Snake Not Having Problems
IGN traveled far and wide and scores big time with the first impressions of the PLAYABLE Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and here's what they found...
Published: December 7, 2000
IGN traveled far and wide and scores big time with the first impressions of the PLAYABLE Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and here's what they found...[blockquote] "The demo shown today was a one-level demo that will appear free with the purchase of Konami's Zone of the Enders, due in the US at end of March 2001. A skilled Konami representative who was designated to play the game for the group of journalists at the event played the level or all to see. From the level we witnessed, the game starts off on the tanker first shown at E3. Snake walks across the bridge in his long black raincoat, smoking a cigarette. The music is not the soul-influenced jazz from the ECTS and TGS trailers, but more traditional game music with a synthesizer-style sound, close to music from the first MGS. Snake begins his run and shucks the raincoat, uses a cloaking device to turn him invisible and then he leaps off the bridge, using a bungie cord to that enable a safe landing on the tanker below. The whole sequence was shown in realtime. No renders, no CG.
On-board the vessel, Snake looks around and notices that none of the military personnel on the ship are armed, or at least, they don't appeared armed. Snake then speaks with Otacon via his handy telecom, just like in MGS. After the dialog sets up Snake's purpose on being in this mission -- not to destroy anything, but to find and uncover the new Metal Gear (Metal Gear Ray) for the world to see -- the setting gets grim. Snake notices that a different set of troops is on the ship, armed with guns. He spots a particular man, a new enemy, apparently a Russian leader, donning a blond head of hair in a flattop cut, and a lined, rough Russian looking face. The new troops invade the ship, and Snake quickly sneaks into the one of the doorways to avoid certain death.
This new information from this demo makes perfect sense and explains the previous trailers much better than before. Snake is there to uncover the new Metal Gear to political reasons, and though there are many Metal Gears on the market since the last game. The one on this ship is supposed to be the Metal Gear to kill all other Metal Gears. Once he gets on the ship, he eventually is noticed, and the fights begin, which is what we saw in the E3 trailer.
From there, the game demo was all gameplay. Several of the classic features from the Metal Gear Solid were instantly noticeable. The camera angles switch often from third person top down to first-person, depending on the scenario. Though there are many more weapons and gadgets available, we saw Snake make use of a 9 MM, a tranquilizer handgun with a razor-thin laser site, a knife, and his infra-red binoculars.
As Snake ran around from room to room several subtle details were noticeable. For instance, while on the deck, the rain came down and bounced off Snake body, just like in the demo. It looked immaculate, totally real. In the first-person mode, the rain actually hits and bounces off Snake's face, and slightly blurs his vision momentarily. The wind and rain appeared to knock him about the ship ever so slightly, and, we are told, will actually make it difficult to walk around.
Down in the ship, Snake has some new moves, all of which look very complex but are easy to control. Once he has tranquilized the enemy or enemies, he can pick them up and drag them out of site. Using the Square button on the PS2 controller, players can pick the enemies up from the torsos, the mid-sections or the legs, and hide them out of sight. We saw Snake hide one soldier in a locker cabinet. Snake pushed him in and in a smooth progressive animated sequence he pushed the soldier back into the locker, stood him up and then closed the door.
In another sequence, Snake was shown walking, running, and sneaking around. The camera work changes so often it's quite stunning, often going for the classic top-down look, but many times, switching to the side and from various isometric angles, some higher and then others. In one scene, Snake sees an armed guard walking his route, and after the guard turns around, Snake spins from his position, stretches out his arms, and shoots down the guard. It took about one second. But what's really interesting is that it didn't require a lot of work. The Konami representative told IGNPS2 that, with the gun in Snake's hand, Snake swung around, pivoting in his right foot, and shot quickly lifted up his arm to shoot. But all he did was press Square, and the pivoting motion and subsequent shot took place with a single press of the button. Apparently, depending on how hard or soft you press Square, Snake will either shoot (hard press) or slowly put down the gun (soft press). Snake also has the chance to creep underneath the classic box, just like in MGS. Again, shadows will play a huge role in your ability to sneak and stealthily make your way around the different environments.
