We find our hero Snake secretly boarding an oil tanker ship that belongs to the United States Marines. The reason: there is a new Metal Gear, codenamed Ray, as it's cargo. Just as our boy Snake gets on board, the entire ship is brutally taken over by terrorists of Russian decent. Just as Snake makes his way to the bowels of the ship where it's cargo is being held, and after a moment of intensity between the Marines and terrorists, Revolver Ocelot jumps into Ray and sinks the ship killing everyone and spilling oil everywhere.... skip a few years ahead and we find ourselves controller a new comer named Raiden as he sneaks into a huge facility in the middle of the ocean called "The Big Shell" which was built to contain the oil spill Ocelot caused..and which has also been taken over by Russian terrorists. Raiden's original mission objectives are to rescue the hostages of Big Shell, but as the game moves on Raiden must stop the demented FOXHOUND unit and put an end to the Metal Gear Ray project.

For once you can go into first person view to manually aim in MGS2: Substance, which is really helpful. You can jump over railings and hang over ledges to hide from hostiles, you can roll to knock them down, and you can do the infamous melee combo to knock 'em out. Both as Raiden & Snake you collect a lot of weapons including a tranq gun, a SOCOM handgun, an "adult entertainment" magazine, an assault rifle, chaff & frag grenades, a sword and many more. You can actually swim in this game which is a real plus. Now you can "hold up" terrorists for their dog tags... not really important but pretty fun. At one point you'll find yourself running around disarming bombs all throughout Big Shell which was kinda fun.. thought I'd mention that.

Oh yes, this is the first game where if you take down an enemy or are spotted, back up actually comes. They use radioes to contact each other, and if you are really good at aiming, can destroy their radio. It was a neat little idea.

What really seperates Substance from the original Sons of Liberty is it's huge VR mission system, and the mini games "Snake Tales". We'll start with the VR missions - there are probably over 100 of them since you have to play a bunch with Raiden, Snake, Pliskin, Snake in different suits, etc. These missions can range anywhere from "use stealth to get to the end" all the way to "snipe all the enemies who come near the curry". If properly completed you unlock a mini game where you can skateboard as Snake.. meh. "Snake Tales" stars Snake in various missions on Big Shell.. thats really it.

I'm gonna be straight with you guys - MGS2: Substance has amazing graphics and even better music. Everything in this game looks so real and textured.. it's really beautiful for the PS2. I mean seagulls actually do their business on Big Shells roof and you can slip on it, how much more realistic can you get?? The music is superb.. words can't even explain it. Sometimes you'll feel depressed (when he time calls for it) orfeel pumped up for a big battle through the music..truley helps the overall feel & atmosphere of the Substance.

Characters... FOX-HOUND (and MGS2 in general) have some real entertaining characters to say the least, all with a fictatious background that is pretty miserable to say the least. The best is Fat Man because hes fat, roller blades, is funny, and plants bombs all over the place. You'll meet up with a familiar ninja ;), the daughter of someone who died on the Marine tanker, Otacon's sister who is just as lame and annoying as Otacon himself, and many more.

The only downfall is the length of the game and the story near the end of the game. The ending was so confusing I don't even get it... as your running around your getting codec calls from Colonel Campbell saying, "Go ahead and take a rest, I'll save your game. Turn it off." or "Hari Kari Siscors 69!!"... then it turns out everything is a VR mission? Lame. Also there is A LOT, and I stress A LOT, of talking in this game. It's rumored that about 2/3 of the actual game is talking.

This review is too long for it's own good, so I'm gonna sum it up now - if your a fan of the Metal Gear Solid games or if you really enjoy sneaking around...or talking....you have to play this game. It's fun, has awesome graphics & music, and it's a pretty cheap game nowadays. Go for it.
We find our hero Snake secretly boarding an oil tanker ship that belongs to the United States Marines. The reason: there is a new Metal Gear, codenamed Ray, as it's cargo. Just as our boy Snake gets on board, the entire ship is brutally taken over by terrorists of Russian decent. Just as Snake makes his way to the bowels of the ship where it's cargo is being held, and after a moment of intensity between the Marines and terrorists, Revolver Ocelot jumps into Ray and sinks the ship killing everyone and spilling oil everywhere.... skip a few years ahead and we find ourselves controller a new comer named Raiden as he sneaks into a huge facility in the middle of the ocean called "The Big Shell" which was built to contain the oil spill Ocelot caused.. and which has also been taken over by Russian terrorists. Raiden's original mission objectives are to rescue the hostages of Big Shell, but as the game moves on Raiden must stop the demented FOXHOUND unit and put an end to the Metal Gear Ray project. For once you can go into first person view to manually aim in MGS2: Substance, which is really helpful. You can jump over railings and hang over ledges to hide from hostiles, you can roll to knock them down, and you can do the infamous melee combo to knock 'em out. Both as Raiden & Snake you collect a lot of weapons including a tranq gun, a SOCOM handgun, an "adult entertainment" magazine, an assault rifle, chaff & frag grenades, a sword and many more. You can actually swim in this game which is a real plus. Now you can "hold up" terrorists for their dog tags... not really important but pretty fun. At one point you'll find yourself running around disarming bombs all throughout Big Shell which was kinda fun.. thought I'd mention that. Oh yes, this is the first game where if you take down an enemy or are spotted, back up actually comes. They use radioes to contact each other, and if you are really good at aiming, can destroy their radio. It was a neat little idea. What really seperates Substance from the original Sons of Liberty is it's huge VR mission system, and the mini games "Snake Tales". We'll start with the VR missions - there are probably over 100 of them since you have to play a bunch with Raiden, Snake, Pliskin, Snake in different suits, etc. These missions can range anywhere from "use stealth to get to the end" all the way to "snipe all the enemies who come near the curry". If properly completed you unlock a mini game where you can skateboard as Snake.. meh. "Snake Tales" stars Snake in various missions on Big Shell.. thats really it. I'm gonna be straight with you guys - MGS2: Substance has amazing graphics and even better music. Everything in this game looks so real and textured.. it's really beautiful for the PS2. I mean seagulls actually do their business on Big Shells roof and you can slip on it, how much more realistic can you get?? The music is superb.. words can't even explain it. Sometimes you'll feel depressed (when he time calls for it) orfeel pumped up for a big battle through the music.. truley helps the overall feel & atmosphere of the Substance. Characters... FOX-HOUND (and MGS2 in general) have some real entertaining characters to say the least, all with a fictatious background that is pretty miserable to say the least. The best is Fat Man because hes fat, roller blades, is funny, and plants bombs all over the place. You'll meet up with a familiar ninja ;), the daughter of someone who died on the Marine tanker, Otacon's sister who is just as lame and annoying as Otacon himself, and many more. The only downfall is the length of the game and the story near the end of the game. The ending was so confusing I don't even get it... as your running around your getting codec calls from Colonel Campbell saying, "Go ahead and take a rest, I'll save your game. Turn it off. " or "Hari Kari Siscors 69!! "... then it turns out everything is a VR mission? Lame. Also there is A LOT, and I stress A LOT, of talking in this game. It's rumored that about 2/3 of the actual game is talking. This review is too long for it's own good, so I'm gonna sum it up now - if your a fan of the Metal Gear Solid games or if you really enjoy sneaking around... or talking.... you have to play this game. It's fun, has awesome graphics & music, and it's a pretty cheap game nowadays. Go for it.