Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
| Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio |
Konami Success (PC) |
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| Publisher |
 Konami
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| Senior Developer | Hideo Kojima | ||
| composer | Harry Gregson-Williams | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
MGS 2: Sons of Liberty PlayStation 2:  November 13, 2001 November 29, 2001 March 8, 2002 Xbox: November 5, 2002 March 7, 2003December 19, 2002 March 3, 2003 March 28, 2003March 27, 2003 March 28, 2003PlayStation 3, Xbox 360:November 8, 2011 November23, 2011February 3, 2012PlayStation Vita:June 12, 2012June 23, 2012June 29, 2012 |
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| platform | Windows , PlayStation 2 , Xbox , PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 , PlayStation Vita | ||
| genre | Stealth shooter , action adventure | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Gamepad ; Keyboard and mouse | ||
| medium | DVD-ROM , Blu-ray Disc (PS3) | ||
| language | Audio: English, Subtitles: German | ||
| Age rating |
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Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty [ metl ɡɪə sɒlɪd TU sʌnz ʌv lɪbətɪ ] ( jap. メタルギアソリッド2サンズ·オブ·リバティ Metaru Gia Soriddo 2 Sanzu obu Ribati ) is a computer game with stealth - and Action -elements of Hideo Kojima developed by Konami and first published in 2001. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is the direct successor to Metal Gear Solid , which was released in 1998 . It was released for the PlayStation 2 game console . The game has sold over 7 million copies worldwide. Like its predecessor, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty received high ratings in trade magazines and numerous awards. The graphics and music composed by Harry Gregson-Williams were particularly well received.
Several direct successors followed: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004), Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008), Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010) and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015 ) including the prologue Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (2014).
action
The action begins in 2007. Solid Snake is supposed to photograph the USMC's Metal Gear RAY fighting robot for his friend Otacon on behalf of the non-profit organization Philanthropy . This is secretly on a tanker that was taken over by an armed Russian special unit under the command of Colonel Gurlukovich and Revolver Ocelot, known as Shalashaska . After a victorious fight against Gurlukovich's daughter Olga and a group of elite soldiers, Snake is finally able to break into the hold where Metal Gear RAY is stored. There, the Navy commander Col. Dolph is giving a speech to his crew, who have not yet noticed the hostile takeover of the freighter. Ocelot, also present, now reveals his true intention to steal Metal Gear RAY for an unknown organization called The Patriots . He kills Gurlukovich and the commander and detonates explosive charges all over the ship. However, when Snake reveals himself to him, he has a seizure. Ocelot, who lost his right arm in Metal Gear Solid after being attacked by Gray Fox , now has a "new one" that was transplanted from Liquid Snake's corpse. Liquid's personality trapped in her arm temporarily takes possession of Ocelot. Finally, Ocelot or Liquid Snake steals the Metal Gear RAY and sinks the tanker with all Russian and American soldiers on board. Solid Snake appears to be killed in the action and is later blamed for the tanker's explosion. After hearing another radio conversation from Ocelot, in which he reports the successful capture of Metal Gear RAY and the conversation is pregnant with "Yes, Mr. President!" ended, this storyline breaks off at that point.
The further action begins two years later, in 2009. A terrorist group by the name of Dead Cell , a former Black Ops special unit, has taken control of the Big Shell marine cleaning facility, which was built after the tanker accident, and took hostages. Among them is US President James Johnson. The kidnappers, under the supposed leadership of the believed dead Solid Snake, call themselves Sons of Liberty .
The young FOXHOUND agent Jack, code name: Raiden is sent by Col. Roy Campbell to free the hostages (mainly the president) and to find out information about the terrorist group. In the course of the game, Raiden fights against several members of the group and with the help of the real Solid Snake, who is unexpectedly alive and has not changed sides, gets information about an Illuminati- like organization called The Patriots, which is in control of the have entire world events. Even the president is just a puppet brought into office by the Patriots for the public. Raiden finally finds out that the project "Les enfants terrible", which is supposed to produce the perfect soldier with the help of the genes of the legendary soldier "Big Boss", has never been discontinued. On the contrary, a whole army of genetically modified soldiers (called Tengu ) was created to protect the latest metal gear. This is called Arsenal Gear and is controlled by an artificial intelligence called GW (abbreviation for George Washington ). He is guarded by a whole armada of Metal Gear RAYs. Ocelot, who continues to work on behalf of the Patriots, reveals that the entire scenario was just a final test for Raiden and the functioning of Arsenal Gear / GW. The Big Shell was just a facade for Arsenal, an environmental disaster never occurred. Solidus Snake, the leader of Dead Cell and also a clone of Big Boss (and thus the genetic brother of Solid and Liquid Snake) was only used by Ocelot. Furthermore, Col. Campbell and Raiden's fiancée Rosemary, who provided him with information via codec, were also part of GW, their appearance was caused by the nanomachines implanted in Raiden's body before use. You should monitor its progress while keeping it under control. A virus that Snake's friend Otacon and his sister can feed into the artificial intelligence, however, gets out of control, leading to confused reports from Campbell and Rosemary, as well as misconduct by Arsenal Gear, whereby Raiden finally finds out the truth. Liquid Snake, awakened by the presence of his brothers, takes control of Ocelot again and tries to escape on board a RAY, where he is pursued by Snake.
