The Metal Gear Solid Master Collection is upon us, bringing three beloved stealth classics to modern systems. Although the Konami franchise is now decades old, the cinematic storytelling of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty featured groundbreaking themes ahead of its time.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is generally viewed less fondly today. The sequel was a huge deal in 2001 as the world eagerly awaited a follow-up to Hideo Kojima’s previous masterpiece. But opinion quickly soured as the game went into some unexpected places. For starters, the initial tanker segment at the beginning of the game was short, with protagonist Solid Snake swiftly swapped out for a newcomer: Raiden. The story soon got strange as Raiden’s mission went on odd tangents. Eventually, his support team began talking in riddles and demanding he turn the game console off.
However, this weirdness is exactly why Metal Gear Solid 2 is my favorite release in the franchise. It’s a unique title that challenges the player’s preconceived notions about video games, sometimes in the most direct way possible. Its late-stage revelations are some of the most thought-provoking moments I’ve ever experienced in this medium. It also somehow managed to be a harsh criticism of today’s political landscape, a whole 20 years ahead of time. With the release of the Master Collection on October 24, 2023, it’s the best time to re-examine what Kojima’s sequel was trying to achieve.
As noted by Hideo Kojima himself, each of the Master Collection trilogy focuses on a different theme. The first game was the “Gene” game, with genetic manipulation as a key plot point. The third was the “Scene” game, which focused on how our environment shapes us. Metal Gear Solid 2 was the “Meme” game, and not just because of people quoting, “we managed to avoid drowning” years later. In its original meaning, a meme is a concept, or an idea passed down from person to person. Metal Gear Solid 2 expresses this by questioning the nature of information and how its spread can be manipulated.
In Metal Gear Solid 2, information in the United States is controlled by the Patriots, a series of artificial intelligence. They control what the population sees according to their whims and influence political decisions at every level of government. The Patriots have unchecked power and no accountability to humans, even those who created them.
It’s not hard to spot the parallels to the world of algorithm-driven social media that we live in today. From Facebook to TikTok and YouTube, we are bombarded with content based on automated systems with minimal human input. Even Google engineers have admitted they don’t fully know how their own algorithm works. These systems are open to abuse, allowing conspiracy theories and disturbing content to filter through and warp the information around us.
We see this throughout Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Raiden is lied to about the nature of his mission constantly. His mission on the Big Shell is a sham, a marine-based LARP of MGS1’s Shadow Moses mission, designed to train him to be a super soldier like the legendary Solid Snake. Even his girlfriend is manipulating him, hired by the Patriots to monitor his every move. His trauma from serving as a child soldier is preyed upon to facilitate this, in a manner not unlike some corners of modern social media, steering broken young men down their own paths of violence.
While the switch to Raiden as the protagonist was controversial at the time, this focus on misinformation is vital to why it was necessary. While Snake’s previous missions haven’t always given him all the information, he is still a veteran able to draw on his own experience to move through a mission. Raiden is a rookie and much more reliant on the guidance of others, making him the perfect candidate for this kind of manipulation.
It also allows the presence of Raiden to become its own meta-commentary on the nature of false information. The game’s own marketing campaign was full of lies of its own. Not only did Raiden make no appearance in any pre-release material, but magazines also carried false screenshots of Snake running around the Big Shell as the playable character. Kojima manipulated the audience into expecting more Metal Gear Solid, while the final game defied those expectations.
However, this shift allowed Snake himself to take on a new role, one that offered a way past the manipulation. The first thing Raiden learns about Solid Snake is something we know to be false. Through playing the tanker segment, we know Snake isn’t a terrorist despite being told he is. It’s the smoking gun leading us to question everything else we hear from this point.
Snake’s presence on the Big Shell is a problem. He and Otacon persistently dig up information that exposes the lies of the Patriots, causing the whole thing to collapse. Snake becomes a new voice of reason. He helps Raiden make sense of the confusion he suffers after learning how much of what he knew was a lie. In a powerful ending speech, he reminds Raiden that in a world of lies, he must find his own truth.
“Don’t obsess over words so much. Find the meaning behind the words. You can find your own name and your own future.”
Metal Gear Solid 2 is often overshadowed by the first and third games in the trilogy. However, it remains the most prophetic game in the series, offering an eerie reflection of the world we find ourselves in 20 years on. The Master Collection offers a chance for old and new players to examine this weirder entry in the series in a new light. One that not only predicted today’s problems but, through Snake’s final speech, offers possible solutions.
The Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 will launch on October 24, 2023, across various platforms, including the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
