Chris Massey

Battlefield 1942

February 12, 2006

PC / Reviews / by Chris Massey Make a comment! / Tweet it!

WWII games are one of the fastest growing types of gaming. Starting out with [i]Medal of Honor[/i], they’ve really raised the bar, especally for a war that’s somewhere around 60 years old. While [i]Medal of Honor[/i] may have started the whole WWII genre, [i]Battlefield 1942[/i] is probably the first to bring a quality WWII title online. [i]Battlefield[/i]’s greatest strength would be the game’s multiplayer online setup. In fact, multiplayer in [i]Battlefield[/i] would probably be the only reason to play the game, seeing as how there is virtually no single-player present in the game. Sure, there is a campain mode, but it’s basically just a dumbed down version of multiplayer, played aganst bots over real people. To really enjoy this game, you’ve gotta get online, and when you do, you’ll thank god for your broadband service. By the way, before I go on, I’d like to mention that this game is virtually unplayable on a 56K modem, (believe me, I’ve tried it…) so you’d better scrounge up the money for broadband.

The most fascinating thing about [i]Battlefield[/i] is the ability to interact with virtually anything on the play field. Planes, tanks, flak cannons, even the infamous jeep, or as most call it, a speeding bomb on wheels. The developers really did a nice job balancing every unit out. For example, while tanks are monsters that can tear through enemy forces, one shot of a bazooka to the rear, and it’ll blow. Even the common soldier with a Thompson can take down an aircraft within one clip, providing he aims at the sweet spot.

While [i]Battlefield[/i] is a masterpeice, it does have it’s flaws. It’s biggest would probably be the fact that you’ll need one hell of a computer to run it on. Expect to have a fairly decent graphics card. The ATI Radeon 8500 works decent enough. Above all, be sure to have well over 256 megs of RAM. This game sucks the RAM right out of your system. I suggest a 512 RAM minimum for best results, although 256 will work.

Another fault would be not in the game itself, but with the other many online players. I can’t begin to tell how many games I’ve gone into, only to find at least half of my team standing mindlessly on an airfield, waiting for another plane to respawn, only to have everyone race for it. Once some reaches it, other players, bent on rage, shoot the living hell out of the plane. Other faults include that for a game based on teamwork, there is actually very little teamwork going on. People often attack in scattered clusters of men, never really organizing a battleplan or anything. Many don’t even try to capture the flags on the field, which is the main focus of the game.

All in all, [i]Battlefield 1942[/i] is a great game, with very few flaws. When you get into a game with great teamwork going on, it’s a great online experience.

Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising

February 12, 2006

Game Boy Advance / Reviews / by Chris Massey Make a comment! / Tweet it!

[i]Advance Wars[/i] was a killer app for the Game Boy Advance back in 2001. Sadly enough, it didn’t receive much attention from many people, and became what is well known throughout the gaming community as a sleeper hit. [i]Advance Wars[/i] is back for a second run though in [i]Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising[/i]. The second installment contains all of the things that made the first one great, including a wide assortment of units, easy to use interface, and complex challenges in the war room and campaign. Of course, it wouldn’t be much of a sequel if they didn’t add something new into the mix. [i]Advance Wars 2[/i] delivers, and hard at that.

[i]Advance Wars 2[/i] contains all of the game modes included into the previous game, including the war room, battle maps, and the design room. The campaign returns as well, and is probably the most significant update from [i]Advance Wars[/i]. In [i]Advance Wars[/i], you would play through the entire campaign as Andy, Sami, or Max, Commanding Officers in the Orange Star Army. There were other C.O.s like Eagle and Kanbei, but they could only be accessed after unlocking, and then only be used in the other battle modes. This time around, you play through four different campaigns, each one being under the four armies in the game. This allows the player to play under every army and C.O. at one point in the campaign (save for the enemy C.O.s and a few unlockables), and makes the campaign much more enjoyable this time around with a wider range of C.O.s to play as.

The story unfolds after Sturm ([i]dvance Wars[/i] veterans will remember him from the final battle in [i]Advance Wars[/i]), cuts his losses from his first defeat and rebuilds his army (the Black Hole Army), complete with four new Commanding Officers. Together with his army, they begin to invade the four continents of Wars World, including Orange Star, Blue Moon, Yellow Comet, and Green Earth territories. Through the campaign, you progress through each continent, and as you defeat the Black Hole Armies in one country, you will move to the next. You are also able to choose from many different missions at a time, which improves from the progressive line of missions [i]Advance Wars[/i] made you go through.

