Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance

THE BAD:
Nothing, not a thing

SUMMARY:
First off, everyone says that MGS2 has too many cutscenes.Okay,it has its fair share of them,but they make the game better.Without the cutscenes nobody would know what was going on ! Nobody would know that the Tanker was taken over by Russian Mercenaries until they got to the end.Nobody would know who Raiden was.And most important of all Nobody would know anything.
The graphics on this game are absolutely outstanding ony one very little mistake is in the whole game.And that is that when you hold a soldier up and you point a gun at his face,the gun goes through his head.Every detail is included.
The gameplay is amazing,it has got to be played to belive.Some people run through the game in 3-4 hours.Whats the point !? The game is meant to last 10+ hours.It is Worth the £20 ($36) i got it for.
The sound is great,really great.The music,the dialouge is perfect.
And lastly the AI (Artifial Inteligence) the guards act like they do in real life.i read an article from a man in cyprus who said the military he was acted very similar to guards in MGS2. Thank You

THE BAD:
The Skateboarding mode is NO Tony Hawk, the Snake Tales are so freakin hard!! Some of the VR Missions don't make sense, too little casting theatre scenes, useless Boss Survival Mode, DAMN Konami scrapped including the Documentary.

SUMMARY:
This game might as well be the best game on the PS2 this fiscal quarter. Sons of Liberty was the PERFECT game, and it's good to see it back, but the quote "Substantial" features aren't enough to keep someone who bought Sons Of Liberty already buy Substance. But for someone, as myself, who never bought Sons of Liberty, its a Damn good 40 bucks worth spending (I got it for 30)Now, emmm the story is very diorganized, I had to go through the game 3 times to fully understand it. the skateboarding is no Tony Hawk, the controls are whack there, the Snake Tales are hard!!!!!!!! it took me 2 hours just to get by the first one! Also, Konami scrapped including the Documentary. That would have brought substance up to speed. All in all, an ALMOST perfect game, go get it now!

Taken from bri89's Review, alternate account.

THE BAD:
The added skate-boarding feature was unecessary and difficult to enjoy.

SUMMARY:
Never played MGS2: SoL? Buy Substance. You have played MGS2: SoL? Buy Substance. I say this because although not much has been added to the main SoL story for Substance, there are plenty of other features that will keep even the hardest core MGS veterans entertained. First off, it would probably do you good to replay the main story again anyway, it's that damn good. But, when you finish that, you will also have VR missions to complete, Alternate missions to complete, and of course the Snake Tales to complete. Every side mission in the game totals out to be somewhere around 400, that's a lot of game-play that wasn't included in SoL. Also, these side quests are worth your time. You won't find them as easy as MGS1's, especially when you finally unlock Solid Snake (MGS1). Although the Snake Tales have nothing to do with the original story, it's immensely fun to play as Snake while exploring the Plant chapter and even fighting some the Plant's bosses. So, regardless of how many times you've defeated SoL, there are enough extras to keep you happy, not to mention the lowered price of $30.

THE BAD:
Skating was a little hard to do.

SUMMARY:
Nice improvement on MGS2, hell the extras are worth the 50 dollar price tag. I spent the whole 7 days I rented it playing just the VR missions, I never even played the regular game to see if there were any changes.

That was over 2 months ago so forgive me if I leave out something or if this isn't the longest review ever. Ok lets start out with the skating, it's no Tony Hawk, it's pretty hard to finish a level with all the goals, hell, it's damn near impossible to even do one level of the skating and not break your fingers from pressing on the buttons so hard so you finish the level in time.

The Alternate and VR missions are a huge blast especially the 1st Person View ones because you can actually move around while in that view and the autolock is a sweet feature especially with moving targets. The sneaking missions are really fun and usually take 10+ tries to beat successfully so it shows that they aren't the easiest thing to beat like some of the earlier ones. The giant Genomes are worth like half the price tag because it's hilarious to see them acting like Godzilla.

The Snake Tales are pretty tough to do but it's fun as hell. It's really cool to do the VR Missions with certain weapon categories and even barehanded which I personally thing is the most fun of out of all of them especially kicking the floating stick things into other floating sticks that break into pieces.

Overall this game is really worth a rental and if your a mediocre die-hard fan, don't have MGS2 or have 50 bucks laying around you should pick this game up ASAP.

