E3: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty imperssions

[05.10.00] » Solid Snake triumphantly returns to the PlayStation 2

    Konami and Hideo Kojima presented Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty this Wednesday evening to a rapt audience of gaming journalists. Despite the media lockout before this evening, what the GIA saw was no half-complete, thrown together movie trailer. Instead, we saw a polished, 6-8 minutes of well-edited footage complete with gameplay, and in-game cutscenes.

    The movie begins with darkness and a new song by Rika Muranaka (Metal Gear Solid's "Best is Yet to Be"). A few haunting notes of MGS2's song, "Can't Say Goodbye to Yesterday," are played as particles of snow and rain blowing over the opening credits. Even though the game's setting has been confirmed as metropolitan new York, we cut to Snake on the deck of a large ship in the middle of a torrential downpour. "I made you wait, didn't I? I'm now at the sneak point."

    Snake gets on the codec with Otacon (confirmed to be returning) and discusses the current situation. Apparently, after the incident on Shadow Moses Island (MGS), the plans for Metal Gear Rex were leaked to major world governments. Metal Gear technology is now commonplace, and the balance of power is precarious indeed. To this end, the U.S. government commissions the development and construction of a new weapon: the Metal Gear Ray. Significantly larger and more destructive than even the Metal Gear Rex, the Ray is almost raptor-like in form, with a four-pronged "mouth" that opens to shoot energy beams, and a coiled tail that whips around destructively.

    From here, we seen a helicopter arrive and drop a team of opponents onto the bow of the ship. They run across the ship with carefully orchestrated team maneuvers. It is worth noting that everything in is astounding motion. The ship rocks and sways in the storm, the deck is bombarded with realistic rain particle effects, and characters splash and react to the water exceedingly convincingly. The combination of amazing graphical detail and well-chosen camera work must be seen to be believed.

    From here, we see a variety of gameplay. The tried-and-true sneaking gameplay is still in effect, but there are a few new twists. At one point, Snake switches to a first-person shooting mode to snipe at enemies. (Kojima later mentioned that Snake cannot move in this mode, only shoot.) He can jump over rails and drop down from platforms to lower levels. He also tosses an item past a guard so that it makes a noise when it lands and distracts him. Guards aren't helpless, though; fully 1/3rd of the Emotion Engine is dedicated to enemy AI. Some guards even come equipped with bulletproof riot shields, forcing Snake to change his tactics (aim for the knees).

    Metal Gear games have always had an emphasis on non-confrontation and a low body count; MGS2 seems to take this to the next level. A new weapon for Snake is a tranquilizer gun that incapacitates but does not kill an opponent. Snake can also surprise individual guards and force them to surrender. Kojima believes the game can be completed without killing a single guard.

    In addition to Otacon, another MGS character returns: Revolver Ocelot. He is present in all his vicious glory in the movie, taking out an unsuspecting guard in cold blood and speaking with harsh words: "Comrade, you're sinking with the Colonel." The enigmatic "third twin," Solidus, is also referenced in a brief line of dialogue.

    One new character featured prominently is a (currently) unnamed female. She has close cropped hair and, in Metal Gear tradition, will undoubtedly become a potential love interest for Snake. She throws knives with deadly accuracy (at one point attacking Snake). These knife throws were rendered in Matrix-like "bullet time," with slow-motion smoke trails and nick-of-time dodges.

    Kojima was keen to stress that while Metal Gear Solid had the pursuit of cinematic images, Metal Gear Solid 2 has the pursuit of a physical world. He said that, if he chose to compete on a purely visual level, he would always be outdone by DVD movies; therefore, gameplay has been the paramount concern throughout. That's not to say, of course, that the game isn't the most visually impressive ever. One scene in particular featured a shootout in a well-stocked bar with individual shattering bottles and particle glass effects. Everything in the title has been rendered with amazing accuracy.

    But the question on everyone's mind is: what is the theme of MGS2? For all its action and adventure, MGS was concerned with issues such as predestination and the role of one's genes in determining one's fate. Fortunately, the GIA was on the scene to ask this all-important question. Kojima told us that MGS2's theme is the digitization of our world, and the effects of this increasing electronic collection of data on people and cultures. If genes pass on one's biological information, how are thoughts and beliefs passed on to future generations? MGS2 is concerned with the way in which we pass on our souls (memories) to our descendants so that we are not forgotten--in between blowing things up, of course.

    We hesitate to call Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty the game of the show; after all, the show has (technically) yet to begin. But it will take a large miracle for any company to compare with Kojima's next masterpiece. MGS2 is currently due for a Fall 2001 release. Start salivating now.