Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
North American cover art
Developer(s)	Konami Computer Entertainment Japan
Publisher(s)	Konami
Director(s)	Hideo Kojima
Producer(s)	Hideo Kojima
Designer(s)	Hideo Kojima
Programmer(s)	Kazunobu Uehara
Artist(s)	Yoji Shinkawa
Writer(s)	Hideo Kojima Tomokazu Fukushima
Composer(s)	Norihiko Hibino Harry Gregson-Williams
Series	Metal Gear
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2 Xbox (Substance) Microsoft Windows (Substance) PlayStation 3 (HD) Xbox 360 (HD) PlayStation Vita (HD)
Release date(s)	November 12, 2001 PS2 NA: November 12, 2001 JP: November 29, 2001 EU: March 8, 2002 Substance Xbox NA: November 4, 2002 EU: March 7, 2003 PS2 & Windows JP: December 19, 2002 (PS2) NA: March 3, 2003 (PS2) NA: March 27, 2003 (PC) EU: March 28, 2003 HD Edition PS3 & Xbox 360 NA: November 8, 2011 JP: November 23, 2011 EU: February 3, 2012 AU: February 16, 2012 PS Vita NA: June 12, 2012 JP: June 28, 2012 EU: June 29, 2012 AU: July 5, 2012
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, stealth
Mode(s)	Single-player

Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	95.09%
Metacritic	96/100
Review scores
Publication	Score
AllGame
CVG	9/10
Edge	8/10
EGM	38.5/40
Famitsu	38/40
Game Informer	10/10
GamePro
Game Revolution	A
GamesMaster	96%
GameSpot	9.6/10
GameSpy
GamesRadar	96/100
GameZone	9.8/10
IGN	9.7/10
OPM (US)
OPM (UK)	10/10
PSM	10/10
PSM3	96%
GameNOW	A+
Gamer.tv	9.6/10
Gaming Target	9.9/10
Just Adventure	A
Maxim
Next Generation
The Electric Playground	9.7/10

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is an action-adventure stealth game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 in 2001. It is the fourth Metal Gear game written and directed by Hideo Kojima and serves as the direct sequel to the original Metal Gear Solid. An expanded edition, titled Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, was released the following year for Xbox and Microsoft Windows in addition to the PS2.

The story revolves around the "Big Shell", a massive offshore clean-up facility that has been seized by a group of terrorists who call themselves the "Sons of Liberty". They demand a massive ransom in exchange for the life of the President of the United States, and threaten to destroy the facility and create a cataclysmic environmental disaster if their demands are not met. The motives and identities of many of the antagonists and allies change throughout the course of the game, as the protagonists discover a world-shaking conspiracy constructed by a powerful organization known as the Patriots.

While the game received universal acclaim for its gameplay, graphics, and its extreme attention to detail, both fans and critics were divided on the new protagonist and the philosophical nature and execution of the game's storyline, which explores themes such as memetics, social engineering, political conspiracies, censorship, artificial intelligence, existentialism, free will, postmodernism and post-truth politics. The game's reputation has improved over the years and it is now considered to be one of the greatest video games ever made. The game has shipped over 7 million copies worldwide and scored an average Metacritic aggregate score of 96%, making it one of the highest-rated games of all time.