Feature By

Dale Weir

There was a time when this industry could not get enough of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty (MGS2). Immediately after Konami previewed the game, chat rooms and message boards were flooded with excited gamers ready to put down the $300 just to play this one game, and there was not a Web site worth its salt that didn't have a preview posted within days of the debut. Our first MGS2 preview brought our server to its knees almost immediately after it was posted, and our email inboxes soon overflowed with requests for more information and movies. Needless to say, the importance of this game was not lost on us. But all of this attention and hype—much of it generated by the media and gamers—may have come at a price. It's funny that Chi draws a comparison to Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace—a movie that languished under unrealistic expectations—because in my opinion Konami's MGS2 Trial Edition may have suffered from similarly unrealistic expectations that set the bar just out of its reach.

I must confess that I have never been a big fan of Metal Gear Solid on the PlayStation. That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy playing it, but I never found it to be such a euphoric experience that would cause me to proclaim it the best game ever. But after reading countless analyses from industry pundits and interviews with Hideo Kojima himself (ours included), I was more than a little eager to get my hands on this demo. My disappointment really doesn’t come from a lack of empathy for Kojima and what he was trying to do with his opus. As an appetizer, this MGS2 demo is a good one. But I have to wonder if you look past the visuals there are some flaws that hamper the entire product.

As soon as I started MGS2, I was overcome by a sense of déjà vu, similar to when I first picked up The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask, the sequel to The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time; the great memories and emotions that I felt while playing the original came rushing back, reminding me why I loved the game to begin with. It was the same with MGS2. The melodic background music and Hollywood-style camera work pick up right where the original left off. Kojima's excellent direction and flair for the dramatic is on display right from the beginning and are just as visceral as they were with the original.

Even a passing glance would cause an observer to proclaim this game as the best representation of what the PlayStation2 can do in the hands of a talented developer. MGS2 may look amazing in still images and movies but none of that can compare to seeing the game running on PlayStation 2. The graphics, aliasing aside, are sharp and incredibly detailed. Sometimes when watching I wondered aloud whether it was CG or real-time graphics I was watching. I was very impressed by the extra graphical details Kojima incorporated into the game. The breath of nearby guards can be seen from a good distance away, and rain will fall on the screen whenever you pan the camera towards the sky. The detail packed into the game is no doubt a result of the PlayStation2, but it’s these little touches that Kojima chose to add that really set the game ahead of the competition.

Kojima added some much-needed features that I'm sure even the most loyal Metal Gear Solid fan would admit were needed. My favorites are Snake's newfound ability to peer around corners and down corridors and the new first-person perspective mode. It always bothered me how the despite the reversed over-the-shoulder perspective used when Snake stood against a wall, you would still have to use the overhead perspective to take care of an enemy. With this new technique I can not only check down corridors without using the on-screen radar, but I can also take quick shots at guards once their back is turned and duck back behind cover in one smooth motion. The first-person perspective is a great addition since it allows me to really see the action through Snake's eyes when it counts. If a guard comes up to me with a transparent bulletproof shield, I can switch to the first-person view and shoot around it.

Though the two features I mentioned make excellent additions to a Metal Gear Solid sequel, they are only hampered by the surprisingly cumbersome controls. As I mentioned, Snake can now look around corners, but doing so is not as easy as it may sound. For one thing, getting Snake to creep up to a corner or wall is made difficult since the camera angle changes. Where I was once pulling back and to the right on analog control stick, I had to consciously remember to keep doing so even though my brain was telling me to do the exact opposite. I found something as simple as sticking to a wall to be difficult to begin with because the controls were so flighty. If you are not precise in your handling of the analog stick, you could have Snake doing the exact opposite of what you intended. I can't count the number of times I went from hugging a wall to leaping out in front of an enemy (or enemies). It's doubtful that this will be changed or if it can even be changed given the design system, but it was an annoyance just the same.

Even this brief glimpse managed to scream "next-generation" with its beauty, attention to detail and innovative gameplay. There may be some chinks in MGS2's armor, but it is still early so Kojima make be in the process of correcting these issues as you read this. There is also the issue of the ever-important story elements not being fleshed out in this demo. That means that character interactions, dialogue and plot—some of Metal Gear Solid's strengths—cannot be judged just yet. Despite my gripes, I was still very impressed by this early taste of MGS2. It may not have struck me as the "second coming" as others in the industry seem to believe, but it will certainly be the game to watch when the 2001 Holiday season rolls around.

Tentative Rating of Trial Edition: 8.5