THE BAD:
The bad is that Konami didn't let you play as Raiden in the Tanker Chapter and play as Snake in the Plant. Also, I wish that all the hidden characters in the game had their own tale and onw story. Also, I wish the FAMAS was in and that Liquid was in VR missions.

SUMMARY:
I just bought this game a week ago, and it's the only one I've played in a week, cause I'm so hooked. I have 16 games and this is the only one I play. I'll have to admit that the VR missions are hard, with the exception of Raiden's. Also, the Snake Tales are mad cool, and my favorite out of all 5 is Confidential Legacy with Meryl. Also, I like that they put in the Ninja in VR missions with the High Frequency Blade. Well, these are all my comments. 1 more thing, GREAT GAME OVERALL! BTW, the Skateboarding is ver easy but like bri89 said it's no Tony Hawk, but overall it's ok, and the Snake Tales are mad interesting, so I suggest you buy this game.

THE BAD:
-VR Missions can get repatative (But not for ages)

SUMMARY:
MGS2 was the long awaited PS2 debut of the Metal Gear games. The complex story of MGS1 on the PSOne made you feel like you were there, even if I found myself shouting at the screen "Its a trap - don’t walk over… You stupid git". It had more twists and turns than a roller coaster and had a bad guy who refused to die. The along came MGS2. The story was continued on the tanker level with snake after the new Metal Gear prototype. As I began to get familiar with the slightly different controls and sneaked, shot and destroyed my way through the first section and was taken aback by the new Metal Gear Model, a strange white-haired weirdo popped up and insisted that u played as him with his girlfriend nagging you in your ear. Then I got caught in endless cut-scenes that were beautifully made but I felt like I had been cheated out of a lot of action. When I finally got to the end of the game, I played from 9 pm until about 12 am.
It seems like my view that there wasn’t enough action was shared by most of the Metal Gear fans and, as a response, Konomi announced the new add-on, MGS2: Substance. They said it would have: -The chance to play the whole game as snake. –Hundreds of new VR missions. –New “snake tales”. –And other little tweaks… And boy they didn’t lie.
The game play isn’t much different; there are a few graphical changes and new FHM posters hidden in the game. The enemy AI has been tweaked again and is near enough perfect. It truly does get your heart beating when a highly armed Russian comes looking for you and you’re crouched behind a small crate praying to high heaven that he wont look your way. The attack team that comes you way when you’re spotted is even more ruthless and your best bet when faced with one is to run you ass off and get away.
The VR Missions have a new look and, in my opinion, are far, far, far better than the MGS1 VR Missions and some are even set in the Tanker or BigShell. There are weapon, sneaking, bomb disposal, elimination, 1st person, and variety modes. (And probably something else that hasn’t come to mind right now) If you then multiply that by the 6 different characters you can play as, (when you unlock them) you begin to get a sense of the size of the game. Unfortunately, because the missions are very similar, it can get repetitive despite Konomi’s efforts to tweak the missions.
And then you have the “Snake tales”. They’re strange phenomena. Its like a mini story told by text on the screen. When you finish reading you appear in a location and do something until more text comes up. There’s not Codec and do dialog. However, they are really fun to play but it can be frustrating trying to live without the radar. (I play on normal mode)
If you don’t have MGS2, buy this. If you have MGS2, consider buying this. Personally, I think it was worth me buying this as well as having the original even if you can’t transfer saves over. I think only serious Metal Gear fans should buy this if they have the original. MGS2 Substance is a great game, easily the best of the Metal Gears and sets the standard for other games to follow but it still has more work to do if it’s to see off the brilliant Splinter Cell, which lacks plot but makes up for it in action. Just to repeat, this is a must buy for Non MGS2 owners and this is a “maybe” buy for MGS2 owners

Stevo (sorry if this is a crp review but I had limited time to write it and I hope it help you choose – email me at ste150@hotmail.com with questions about the game – put the subject MGS2 or I wont reply – Happy Playing)

THE BAD:
*The Bad*
To many Cut Sceans?
a rip of of mgs2 which is a rip of og mgs1

SUMMARY:
Its a good gmae in all. The charcter are cool. Blood everywher. and a bit of brain power. Rent it first to see if u like it

