Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance

"An excellent game with tons of extra features"

Solid Snake and the crew are back in Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance on the Xbox. A year after Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty came to the Play Station 2 the main game is ported to the Xbox with a whole bunch of extra features. Is it worthy of your hard earned $49.99? Damn right it is.

Story: 9/10

Some will love the story and some will hate it, but most people will love a lot of the story and hate some of the story. Before getting into Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance you should be prepared for a lot of twists and turns as always, but this time you should expect a lot of cut scenes and “codec moments” to push the story along. While I refuse to spoil anything, I will say that there are a few parts in this story that were so outrageous that I had to shake my head.

Overall, I felt that the story was very good, even thought provoking but I felt like 5% of the story should’ve been completely left out and another 10-15% could’ve been left out as well. This is easily the biggest gripe that I have with the game and as annoyed as I was with a few parts of the game I cannot give this any less than a 9/10 score as I feel that everything around the few bad parts of the story is superb.

Graphics: 9/10

While it's certainly beginning to show it's age, Metal Gear Solid 2 is still one of the better looking games out there. Even though there have been a great number of complaints about slowdown in the Xbox version, they're barely noticeable and take away nothing from the overall experience of the game.

Metal Gear Solid 2 is still a visual treat and most gamers will appreciate the visual quality in MGS2 especially if they're playing it for the first time. Halo and Splinter Cell definitely look better, but that doesn't take away from the unique look of Metal Gear Solid 2. Oh, and Snake's mullet is one of the coolest looking things ever.

Sound: 10/10

Great music, excellent voice acting. No complaints here.

Game Play: 10/10

With tons of extra features (VR Missions, Snake Tales, etc.) and the Sons of Liberty game itself included, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance packs a nasty punch in the game play department. This game is worthy every cent of that $49.99 as it has plenty of things to keep you busy for hours on end. This is the same game that got amazing reviews last year on the Play Station 2, only this time it’s packed with a truck load of extra features, making the replay value that much better.

Overall: 10/10

There are a few things to nag about… but when it comes down to it Metal Gear Solid 2 is still one of the best games I’ve ever played, and I’ve been a gamer for a long time. Perhaps you wont feel as strongly about this title but I urge you to at least give this excellent game a rental, especially if like me you never played the PS2 version, as there are very few games that I'd recommend before this one.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/01/02, Updated 12/01/02