PS3 Xbox 360

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - HD Edition

ShooterTacticalAdventure

Space needed: About 8.4 GB
Time to beat: about 20 hours
Plays offline: Yes

Overview

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is a 2001 action-adventure stealth game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2. Directed, produced, designed, and written by Hideo Kojima, it is the fourth mainline game in the Metal Gear series and the sequel to Metal Gear Solid (1998). Divided into two chapters, the prologue "Tanker" section focuses on Solid Snake as he infiltrates a hijacked Marine Corps ship to obtain evidence of a new Metal Gear mecha named Metal Gear RAY. The primary "Plant" section revolves around rookie FOXHOUND agent Raiden infiltrating the Big Shell, a massive offshore clean-up facility seized by the terroristic Sons of Liberty, who hold the President of the United States hostage and threaten to destroy the facility if their demands are not met. However, the protagonists soon uncover a world-shaking conspiracy constructed by a powerful organization known as the Patriots, exploring many themes such as memetics, social engineering, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and the internal struggle of freedom of thought.

Developed over four years with a team of over 100 people, Metal Gear Solid 2 features many new gameplay mechanics over its predecessor, including multi-level environments, squad-based enemy AI, and first-person aiming. Raiden was notably kept hidden from marketing material, which featured and implied Solid Snake as the main protagonist of the game. The story underwent numerous changes, such as an early Middle Eastern setting and revisions to the finale in response to the September 11 attacks. Harry Gregson-Williams and Norihiko Hibino composed the score. The game was released in November 2001 for North America and Japan and March 2002 for Europe, and an expanded edition titled Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance was released the following year in each region for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Windows.

Metal Gear Solid 2 received acclaim for its gameplay, graphics, and attention to detail. However, critics were initially divided on the philosophical nature of the game's storyline, while the new protagonist Raiden drew backlash from fans. 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 2010s onward, and has often been cited as the first postmodern video game. A remaster of the game was released as part of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (2011), which was re-released in the Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection (2013) and Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 (2023) compilations. A prequel to the series, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, was released in 2004, while a direct sequel, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, was released in 2008.