Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance

"Two games for the price of one, or just an old PS2 port with knobs on?"

Welcome to Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, the game with the strangest name I've seen. Puzzling name aside, Substance offers XBox owners the chance to experience the blockbuster Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty that was originally out for the PS2...only now with hundreds of new VR missions - hence 'substance'.

And so you're dumped headlong into a world of bizarre terrorists, powerful nutcases and all manner of extreme strangeness. I won't detail the plot here, since it only really unfolds as you play the game, and to be honest, I'm not really sure I understand it fully myself. What I can tell you is that the plot is, in a word, bizarre. It starts off reasonably simply, but soon spirals off into complex conspiracies and double-double-crossings. It might be bizarre, but there is a genuinely interesting story in there, if you can get your head round it, and it's all helped along by some wonderfully cinematic cut scenes. Be warned, though, this plot is forced upon the player with literally hours of cut-scenes - not to mention the 'Codec' chatter, which, while being quite interesting the first time through, really lasts far longer than the actual game. In fact, if you skip all these plot progressions, you can complete the entire game in five or six hours.

From the outset you're given the choice of starting in either the tanker or the plant missions, the tanker being a kind of prelude to the bulk of the game, taking place on, suitably enough, a tanker, with some top-secret cargo. The plant mission lasts a lot longer and is where most of the story takes place. Whichever mission you pick to start with, the premise is the same: avoid being spotted while carrying out your mission objectives. A task made easier with your radar that handily shows any guards as well as their field of vision - which, it has to be said, is pretty small. Anyway, you're required to tackle various heavily guarded rooms using a variety of manoeuvres such as hanging from railings, scuttling about in a cardboard box, holding up hapless guards, and even hiding in lockers.

Controlling either Snake or the considerably less popular Raiden, depending on the episode, can be a hassle to get used to, mainly because of the sheer number of things you can do. It just isn't very intuitive, especially how weapons are pressure sensitive - press X half way down to raise your gun, and depress X fully to shoot. Sounds simple enough, but when you also have to press Y to run with your weapon raised, things soon become hit and miss, especially when you're trying to hold someone up, where one wrong button press can screw everything up. Also, there are several times when you need to use the first-person view mode, which, while being easy enough to use, roots you to the spot, making you extremely vulnerable. Eventually you'll get used to the somewhat irksome controls, but sometimes you'll always just compromise - it's easier, for example, to aim and shoot accurately with pistols, due to the aforementioned pressure sensitivity, and so it's likely you'll change to a pistol whenever you want to do so. Easy enough, but more flexibility would have been nice.

But is it actually any fun? Well, yes. There are many things you can do in order to sneak - or shoot - your way through the various situations, such as placing pornographic magazines strategically in order to distract the guards for a few minutes. There is quite a bit of freedom in tackling different areas, so although the game is quite linear, you are allowed to do things your own way to a reasonable extent. A whole combination of tricks are possible - you can, for example, knock someone out with the dart gun, make a noise to get his friend to come near, hide in a box so he doesn't spot you, and hold him up as he's about to wake his friend. These little tricks aren't just for the player's satisfaction: there is an incentive to holding people up - point a gun at a guard's head and he'll likely surrender his dog tag. And what do dog tags mean? Prizes, of course. Collect enough dog tags - by replaying the game on different difficulty levels - and the game will bestow you with some neat extras, the best of which offering you invisibility, allowing for all kinds of feats, as well as greatly helping you do the normal stuff. Attaching C4 to unsuspecting guards soon becomes a pastime.

No doubt you've already had some form of contact with the Sons of Liberty game, and perhaps you're wondering what this 'deluxe' version actually offers in terms of new content. Well, there's absolutely nothing that's changed in the actual game, which is a great shame. Even the graphics are identical to the original PS2 game - I don't dislike the PS2, but the graphics do look very dated now, and textures have a blurry quality throughout. Apart from, that is, the main characters, who have crisp textures and smoothly rendered features. In fact, the artistry in Substance is great, with some utterly astounding cinematics and very well realised enemies and characters, it's just that the presentation is let down by some sub-par textures and geometry. The mix of visual quality is typified by the animations on offer - Raiden and Snake are both neatly animated in a stylistic way, but the soldiers, while having a variety of motions and actions, move rather stiffly and without the same grace. Similarly, while the textures are generally weak, there are some superb effects such as the torrential rain on the tanker mission, and the water drops that splash on the screen when you dive in some water.

When I said nothing has changed from the PS2 Metal Gear game, I lied. You see, the XBox version has the bonus of slowdown, and lots of it. Well, more than there should be. It's never jerky, just slow. You'll be running gaily through the rain and suddenly everything will slow down to a dreamy pace before speeding up again. Fortunately, it doesn't happen that much, but it is inexcusable considering how silkily everything ran on the PS2. Bah.

So, what about the hundreds of VR missions? They're good...but they're really nothing more than fillers, to be honest. Each VR mission takes place in mock simulation of the real game, with heavily stylised guards and textures. The tasks range from sneaking from the start to the finish without getting spotted, to holding up every guard in the level - again, without being spotted. There are also 'alternative' missions, taking place in more realistic places ripped straight from the game, and these entail anything from slaughtering every guard in the level, to defusing bombs. Extra types of missions can be unlocked by completing enough of the standard ones, and with enough time extra character will also become available. These VR missions can be a lot of fun, and they're certainly a challenge, but you have to realise that although there are indeed hundreds of missions, almost all the levels are repeated with each different character, with modified guard patrols and items. Luckily, these changes are just enough to keep you interested, and some of the more unique challenges, such as the photograph mode, make quite a change from the otherwise quite generic missions.

Whether you should buy Substance or not really depends on your personal taste. Despite the hype surrounding the original Sons of Liberty, this really isn't a must-have title. There are flaws that, depending on your patience, can really restrict your enjoyment, especially if you're not fond of listening much. But if you're a fan of stealth, enjoy a quirky story with quirky characters, and found Splinter Cell just too much, then there really is nothing better.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/04/03, Updated 05/04/03