The Metal Gear series holds a special place in my heart. Metal Gear Solid taught me that video games can be more than just fun distractions from the more boring things in life like homework and crazed lunatics trying to destroy your way of life. MGS taught me videogames can have stories and characters rivaling the most deeply-intricate movies. In short, playing that game was the first time in my short life I felt truly engrossed by a game’s story. It was a story full of espionage and mystery, casted by a diverse and memorable band of heroes and mercenaries. It had complex morals that painted its villains not as one-note maniacal outlaws; but as normal people who had lost their way or were truly doing what they thought was right. And it was hard to argue the contrary. To this day, I have only managed to face the wrath of the ending once, and that was by an act of God rivaling that of Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega’s miraculous salvation. I hold MGS as a classic tale of espionage rivaling anything James Bond, Jason Bourne, or Cody Banks has ever been a part of. Its sequel, on the other hand, is another story.
Oh do not get me wrong, I love Sons of Liberty and think it is as much of a classic as its predecessor is. It is just a tough piece of meat to swallow. Convincing someone that Metal Gear Solid should be considered a classic is easier than feeding a duck at a bread convention. Its sequel, however, quickly descends into a pool of crazy from which there is no escape. Those who can truly make heads or tails or what is going on in this game are few in number and usually admit that what is going on is completely bananas. If you hear anyone saying anything to the contrary, then they are either a liar or should be locked up in the nearest mental health clinic. I would prefer the institution be Arkham Asylum, but only because of the severity of how far their sanity has slipped. Sons of Liberty is bonkers, but it is a beautiful kind of bonkers. It is something Alan Moore would probably make if he were Japanese and did not have a stick permanently shoved up his small intestine.
So, what is the game actually about? Sons of Liberty takes place during two events occurring in 2007 and 2009. It has series mainstay and chronic heavy smoker Solid Snake infiltrating a Marine tanker secretly transporting a giant walking battle talk in order to investigate the development of said Metal Gear and expose it to the world. This takes place in 2007 and ends with the hero’s supposed death at the hands of a notorious international terrorist who then steals said Metal Gear for his own notorious purpose. The game then jumps ahead two years later to an oil clean-up facility off the coast of New York City. During a routine inspection/publicity stunt of the facility, a rogue team of anti-terror training specialists and a group of Russian mercenaries kidnap the President and a group of less-important bullet shields. The specialists, called Dead Cell, and the mercenaries are all under the command of a man claiming to be the resurrected Solid Snake. They call themselves the Sons of Liberty. And they have threatened to kill the President and destroy the clean-up facility if their demand of thirty billion dollars is not met. Acting under the orders of our top ranking and wisest men, Raiden, rookie secret agent and user of L’Oreal hair care products (because he cares), is sent in to rescue the meat shields and stop the terrorists from causing an ecological disaster so large, it would make BP Oil shake their heads.
As the story progresses, nothing is as what it seems. It’s clear that Raiden’s superiors are lying to him about the blatantly obvious and that he may not actually be on the good side. The events surrounding this clean-up facility are embroiled in the machinations of a global conspiracy organization that have manipulated themselves into being the highest authority in The West. Wrap-up this tale of mystery and drama into a cardboard box made out of exemplary stealth mechanics and you have yourself one of the best video games ever made. It also helps that the cast is just as likeable and varied as the one in the previous entry. And someone still manages to wet themself. Hilarious.
But the game, like all classics, is not without chinks in the armor. This is a game developed in Japan, so you can imagine that most of the dialogue sounds just a bit off. Especially on the part of Raiden’s robotic-sounding major support characters, but there is an in-game reason why their line delivery is so mechanical. Everyone else in the game does not have that excuse, but the Metal Gear series has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to Japanese to English dialogue translations, so there aren’t as many hiccups as you’d expect. This could be due partially due to the involvement of David Hayter, who is the voice actor for Solid Snake and a talented screenwriter to boot. In fact, his early draft of a Watchmen film actually received the closest thing to a compliment Alan Moore is probably ever going to give a movie adaptation of one of his books. So, that is something.
There’s little more I can say here. I love the intriguing story and all the ridiculous twists it takes along the way. This game will leave you guessing until the shocking climax and scratching your head after everything has been said and done. It is not perfect, but Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is a wonderful experience I would count among the ranks of truly classic works of art any day of the week.
