Support me on Patreon for exclusive content, works cited, podcasts, Q&As, and more!
/ futurasound
Follow FSP on Twitter:
/ futurasound
In this episode of our ongoing retrospective on 2001's METAL GEAR SOLID 2: SONS OF LIBERTY, we discuss the other side of American culture thus far we've ignored: the 'lunatic fringe'.
As much as MGS2 can function as an eerie premonition of the modern age, the game remains deeply rooted in the ongoing sociopolitical problems that defined the 1990s. Just how did the last decade of the American Century prefigure the same problems we're facing today, and how have these same issues dogged the American experiment, from one election to another, going all the way back to the original Sons of Liberty? Watch to find out!
************************
"The long awaited sequel to the PlayStation game Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was released on November 13th, 2001. MGS2 does not star the former FOXHOUND agent Solid Snake. Instead, Hideo Kojima took players into the mind of super soldier Raiden, a stealth operative on his first live combat scenario. His objective is to stop a group of terrorists, calling themselves the Sons of Liberty. This includes blowing up a large oil cleanup facility and killing the President of the United States.
MGS2's innovations included its introduction of the laser sight mechanic for more accurate aiming, and a refined cover system that allowed both players and enemies to shoot from cover. It also introduced collective enemy AI routines that relied on squad tactics rather than working individually, while individual enemies expressed fear and even birds had their own AI routines. MGS2 was considered to have the best enemy AI in gaming for many years. The physics was also a major step forward for gaming, particularly the sophisticated particle effects for its time (including for individual drops of rain) and the way objects moved.
The game earned both critical and commercial acclaim upon release, with the highest sales and review scores in the series. However, the game's convoluted story, excessive use of Codec conversations and new protagonist Raiden was criticized by a number of fans, temporarily relegating him to a joke character (even with Kojima himself) until his popular transformation in Metal Gear Solid 4.
Despite the controversy surrounding the unexpected bait-and-switch and convoluted storyline at the time, Sons of Liberty is today seen as a landmark title in the history of video games. It is considered the first truly postmodern video game, is frequently cited as a primary example of artistic expression in video games, and is generally considered one of the most influential games of the past decade, both for its artistic influence on later video game storylines (most notably Eternal Darkness, Killer7, Portal, and especially BioShock, which even featured a very similar plot twist) as well as its influence on the gameplay mechanics of many action games since."
www.giantbomb....