I finally beat Metal Gear Solid 2 today. It took me just under sixteen hours to complete. I have to say, I enjoyed this much more than the original Metal Gear Solid. My only complaint is the repetitive scenery. I don’t know how they could have used any other scenery in the game though so that is not much of a complaint. Now for the good stuff…

For starters, I thought this game was much harder than the original Metal Gear Solid. It actually felt like what I would expect from a stealth game where as Metal Gear Solid did not. It seemed like there were many more enemies to evade in MGS2. In MGS1, I felt like I was running from boss to boss with only a couple of guards in between. The boss battles did seem a bit trickier in MGS1 though. I felt that the bosses in MGS2 were easy in comparison (aside from fighting all of the, well, you know…).

*** Potential Spoilers Below. Highlight To Read ***

As far as the story goes, it can be hard to follow. I think I understand the relationships and pasts of the characters in the game up until the end of the MGS2. What I don’t understand is, what do I, as a player, have to do with the story? Was I controlling Raiden, and even Snake in MGS1, as part of S3 (Selection for Societal Sanity, previously Solid Snake Simulator)? Did Raiden take control of his life when he tossed the dog tags with my name on it? At this point, I believe the answer to all of these questions is yes. Hopefully I’ll get some confirmation in MGS3 or MGS4.

*** End Potential Spoilers ***

I have to say, at this point, I feel like an idiot for not giving this series a chance in the past. I ignorantly disregarded it as a bunch of cookie cutter games for the masses. The series is not at all what I expected it would be. I had no idea it had such a deep and complicated story. I didn’t even know the story had anything to do with the NES Metal Gear games at all. Hopefully I’m not missing too much by skipping those. Anyway, Onto Metal Gear Solid 3…

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