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Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
by Kyle Johnson
Sunday, June 16, 2002
Metal Gear Solid isn't just for the Playstation anymore. Read our full preview of this half-sequel to MGS2 for the PS2.
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Title:
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
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Platform:
Xbox |
Publisher:
Konami
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Developer:
Konami
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#
of Players: 1
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Genre:
Action
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Origin:
Japan
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Expected
Release: November 2002
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Grapevine:
"Hell, it even has Solid Snake skateboarding. You know you want some of that." |
For the first time ever, there will be a Metal Gear Solid title released on a console, other than Sony’s PlayStation or PlayStation2. That’s right! Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance is going to be released onto the Microsoft Xbox this November! But there’s a twist. It’s not a full blown new Metal Gear Solid game. No, Xbox owners have to wait a while longer for one of those. Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance is the, “sequel,” so to speak, of the PlayStation2 masterpiece, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
MGS2: Substance will feature everything MGS2: SOL featured, plus more. More missions featuring Solid Snake, hundreds of VR missions both challenging and bizarre, as well as other bonus modes to be named later. It's as if the game's creators decided MGS2 wasn't a big enough toy box already, stuffing it full of even more ways to have fun with Tactical Espionage Action. Hell, it even has Solid Snake skateboarding. You know you want some of that.
Variations on the basic Tanker and Plant episodes in Substance include the ability to play through the game with a number of optional characters and player skins. Solid Snake is available in both missions, wearing his "Iroquois Plisken" guise or a sharp tuxedo (with no bandanna -- his mullet swings free). In turn, Raiden can play through the Tanker episode, and it looks like the Ninja's sword is available at any time. VR training includes a massive array of puzzles and challenges, just like the original MGS Integral. On top of the usual shooting and stealth challenges, there are now a few fencing missions to boot, requiring nimble passes with the Ninja's sword. Substance also recycles some classic gag missions, like a Godzilla parody with lumbering 50-foot-tall Gurlukovich mercenaries. The cute part, however, is the inclusion of little Godzilla spine-spikes down the back of an exterior guard's brown forest fatigues.
And then there's the skateboarding game. Solid Snake is a playable character in Konami's upcoming Evolution Skateboarding, but Substance includes a mini-game that seems to obviate the need to buy that game at all. Snake skates about the quarter pipe-strewn surfaces of the Big Shell, as we wonder "Why?", and then "Why not?" It's pretty funny to imagine the game's designers pondering the very same questions.
 Watch out Tony Hawk...The details on the "Snaketales" portion of the game remain unclear. Konami promises "all-new adventures in which players assume the role of Solid Snake," but no more details than that are available. There are plenty of holes to fill in Snake's story, however -- his adventures prior to the incident on the Discovery, his half of the bomb-disarming portion of the Tanker episodes -- and we look forward to seeing him come back in an original setting. The Xbox version is taking the lead, with a confirmed release in November 2002, while the PS2 and PC versions have no official release dates as yet. --- Kyle Johnson, VGLN Xbox
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