Recontextualising Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty

[Spoiler Duck]

Forewarning: This is a more academic look (nothing essay grade, so hopefully you won't fall asleep) at the game than comparative reviews I see in this forum. I have no idea how you guys will react to this or if you even want this form of critique here. But hey, as a first post I suppose it is as good as any. If you let me know whether to do more of these or never do one again that'd be swell.

This will be spoiler heavy. If you just want a 'yay' or 'nay' verdict on the game, the answer is a reserved 'yay'. Does require a taste for Kojima's personal stylings, and a lot of patience for poor writing and atrocious pacing, so play the much tighter original first.

This is also, in retrospect, a mess of an article and probably full of typos and grammatical errors, but I wanted to get something written, so here it is. Enjoy!

Kojima is crazy

The plot developments introduced to the Metal Gear franchise with MGS2 can be described at best as oddball and more accurately as absurd. Vampires, fortune as an actual force and an underwater fortress guarding little more than a web server. By itself, the plot is a bad joke hampered by a poor delivery (the excruciatingly bad writing) and an unfortunate stutter (the archaic, even for the time, controls). However, when taken as part of a larger package, what the players of MGS2 experience is a rather poignant parallel to our own modern lives.

Kojima is a dick

Most gamers 'in the know' (and cool, no doubt!) are aware of the massive bait-and-switch pulled by Kojima in the run up to The Most Anticipated PS2 Game. We were to play Snake again! All the trailers had no-one but Snake in them. Even the blurb on the back of the box said it was a job for Solid Snake. Assuming you didn't read reviews, have the internet or living in Japan (where Raiden was promoted as the reason to get the game if you didn't like Americans or were a girl), you received quite the shock. Much has been made about how it was all a large social experiment toying with player's expectations of what a sequel is meant to be, so I won't re-tread dead ground. In actuality, the reason for not revealing Raiden as the new protagonist was probably a more sales-concious decision, as hyping him to buggery was in Japan. Metal Gear Solid players were the gruff, manly types. Gruff, manly types don't play as the trans-gendered!*

Though my cynical take on one of the largest shockers in gaming might seem to cheapen the game, in all actuality it strengthens its thematic standing. Metal Gear Solid 2 isn't just a game. It's a game about games. It's a game that shows you who you really are and then tells you life is shit. Life is nothing but numbers, information and career paths. As Janet Murray puts far more eloquently than I can at 1am:
'In a post-modern world, however, every experience has come to seem increasingly game-like, and we are aware of the constructed nature of all our narratives. The ordinary categories of experience, such as parent, child, lover, employer, or friend, have come to be described as "roles" and are readily deconstructed into their culturally invented components.'

A cheap tactic by an adored game designer plays right into the narrative of the game itself, breaking the fourth wall in more subtle ways than the breakdown of GW after the install of the virus. Before we've even inserted the disc, Kojima's clever construction has begun and we are unknowing participants.

Kojima is actually quite awesome

With its heavy handed exposition towards the climax, the game (by this point a thinly veiled mouthpiece for Kojima's drunken philosophising) tells you through the AI that the internet is ruining things. Anyone and everyone can have a voice, an effect and change things. And not for the better. Life is practically digital these days that mass censorship needs to be put into place. The awful truth is that in many ways the AI, GW, is correct. This is played against the two antagonists, Snake and Solidus, as both represent freedom and constraint in different ways.

Throughout the entire game the player, and Raiden, wants to be Solid Snake. He is the reason anyone is here in the first place and we are constantly reminded we are failing where he succeeds. Solid gets to the Big Shell before us - we see him ascend the elevator into the complex, having taken out the guards with ease. Long before we've finished disarming our half of the bombs set around the rig by Fatman, Snake informs us that he's already done his half. When we first fight Solidus in a battle that is a mirror image of Solid's fight again Liquid, we fail to take out the harrier jet, instead having to be saved by Snake as his rocket launcher. At the end of the game's second act, Solid seemingly betrays us and hands us over to the enemy.

