[JemyM]

Originally Posted by Hammerite

a little off-topic, but is MGS2 any good?
what's the difference between sons of liberty and substance?
and do i need to have played MGS1 beforehand?
thanks!

I did not play theese games until the beginning of 2007. I had promised myself to check them out, and I did. The result was the entire reason i bought my first console just to play MGS3 and I will get a PS3 just to play MGS4.

The Metal Gear Solid series frankly carries some of the best game storylines of all time, leaving even the better adventuregames to shame. It's a game frequently popping up at "best game ever made" lists and it's on my top five best gameseries ever played, which is odd for a game that is 10 years old... so it's definitely not nostalgia that makes me praise the game.

It's a story that makes you cry and rethink your life.

To get the most out of the story I say you should definitely play the game in order:
1. Metal Gear*
2. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake*
3. Metal Gear Solid**
4. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty***
5. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater*
6. Metal Gear Solid 4: Gunts of the Patriots (soon to be released)

The later games frequently refers back to the prequels. The story of the first two plays a great role for the Solid series. Metal Gear 1 is a bit aged now but can be quickly finished with a walkthrough. Metal Gear 2 have a story you will find unique for a game of such age. Metal Gear Solid is the best and most important of the series. Metal Gear Solid 2 is not a perfect ten, maybe a 9,5... but it still holds up on it's own against most games on the market.

* Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence contains all theese three games on the same DVD. Without Subsistence you need to use BlueMSX and chase down the fantranslation of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Use emulators with the save state function if you just wish to get through the first ones quickly.

** Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes is a remake of MGS only released on GameCube, featuring better graphics. Many fans consider the Playstation version to be better though.

*** Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance is an enhanced version of MGS2, but the extras arent that important if you just wish to play the actual story still called Sons of Liberty.

Finally, Snakes Revenge on NES is not canon and can be forgotten. Hideo Kojima, the mastermind behind the other games, have nothing to do with that game.