Metal Gear Solid 2: Return Of The Nismo

After an unintended hiatus from the game, I have finally gone back to playing Metal Gear Solid 2 and as expected I loved it.

When I left the game, I had just finished the Tanker chapter of the game. It was a decent introduction to the game and eased me back into the controls and Metal Gear's world. The end of the Tanker chapter was also a decent place to leave the game again. While I didn't intend to stop playing the game, finishing off when Snake did ended up being a good thing for me when it comes to the story. The following missions of the game take place on an Oil Rig with another character, Raiden (more on him in a minute) so when it came time for me to resume playing the game it didn't feel like I had forgotten the story as I was starting another chapter rather than continuing an old one.

Moving onto my actual progress then, I played a small chunk of Raiden's chapter of the game on the Oil Rig (named Big Shell) and just like the Tanker chapter before it, I have enjoyed everything I have done so far. I have been tasked with disarming bombs, fighting one of the game's bosses (which in typical Metal Gear fashion was an awesome fight) and I am now on my way to infiltrate another section of the Big Shell (disguised as one of the terrorists, no less) to try and rescue hostages and perhaps more importantly, The President. Yes, The President of the US.

While it is still early days yet, what I have seen of Raiden's story has been enjoyable and I now find myself not understanding why so many people dislike him. Obviously he isn't as cool as Snake is, but then why should they be compared anyway? Perhaps something happens further in the game that I haven't come across yet, something that turns everyone off the character and therefore explains why they have the opinions that they do. I guess that is something that I may find out later.

I like the relationship he has with Rose and enjoy listening to their conversations while I save, or while she jumps into a conversation I was having with another character like the Colonel. Their story so far seems to have a few subtle hints towards some important subjects that I don't know about yet and as a result I am definitely interested in hearing more as I play on. I am especially interested in finding out why a particular date is so important as well, a date that Rose remembers but Raiden seems to have forgotten. I can't remember what the date (or month even) is off the top of my head and I'm not going to check Wikipedia for it so I don't spoil the game so I'm happy to find out over the course of the game.

The boss fight with Fatman on the helipad was awesome and I must say, rather unexpected. I knew I was going to fight him, especially when I heard that he had asked to see me specifically but even so the events of the game surprised me a little. Seeing Fortune appear beforehand meant that I thought I was going to be fighting her instead and while that is partly true, you do fight her for a brief moment, I didn't think that I would be fighting Fatman after that. Seeing him skate around on his rollerblades while arming bombs for me to disarm was cool though, cool in the sense that the fight used a task that I had just become accustomed to in the game's recent past (disarming bombs) and cool because it's a boss skating around on rollerblades. It was another example of a Metal Gear Solid boss; unique, fun and a compelling fight. I look forward to more in the latter parts of the game.

And that's about it. I have actually played the game more than once in the recent past so for the most part it seems like I am able to stick to the guidelines I created for this Road To Completion goal that I have set myself. I'm definitely keen on playing more too as I'm immersed into this latest (for me) MGS game now and can't wait to see what is next. I'm stuck though at the moment as I need to find an AK-47 before I can infiltrate the Shell's core to find where the hostages and President are located. I can't find this gun even after being hinted to its location by the Colonel, so it's holding me back a little bit. I'm gonna keep looking though (I refuse to use a guide) so hopefully I find it soon and I can continue on.

Anyway, expect another progress report in the near future.