And all the while we are so constrained by Snake's shadow, he remains the perfect image of freedom. This is a man who lives in Alaska, who gave up normal life to live that of a pariah and save the world, who knows the dangers of smoking but does it anyway because it makes him 37% cooler. Everything that represents freedom about Snake represents failure for us. As literally consumed by Arsenal Gear (Kojima designed the new Metal Gear to feel like a living creature), all that is Snake is stripped from us, from gameplay mechanics to personality. We are presented with a sword, and in that moment Raiden is truly born. The gameplay changes and we realise that we don't have to be Snake anymore - we have won our own liberty.

Solidus, on the other hand, is a man constrained. Despite being the boss character, he two is nothing but a pawn in the Patriot's experiment (only Solid Snake exists outside of their plans). So hard is he trying to fight the system that ties him down, so much does he want to leave a legacy behind for others to remember him by that in a way he represents what we should aspire to - not Solid Snake, but an ordinary person. He is a sum of contradictions: the terrorist who is truly the only patriotic soul amongst the entire cast of characters, the man who destroys life but champions humanity's own will to choose its fate. Just before the final confrontation with him, he is, in essence, revealed to be the true good guy, the hero of the game.

And we're forced to kill him, without being entirely sure why. Is it survival? Kill or be killed? Then surely we are just slave to another system - genetics - happily explored in the original MGS title? Is it because GW, the voice of control, says we must? Or is it simply because he's a boss in a videogame and that's what we have to do to complete it?

Perhaps the message behind it all is that we play far too many videogames.

Kojima just gave me a seizure and then made two more sequels in an attempt to tie things up but failed miserably and I'm left feeling depressed but MGS3: Substance is actually my favourite in the series

Indeed, there is a certain ironic liberty the game aspires to if we choose to imagine it is suggesting we shouldn't be playing games and absorbing ourselves in the culture that comes with (bulletin boards, chat rooms etc.) Played against the American motifs running throughout - America has always carried with it the spirit and will of freedom and enlightenment, despite its inability to produce a track record worthy of those grand aspirations - we are presented with a very difficult question to answer: is the very nature of the modern, free world actually keeping us from attaining true freedom? Have we in our constant quest for the newer, better and easier just created constrictions for ourself that we accept without ever realising there is a problem? Essentially, we have created the perfect video game - modern life - but so concerned are we with improving our stats that we don't have time to think about exactly how we are living. Most frightening of all, the true prison lies in our slowly waning grip on what reality really is as 'net culture becomes the mainstream.

"Try not to think about it," Snake calmly reassures, bringing us back into our comfort zone, telling us to ignore all these issues that have just been raised over the past hour in a non-stop cutscene. Don't worry, Snake; we didn't. I can only presume that's the reason why Kojima lost his own grip on reality and made MGS4.

Conclusion: MGS2 is simultaneously a really bad game and the best game ever. Which makes it 'interesting but flawed' on my scale. Will be remembered as the beginning of something good, rather than a part of it.

*Accurate representation of the mindset of most Western gamers at the time. Sadly, to a large extent it still is. Minus the JRPG fans, of course. They're the only group not getting tired by all the lazy and generic androgyny-as-character-design currently choking the creativity out of the Japanese gaming industry.

[RackGaki]

Good article, all-around, and welcome aboard! Did you type this up specifically for this board, or did you have something else in mind?

Rather than considering this a review, I would consider this an essay of the plots and philosophies brought up during the game. I enjoyed reading it, for what it is, so pat yourself on the back for that. I don't have time for a proper critique, but I don't like the conclusion. It spites the essay with findings that aren't supported.

[Spoiler Duck]

I wrote this specifically for the board, hence my oh-so-subtle digs at at the game, but a large amount of my thoughts are pulled from the research I'm doing my for English Literature dissertation (get a degree playing video games that isn't 'cultural studies'? Cash-back.)

I don't have time for a proper critique, but I don't like the conclusion. It spites the essay with findings that aren't supported.

In my head it was a sarcastic conclusion that nullified everything I just said for comedic gain. In writing it just looks stupid. It is, however, entirely accurate.

[RackGaki]

Translation lost in the written word. Got it.

[Incognito D]

Wow. That is deep.

I just wanted to do some cool sneaking, stop the big shell from being blown up and rescue the President.

I ended up giving up on the plot line completely.

I think I'm going to have to read this over again a few times.

Whatever Kojima was trying to achieve with MGS2 was completely lost on me anyway, and I like to think that I'm not a dumb-ass.


Also, Raiden used to be a woman!?

