Movie Review: John Wick

"People keep asking me if I'm back, yeah I'm thinking I'm back"
Shit happens and when it rains it pours, this is the case for John Wick, his wife dies, he gets a puppy, he gets knocked the fuck out in his house at night during a home invasion, his puppy is killed, his sweet 69 Mustang Mach 1 gets stolen.
I'm gonna be honest, there isn't much most women will find entertaining about this movie John Wick is 100% testosterone, from the cars, the music, the women (yeah I'm lookin at you Ms Perkins) to the gun fight in the club! That scene in the club could've felt long and overdrawn but didn't the pace was just right and the way they edited the action to the music was perfect!
Michael Nyqvist was fantastic and oozed confidence till the end I loved the scene where he explains to his son who John Wick is, and again the editing between that scene and Keanu "digging up his past" was perfectly done...."that fuckin nobody is John Wick" "He's the one you send to kill the fucking boogey man".
That scene could've come across so cheesy and roll your eyes bad but Nyqvist knocked it out of the park with utter believeability.


The idea of a hotel that caters to assassins and is where they congregate during jobs or between was a refreshing idea.
All in all I think John Wick has potential for growth similar to Jason Bourne, It would've been cool if they were able to put some cameo's in the continental such as Mat Damon, Daniel Craig, Robert DeNiro (Ronin), etc.

Lets not forget Keanu was Neo and Neo was the fucking man in the Matrix trilogy even when Reloaded and Revolutions didn't live up to expectations.  Keanu has not been on his A game since the Matrix trilogy but this movie should give his career a boost of momentum. And for the record I enjoyed 47 Ronin I think Keanu was a terrific Jedi Master Kai.....
B+
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Movie Review: Edge of Tommorrow

Based on the manga All You Need is Kill EoT stars Tom Cruise as Major William Cage aka Keiji Kiriya and Emily Blunt as Rita Vrataski (Full Metal Bitch).
The movie follows the basic premise of the manga but definitely deviates heavily in certain area's....especially the ending!
The editing was well done, it clearly explains the looping without alot of exposition and adds some levity to an other wise nightmarish situation that is meant to emulate D-Day and the Normandy Landings.
The idea of Live, Die, Repeat is all to familiar to any gamer and watching Cruise map out step by step the way off the beach reminded me of the good ol days when the only save point was at the END of the level....ah Mega Man....good times, good times.
The mimics were a bit tricky to make out due in part to their speed but also because of the frenetic pace of the action in the battle scenes. They did remind me quite a bit of the squidies from the matrix trilogy.
EoT was entertaining and Cruise did his thing, he seems to have found his niche with these action/sci fi lite movies. I think if they had cast an unknown actor that resembled the main protagonist from the manga it would've been just as good. Emily Blunt, lets just say if they ever make a live action Appleseed movie she is the perfect choice to play Deunan Knute!
I loved watching Bill Paxton, he was totally channeling Private Hudson....had he survived LV 426.
If you get the opportunity read the manga....
B-

Retro review CastleVania II: Simons Quest

One year after the original Castlevania was released, Konami followed it up with the first sequel, Simon's Quest. Like many NES sequels (SMB2), Simon's Quest didn't follow the original game's mechanics, Konami altered the platforming/action game play of Castlevania by adding RPG elements. Originally collecting hearts was simply for the amount you could use your sub weapon, in Simon's Quest collecting hearts also contributed to building your health bar and was used as the games monetary system. The game also adds NPC's to purchase items and weapons and get clues to next objectives.

One of the most prominent changes in Simon's Quest was the exploration aspect which had the player traveling the Transylvania countryside to find five mansions to reclaim five body parts of Count Dracula; his rib cage, heart, eye, nail and ring (not a body part). Each of these items had special attributes to help Simon on his....erm quest, the rib (cage) could be used as a shield, the heart was used to make the ferryman take you to an otherwise inaccessible area, the eyeball showed hidden items, the nail enables Simon's whip to break thru some walls that were otherwise inaccessible, and Dracula's Ring grant's the bearer access to Castlevania.

