Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Cloudchaser

The environments are amazing, when on the deck of the tank the rain effects are extremely lifelike, along with rain drops hitting the ship and characters.

GamePen

The best part of the whole thing is, you become so comfortable with the controls that the movements feel like a natural extension of your body. You’ll find your self ducking your head every time a bullet whizzes by you during a gunfight.

GamePro

MGS2 delivers everything it was teased, touted, hyped, and, in some circles, feared to be. It's easily one of the most memorable gaming experiences you're likely to have.

Into Liquid Sky

Anyone who comes away from this game with anything more than a few nitpicky complaints should just give up videogaming, period. Everything that this game does goes above and beyond the capability of the current competition and will easily set a bar for quality for years to come.

PSX Nation

Nearly everything in the game is interactive the way it would be in the real world whether it’s melting ice cubes to leaking flour bags. The detail is staggering.

Maxim Online

You’ll be more impressed that you can make Snake stare lecherously at a centerfold poster one minute, only to have him pop out and choke someone to death the next.

Total Video Games

A perfect balance between videogames and cinema.

All Game Guide

Looks beautiful, plays precisely, and has a complex, detailed plot that will tax your brain and maybe even have you questioning the greater truths of life. If that's not a game that qualifies for a perfect score, then no game possibly can.

Game Informer

From the attention to detail that went into the graphics to the sophistication of gameplay, Hideo Kojima and his team set out to create the perfect game, and the result is nothing short of this. [Dec 2001, p.84]

Official U.S. Playstation Magazine

I know everyone is expecting this game to be good, but I have to tell you I was shocked at how great it is. [Dec 2001, p.159]

Cinescape

Astoundingly beautiful. From the sunset, to the rain effects, to the guard animation - everything is very well done. There’s dynamic cloth effects, beautiful lighting and most importantly, some incredible textures to round it off. [Grade = A+]

GameShark

If you own a PS2 and you do not own and play through this game 100% you will forfeit your right to call yourself a game player and should trade in everything you own and become a monk.

Hot Games

The game is nearly perfect, with stunning graphics, great sound, and controls that enhance rather than detract from the overall cinematic experience.

Next Generation Magazine

A stunning creation, a tremendous achievement. [Jan 2002, p.73]

Core Magazine

MGS2 includes all kinds of incentive to play the game again and again, including the new collectable "Dog Tag" feature, but to be honest the real replay value lies with the beauty of the game.

Official Playstation 2 Magazine UK

A must-own, state-of-the-art tactical espionage stealth-a-thon. [Jan 2007, p.106]

GameZone

The graphics are virtually flawless, down to the smallest detail - the interactivity with your environment and the attention to detail will have most people playing through multiple times just so they can find every little secret.

GamingTrend

A masterpiece. The story and scope of MGS2 is much larger than the original and Kojima should be commended for creating a game that makes you feel like you are in the game. I never put this game down until I beat it.

IGN

One of the most interesting aspects of MGS2's gameplay, though, is the emphasis on nonviolence. For a game with such a huge arsenal of destructive implements, and such a horribly rich killing experience for the twisted among us, it honestly provides considerable opportunity and incentive to be a benevolent commando.

GameSpy

The experience will stay with you for a long time -- everything from the action to the masterful story...Game of the Year on PS2? No arguments here!

Electric Playground

At times, it's hard to tell where sincerity ends and irony begins--select Snake's cigarettes in the inventory list and you're provided with the helpful information that cigarettes are highly addictive and bad for your health. Not like, for example, guns or anything.

GamerWeb Sony

Not just a game, it's an experience, and well worth the three-year wait...It almost makes you wonder how Hideo Kojima might fare directing a movie based on the Metal Gear license.

Gamezilla!

If you’re wearing body armor just before you start a new part of the plot, you’ll see your character wearing it in the cut-scene as well. I feel that this effect really adds to the suspension of disbelief in MGS2 and helps it be that much more impressive.

GameSpot

Though you'll undoubtedly get swept up in the game's plot and be dazzled by its cinematics, it's the incredible story and the tense, enjoyable action at the heart of Metal Gear Solid 2 that make it so extraordinary.

Games Radar UK (Pre-2006)

A bit plot heavy, but that's a tiny criticism of one of the most inventive, ambitious and downright fun games to play, well, ever.[GamesMaster Magazine]

Electronic Gaming Monthly

It’s infinitely more polished, more playable, more replayable, better-looking, and just plain fun to run around and play than most anything else out there. [Jan 2002, p.212]

Gaming Maxx

Enjoyable, captivating, and thrilling.

Voodoo Extreme

A great game not only because it surpasses MGS1 in terms of graphics, sound, and control, but because it offers new and innovative gameplay.

Cheat Code Central

Some reviews are superfluous and this is one of them. If have played the first one, you'll play the sequel because you know it's going to be a quality product. Who cares what other people think anyway?

Absolute Playstation

Almost perfect - storyline notwithstanding.

Inside Gamer Online

It’s almost as fun to watch as it is to play.

Game Chronicles

Aside from the over-abundance of movies and com-link chatter, there is a really great game hidden on this DVD. The freedom to explore and ultimately play this game as you see fit within the confines of the parameters of the script is a great feature that offers excellent replay potential.

Gaming Age

A great game from a gameplay standpoint but fails pretty badly when it comes to the story. As a result, even though I've given it an A-, it turns out to be one of my biggest disappointments of the year.

Game Over Online

A testosterone soaked soap opera. With a storyline that will keep you deciding who to trust and what really is going on right up until the end, it’s a great bit of entertainment.

GMR Magazine

This highly anticipated sequel throws a real curveball early on in the game. It was probably the least confusing part of the story. [Feb 2003, p.92]

GameCritics

In a very Hitchcockian gesture Kojima structures the entire game around a plot twist no one will see coming and many might not even like. This kind of audience-foiling gutsiness is always a delight in my book.

Eurogamer

As stunning and enjoyable as ever. You may feel foolish gripping the controller throughout a 40-minute cut scene, but MGS2 is something which must be experienced.

Gamestyle

Truly astounding. Not tarnished at all by all the hype, and truly worth the wait.

Action Trip

The gameplay factor is much lower for MGS2.

Yahoo! Games

As good as this game is, as amazing as the graphics are, as fantastic as the audio is, as fun as it is to play, and as much as everyone loves Solid Snake, the obscene storyline virtually ruins everything.

G4 TV

MGS2 suffers in its story. I can't spoil it for you, but I can at least warn you to be prepared for a plot that frequently reaches levels of sheer absurdity.

TotalGames.net

SOL's storyline (and this is being generous) is woefully inept, consisting of such high-calibre nonsense that there's absolutely no point following it.