Last but surely not least, were the super quick load times and fantastic, well choreographed cut-scenes, which deserve special mention. In the beginning of the demo, Snake spends quite a bit of time communicating with Otacon. In doing so, he set ups up the story, the mission, and the first set of dilemmas. The dialog is quite terse, but at the same time fluid and realistic. It sounds like the kind of conversation a high-level dude like Snake would have, in contrast to the quite horrible dialog that some one like Gabe has in Syphon Filter 1 and 2."[/blockquote]Thanks to IGN for their top-of-the-line reporting and an awesome scoop.
Check out their full recap of all the MGS2 happenings plus more by clickingHERE
On-board the vessel, Snake looks around and notices that none of the military personnel on the ship are armed, or at least, they don't appeared armed. Snake then speaks with Otacon via his handy telecom, just like in MGS. After the dialog sets up Snake's purpose on being in this mission -- not to destroy anything, but to find and uncover the new Metal Gear (Metal Gear Ray) for the world to see -- the setting gets grim. Snake notices that a different set of troops is on the ship, armed with guns. He spots a particular man, a new enemy, apparently a Russian leader, donning a blond head of hair in a flattop cut, and a lined, rough Russian looking face. The new troops invade the ship, and Snake quickly sneaks into the one of the doorways to avoid certain death.
This new information from this demo makes perfect sense and explains the previous trailers much better than before. Snake is there to uncover the new Metal Gear to political reasons, and though there are many Metal Gears on the market since the last game. The one on this ship is supposed to be the Metal Gear to kill all other Metal Gears. Once he gets on the ship, he eventually is noticed, and the fights begin, which is what we saw in the E3 trailer.
From there, the game demo was all gameplay. Several of the classic features from the Metal Gear Solid were instantly noticeable. The camera angles switch often from third person top down to first-person, depending on the scenario. Though there are many more weapons and gadgets available, we saw Snake make use of a 9 MM, a tranquilizer handgun with a razor-thin laser site, a knife, and his infra-red binoculars.
As Snake ran around from room to room several subtle details were noticeable. For instance, while on the deck, the rain came down and bounced off Snake body, just like in the demo. It looked immaculate, totally real. In the first-person mode, the rain actually hits and bounces off Snake's face, and slightly blurs his vision momentarily. The wind and rain appeared to knock him about the ship ever so slightly, and, we are told, will actually make it difficult to walk around.
Down in the ship, Snake has some new moves, all of which look very complex but are easy to control. Once he has tranquilized the enemy or enemies, he can pick them up and drag them out of site. Using the Square button on the PS2 controller, players can pick the enemies up from the torsos, the mid-sections or the legs, and hide them out of sight. We saw Snake hide one soldier in a locker cabinet. Snake pushed him in and in a smooth progressive animated sequence he pushed the soldier back into the locker, stood him up and then closed the door.
In another sequence, Snake was shown walking, running, and sneaking around. The camera work changes so often it's quite stunning, often going for the classic top-down look, but many times, switching to the side and from various isometric angles, some higher and then others. In one scene, Snake sees an armed guard walking his route, and after the guard turns around, Snake spins from his position, stretches out his arms, and shoots down the guard. It took about one second. But what's really interesting is that it didn't require a lot of work. The Konami representative told IGNPS2 that, with the gun in Snake's hand, Snake swung around, pivoting in his right foot, and shot quickly lifted up his arm to shoot. But all he did was press Square, and the pivoting motion and subsequent shot took place with a single press of the button. Apparently, depending on how hard or soft you press Square, Snake will either shoot (hard press) or slowly put down the gun (soft press). Snake also has the chance to creep underneath the classic box, just like in MGS. Again, shadows will play a huge role in your ability to sneak and stealthily make your way around the different environments.
Last but surely not least, were the super quick load times and fantastic, well choreographed cut-scenes, which deserve special mention. In the beginning of the demo, Snake spends quite a bit of time communicating with Otacon. In doing so, he set ups up the story, the mission, and the first set of dilemmas. The dialog is quite terse, but at the same time fluid and realistic. It sounds like the kind of conversation a high-level dude like Snake would have, in contrast to the quite horrible dialog that some one like Gabe has in Syphon Filter 1 and 2."[/blockquote]Thanks to IGN for their top-of-the-line reporting and an awesome scoop.
Check out their full recap of all the MGS2 happenings plus more by clickingHERE
