I remember first hearing about this announcement through Official UK PlayStation magazine in 2001, I only heard very little of Metal Gear Solid when I was younger which I was only around 11 years old at the time. Only just started playing more games on the PlayStation but when I saw images through the magazine I was blown away how well detailed it looked especially on a next-gen console which was the PlayStation 2.

The first time played Metal Gear Solid was back in 2007, I couldn't remember why I was at when I was younger but when my original Xbox crashed and wasn't working, hooked up my PS1 to my TV and replayed a few PS1 classic again like Final Fantasy IX and Crash Team Racing. But when I found my copy of Metal Gear Solid decided to start a whole new game and over week couldn't put the game down loved the story and the unique gameplay. It wasn't a few weeks after I picked up Metal Gear Solid 2 for £2.99 at GameStation and soon after managed to finish the main trilogy games before Metal Gear Solid 4 was released in 2008.

Metal Gear Solid 2 was first released on November 12th 2001 for North America, November 29th for Japan and UK/Europe didn't get the game until March 8th 2002. But the UK/Europe didn't get the game a few months later but what was added features from the Japanese release were carried over to the European version, along with a new difficulty setting European Extreme.

The European version came packaged with a video DVD titled The Making of Metal Gear Solid 2, but it was nice to get some features added in for the UK/Europe version at the time because I'm pretty sure a lot of people were wanting to play it that badly.

Those who wanted to play Metal Gear Solid 2 a demo was released if you bought Zone of the Enders, in the demo you play as Solid Snake where you are on the Tanker base where you also find out that the development of a new Metal Gear by the United States Marine Crops. This part of the demo would also be used in the full game but as the Prologue Chapter, but when you first explore the Tanker ship you can easily get lost on a massive ship it was like being on the Titanic; soon after the chapter ends you don't continue as playing as Solid Snake, no you play a different character who would end up being called Raiden.

Raiden was voiced by Quinton Flynn, taking place as Snake's role is tasked under a reformed FOXHOUND, and he has orders to infiltrate the Big Shell to rescue hostages, including the US president, from the terrorist group called Sons of Liberty and their leader Solid Snake behind this operation. I don't want to spoil the story plot for anyone who still haven't played the game or the series yet but I can easily a imagine that most people have played the game up until now either on the PlayStation 2 or even the HD collection which was released on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PS Vita.

Radien's name was in fact Jack and Rose was a psychological counselor, formerly a data analyst and spy. Kojima did state that both the names Jack and Rose including the Tanker ship from the Prologue Chapter were from the movie The Titanic. Not only that there were few changes that were originally added in the game but got removed before the final product was released, just like in the Titanic movie you had the chance to escape the Tanker ship before it sank. Significant changes to the game's ending were made late in development following the September 11th's attacks in New York, where in the final sequence where you have an Arsenal Metal Gear displacement of the Stature of Liberty and crashing half of Manhattan was removed, as was a short coda to appear after the credits. There were a few more changes that were either replaced or removed at the last minute but it was the finale that had to change at the last minute but in the end the game's story still pulled through in the end.

The graphics and visuals still hold up today since it was first released in 2001 especially around that time where more and more good games were on the way for the PlayStation 2 in 2001 and of course hearing that soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams. Hearing the opening is too memorable and yes the opening to Metal Gear Solid 2 is on my Top 5 Favourite Video Game Openings, the cutcenes for most parts of the game lasted for at least 10 - 30 minutes but really did feel like you were watching an action movie. The boss battles were memorable as well where certain bosses and parts of the game you really did need to think on what would you do to solve the problem, depending on what difficulty you were playing Metal Gear Solid 2 you were also ranked at the very end on how quick you were in finishing the game, killing number of people or how sneaky you were.

A year later Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance was an expanded edition of the game that was released on both the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC; Substance added in extra content including the European Extreme Difficulty, 350 VR missions, Snake Tales was a a set of five story-based missions featuring Solid Snake as the player character during the Plant Chapter while Raiden was busy rescuing the President. In the PlayStation 2 version was a skateboarding minigame in which the player control Snake or Raiden in a pair of Big Shell-themed levels similar to what you would expect to see in a Tony Hawk game. Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance was added in the HD Collection including trophy support and clearer visuals featuring 720p resolution and in the PS Vita version you could use the touch pad and touch screen to switch weapons and items back and forth.

Overall Metal Gear Solid 2 got praised scores of a 10/10 and 9/10 from most review sites and magazines praising for its graphics and stealth gameplay, also a sign that games released on the PlayStation 2 at the time were getting better and better especially during the Sixth Generation of Gaming where the PlayStation 2 was slowly in the lead on sales in the console but also during that month of November in 2001 both the Nintendo GameCube and Xbox were released in North America so it was a tough competition on what were the best games to check out and pick up just before the Christmas Holidays.

Have any favourite moments in Metal Gear Solid 2?

Is Metal Gear Solid 2 still one of your favourite games?

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