[i]Advance Wars 2[/i] adds in a good number of new C.O.s to choose from. You still have Andy the mechanical wizard; Eagle the aerial ace, and all the other C.O.s from the previous [i]Advance Wars[/i]. In fact, some of them like Kanbei have received a different look. In addition to the already hefty 11 C.O.s, the game adds in eight new C.O.s, like Sensei, the expert on copters, and Colin, whose units cost much less than usual. Each new C.O. fits into the game well, and their powers each balance out well with the existing C.O.s. Another new feature is an updated C.O. Power system. In addition to the normal C.O. Power, which many might remember being special powers individual C.O.s could use once their meter charged, you can now use Super Powers, which take longer to build up than normal C.O. Powers, but have a much more devastating effect. Meanwhile, some C.O.s have been downgraded a bit, the most apparent being Eagle, whose C.O. Power has been upgraded to a Super Power and replaced with a less devastating power.

One might think that in addition to new C.O.s, the game would add in some new units to play around with. The truth is though, there is only one new unit in the entire game; the Neotank, which is essentially a heavy tank. Some may be turned off by the fact that there are no new units, but in reality, the original units from [i]Advance Wars[/i] were so balanced that there isn’t much room to add anything else. While there are no new units, there are plenty of new spots on the battlefield. One such is a pipe, which is impossible to penetrate and can only be passed by breaking the pipe’s seam. Other things include missiles which target and damage units in its radius, and then in campaign mode, there are different defensive units to get past like cannons, lasers, and black cannons. Everything from [i]Advance Wars[/i] returns to the battlefield as well, including forest and mountains that give units defense, and the various bases that allow you to deploy air, sea, and land units.

Some of the various game modes have been spiced up a bit, but for the most part, they remain the same. The challenging war room returns, with new maps as well as old ones introduced in [i]Advance Wars[/i]. The design maps mode also returns, but this time, you have the option to color the various C.O.s to your liking as well. Each C.O. has eight different color schemes, so it’s not fully customizable, but it’s a nice feature to spice up your favorite C.O. [i]Advance Wars 2[/i] still has all the great multiplayer options the first one had, including the single game link up, and the “pass the GBA” while assigning the different players to the same GBA.

The graphics are similar to the ones seen in [i]Advance Wars[/i]. In fact, most of the graphics and backgrounds are recycled from [i]Advance Wars[/i]. As in the old [i]Advance Wars[/i], each army has a different look to their units, and all the previous countries have their look from the previous installment. The Black Hole army has a new units style, which seems to be a futuristic look, and adds to the variety in the art style of the game. As mentioned earlier, some of the C.O.s have gotten a complete overhaul in the looks department, but in reality, all the units have been redrawn. Most of the poses are strikingly similar to the ones from [i]Advance Wars[/i], although some have gotten a few changes to them. One thing that is disappointing about the graphics in [i]Advance Wars 2[/i] is that, when in combat, the avatars no longer show expression when their units lose or win a battle. Still, the graphics are quaint and fit the style of the game very well.

Overall, [i]Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising[/i] feels very much like [i]Advance Wars[/i], although that’s not necessarily a bad thing. People expecting a huge overhaul from the first may be disappointed, but [i]Advance Wars 2[/i] is a worthy sequel to one of the GBA’s best games. It’s additions like the new C.O.s, the vamped up campaign mode, and the various new maps and challenges that make this game great. Even though there are probably some who feel it may be a little cheap since it is almost the same game as [i]Advance Wars[/i], most owners of the original will definitely want to pick this up.

Advance Wars

February 12, 2006

Game Boy Advance / Reviews / by Chris Massey Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Turn-based strategy games on the Game Boy Advance have a lot in common with role-playing games for the Gamecube. Both have very few titles on each system, but while there isn’t a whole lot to choose from, the few choices there are excellent titles. This is where [i]Advance Wars[/i] on the Game Boy Advance comes into play. With it’s unique graphics style, great game play, and helpful tutorial systems, [i]Advance Wars[/i] is not only a great turn-based strategy game, but it’s probably one of the best titles to own for the Game Boy Advance itself.

