METAL GEAR SOLID 2: Sons of Liberty - Master Collection Version Reviews

Replayed this after more than 10 years since my first playthrough and the message hits even closer to home than ever. If you are planning on playing this game, I can recommend a couple of mods: - MGSHDFix - MGS2MC Better Audio Mod - Afevis's Sons of Liberty Restoration - Decensorship and Music Restoration All three can be found on Nexus at the time of this review and are easy to install.

This game is fucking good, aside from the potential bugs on the PC port such as cut-scenes not loading or the save file becoming corrupted due to the cloud saves on steam, it's awesome!! 10/10

Went from really solid stealth sequel to the most bats**t insane sequence of events followed up by the most profound conversation about the state of information and it's manipulation. I'll be honest and say that at first I was not the biggest fan of the controls. I played this for the first time on controller on Hard. Not the best first experience, but eventually the Stockholm syndrome kicked in and I loved it. This is a game that is meant to be experienced at least once, and a true product of it's time. Pick this up.

I played this game exactly once back in 2002. I forgot how absolutely bonkers it got at the end.

[b]Well, Here Goes Another Masterpiece! Kojima Delivered Again!![/b] Now I can say whenever anything bad happens on the internet or in politics: "[i]Did you know Metal Gear Solid 2 (2001) talked about this?[/i]" What an upgrade from Metal Gear Solid (1998)! Not only in graphics (the most noticeable part, obviously), but the gameplay evolved tremendously. The AI is superb, I've never seen enemies behave so intelligently. How they run to call for help, patrol when suspicious, work together, surround you, it creates a unique kind of difficulty. Character control feels much better too. Of course, it's still very dated, [i]especially[/i] gun handling, but you get used to it. Other areas that evolved brilliantly are the sound. [b]WHAT A SOUND![/b] From SFX to dialogue to music, everything is exceptional. There are games where the first thing I do is lower the volumes. With this game, I wish I could go deaf cranking it to 200%! I really enjoyed it. The story is top-notch as well. Once again, avoiding spoilers, the way they introduce characters, bring back old ones, and develop them throughout the drama is awesome. The most impressive part. Also, It's complex, you have to be really invested, or you might miss some points. One thing I always heard about this game is how heavily they marketed Solid Snake, yet you play mostly as Raiden, and how angry people got. Honestly? I quite enjoyed playing as Raiden and having Snake alongside. It makes total sense within the story, and it hyped me up immensely to play [i]Metal Gear Rising(2013)[/i] later. This is a [b]must-play[/b] game for everyone!!! Finished the game with 17h played, 21/51 achievements. (July 25th, 2025) [b]Rating: 10/10[/b] Even though I suffered many crashes and had to replay some sections because of them, the game's brilliance more than makes up for it. [b]Be warned about the stability issues though.[/b]

A philosophical tour de force of existentialism. Metal Gear Solid 2 does not only offer creative and fun approaches to a problem but also a story worth of provocative discourses about A.I., existentialism, and what should we leave behind after we're long gone. The gameplay is a very polished version of MGS1. I specifically remember there was a mod for the Substance release for PC that has a 3rd person camera a la MGS3, but for me it felt wrong and makes the jank even harder than it is since the level design are designed for static camera placements but I digress. There are only two things I dislike about this version: one, slow-motion parts of cutscenes are often very choppy and blurry, and second is I LOVE LETTERBOXING AND PILLARBOXING PLEASE JUST GIVE ME LETTERBOXING FOR EVERY SINGLE CUTSCENE. A timeless classic that feels more and more prevalent the further we succumb ourselves to artificial technology. Oh and did I mention existentialism too? Arguably the best in the franchise but definitely my favourite.

probably my least favorite of the main 5 (im yet to play peace walker) but this game is still really good while some moments in the gameplay do suck after a second playthough its gotten better, the main appeal to this game is the story. everything talked about in this game from 2001 is still relevant today and it has the most complex (and confusing) story in the series. would still heavily recommend

"We’re repeating history, Jack. Liquid and Solid hunted down Big Boss, trying to sever down the tie that bound them to him. Unless you kill me and face your past, Jack, you will never escape. You’ll stay in the endless loop, your own double helix" Still my favourite one and its messages with ai have become hauntingly true. A game everyone should owe them selves to play at least once.

Can't believe that this game predicted the rise of AI slop and the Dead Internet. On a more serious note, this game is very much story-focused, as was the first game. I have not played any other MGS games, but I'm assuming the same can be said for the others in the franchise. Kojima outdoes himself in this one. Initially I felt that the game was playing it too similarly to MGS1. There were a lot of parallels I was picking up, and while I thought it was somewhat lazy game design at first it is actually done intentionally, though I won't elaborate for spoiler reasons. Cutscenes are much more animated and better choreographed, with just the right amount of campiness. As for gameplay and controls, the camera angles aren't as bad as they were in the first game, and movement and inventory management feels smoother in this game. I personally was not a big fan of the first-person aiming mechanic but I'm also horrible with shooting controls that aren't with a mouse and keyboard so that may just be my bad. Overall, MGS2 is better in every way to its predecessor in my opinion. Now onto MGS3, but I may wait for MGS Delta to release and see if it releases in a playable state, unlike the initial launch of this collection.

Could only afford this on sale, and I had to choose between 3 and this at first. It's a great game and all but 3 was way better. Get that if you can only really afford one game on the collection. This port is almost the exact same as 3 in technicality. MGSHDfix is recommended. There is also a (heavy) audio fix if you find the audio muffled and low quality.