characters
The main protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2 is a young rookie agent named Raiden. He is supported by his commanding officer, the Colonel, and Rosemary, his girlfriend. Allies formed on the mission include Lt. Junior Grade Iroquois Pliskin, a Navy SEAL of mysterious background who provides his knowledge of the facility; Peter Stillman, an NYPD bomb-disposal expert; Otacon, a computer security specialist and friend of Solid Snake; and a cyborg ninja imitating Gray Fox's persona, first calling itself Deepthroat, then changing its name to Mr. X.The antagonists are the Sons of Liberty, a group of terrorists who seize control of the Big Shell environmental cleanup facility, including anti-terrorist training unit gone rogue Dead Cell, and a Russian mercenary force that patrols the facility. The Dead Cell team members are Vamp, a seemingly immortal man exhibiting vampire-like attributes; Fatman, a rotund man with exceptional knowledge of bombs; and Fortune, a woman whose uncontrollable psychic ability prevents any bodily harm from befalling her. The leader of Sons of Liberty claims to be Solid Snake, previously declared dead after a terrorist attack, later revealed to be Solidus Snake, a third clone of the "Les Enfants Terribles" project. Assisting the Sons of Liberty are Olga Gurlukovich, commander of the Russian mercenaries, and Revolver Ocelot, a disenfranchised Russian nationalist and former FOXHOUND agent, Solid Snake's old nemesis, and henchman of Solidus Snake.
Other characters include Emma Emmerich, Otacon's stepsister and a computer whiz-kid; Sergei Gurlukovich, Ocelot's former commanding officer and Olga's father; President James Johnson, held hostage by the Sons of Liberty; and DIA operative Richard Ames. Liquid Snake returns, seemingly by possessing the body of Ocelot through a transplanted hand. The game also features cameos by Mei Ling, the communications expert who aided Snake in the first game, and Johnny Sasaki, the luckless soldier with chronic digestive problems.
Plot
In 2007, Solid Snake infiltrates a tanker carrying a new Metal Gear model, RAY. The tanker is attacked by Russian mercenaries, led by Colonel Gurlukovich, his daughter Olga, and Ocelot. Ocelot betrays his allies and scuttles the ship. Upon seeing Snake, Ocelot is possessed by the will of Liquid Snake and escapes with RAY.Two years later, an environmental clean-up facility called the Big Shell has been erected to clear up the oil spill. During a tour by US President James Johnson, the Sons of Liberty raid the facility, take Johnson hostage, and threaten to destroy it. FOXHOUND's Raiden is ordered by the Colonel to rescue the hostages and disarm the terrorists. The surviving members of a responding Navy SEAL team, Iroquois Pliskin and Peter Stillman, help Raiden disable explosives planted by Fatman. A timed bomb goes off, killing Stillman. Raiden kills Fatman and encounters a mysterious cyborg ninja. Raiden and Pliskin arrange to transport hostages via helicopter, but are confronted by Dead Cell's leader identifying as Solid Snake, flying a Harrier. Raiden shoots down the Harrier, but "Solid Snake" escapes with the stolen Metal Gear RAY. Pliskin reveals he is the real Solid Snake and, along with Otacon, helps locate Johnson.
Johnson reveals to Raiden the United States' democratic process is a sham staged by an organization called "the Patriots", who secretly rule the country. Furthermore, the Big Shell is a facade to hide Arsenal Gear, a submersible mobile fortress that houses an AI called "GW". He explains the leader of Dead Cell is his predecessor George Sears, a clone of Big Boss known as Solidus Snake, who plans to seize Arsenal and overthrow the Patriots. Ocelot then kills Johnson.
Raiden rescues computer programmer Emma Emmerich, step-sister of Otacon, who plans to upload a virus into GW to disable Arsenal. Vamp stabs Emma, before being shot by Raiden. Emma uploads the virus, but dies from her injury as the virus is cut off prematurely. Otacon leaves to rescue the hostages while Raiden is captured by the ninja, revealed to be Olga, when Snake seemingly betrays him. Big Shell collapses as Arsenal departs.
Raiden awakens on Arsenal before Solidus, who reveals he raised him as a child soldier during the Liberian civil war. Solidus leaves and Olga frees Raiden, explaining she is a Patriot double-agent forced to aid Raiden in exchange for her child's safety. After the Colonel begins acting erratically, Raiden discovers he is a construct of GW, damaged by the virus. Rose tells Raiden she had been ordered by the Patriots to become his lover and spy on him, and that she is pregnant with his child. Raiden finds Snake, who had helped Olga capture Raiden, so they could gain entry to Arsenal. Fortune battles Snake, while Raiden is forced into battle with AI-controlled Metal Gear RAYs. The virus causes the RAYs to malfunction, and Olga sacrifices herself to save Raiden from Solidus.
Snake and Raiden are captured, and taken to the top of Arsenal by Solidus, Fortune, and Ocelot. Ocelot reveals himself to be a Patriot agent and that the entire affair was orchestrated by the Patriots to artificially replicate a soldier on par with Solid Snake titled the S3 Plan, by recreating the environment of the Shadow Moses Incident. Ocelot kills Fortune before being possessed again by Liquid Snake. Liquid explains that Ocelot's severed right arm was replaced with his own, and plans to hunt down the Patriots using his host's knowledge and the stolen RAY. Snake pursues Liquid, as Arsenal loses control.
Arsenal crashes into Manhattan. Raiden is contacted by an AI impersonating the Colonel and Rose. It states that GW was the only AI destroyed, and that the S3 Plan's real purpose is to control human thought to prevent society's regression in the digital era from trivial information drowning knowledge and truth. They order Raiden to eliminate Solidus; refusal will result in the deaths of Olga's child and Rose. After Raiden defeats Solidus, Snake appears after tracking Liquid's RAY. Snake and Otacon plan to rescue Olga's child, and locate the Patriots, whose details were hidden in the GW virus disc. Raiden is reunited with the real Rose.
In the epilogue, having decoded the disc, Otacon and Snake find it contains data on all twelve members of the Patriots' highest council, the Wiseman's Committee. However, the members have allegedly been dead for 100 years.