[i]Advance Wars[/i] is really a great title all around, especially for one who likes turn-based strategy games, although people who aren’t even familiar with the genre may enjoy the game as well. While the graphic style may have you thinking it is a simplistic game, there is a lot of depth to [i]Advance Wars[/i], ranging from the different commanding officers to the strategic locations on maps, such as cities and mountaintops. To add to that, the game even boasts a great multiplayer mode, as well as many other ways to keep the player busy. [i]Advance Wars[/i] is probably one of the most comprehensive Game Boy Advance games out right now.

When you first put [i]Advance Wars[/i] into your Game Boy Advance, the game forces you through a tutorial before anything else. While this may seem tedious, the tutorial is actually very helpful in familiarizing the player with the workings of [i]Advance Wars[/i]. The whopping 14-mission tutorial does a good job of teaching the player basic movement, deployment, ground, air, and sea combat, and more. Once the initial training is over, five new modes open for you (before completion, training, versus, and link are the only modes available), which include campaign, war room, stats, battle maps, and design maps.

The campaign mode is the first mode most people will go to before anything else, as in order to access much of the game’s content, you must progress through the campaign mode. The campaign mode follows the Orange Star Army and its C.O.s Andy, Max, and Sami. You progress through the nation of Alara, battling Blue Moon, Green Earth, and Yellow Comet armies along the way. There are a total of 30 different missions in the single player mode, all of which can be accessed in the war room mode after completion. Every time you win a map in campaign mode, you are awarded AW coins, which you can put towards new maps and options in the battle maps room.

[i]Advance Wars[/i] seems like a pretty simple game, and in reality, it is pretty straightforward. Anyone who has observed the tutorial can easily pick up on the game mechanics and different strategic elements in the game. There are a total of 18 different units in the game, ranging from infantry units to air bombers. Each unit has advantages over other units. For instance, artillery units have a wide attack radius, but can’t attack up close and will succumb to enemy tanks easily. Meanwhile, a bomber dominates almost any ground unit, but counter it with jet fighters and they are completely helpless. Each one of your units starts out with 10 hit points. As you attack enemy units, a percentage will show up. If the percentage is at 80, then after the attack is over, the enemy will only have two hit points.

Aside from the enemy, you also have to take the terrain into effect. Mountains, cities, oceans, rivers and more can be placed on a map, and can hurt your advance on some places. For instance, only infantry units can cross rivers and mountains, so your tanks will have to find another way around. Of course, these effects can also help you. By placing an infantry unit atop a mountaintop or inside a city, you gain a huge defense bonus, as indicated by the number of stars when attacking. Besides making for defense, you can also capture cities with infantry units, which in turn, adds more funds into your bank account. Aside from cities, there are also different bases, including land, sea, and air bases, and the funds you receive from your cities can be put towards new units. Lastly, there is also what is known as “fog of war”, which essentially prevents you from seeing the entire map, and has you relying on your units’ line of sight to see things.

As mentioned before, there are four different armies in [i]Advance Wars[/i], but there is really no difference between the nations, aside from the drawing style of units and color. [i]Advance Wars[/i] takes a different option on variety, rather than having different nations with different abilities. Instead, [i]Advance Wars[/i] has a number of different C.O.s which have different advantages, disadvantages, and powers. Aside from Andy, who is a pretty average C.O., every C.O. has its own specialty. For instance, Eagle of Green Earth dominates with air units, but he lacks with ground units, and Grit of Blue Moon has a larger range with his indirect fire units, but isn’t as good with direct combat units. In addition, each C.O. has a special C.O. power. Andy has the power to heal his units, while Drake of Green Earth’s power damages all enemy units on the map.

The graphic style of [i]Advance Wars[/i] is probably what makes the game stand out the most. All units in your army are color coded, as are units in the other armies. On the map, units appear somewhat cartoonish and are pretty small. When you enter combat with another unit, a split-screen comes up and the armies exchange fire. The COs are drawn anime-style, and you’ll usually get a small cut-scene during campaign mode with the CO on screen, although they don’t really do a whole lot of moving. Even so, the COs and their drawing style make things very enjoyable, even if they are still images.

There a total of 150 different maps to play in [i]Advance Wars[/i]. Most of these are unlocked in the battle maps room by purchasing them with A.W. coins, and the rest are either available to you from the start or you have to unlock from the single-player mode. In addition to maps, you can also unlock and buy C.O.s later in the game after the single-player is complete. If 150 maps isn’t enough for you (in which case, you’re too demanding), then you can even create your own maps with the simple-to-use design maps room. To top things off, you can even compete in the war room against computers to achieve rankings and extra pocket cash.

