{"id":2120,"date":"2013-01-17T18:23:51","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T18:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=2120"},"modified":"2013-01-18T12:56:47","modified_gmt":"2013-01-18T12:56:47","slug":"my-top-100-32-metal-gear-solid-2-sons-of-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=2120","title":{"rendered":"My Top 100: #32 &#8211; Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_2123\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?attachment_id=2123\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2123\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2123\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2123\" alt=\"2001 - Konami (PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita)\" src=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Metal-Gear-Solid-2-Cover.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"908\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Metal-Gear-Solid-2-Cover.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Metal-Gear-Solid-2-Cover-211x300.jpg 211w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2123\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">2001 &#8211; Konami (PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I look back on\u00a0the last generation of consoles\u00a0quite fondly.\u00a0 Between 2000 and 2005, the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox were cranking out next-gen gold left and right.\u00a0 Huge franchises\u00a0came back with a bang (like <em>Medal of Honor<\/em> and <em>Grand Theft Auto<\/em>) and newcomers asserted themselves as\u00a0series that would be sticking around for a while (like <em>Halo<\/em> and <em>Call of Duty<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>At E3 in 2001, both Nintendo and Microsoft had upcoming console releases\u00a0to generate buzz and excitement.\u00a0 Sony&#8217;s PlayStation 2 had been out for several months at that point, but was still able to get people talking with a few\u00a0great-looking games.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest name at their presentation was an old standby, a gruff veteran of gaming whose\u00a0last game\u00a0had us all doing everything but\u00a0&#8220;feel asleep&#8221;&#8230;\u00a0 of course, I&#8217;m talking about Solid Snake.<\/p>\n<p>When previews for <em>Metal Gear Solid 2<\/em> were shown, people\u00a0couldn&#8217;t tell if\u00a0they were watching\u00a0gameplay or pre-rendered cutscenes.\u00a0 Konami was *saying* it was gameplay, but there was no way that was possible&#8230;\u00a0 those clips of Snake running through the halls of a sinking tanker ship\u00a0looked just a bit too good to be true.<\/p>\n<p>It was a game everyone was talking about, and\u00a0was\u00a0hyped as\u00a0the PS2&#8217;s\u00a0second killer app behind <em>Gran Turismo 3<\/em>.\u00a0 I set out to play the original for PS1 to see what the fuss was about, and I enjoyed the heck out of it.\u00a0 When November rolled around, I&#8217;d be able to see for myself just how good\u00a0the sequel\u00a0looked.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nHL80AKrTGg\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The first part of the game had me picking my jaw up off the floor.\u00a0 The wind and rain effects looked amazing, and it really did feel like I was playing an interactive movie.\u00a0 Being able to switch to a first person view for firing your weapon was awesome, and the mission itself was quite fun as well.\u00a0\u00a0The prologue\u00a0mission ended with a bang, and I prepared for more crazy action in part two&#8230;\u00a0 wait.<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s wrong with Snake&#8217;s voice?\u00a0 I know he&#8217;s wearing a scuba mask, but he sounds different.<\/p>\n<p>Today, we all know about the ol&#8217; Raiden switcheroo the game pulled on us.\u00a0 At the time, I was thinking I&#8217;d end up playing as Snake (or Pliskin) again somewhere down the road.\u00a0 That didn&#8217;t happen, but that was fine.\u00a0 No big deal, I guess!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2126\" style=\"width: 365px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?attachment_id=2126\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2126\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2126\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2126\" alt=\"Except this...  I could have done without this.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/raiden-mgs2.jpg\" width=\"355\" height=\"259\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/raiden-mgs2.jpg 355w, https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/raiden-mgs2-300x218.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 355px) 100vw, 355px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2126\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Except this&#8230; I could have done without this.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Whenever I think\u00a0of this game, two things stand out the most.<\/p>\n<p>I got\u00a0it for Christmas in &#8217;01, but decided to tackle <em>Grand Theft Auto III<\/em> first.\u00a0 The following summer, I was in my bedroom one morning, playing <em>MGS2<\/em>.\u00a0 I had made it all the way to the battle with Fortune when a knock came at the door.\u00a0 Since we lived out of town, a knock on the door usually meant that it was a neighbor looking for this or asking for that.\u00a0 Trips\u00a0to Beaverdam for casual visits\u00a0were usually big occasions!<\/p>\n<p>I opened the door, and lo and behold, there was my old friend Michael!\u00a0 I&#8217;ve mentioned him in prior posts, but he was\u00a0the friend\u00a0who lived across the street, and\u00a0had moved\u00a0to Ontario with his family\u00a0about four years earlier.\u00a0 I was quite glad to see him, so I shut the game off and got caught up with him for the next little while.\u00a0 He had to go into New Maryland (about five minutes down the road) to fix something on\u00a0his truck,\u00a0so I hopped in and went with him.\u00a0\u00a0Josh lived right next door to the garage Mike was going to, so while we waited for his truck to get fixed up, we went over and bugged him for a while.<\/p>\n<p>That day was a bit surreal, just because it was us kids from Howarth Acres, hanging out once\u00a0again.\u00a0 The old crew was (partially) back together again.\u00a0 Good times!<\/p>\n<p>My other memory goes back a bit later that year.<\/p>\n<p>On one particularly lazy Saturday, I decided that I was going to\u00a0sit down and take the time to\u00a0beat <em>MGS2<\/em>.\u00a0 I had been dragging my feet with the game,\u00a0since my recent social\u00a0activities\u00a0took precedence over my video gaming.\u00a0 This day, however, I&#8217;d get comfy and beat the last chunk of the game.<\/p>\n<p>It was a bigger chunk than I had previously thought, though&#8230;\u00a0 those cutscenes, as interesting and hilariously convoluted as they got, dragged on for much longer than I anticipated.\u00a0 By the time the story got all <em>Matrix<\/em>-ey, Arsenal Gear crashed into New York City and Solidus &#8220;Mr. President&#8221; Snake bit the bullet, it was almost 1am!\u00a0 I had been going at it for a good while, and was so glued to the TV that I didn&#8217;t even realize the sun had gone down, much less that it was\u00a0well into\u00a0Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>I turned off the PS2, and remembered that there was a CART race from Australia\u00a0that was about to start.\u00a0 Perfect timing!\u00a0 I flipped it over to TSN, and the pace car had JUST pulled off.\u00a0 They were going green!<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s what happened next&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/V7nOWoVnX9w\" height=\"315\" width=\"420\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That was crazy!\u00a0 All the drivers involved ended up being just fine, but I was glued to the TV for another little while because of it.\u00a0\u00a0At\u00a0some\u00a0point between this wreck and the end of <em>Saturday Night Live, <\/em>I\u00a0started snoring away&#8230;\u00a0 I guess I did &#8220;feel asleep&#8221;, after all.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a better view of the wreck!\u00a0 Insane!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UsDl0FT6tRI\" height=\"315\" width=\"420\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; I look back on\u00a0the last generation of consoles\u00a0quite fondly.\u00a0 Between 2000 and 2005, the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox were cranking out next-gen gold left and right.\u00a0 Huge franchises\u00a0came back with a bang (like Medal of Honor&#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=2120\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,37,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-metal-gear","category-playstation-2","category-top-100"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2120"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2142,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120\/revisions\/2142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}