Metal Gear Solid. eh? A name that can't help but conjure mixed feelings in the heart of a PC gamer. The series that virtually invented the stealth action genre - certainly defined it - and ruled over it comfortably for several years.
Hey guys, i just spent the best part of an hour twiddling about with the ini files for the controller for my pc copy of mgs 2, and i finally nailed it MGS2: Substance PC xbox 360 controller for windows fix - MGSForums.com. Play Instructions: Install the game - Full Installation. Apply the official Metal Gear Solid 2 v2.0 Patch.; Replace the original MGS2.EXE & MGS2SSE.EXE files with the. Originally, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, a critically acclaimed espionage thriller for the PC, was released in 2001, and it was then ported to the Xbox last year with a new name and some new features. The PC port of Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance is an enhanced version of the PlayStation 2's Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. In addition to advancing through the entire storyline found in 2001's blockbuster game, players are able to take Solid Snake through five completely new scenarios in a standalone mode called Snake Tales.
The previous MGS is one of my personal favourite games of all time, but on the PC of course, it didn't live up to its potential, with a delayed release and notonously shoddy conversion. Now. once again, the legend ofthe sequel has preceded its appearance on PC. the PS2 game supposedly taking the cinematic grandeur and covert coolness of the series to incredible new heights. The problem for us PC types is that, thanks to some irksome console exclusivity deals. Metal Gear Solid 2 is making it to our screens more than 15 months later, in the expanded and rebranded form of Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance. And in the meantime. Splinter Cell hascome along to refine the covertops formula into an even more playable distillation of hide and sneak action.
Fifteen months is a long time to wait. And I'm sure plenty of you didn't. For those people, I'll cut straight to the chase -MGS2: Substance is essentially the same game as the original PS2 version, Sons Of Liberty. Sure, there's a giant nuclear robot-load's worth of extra material in there, with five standalone side-missions, a bunch of unlockable characters, a truly ridiculous number of timeattack training stages and a few other bonuses such as extra dog tags to collect. But the central game remains fundamentally tl same - they haven't even put t much-vaunted skateboarding mode in.
However, if with monk-like restraint you’ve actually managed to wait for this game to grace your PC, you are about to be handsomely rewarded. Metal Gear Solid 2 was and is a brilliant game - a flawed classic that hasn’t visibly dated - and one still richly deserving of your attention.
Silent Serpent
To bring you up to speed. MGS2 is set two years after the events of Metal Gear Solid, in which our hero Solid Snake had to infiltrate a hostile installation to prevent his terrorist brother from using a giant nuke-finng robot called Metal Gear Rex. Now. in 2007. the plans for a new amphibiousMetal Gear called Ray’ (Ray the Robot: if that doesn't strike terror into your hearts...) have been sold to rogue organisations around the world, and Snake (along with his egghead buddy Otacon) has dedicated his life to stopping them. A tip-off has led our heroes to an oil tanker in New York harbour, believed to be transporting a Metal Gear for the US Marines. It’s up to you to verify its existence...
If you think that all sounds a bit complicated, you ain’t seen nothing yet. The plot soon spirals into a confounding web of conspiracies, shadow governments, mind control expenments. even bigger conspiracies, limbs with minds of their own, and deep existential conundrums. The biggest twist, which you've no doubt heard about (tune out now if you’ve been living under a rock for the past two years), is that Solid Snake apparently dies after only a couple of hours gameplay, leaving you in the shoes of a young upstart called Raiden.
Raiden On The Storm
Nonetheless, the familiar sneak ’em up gameplay remains fundamentally the same. Generally speaking, you've got a level full of bad-ass soldiers with rather poor eyesight, and it’s up to you to evade them one by one to reach the next objective, with the help of a radar covered in red enemy dots and blue enemy vision cones.
Unlike Splinter Cell, staying silent and in the shadows is not always imperative here. The soldiers don’t have especially acute heanng, and there’s no light and shadow system to speak of. It's much more about observing patrol patterns, finding novel ways to distract guards and employing your many gadgets.
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To put it another way. MGS2's stealth dynamic is essentially digital, where Splinter Cell's is more analogue. So, while the Tom Clancy sneak ’em up introduces an element of chance and realism with its light system, sound modelling and organic Al, MGS2 is more black and white. If you're outside an enemy’s vision cone, he can't see you, even if you’re right next to him. Patrol patterns are simple and repetitive, but knock on a wall and a guard will obediently come to investigate. I’m not espousing one system over the other -while Splinter Cell tends to be much more tense. MGS2 has a nice solid puzzle’ feel to it, where each encounter is a new little conundrum to solve. And then after a few dozen of these you get a full-action boss scenario, some of which are truly outstanding.
Movie Madness
Of course, the sheer fun of solving each little stealthy dilemma cannot be underestimated, especially if you can get through without resorting to brute force - or by using brute force in a particularly satisfying way (see the boxout below). But apart from that, the game is quite simply very damn cool. The visual style is stunning, and the whole thing gleams with elegance of design, attention to detail and even a little humour.
Unfortunately, it does get bogged down in its own densely convoluted storyline, the core game famously containing almost as much narrative exposition as actual gameplay. MGS2 desperately wants to be an 'interactive movie', and while the previous game had similar aspirations but got the balance right, in this case the game definitely suffers.While picking faults, there are one or two technical flaws to mention as well. While on the whole the graphics shine gloriously despite their console origins, we did have some worrying lighting problems with Radeon cards. On the upside, the rumble effects from the PS2 version are in place, and it's definitely worthwhile hunting down a rumbling gamepad for the occasion.
The Substance
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in essence, this is still the same great but flawed game it was on the PS2. The slow-burning stealth action, while superbly crafted, is far too heavily interspersed with cut-scenes, and no amount of bonus missions, training puzzles or alternative outfits is going to remedy that. The extra material is certainly worthwhile, but there's nothing fundamentally new on show - even the five new 'Snake Tales’ are all set in the same game environments.As a stealth-action game Substance has undoubtedly been eclipsed by Splinter Cell. But there’s no shame in being runner-up a year after initial release, and as an overall experience, its style, elegance and sheer sense of Japanese cool is difficult to top.