Summary
WhenMetal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Libertywas releasedfor the PlayStation 2 in 2001, it wasn’t just a sequel to one of the PS1’s most iconic titles, it was a revolutionary examination of where the industry was headed and is what many consider one of the first examples of the postmodern video game. Its intricate and sharply detailed story explores the themes of artificial intelligence, identity, and information control, and it also made a lot of huge additions to the franchise mythology that would be felt for the next two decades.
Metal Gear Solid 2was keen to shift everything that players had seen on the PS1, as well as find ways to alter the ways thatMGS1was perceived. Series creator Hideo Kojima introduced a few key story elements that would shake the foundation of the franchise moving forward, as its new characters, narrative elements, and plot twists would go on to heavily influenceMGS3and every title in the franchise moving forward. Whether it was an insidious organization working behind the scenes or a brand-new character that would become a major player in the game’s fictional history,Sons of Libertywas not shy about its intentions of flipping the series on its head. This masterful work is currently available on all modern platforms via theMetal Gear Master Collection.
1Raiden’s Introduction
The New Protagonist Changed The Course Of The Series Forever
With the massive success ofMetal Gear Solidon the PS1, series protagonist Solid Snake went from a minor star on the NES to one of the biggest gaming icons of all time. This made Kojima’s decision to shelve him in the early portion ofMGS2to introduce Raiden as the main protagonist in the game even bolder, as the grizzled edge of Solid Snake clashed with the all-business, by-the-books mentality of the rookie. It was a fascinating concept, driven largely by Kojima’s desire to have the audience see Snake outside themselves and just how much of a legend he truly is.
Raiden’s origin was also brilliantly woven into the story, as he was revealed to be a child soldier raised by Solidus, the third clone of Big Boss that was created from the Les Enfants Terribles project that started in the 1970s. Solidus served as the President of the United States duringMGS1, and tying him to Raiden and further cementing his place in the franchise’s grand mythology was a brilliant move. Raiden’s complicated history would heavily influence his character in future games, as his ties to the game-changing events ofMGS2had a major impact on the rest of the franchise.
2Liquid’s Possession Of Ocelot’s Arm
The Franchise Leans Into The Weird
In a franchise that revolved around global conflict with nuclear weapons armed by a bipedal walking tank and some rather eccentric villains, it was always seen as a bit over-the-top in most gaming circles. But withMGS2, Kojima leaned even further into his off-the-wall war saga, as the arm belonging to the deceased Liquid Snake was able to not only possess Revolver Ocelot during the Tanker section but also change his voice to that of the dead Big Boss clone. While previous games in the series had done some strange stuff, this delightfully absurd addition would fundamentally change the wayMetal Gearoperated moving forward.
Villains became more science-fiction driven as opposed to previous iterations, or at least the explanation for their power was rooted in some sort of outrageous science that surely did not exist. It meant thatantagonists like Vamp and Fortunecould exist within the world in believable ways while future villains in the series would follow suit. Outrageous, larger-than-life villains like The Pain and The Fury were only able to exist inSnake Eaterthanks to Liquid’s possession of Ocelot. It elevated the world ofMetal Gearfrom a slightly grounded spy thriller into full-on Kojima madness, significantly influencing every game in the series after.
3The S3 Plan
The Selection For Societal Sanity
During the shocking final hours ofMetal Gear Solid 2, the true nature of the game and its entire existence start to come into question, as Raiden’s journey through Arsenal Gear starts to raise some uncomfortable truths about who he can trust, as well as why he’s even here to begin with. Orchestrating the events to recreate the incident on Shadow Moses Island fromMGS1, the Patriots wanted to use the S3 Plan as a way to control the population and examine how well the public could be manipulated.
Initially believed to stand for Solid Snake Simulation, it is revealed to stand for the Selection For Societal Sanity, as the Patriots' desire to control information and create context that fits the narrative they want to tell is the entire reason that the game exists. It adds further context toMGS1, as the Patriots are watching these events unfold, and their flagrant crimes against humanity are made clear bythe end ofSons of Liberty. The S3 Plan was the coming out party for the Patriots, as it would lead directly to their origins being expanded duringMGS3and their turn as the lead antagonists ofMetal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
4The Reveal Of The Patriots
A Group Of Powerful People That Have Controlled History
After Naomi Hunter is revealed as a traitor during the conclusion ofMetal Gear Solid 1, Colonel Campbell suspects she might be part of “a different group,” a subtle implication, but one that showed just how much the lore and mythology that Kojima created was expanding. While it’s not confirmed, Campbell was likely talking about The Patriots, a clandestine organization made up of powerful, influential people thatbegan post-WW2 as the Philosophers.
Led by the Wisemen’s Committee, their attempts to control and influence American history and have complete control of the population began with subtle events that expanded into far more dangerous territory. By the time ofMetal Gear Solid 2, they had changed their name to The Patriots, seeking to use every tool at their disposal to complete their quest. Though they first appeared inMGS2, they are solidified as one of the franchise’s most long-running antagonists, as they played a major role in nearly every single event featured in the series’s fictional history. Kojima fundamentally altered the entire course ofMetal Gearhistory with the Patriots, a move that would guide the series to its final mainline entry withThe Phantom Painin 2015.
