Metal Gear Solid 2 is a great game, but it certainly has it's flaws.
You end up infiltrating the tanker, set off to find pictures of the latest Metal Gear project, RAY. Of course, that's not the entire story, but I won't give it away.
The highlights of the action include taking down a harrier jet; sneaking through a room filled with soldiers, entirely naked; and an awesome sword-fight atop Federal Hall. All this is great if you're a major fan of action, but the best parts of the game lie in the little, avoidable things. Things like being holed up in a small alcove, while shooting down floating camera/gun robots called cyphers. Things like getting a fake 'mission failed' screen half-way through an epic battle. And several other, cooler, avoidable activities.
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Metal Gear Solid 2, as previously mentioned, has flaws. Sometimes the action that the game tries to convey falls flat due to difficulty level. Even on the hardest difficulty, the stealth in the game is not exciting at all. The radar in the top corner of the screen gives away any sense of the danger of being caught. The boss fights that the game gives you are far too easy, and they are, if ever different, quite repetitive.
In addition to these flaws, the core gameplay is, while mostly thoroughly fun and entertaining, a bit boring. The game takes place mostly on an ocean construct called Big Shell, and the environment is mostly the same thing, over and over again. Also, the game's foremost surprise is OK, but thoroughly unimportant in the main storyline of the Metal Gear Solid.
That said, the game's pros outweigh the cons heavily. If you do not buy this game for the gameplay, definitely buy it for the story. Sons of Liberty is a good starting point for newcomers to the series, and if you don't buy this game... the bottom line is that you're an idiot.