Even then, you can go further by linking up to other Game Boy Advances and battle against your friends. The game even lets you use a single cartridge to link up, although it’s not too enjoyable since the cartridge can’t hold much memory, so you’re only limited to a certain number of units, and even then, you don’t get the battle scenes that you get in the game itself, so in the end, it’s much more rewarding to link up to several cartridges. Even if you don’t have a link cable, you can still pay “pass the GBA” by setting up a versus match and make your friend control the other army.

Overall, [i]Advance Wars[/i] is probably one of the best games you can buy on the Game Boy Advance. For a GBA title, is has an insane amount of content, options, and some great multiplayer gaming, even if you only have one GBA and one copy of the game. The great graphic style and complex yet easy to learn battle system makes it incredibly addictive. While there are those people out there that don’t particularly care for turn-based strategy, they might like [i]Advance Wars[/i] just as much as fans of the genre. [i]Advance Wars[/i] is really one of the GBA’s triple A titles, and in truth, should be owned by anyone who has a GBA.

Spider-Man 2

February 6, 2006

PlayStation 2 / Reviews / by Chris Massey Make a comment! / Tweet it!

In the weeks since [i]Spider-Man 2[/i] the movie was released, I’ve heard some very good things about [i]Spider-Man 2[/i], the game. People have boasted that it is one of the better movie-based video games to come out in a while, and with the recent [i]Chronicles of Riddick[/i], I felt that movie-based games were starting to make a turn for the better. Sadly enough, as I played into [i]Spider-Man 2[/i] for the Playstation 2, I found that it is a very repetitive game, has fairly dull game play, and really doesn’t look too good in the end.

Like you would expect, [i]Spider-Man 2[/i] the game is based off the most recent [i]Spider-Man 2[/i] movie. The game loosely follows the movie’s storyline, so if you want to see the movie, then it would be best to wait and play this game after seeing the movie. Even so, [i]Spider-Man 2[/i] alters parts of the story. In addition to Doctor Octopus, you will also have to fight other enemies of Spider-Man like Mysterio, Shocker, and Rhino. It also adds in other things fans of Spider-Man will recognize, and even alters one of the movie’s most important parts, most likely to keep you in costume as out-of-costume Peter Parker really can’t do a whole lot.

The game’s best feature is the web-swinging system. [i]Spider-Man 2[/i] takes place across Manhattan Island, and let’s you swing throughout the entire city. [i]Spider-Man 2[/i] actually takes some elements from games like [i]Grand Theft Auto 3[/i] and [i]Tony Hawk’s Underground[/i]. Like in [i]Grand Theft Auto 3[/i], you can go anywhere on the island without a loading screen getting in your way, and like [i]Tony Hawk’s Underground[/i], you can receive missions from various people along the streets of New York City. Although instead of a car or a skateboard, you use your trusty webbing to swing across New York City, and for the most part, it works really well and is the most enjoyable thing about [i]Spider-Man 2[/i].

Even though you can get missions from civilians, you will probably spend most of your time doing the missions assigned to you by the game. The game divides these missions into different chapters, and once you complete all these objectives, they go into the next chapter. There are three different types of mission usually assigned to you. The most common is the “hero point” goal, while the other two are either buy a certain upgrade or complete a goal to drive the story along. In the end though, most of these missions will get very repetitive, especially the hero point goal. The missions that drive the story can get old fast, as they usually have you either getting to a certain point before time runs out, or following Black Cat until she stops, or getting to the top of the building to take pictures. The point is, almost any mission will have you swinging across the city going from this building to the next, which is sad, because it ends up hurting the best part of the game to the point where it gets as old as the missions do. Occasionally though, a mission will get interesting, like missions that have you exploring a fun house or navigating an obstacle course.

Of course, the hero point goals are even more tedious than the other missions. Usually, the game will ask you to get a number of hero points. These don’t take a real long time to complete, as the other missions give you a hefty amount of hero points, but the bad part about these objectives is that as soon as you reach the goal, the game starts the next chapter, which gives you another handful of points. Another bad thing about the hero point goals is that usually, you will have to go around town helping people who see trouble going on, which adds even more to the repetitive scale.

It doesn’t help that there are only a handful of missions you can receive from pedestrians. They are somewhat enjoyable the first or second time, but after doing them all (which won’t take long), you’ll probably get bored. There are other ways to get hero points other than helping civilians, of course, they don’t stray too far from the other missions. You can do assignments for the Daily Bugle or deliver pizzas, but these don’t stray too far from the “swing here and come back” missions we’ve already come to love in this game.

