The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2

"12 cookies stacked, a box of wine, cuddle up on the couch, watch some Document"

My first two reviews were very wrong. After finally sitting down and ‘playing’ Document, I’ve experienced quite a wow- if you know what I mean. My first rating was a 7, and I said that the game was pretty much lousy and Konami was trying to squeeze money out of the fans.. But that’s terribly wrong. Sure, they hyped the VR Missions which were the weakest part of the DVD- but I would pay 50 dollars if I actually knew what the DVD had on it before I bought it. Its not for a casual gamer or a casual Metal Gear Solid fan. Unless you’ve bought all of the action figures and plan on buying Substance- this isn’t much of a buy for you. People say MGS2 was short and hardly had any replay, yet I spent over 200 hours playing. No exaggeration, maybe under-exaggeration. Document is for the dedicated fans that spent that much time on MGS2.. You’ll probably end up spending around 20 hours or more on Document by the end of your life.

VR Missions 7/10
Very weak. I know they were only supposed to be teasers for Substance, but come on. They're VR Missions (PS2) with better graphics (minus the orange crap). And about that orange crap.. I think it was a ploy to make it look like they made an improvement upon MGS2's graphics.. Which they didn't. So they made it orange. Whatever, I don't mind too much- looks sort of nice. Anyway, the VR Missions consist of shooting targets, shooting enemies, simple sneaking, a sniper mission, and using the HF blade to take out targets. It serves a good 10 minutes of fun, but is not a reason to buy Documentary. They’re all timed, too, which makes it extra-suck.

Characters 9/10
This is a very, very nice feature. It allows you to add accessories onto each individual character in their 3D self- while you edit and zoom and unzoom on their figures. And then there's the not-so clear hand-drawings that go along with all of the 3D models. Its nice, you can have some fun, but its no Casting Theater. (casting theater was included on the PAL version of MGS2, which allowed you to switch characters during the FMV’s with other characters.)

Mechanics 9/10
Same as above, but much larger. Its more interesting also, since you aren't usually able to get such an up-close view on the mechas, since they're either enemies or just polys sitting there.

Background 10/10
Same as above, as above. 3D views of practically every section of the Tanker. Very impressive, I suggest checking out the George Washington Bridge- AMAZING! It goes down to the same detail as when playing, so you can be looking at the side of the boat, or the handrailing, or the lifeboat, or the top of the bridge, out to the coast- all of it without any loading.

Polygon Demos 10/10
Arguably the best part of the DVD, in-game movies. All of the FMV’s shown throughout the game, plus a bit of the cut stuff. No sound. I mean.. You can just go through the game and watch this, right? No no no.. That’s what I thought at first. You can freeze frame by frame and zoom in and out of the FMV. Sound awesome enough yet? Did I mention you can also change to any camera angle you like? No.. That doesn’t explain the awesomeness - for example: when Sergei is talking to Olga, and the moon is in the background - you can zoom into the moon and make it take up the entire screen. Another example: when Snake is crossing the bridge in the opening FMV - YOU CAN ZOOM INTO THE BOAT AND HAVE THE SAME QUALITY OF GRAPHICS AS IF YOU WERE PLAYING THE GAME! This part is worth 20 dollars alone.

Program 7/10
Pretty interesting stuff if you know slap about computers, but otherwise, its just scrolling down page after page of figures. It was probably included just so they could get as much information about MGS2 as possible, but its nice if you want to back up some statement about the graphics of MGS2 or something.

Sound 8/10
This would have been terrifically awesome if only the songs didn’t take so long to load. You can switch between infiltration, evasion, caution, and alert mode for each song- pretty nice feature, you usually aren’t able to really take in the difference because you’re running from an enemy or something.

Game Plan 7/10
Its in Japanese. Its nice if you can read Japanese and glance through it and stuff, but other than that it just lets you in on some gruff development. The only interesting part I see of it would be the rough sketches of the environments.

Script 10/10
The entire narration of the game. I'll end up reading it sometime, but its very very very long. It explains a few unanswered questions, too. Very good details, too. It was written before any work on the visuals, so its practically describing how the character models are supposed to be.

Staff 8/10
A listing of all the staff who worked on MGS2, includes pictures and biographies of the head-honchos.

Chronicle 10/10
All right, I read the whole thing- minus the images, and I must say. Wow. It outlines the entire development of Metal Gear Solid 2. I mean entire. The first sketches show them drafting the character models, etc. Its almost like a timeline, where some of the dates have videos or images. And the videos aren’t on another part of the DVD, you have to go through the whole thing and watch them. Why I gave it a ten: the videos aren’t BS. They’re actually informational. One includes an instructor showing a group of men and women to walk while they’re doing recorded movements for the enemy soldiers, and another shows the very very beginning of the development when they’re taking pictures of the bridge on a boat. It really adds a whole dimension to the DVD, and if you just skip over this because there’s too much text, you’re missing out.

Items 10/10
Really makes you want to go out and buy them all, eh? You can zoom in just like all the other images, it includes practically every single MGS memorabilia ever released.

Buy/Rent/Borrow?
You won’t find it in rentals, at least I haven’t- but if you have a friend, borrow it from them. Spend a weekend, make sure to check out the poly demos. Buy it if you have no friends with it- I mean.. We can’t all borrow, then who would buy?

Overall 9/10
I’ve changed from a 7 to a 9.. Its a big change, but until you discover what’s really on the DVD, you think its a piece of crap. Worth a buy if you’re a very hardcore fan, but if you just bought MGS2, thought it was all right, and want to see some stuff about it, try to borrow from a friend. It includes new music, so some thought and work was actually put into it. And like I said above, it probably can’t be rented. Its not a game- after all. Don’t expect it to be.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/10/02, Updated 10/14/02