Other noteworthy new aspects of Castlevania II was the game had a quasi 24 hour clock that shifted from day to night and kept track of the players progress. The game also had three different endings based on the completion time which was pretty rare for console games at that time.

I remember being very excited on my way home from Software Etc. back in the day when I got Castlevania II and being a bit turned off at the radical change from the original, I also remember struggling with some of the games "puzzles" such as finding Rover Mansion under Yuba Lake and passing over Deborah Cliff to reach Bodley Mansion. I remember getting very frustrated because the info the NPC's gave me either was misleading or altogether useless...I think that can be attributed to poor English localization. Konami took a risk by departing so dramatically from the original; Simons's Quest may not have been perfect but it paved the way for one of the most popular titles in the series...Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Castlevania II had enough fresh idea's added to the core action to keep fans of the original cracking that whip, and the next Castlevania would see a return to the series roots and introduce one of the series most popular protagonists...that wasn't a Belmont!

8/10

Movie Review: Iron Man

Keep it simple, thats what Marvel Studios did with Iron Man and in my opinion it worked, for an origins movie Iron Man did a good job of re-inventing the super hero for the 21st century. I am not familiar with Iron Man's comic origins but I don't think militant muslims were in the first issue. On the other hand Obadiah Stane and Iron Monger feels like it might have been. So a blending of current events and comic fan service worked well.
I enjoyed this movie so much I saw it one and a half times.....no actually the first time the fire alarm went off while Tony Stark was in the lab hovering over his car collection testing the second suit! Nice job Clearview Cinema's on Main St. in Port Washington!
Interestingly my wife was not enjoying the movie up to that point, but was glued to her seat from that point forward.
The movie really kicks into overdrive once Tony takes the new suit for a test drive,and the pace doesn't slow down from there. The scene with the YF-22's was as cool as the trailer leads you to believe!
Jeff Bridges does a terrific job portraying the evil corporate tycoon Obadiah Stane, my wife never saw the double cross coming...c'mon the name alone ressonates bad guy! Everytime Bridges put his arm around Downey Jr. I cringed. Terrance Howard as Rhodey did a great job also, don't drink the sake LMAO! great scene, I almost expected mini me to appear. Gwyneth Paltrow was a great choice as Pepper Potts, I liked her character, strong, independent and yet, like Tony, alone. Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark, when I first heard about the casting I still had a terrible aftertaste from Spiderman 3. But thankfully I was wrong! RDJ was a better choice for Tony Stark than Tobey Maguire was for Peter Parker. The entire cast did a great job and were perfect choices to represent the comic book characters.
I doubt Iron Man will make the box office numbers that Spidey 3 did, unforunately because it was much more enjoyable.
Iron Man is a good start to the summer movie season and worth the price of admission.
For more Iron Man goodness check out the movie's website http://ironmanmovie.marvel.com/

B+

Doomsday 2 minute preview

Every time I see footage of this movie I expect to see Mel Gibson but Rhona Mitra will do fine! This movie seems like a blatant clone of Mad Max, which might not be a bad thing but the little voices in my head are telling me this movie will not be as good. I'm also getting a 28 days later vibe from the trailer.The Aston Martin is hot but I sense car commercial in movie sydrome. I shall reserve judgement until I see it, now how will I convince the wife to come along.....





http://www.doomsdayiscoming.com/


2 minutes from the new film Doomsday - Watch more free videos

Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Teaser Trailer

Check it out! I've unearthed the first teaser trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! We get a glimpse at all Indy's other adventures and a few brief shots of Indiana meeting the US Army, I'm guessing on campus. Another shot shows Indy at a US Air Force Base...my guess Roswell New Mexico. And we also see Indy returning to that government warehouse where the Ark of the Covenant is stored, Perhaps it's at Roswell? And a couple shots of Cate Blanchett in the warehouse also. And what's in that crate marked top secret? The time frame is 1947 and at 1:38 seconds we see Indy swing into someone and kick him thru a window in what looks like a testing room and is that a jet engone on the floor? I have a feeling we're gonna get some laughs from the roswell scenes like our jet engine technology DID come from aliens!
Here's my theory on how the movie will flow...
Indy @ University, Indy gets "picked up" by the US government, US government needs Indy's expertise about some ancient civilization, Indy's brought to Roswell, Russians try to steal that top secret crate in the warehouse, Indy's travels to South America to find something....Yeah it's vague but that's all I got for now.
Fortune and Glory kid, fortune and glory....