[i]Spider-Man 2[/i] does have its fair share of boss fights. As mentioned before, you fight many enemies from the Spider-Man comics, as well as the main villain from the movie, Doc Ock. However, these boss fights can get a little dull. They aren’t incredibly challenging, and once you figure out the pattern the boss goes in, you shouldn’t have too much trouble with them. It doesn’t help that bosses are pretty random. The game doesn’t really incorporate them into the story very well, aside from Doctor Octopus, and it just throws them in and has them terrorize the place without much explanation of where they came from.

The combat system is a mixed bag of good and bad. On the good side, you can purchase many different attacks to use on enemies. The combo system works great and there is a good variety of attacks to use, provided you purchase them with hero points. On the bad side, the game is prone to button mashing. You can easily take out enemies simple by pushing the punch button in rapid succession, and unless you refuse to simply button mash, the multiple attacks to choose from can become useless and wasted hero points. Sometimes, enemies will block your attacks, but all you really have to do there is press the dodge button, then counter-attack them and beat the daylights out of them while still on the ground. There can be times where enemies will overwhelm you, and that’s when button mashing becomes futile, but this is on rare occasions. There is also “spider-reflex mode,” but this is essentially the “bullet time” we’ve all come to love, and like most games that use this, you will end up not using it a whole lot.

The graphics are yet another mixed bag. I don’t know what the story is on the Gamecube or Xbox versions, but [i]Spider-Man 2[/i] looks awful on the Playstation 2. Generally, things look all right from a far-off perspective, but it’s when you get up close when things get ugly. Character models look horribly blocky and jagged. When they talk, their lips don’t move, and when they move, they can start to twitch and spasm out of control. Because of this, cut scenes look pretty bad, not that it matters, since the game lets you skip over cut scenes, and if you’ve seen the movie, then you can simply skip over these without much worry. When the camera is far off, buildings and people look fairly good, although they leave a little to be desired, but in the end, the graphics could have been done so much better. The frame rate keeps up with the game fairly well, especially when swinging through the city. Spider-Man is probably the best-looking character in the game, whereas the main characters like Peter Parker and Otto Octavius look slightly like the real thing but not exactly, and the pedestrians look horrible.

Tobey Maguire and other actors voice their respecting characters. The dialogue is a little funky in [i]Spider-Man 2[/i]. Spider-Man usually says quirky little lines that sound pretty lame in the end. He seems to step out of the shy little nerdy character the movie sets up and into a more sarcastic tone, like the old comic books and animated series presents. Most of the dialogue coming from pedestrians, which mainly consists of asking for help, sounds weird as well, mainly because they sound like they are straight out of the old comic books. The music sounds pretty good, and is similar to what was in the first Spider-Man game and music from the movie. Bruce Campbell returns as the helping guide, and offers his sarcastic rambling throughout the game’s tutorial. It’s really up to the player to decide whether or not he is tolerable. The way he presents help throughout the game is unique, but there are probably some who find his presentation annoying to no ends.

[i]Spider-Man 2[/i] is yet another fairly decent movie-based game, but that’s not saying much. The web-swinging system is probably the best reason to play this game, although it isn’t an incentive for a purchase since it can become old after awhile. Everything else in the game is rather repetitive and gets old very quickly, and the graphic presentation is lacking at best. [i]Spider-Man 2[/i] will probably suit many people best as a rental, especially since the game can be completed in a fairly short amount of time. In the end, [i]Spider-Man 2[/i] is fairly dull and doesn’t do much to help the movie-based stereotype out.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance

February 6, 2006

PlayStation 2 / Reviews / by Chris Massey Make a comment! / Tweet it!

[i]Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty[/i] was released in 2001. Most gamers accepted it with open arms, being the sequel to a game that defined the stealth action genre and was one of the best games for the Playstation One. In 2002, [i]Sons of Liberty[/i] was remade for the Xbox, in the form of [i]Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance[/i]. [i]Substance[/i] added in many new features that, in truth, really should have been included in [i]Sons of Liberty[/i]. To many Playstation 2 owners, this may have seemed like a slap in the face, so Konami finally decided to release [i]Substance[/i] for the Playstation 2. Even though it is the same game as [i]Substance[/i] for the Xbox, it still seems like a slap in the face to some Playstation 2 gamers.