Arsenal Gear meanwhile steers uncontrollably towards the coast of Manhattan and ends up there at Federal Hall , on the roof of which the decisive battle between Raiden and Solidus takes place. Raiden defeats Solidus, who falls from the roof at the end of the fight and collapses dead at the George Washington memorial.
After the final battle with Solidus, Raiden meets up with Snake again, who has survived the events again, and tries to find the Patriots with him. After the end credits of the game, another radio conversation can be heard between Solid Snake and Otacon. From this it appears that they were able to retrieve a list of the names of the members of the Patriots from the computer at Arsenal Gear, one of them being the biggest sponsor of Otacon's and Snake's organization Philanthropy . To their great surprise, the people listed there have been dead for over a hundred years. The game ends with this mysterious find.
During the game, several philosophical and political thoughts are taken up. These thoughts include, among other things, the critical examination of war. Snake is referred to as a fighter for peace and serves as a role model for Raiden. In this context, it should be noted that Snake took the lives of many people before, which shows the discrepancy between his actions and his goal. Furthermore, Snake mentions in the game that killing is never justified. Here the game type of the player is questioned. The aim of the game is to kill as little as possible. However, the player has the ability to kill as much as he can, even if he is not supposed to, which creates a reference to decisions made by the player and the game. Another point is the questioning of morals. In the scene before Raiden has to fight Solidus for the last time, the motives of the Patriots are explained: It is about the selection of information based on the model of evolution (natural selection) to contextualize information for the individual. Because the double standards and the isolation from other opinions of every individual only lead to serious problems. "Billions spent on new weapons in order to humanely murder other humans." ("Billions are spent on new weapons for the human murder of other people.") And further moral declines indicate the incompetence of the individual to be able to decide freely. GW is even starting to question Raiden's self. The self is only a means to take an opinion from others. Here the synchronization of all people for their own good is justified. The freedom of all people only leads to conflicts and problems. By synchronizing all information, GW wants to protect people from themselves. The question of whether conformity is the right thing to do to create peace remains to be seen. Several political problems are also presented, such as: B. the child soldier problem, whereby Raiden himself was a child soldier. He tells of gunpowder anesthesia (which contains toluene ) and questions the effectiveness of conventions against child soldiers because it seems that too little is being done. Black powder use may be related to the conflict in Sierra Leone , where there were several reports of black powder use with cocaine (or similar drugs).
Game principle and technology
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Metal Gear chronology of the series |
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1964 - Snake Eater |
The basic gameplay was carried over from the predecessor Metal Gear Solid . The player controls the character (Solid Snake and the newly added Raiden) in a 3D environment and can - as is usual in stealth games - sneak through the areas, with one main goal being to remain as unnoticed as possible. As in the predecessor, the player has various options such as running, sneaking and hiding. If it comes to a fight, the player has a selection of different weapons available. In contrast to the predecessor, the player can now use objects in the first person perspective and coax so-called dog tags out of the opponent by intimidating and threatening . By collecting such dog tags, you can unlock special items of equipment in the game. Again the game includes numerous and sometimes very long cutscenes that advance the plot.
For the European version, an additional adjustable level of difficulty called "European Extreme" has been added, in which there are neither rations nor dog tags. In addition, the game ends immediately when it is first discovered by an enemy.
Production notes
The first script for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was developed by designer Hideo Kojima in 1999. The original working title of the game was Metal Gear Solid III . The production budget was $ 10,000,000.
Extras and Easter eggs
- Snake's landing on the tanker at the beginning of the game is modeled on the arrival of the Terminator from the films of the same name.
- The names on the dog tags come from the game's developers (with a few exceptions).