[nate]

hmmm, I havent, but still want to play this game.
and yeah, what's the deal w/ Raiden ? I agree he's a tad fem, and I only know him from MGS4 but he's a cool character.

I really need to catch up with the previous games.

[Daniel Primed]

Well done, some interesting points made, a lot of what I agree on, when I read the quote below I managed to tie together some of my ideas with your own.

Have we in our constant quest for the newer, better and easier just created constrictions for ourself that we accept without ever realising there is a problem?

This is almost exactly the cause of MGS2's faulted brilliance. I personally feel that the faults of this game - pointed out under 'Kojima is crazy' - are reflections of his attempt to better the original title. In an attempt to blow the game beyond expectations Kojima tried to heighten the qualities of MGS1 while adding everything that wasn't included in the first, to be the best of them all. As you know though most of these fell in a heap; drama (Jack and Rose), intrigue (a simulation?!), a deep message (digital information, censorship and control). And whithin that heap, within the metaphors, something more interesting is going on.

I feel that MGS4 does this as well, and why the two games are frustrating headaches (that I love), the way they craft a lore onto itself is ingenius. A game like MGS4 can be interpreted as many different things both in and out of the context of the series. Unfortunately we'll never really be sure of what these games can represent with all of the shitstorming and blanket remarks that fans of video games use to cover anything a smidge complicated. Great read, keep it up.

[ronjeez]

Forewarning: This is a more academic look (nothing essay grade, so hopefully you won't fall asleep) at the game than comparative reviews I see in this forum. I have no idea how you guys will react to this or if you even want this form of critique here. But hey, as a first post I suppose it is as good as any. If you let me know whether to do more of these or never do one again that'd be swell.

This will be spoiler heavy. If you just want a 'yay' or 'nay' verdict on the game, the answer is a reserved 'yay'. Does require a taste for Kojima's personal stylings, and a lot of patience for poor writing and atrocious pacing, so play the much tighter original first.

This is also, in retrospect, a mess of an article and probably full of typos and grammatical errors, but I wanted to get something written, so here it is. Enjoy!

Kojima is crazy

The plot developments introduced to the Metal Gear franchise with MGS2 can be described at best as oddball and more accurately as absurd. Vampires, fortune as an actual force and an underwater fortress guarding little more than a web server. By itself, the plot is a bad joke hampered by a poor delivery (the excruciatingly bad writing) and an unfortunate stutter (the archaic, even for the time, controls). However, when taken as part of a larger package, what the players of MGS2 experience is a rather poignant parallel to our own modern lives.

Kojima is a dick

Most gamers 'in the know' (and cool, no doubt!) are aware of the massive bait-and-switch pulled by Kojima in the run up to The Most Anticipated PS2 Game. We were to play Snake again! All the trailers had no-one but Snake in them. Even the blurb on the back of the box said it was a job for Solid Snake. Assuming you didn't read reviews, have the internet or living in Japan (where Raiden was promoted as the reason to get the game if you didn't like Americans or were a girl), you received quite the shock. Much has been made about how it was all a large social experiment toying with player's expectations of what a sequel is meant to be, so I won't re-tread dead ground. In actuality, the reason for not revealing Raiden as the new protagonist was probably a more sales-concious decision, as hyping him to buggery was in Japan. Metal Gear Solid players were the gruff, manly types. Gruff, manly types don't play as the trans-gendered!*

Though my cynical take on one of the largest shockers in gaming might seem to cheapen the game, in all actuality it strengthens its thematic standing. Metal Gear Solid 2 isn't just a game. It's a game about games. It's a game that shows you who you really are and then tells you life is shit. Life is nothing but numbers, information and career paths. As Janet Murray puts far more eloquently than I can at 1am:
'In a post-modern world, however, every experience has come to seem increasingly game-like, and we are aware of the constructed nature of all our narratives. The ordinary categories of experience, such as parent, child, lover, employer, or friend, have come to be described as "roles" and are readily deconstructed into their culturally invented components.'

A cheap tactic by an adored game designer plays right into the narrative of the game itself, breaking the fourth wall in more subtle ways than the breakdown of GW after the install of the virus. Before we've even inserted the disc, Kojima's clever construction has begun and we are unknowing participants.