THE BAD:
ooof, umm the Skateboarding mode is NO Tony Hawk, the Snake Tales are so freakin hard!! Some of the VR Missions don't make sense, too little casting theatre scenes, useless Boss Survival Mode, DAMN Konami scrapped including the Documentary

SUMMARY:
This game might as well be the best game on the PS2 this fiscal quarter. Sons of Liberty was the PERFECT game, and it's good to see it back, but the quote "Substantial" features aren't enough to keep someone who bought Sons Of Liberty already buy Substance. But for someone, as myself, who never bought Sons of Liberty, its a Damn good 40 bucks worth spending (I got it for 30)Now, emmm the story is very diorganized, I had to go through the game 3 times to fully understand it. the skateboarding is no Tony Hawk, the controls are whack there, the Snake Tales are hard!!!!!!!! it took me 2 hours just to get by the first one! Also, Konami scrapped including the Documentary. That would have brought substance up to speed. All in all, an ALMOST perfect game, go get it now!

THE BAD:
Nothing in this game bothered me except for the difficulty on the VR Missions sometimes, but for other people the graphics aren't improved from the original game (they were spectacular to begin with though) the stroyline might get confusing, you have to read the Snake Tales cinemas, and the VR missions happen to repeat themselves.

SUMMARY:
First off, this review is taken from my experience of the Xbox version of the game. This is just to let PS2 owners know what's in store for them! Also it should be known that I own the US version, so if I say that some new things were added, and you know that what I said was in the original version, then you probably own the Euro version. Because the US version of SoL had some things left out

This game is AWESOME! I love it immensely, as if I didn't love the original! There are so many extra features that I'm still stunned! There are a plethora of VR and Alternate Missions, 5 Snake Tales, a skateboarding mode that you can unlock, Casting Theater, Boss Survival, new costumes, and a ton of little added bonuses in the main game. Now from here on this isn't going to be my standard review of graphics, sound, control, etc. Instead I am going to replace those categories with different parts of the game.

SNAKE TALES: The Snake Tales, to me, are the best part about the game. If you played the original and didn't like Raiden (like me), then this is your chance to play as the legendary Solid Snake. If you play and read every one, then the total time will probably be about the same as the total time as the main game. In the Snake Tales you basically play the original game with Solid Snake, quite a few things mixed around, and each one has an individual story line. The only bad part is that you have to read instead of watch the, what would be, cutscenes.
-5.0/5.0

VR & ALTERNATE MISSIONS: These are fun, unique, and there are certainly a lot. These teach you, very well I might add, how to become a master Metal Gear player, and if you are a master player, then these will still certainly challenge you. As you progress further on you can unlock different costumes (or no costume) for the two selectable characters, Solid Snake and Raiden. The VR & Alternate Missions, themselves, seem to repeat quite often, but with harder difficulty in each one. Since the different costumes start you out with certain items, the repetitiveness doesn't seem that bad. So overall, the VR & Alternate Missions are very enjoyable.
-4.5/5.0

SONS OF THE LIBERTY GAME: The entire Sons of Liberty game is included, and with the same fun, diverse, and stealth filled gameplay as before. This time, though, there are quite a few little features added to the game. Like a few bonus cutscenes that don't add anything (since they don't say anything) but they are just quick and neat things to see. You can also unlock sunglasses for Solid Snake and Raiden to wear. Once you complete the game, you get a Boss Survival mode that lets you battle all of the bosses in consecutive order with either Solid Snake or Raiden, which is pretty neat, and you also get Casting Theater mode, which allows you to change what characters look like during cutscenes from the game. So you could play the cutscene where Fortune blasts the SEALs and make Fortune look like Raiden and the SEALs look like Ocelot! This truly has to be seen to be believed.
-5.0/5.0

OVERALL: This is a very enjoyable game for veterans and newcomers alike. This is definitely one of the best stealth games on the PS2, if not on any system (next to Splinter Cell of course). It also improves on an already classic game. This has to be one of the best values on the PS2; for one, you get the entire Sons of Liberty game (with minor enhancements)- value 50$, then you get the VR & Alternate Missions- value 30$, and last but not least, you get the Snake Tales- value 20$. All of those things add up to a 100$ value, and you get it for half of that! It's pretty amazing.
-5.0/5.0