- Among the soldiers in the hold is one who is only wearing underpants. If you enter the room in a certain way, there is a whole group of soldiers without pants.
- If you switch the projector a few times in the hold, pictures and a film of well-known Japanese models will appear on the screen at some point.
- Under certain circumstances, a ghostly image of the creator of the MGS series, Hideo Kojima, can be seen on the screen in the hold through the digital camera.
- The Navy Commander Scott Dolph is named after Hideo Kojima's translator and bodyguard.
- Jack's code name Raiden refers to the Mitsubishi J2M Raiden (German: "Thunderbolt") fighter aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in World War II . The Allied Forces, in turn, gave the aircraft the code name Jack .
- On the Big Shell , miniatures of the Moai , the famous Easter Island stone statues, are hidden, sometimes only on certain levels of difficulty. However, they can no longer be used or collected.
- Snake uses the alias Iroquis Pliskin , which is a direct reference to the protagonist Snake Plissken (played by Kurt Russel ) from the movie " The Rattlesnake ". Despite the widespread, contrary assumption, the name Solid Snake does not refer to this, as Hideo Kojima himself explained. Iroquois also means "black snake" or "rattlesnake" in the Algonquian language .
- Hal Emmerich's code name Otacon is a mixture of the terms otaku and convention .
- The legendary Konami cheat , which can be found in almost every Konami game, is also used here: If you enter it in the rating screen at the end of the game, Solid Snake will respond with the question: " What do you think you're doing? "(Eng .:" What do you think you're doing? ") comments.
Extended version and new edition
In 2003 a revised version of the game was released under the name Metal Gear Solid 2 - Substance for Sony Playstation 2 and for the first time also for Microsoft Xbox and Windows PC . This version contained around 500 VR training missions with Solid Snake and Raiden (similar to the Special Missions from Metal Gear Solid ), a boss survival mode , a theater mode, in which all cutscenes of the game could be viewed separately and characters could be exchanged , as well as five alternative missions with Solid Snake, called Snake Tales , which are detached from the main story . The Playstation 2 version was also the only one to include a skateboard mode similar to the Tony Hawk series , where you could skate on the Big Shell with Solid Snake. Also exclusive to PS2 was the Ultimate Collector's Edition, which also contained the interactive bonus DVD "The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2", which was previously only available separately in the USA.
In addition to the game itself, Piggyback's official solution book, which was already available, has been re-published and an extra booklet has been added, which covers the additional content of the Substance version.
Substance was also part of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection released in 2012 for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 , which in addition to this also included the series offshoots Peace Walker and Snake Eater in revised image and sound quality. However, this version no longer contained the skateboard mode or the content of the bonus DVD.
Novel about the game
- Raymond Benson : Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty , Panini Verlag 2010, ISBN 3-8332-2047-3 .
reception
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From 42 aggregated ratings, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty achieved a score of 96 on Metacritic. The US magazine GameSpy praised the story, gameplay, graphics and music of the game and only criticized gameplay details such as the opponent's AI in need of improvement .
Web links
- Official website at Konami Japan (English / Japanese)
- Official website ( Memento of April 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) at Konami Europe
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty at MobyGames (English)
- Link catalog about Metal Gear Solid 2 - Sons of Liberty at curlie.org (formerly DMOZ )
- Metal Gear Wiki
Individual evidence
- ↑ Big Gaz: Metal Gear Solid 3 Exclusive For Sony . In: GamePlanet New Zealand . Retrieved April 13, 2017.
- ↑ Engadget.com: MGS2 design secrets translated. Retrieved May 16, 2017 .
- ↑ Gamespot.com: The Final Hours of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Retrieved May 16, 2017 .
- ↑ Scott Dolph . In: Metal Gear Wiki . ( Online [accessed March 15, 2017]).
- ↑ Wesley Yin-Poole: Hideo Kojima explains why Metal Gear's protagonist is called Solid Snake. In: Eurogamer. Retrieved March 6, 2014, March 15, 2017 (UK English).
- ↑ OGDB - Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (Ultimate Collector's Edition) [SONY PlayStation 2 / Germany] (2003). Retrieved March 6, 2017 .
- ↑ OGDB - Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (2012) [Germany]. Retrieved March 6, 2017 .
- ↑ a b GameSpy.com: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Retrieved May 16, 2017 .
- ^ A b Metacritic.com: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Retrieved May 16, 2017 .
- ↑ GameRankings.com Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Retrieved February 22, 2018 .