![]() ![]() But while that mission is simple, the broader circumstances behind it are not. The mission is straightforward: infiltrate the tanker and take pictures of a prototype Metal Gear unit that the United States Marine Corps is designing, which is hidden in the tanker’s cargo hold. It is a dramatic start to a sneaking mission, as bold as Metal Gear Solid’s submarine insertion into Shadow Moses Island. He leaps off the bridge, attaches a cable to the underside of it, and lands on the deck of a passing tanker, the USS Discovery. The wind tosses off his raincoat, revealing that his form underneath is obscured by the activation of stealth camouflage technology. Solid Snake walks down the side of the Brooklyn Bridge smoking a cigarette. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty opens on a rainy night in 2007. It was a deception which would lead to one of the most infamous twists in video game history. By every indication, Metal Gear Solid 2 would be the triumphant sequel that fans craved. The 2001 trailer ended with the apparent return of the Cyborg Ninja, one of Metal Gear Solid’s most “badass” characters. There was a battle against a fighter jet on the Brooklyn Bridge, and footage of Snake fighting a mysterious rail gun-wielding woman. The E3 20 trailers for Metal Gear Solid 2 featured footage of Solid Snake sneaking through a tanker ship, subduing guards and clashing with old foes like Revolver Ocelot. The game’s design document stressed that the plot would consist of “a series of betrayals and sudden reversals, to the point where the player is unable to tell fact from fiction.” While existing players’ comfort was accounted for- MGS2 was still a corporate product that needed to sell copies-the game would also contain “ironies aimed at the digital society and gaming culture.”Įvery punchline needs a set up. Metal Gear Solid 2 is built around the core belief that a desire to identify with Snake is disturbing. Wouldn’t it be awesome to be Solid Snake? In Metal Gear Solid, it did not matter how often Solid Snake failed, it did not matter how much pain he endured or how much he lost completing his mission. It also had an antagonistic relationship with the player, like the Metal Gear games before it and the ones that would follow, but it wasn’t as obvious about it. It had all the excitement of an action movie with just enough real-world politics to make its story feel mature in the way that gamers of the time wanted to be assured that their pastime and they, themselves, were mature. 1998’s Metal Gear Solid was not simply met with critical acclaim, it was also seen as a console-defining experience for many players. Then there’s the context of Metal Gear Solid 2’s release. Metal Gear Solid 2 calls explicit attention to this fraught situation. Likewise, player fears and desires break down thematic and narrative stability. An unexpected player decision or hardware failure shatters everything. There is no “objective” playthrough of Metal Gear Solid 2, nor is there one in any game. Games reject objective assessment due to the variation of each new playthrough. Metal Gear Solid 2’s fear-that player behaviour undermines the craft of the artist-applies to any game. Reality is always lurking in the shadow of any play experience. Players feel the weight of a controller in their hands and see the imperfections of the television they play on. Even so, all games cannot help but call attention to their construction. It is a game about games, and it’s deeply sceptical about the political circumstances of its construction. In his book A Mind Forever Voyaging: A History of Storytelling in Video Games, author Dylan Holme says that “ Metal Gear Solid 2 isn’t the first postmodern game, but it’s the first major commercial release to fall squarely in the category.” That assessment rises from Metal Gear Solid 2’s cynical relationship with the audience and its self-referential tendencies. It has been called one of the first or “most” postmodern games. Many critics and fans call Metal Gear Solid 2 a postmodern game. Players wanted to be Solid Snake again, but instead, this game showed them how different they really were from Snake. It is the great deconstruction that many fans consider the series’ greatest betrayal. It is singularly focused on destroying the past, and so is Metal Gear Solid 2. It is an “anti-Metal Gear,” a mech designed to destroy what came before. The initial technological threat in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is Metal Gear REX. ![]()
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