[i]Substance[/i] seemed perfectly at home on the Xbox since [i]Sons of Liberty[/i] was exclusive to the Playstation 2. On the Playstation 2 though, [i]Substance[/i] seems a little gimmicky, especially since it was designed to debut on another system. [i]Substance[/i] essentially has everything from [i]Sons of Liberty[/i], including the single-player Tanker/Plant campaign, and other additional options. [i]Substance[/i] differs from [i]Sons of Liberty[/i] by adding in around 500 different VR missions, as well as a rather clunky-feeling skateboarding mini-game. This makes [i]Substance[/i] seem like a waste for PS2 owners, since most people who own a PS2 and have an interest in the Metal Gear series played [i]Sons of Liberty[/i] around the time it was released.

This isn’t to say [i]Substance[/i] isn’t a good game, but since most people on the PS2 have played [i]Sons of Liberty[/i], it just makes it feel like a gimmick. If you are one of those people who never played [i]Sons of Liberty[/i], then [i]Substance[/i] is a great game, since you are getting the story-mode along with many extras players of the original didn’t receive. If you have played [i]Sons of Liberty[/i], then all you’re really getting is a couple changes, and while the VR missions are fairly enjoyable, they hardly seem worth paying the money for a game we all played a few years ago.

Like you’ve probably surmised, since [i]Substance[/i] is the remake of [i]Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty[/i], it also qualifies as the sequel to [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i] for the PS1. If you played [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i] back in 1998, then [i]Substance[/i] should feel fairly familiar to you. The biggest update in the player interface is the graphics haul, which updates [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i]’s pixilated graphics to a smoother looking form. Other than the graphics, most of the traits from [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i] have made their way back into its sequel. You control your character through a third person overhead viewpoint, using weapons in one hand and items like rations in the other hand.

It is best that a new player to [i]Substance[/i] isn’t informed of the storyline. The story takes so many twists and turns that revealing any information would reduce the impact of the cutscene or Codec transmission. [i]Substance[/i] begins with Solid Snake infiltrating a tanker with the assistance of his old friend from [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i], Otacon. The story shifts drastically from there, as any veteran Sons of Liberty player could tell you. Another important thing to know is that it is very crucial to have played [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i] before playing [i]Substance[/i]. Although you may understand some parts of the story, there are many references to Shadow Moses, Liquid Snake, and other things found in [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i] that will easily fly over the head of one who hasn’t played the prequel to [i]Sons of Liberty[/i].

The gameplay has seen some renovation from [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i], but for the most part, anyone who played the first will recognize the mechanics behind Substance easily. Substance introduces a first person gun viewpoint, which allows you to fire your gun at enemies and get clearer, more precise shots. Snake has been given a rolling technique, while Raiden has a cartwheel roll. Everything else in the game is, for the most part, rehashed from [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i].

There is a huge arsenal of new weapons at your disposal, not available in [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i]. The SOCOM handgun, Nikita missile launcher, and most of the weapons seen in [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i] make their return. [i]Substance[/i] adds in weapons such as the USP handgun, a PSG1-T sniper rifle, the AKSu-74 assault rifle, and many more. Many of the items found in [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i] return as well, such as the well-known cardboard box (which you can hide underneath), the magazine (which distracts guards with pictures of women), and the life-giving rations. [i]Substance[/i] also includes a new way of approaching your objective, by adding in the M9 tranquilizer pistol, and a tranquilizer version of the PSG1 sniper rifle. These allow you to take out enemies by putting them to sleep rather than killing or knocking them out.

[i]Sons of Liberty[/i] and [i]Substance[/i] both have more updated A.I. than that of [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i]. Guards are generally more responsive, tactical, and well, smarter. This doesn’t mean that the guards are geniuses, and they are actually a little dense in the sense that you can be standing on one side of the room, them looking straight at you, and not notice you. Still, the A.I. is good for a video game, even if it seems like they are dense. A couple new features have come up with the guards. A guard’s dead body no longer disappears after a few seconds, so now players will have to stow away any dead bodies so other guards cannot find them and raise their guard. Another new feature is that some guards call in to some unseen guard to report that all is normal. If you take out one of these guards, the unseen guard will soon radio in demanding why there is no response. No response will send in a guard team to investigate. These new features add to the tactical value of the game, and keep you thinking on your feet.

