Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (PlayStation 2)

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The core game is about 15 hours long the first time through, assuming you don't skip over the plot (and you shouldn't), plus there's some inherent replay value in it. For one thing, the story rewards multiple viewings, since you'll invariably miss some of the rapid-fire details the first time through. Tougher difficulty settings make the artificially intelligent guards much more ruthless and disable your tactical radar display, the absence of which makes playing the game very different and a lot more challenging. You can also fight your way through the game's sequences using a variety of different tactics, uncover numerous amusing secrets, and unlock some hidden extras by sneaking up on and sticking up all the guards you'll encounter, shaking them down for their dog tags and collecting these as you go along. It's a fun little meta-minigame.

Early reports stated that Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance would allow you to experience Raiden's chapter of Metal Gear Solid 2 from the perspective of Solid Snake, and that turns out to be partly true. One of the extras in Substance is the addition of five small, new missions called "Snake Tales," each starring Snake and each taking place during the events of Metal Gear Solid 2. These are balanced for experienced players and can be played in any order, but compared with the lavishly produced main game, these new missions seem rather disappointing. Cinematic cutscenes are replaced with pages of onscreen text, and there's no new voice-over, so the additions to the storyline in these new missions seem unnatural and slapped together. Nevertheless, they're certainly a chance to play more of the game from the perspective of Solid Snake.

The VR missions are more compelling and offer a great variety of increasingly challenging tactical situations for you to solve. The main plot of Metal Gear Solid 2 makes numerous references to Raiden's VR training, so it's good to finally see exactly what he's had to go through (though fans of the original Metal Gear Solid will remember that game's similar VR training missions). In these stylized scenarios, you'll master all the game's different weapons, sneak through numerous difficult situations, and practice holding people up, taking people out, and moving precisely. You're rated based on your performance in each of these stages, and if you score well enough you get a code that can be used on Konami's official Web site to compare your standings against those of other Substance players.

As you finish more and more missions, you'll gain access to hidden characters and their own unique sets of VR missions. Generally, some of the best mission types are the "alternative missions" for each character, which are unlocked once you finish with the basic missions, and they tend to be quite creative and enjoyable. For instance, one has you running through a nearly pitch-black, enemy-infested area with nothing but a ninja sword and the goal of defeating everyone in the level. Also, some of the elimination missions are a lot of fun, as they provide you with numerous weapons but limited ammo, forcing you to take out a bunch of foes quietly, accurately, and strategically.

One year later, Metal Gear Solid 2 is still one of the best-looking PlayStation 2 games. The game's meticulous attention to detail and its superb motion-captured animation are all intact, and the disappointing instances of slowdown found in the Xbox version of Substance are gone. The characters and cutscenes still look fantastic. The game's audio is even better, thanks to some very good voice acting and especially due to Metal Gear Solid 2's terrific, catchy musical score composed by Harry Gregson-Williams, who provided similar music for some big-budget action movies, such as The Rock. If the game's cutscenes don't make you feel like you're taking part in an epic thriller, then the music most certainly will. It interactively changes depending on the situation and will make the game's suspenseful bits all the more so and the game's intense bits all the more so. The rest of the game's audio is also very well done, from all the different-sounding firearms to smaller touches like the sound of seagulls off the coast of the game's main setting of a mysterious facility out in the middle of the ocean.

The production values may be really good, but they were already really good a year and a half ago, and that's the problem. If it isn't worth buying, is Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance even worth playing? If you've already had your fill of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, then no, not really. And if you've never played MGS2 before, that's probably because you're not interested in bearing with its long-winded storyline, so Substance probably isn't for you, either. However, the hard-core Metal Gear Solid fan should get a kick out for the VR missions and other extras, so Substance wouldn't make a bad rental if you went into it knowing what to expect. Essentially, though, Metal Gear Solid 2 still does hold up well after all these months. Despite the backlash against its wild story and main character, a year and a half later, it's still a one-of-a-kind game.

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