Kojima is actually quite awesome

With its heavy handed exposition towards the climax, the game (by this point a thinly veiled mouthpiece for Kojima's drunken philosophising) tells you through the AI that the internet is ruining things. Anyone and everyone can have a voice, an effect and change things. And not for the better. Life is practically digital these days that mass censorship needs to be put into place. The awful truth is that in many ways the AI, GW, is correct. This is played against the two antagonists, Snake and Solidus, as both represent freedom and constraint in different ways.

Throughout the entire game the player, and Raiden, wants to be Solid Snake. He is the reason anyone is here in the first place and we are constantly reminded we are failing where he succeeds. Solid gets to the Big Shell before us - we see him ascend the elevator into the complex, having taken out the guards with ease. Long before we've finished disarming our half of the bombs set around the rig by Fatman, Snake informs us that he's already done his half. When we first fight Solidus in a battle that is a mirror image of Solid's fight again Liquid, we fail to take out the harrier jet, instead having to be saved by Snake as his rocket launcher. At the end of the game's second act, Solid seemingly betrays us and hands us over to the enemy.

And all the while we are so constrained by Snake's shadow, he remains the perfect image of freedom. This is a man who lives in Alaska, who gave up normal life to live that of a pariah and save the world, who knows the dangers of smoking but does it anyway because it makes him 37% cooler. Everything that represents freedom about Snake represents failure for us. As literally consumed by Arsenal Gear (Kojima designed the new Metal Gear to feel like a living creature), all that is Snake is stripped from us, from gameplay mechanics to personality. We are presented with a sword, and in that moment Raiden is truly born. The gameplay changes and we realise that we don't have to be Snake anymore - we have won our own liberty.

Solidus, on the other hand, is a man constrained. Despite being the boss character, he two is nothing but a pawn in the Patriot's experiment (only Solid Snake exists outside of their plans). So hard is he trying to fight the system that ties him down, so much does he want to leave a legacy behind for others to remember him by that in a way he represents what we should aspire to - not Solid Snake, but an ordinary person. He is a sum of contradictions: the terrorist who is truly the only patriotic soul amongst the entire cast of characters, the man who destroys life but champions humanity's own will to choose its fate. Just before the final confrontation with him, he is, in essence, revealed to be the true good guy, the hero of the game.

And we're forced to kill him, without being entirely sure why. Is it survival? Kill or be killed? Then surely we are just slave to another system - genetics - happily explored in the original MGS title? Is it because GW, the voice of control, says we must? Or is it simply because he's a boss in a videogame and that's what we have to do to complete it?

Perhaps the message behind it all is that we play far too many videogames.

Kojima just gave me a seizure and then made two more sequels in an attempt to tie things up but failed miserably and I'm left feeling depressed but MGS3: Substance is actually my favourite in the series

Indeed, there is a certain ironic liberty the game aspires to if we choose to imagine it is suggesting we shouldn't be playing games and absorbing ourselves in the culture that comes with (bulletin boards, chat rooms etc.) Played against the American motifs running throughout - America has always carried with it the spirit and will of freedom and enlightenment, despite its inability to produce a track record worthy of those grand aspirations - we are presented with a very difficult question to answer: is the very nature of the modern, free world actually keeping us from attaining true freedom? Have we in our constant quest for the newer, better and easier just created constrictions for ourself that we accept without ever realising there is a problem? Essentially, we have created the perfect video game - modern life - but so concerned are we with improving our stats that we don't have time to think about exactly how we are living. Most frightening of all, the true prison lies in our slowly waning grip on what reality really is as 'net culture becomes the mainstream.

"Try not to think about it," Snake calmly reassures, bringing us back into our comfort zone, telling us to ignore all these issues that have just been raised over the past hour in a non-stop cutscene. Don't worry, Snake; we didn't. I can only presume that's the reason why Kojima lost his own grip on reality and made MGS4.

Conclusion: MGS2 is simultaneously a really bad game and the best game ever. Which makes it 'interesting but flawed' on my scale. Will be remembered as the beginning of something good, rather than a part of it.

*Accurate representation of the mindset of most Western gamers at the time. Sadly, to a large extent it still is. Minus the JRPG fans, of course. They're the only group not getting tired by all the lazy and generic androgyny-as-character-design currently choking the creativity out of the Japanese gaming industry.

well keep up the good work guys, well said about this topic


_________________
Stereolithography