The Codec device returns from [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i]. The Codec serves as a communication tool to Non-Player Characters. Codec transmissions take place with two 3-D avatars speaking with each other through audio, along with subtitles. Codec transmissions take up just about as much time as cutscenes do, and at times, can be extremely lengthy. Of course, you can skip these, but you’ll be missing out on a big part of the story. At any rate, in the end, the voice acting and story make the transmissions enjoyable to watch. The Codec also allows you to save your game, and talk with other characters to get helpful tips on the given situation. The Codec is also accompanied by the radar, which you will find on the top right corner of your screen. The radar is an important factor in Substance, as it gives you a heads up on the enemy location, and their field of vision. You can turn the radar off, but it makes the game much more challenging.

The story takes up a good portion of [i]Substance[/i]’s campaign. In fact, the cutscenes and Codec transmissions add up to a little over three hours. At times, your controller may be on the ground for a while due to the lengthiness of some cutscenes. There are some periods in some cutscenes that let you interact with the environment, but this just seems like a way to keep you on you guard. As long as you don’t mind a long, story-driven game, then [i]Substance[/i] should be no problem, but if you like gameplay over cutscene, then you may not want to give [i]Substance[/i] a try, or any [i]Metal Gear[/i] game for that matter.

The voice acting is as stellar as ever. [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i] had some of the best voice acting ever seen in a game. In fact, it was one of the first games to include a great cast of voiceovers. The [i]Sons of Liberty[/i] story includes all the original cast (save for absent characters like Naomi Hunter and Mei Ling), including David Hayter playing Snake’s gruff voice, and Pat Zimmerman as returning character Revolver Ocelot. Christopher Randolph returns as Otacon, and Quinton Flynn plays new character Raiden. Some voices sound a little cheesy, especially Snake and Ocelot. The over-the-top story makes the cheesy voiceovers fit though, and they sound really nice in the end.

Now that the [i]Sons of Liberty[/i] part is complete, we’ll go over the new parts [i]Substance[/i] adds into the mix.

The VR missions are the biggest draw of [i]Substance[/i]. There are well near 500 VR missions. If you played [i]Metal Solid VR Missions[/i] for the Playstation, then the VR missions in [i]Substance[/i] will seem fairly familiar. You pick a character, mainly from Raiden and Solid Snake, and complete various scenarios in a Virtual Reality environment. Playing through missions unlocks more missions, and completing enough missions under one character will open another character up. The VR missions are enjoyable, but they hardly seem worth buying [i]Substance[/i] for alone. Of course, if you never played [i]Sons of Liberty[/i], then [i]Substance[/i] is a perfect buy, since you get the VR missions not available in the original.

There is also another new mode available in [i]Substance[/i], mentioned earlier: Skateboarding. Unlike the VR missions though, which are actually somewhat worth a purchase, the skateboarding aspect is not worth purchase of [i]Substance[/i], mainly because it is flimsy, and just seems like a gimmick. The skateboarding in [i]Substance[/i] is based off Konami’s [i]Evolution Skateboarding[/i], which got poor reviews at release due to sluggish controls and gameplay. All the traits that made [i]Evolution Skateboarding[/i] a failure make it into [i]Substance[/i]’s skateboarding, unfortunately. It is best if the skateboarding is left alone.

Aside from the other two new game modes, there are also five different “Snake Tales” in [i]Substance[/i]. These take Substance’s Plant story and replaces Raiden with Snake, altering parts of the story of course. Keep in mind these aren’t loaded with cutscenes; in fact, there aren’t any cutscenes at all. The small story is driven by text screens mainly. The “Snake Tales” are fairly enjoyable, but again, like the VR missions, don’t warrant a purchase alone.

[i]Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance[/i] is a great game. The only problem is, everyone has played the game back in 2001. The VR missions and gimmicky skateboard modes don’t really justify a purchase from a veteran of [i]Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty[/i]. If you never played [i]Sons of Liberty[/i], then [i]Substance[/i] is perfect for you. Problem is, if you didn’t played [i]Sons of Liberty[/i] at release, then chances are, you never played [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i], which contradicts the purchase of [i]Substance[/i]. If you’ve played [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i], and for some strange reason never played [i]Sons of Liberty[/i], then [i]Substance[/i] is a worthwhile purchase. If you have played [i]Sons of Liberty[/i], and simply must play the VR missions, then rent [i]Substance[/i], play through the VR missions, and your urge should curb.

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