Movie Review: Dragon Wars

My sincerest apologies to anyone who paid money to see this in the theaters, or bought this steaming pile of excrement on DVD! Fortunately I borrowed a copy from a co worker and still felt violated after sitting thru *most* of it....I couldn't do it man, it's that bad!

I remember sitting home on Sunday afternoon's as a kid watching channel 11's Godzilla flick, I loved Godzilla and his crazy monster pals like Jet Jaguar and King Ghidora even the newer Heisei and Milenium series are fun to watch as an adult.

This movie tanks on every level; acting is atrocious, the actors must've been desperate for a paycheck, the audio sync is off throughout the movie, the CG serpents stand out like a sore thumb, there is no sensible transition between scenes...perfect example big battle in down town LA, segways to a scene where the lead female is tied down on a sacrafical altar in front of the tower of Orthank from LotR: TTT! O.o WTF!? The evil villan looks like he belongs in a Mortal Kombat movie. Lets go back to the battle in LA for a moment, an army of CGI clones obviously inspired by 300 and the LotR trilogies just show up in LA riding veloceraptors and lumbering lizards with rocket launchers strapped to their back and what looked suspiciously similar to Nazgul wyrms.

The military comes to the rescue when the proverbial shit hits the proverbial fan with tanks chopers and fully auto assault rifles....but they loose! O.o

There was absolutely nothing special about the special effects in this action packed part of D-Wars

Apache Helicopters flying top speed thru a metropolitan area doing 90 degree turns to evade the Nazg....baby dragons. Gawd Awful!!!

This movie makes Snakes on a Plane look like Shakespeare.

F-

Army of Two Preview

Back when I posted Free Swims top 8 games of 08 to look out for my friend CJ asked why I didn't include Army of Two. It's an original title from EA which will also be available for X360.

If you are old enough to remember games like Contra and Ninja Assasins in the arcade then you'll love this game, you and a friend can take command of Rios and/or Salem and tactically fight your way thru a myriad of global hotspots to complete missions. The aircraft carrier level grabbed my interest! Basically you're not gonna be able to run n gun thru the levels, tactics and agro are the name of this game....no AoT isn't a MMO. From what I've read, one way to achieve victory is to have one member build agro and get the enemies attention while the other sneakes past the enemy to flank them. Another interesting aspect that I've read about is healing your injured comrade, healing is crucial for survival and is acomplished via on screen promps similar to GoW. There will be an online multiplayer mode 2V2 I believe.

I'm always open to guest reviews CJ, so if you get AoT feel free to post your review here. ^^

Movie Review: The Kingdom

I dragged my wife to see The Kingdom, she hadn't heard of it, and if it weren't for word of mouth at work I probably would've overlooked it also. After checking out the 4 minute intro at [url=http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/thekingdom.html?showVideo=1]Yahoo Movies[/url] I was really interested to see more. The story takes place after terrorist attack inside a Western housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, FBI Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Jaime Foxx) assembles a team Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, and Chris Cooper and negotiates a five-day trip into Saudi Arabia to locate the people responsible for the bombing. Once there they find their efforts hindered by the local protocol. With the help of Colonel Al-Ghazi (Ashraf Barhoum) the team begins their investigation.
I really liked this movie, it felt very similar to Black Rain, Cops/FBI go to Japan/Saudi Arabia to solve crime. Fueled by anger looking for revenge their progress is hindered by local authorities modus operandi. They team up with Masahiro/Al-Ghazi to solve the crime. This is not a bad thing as I really enjoyed Black Rain.The movies intro is interesting and helps set up what transpires next. The attack on the compound will grab the audience I guarantee it! The movie does a good job of keeping the audience on their guard, throughout the movie there's a sense of danger where ever Jaime Foxx and his FBI team are. The sets are very impressive, you'll be hard pressed to tell the movie wasn't shot in Saudi Arabia....if it weren't for common sense. The compound scene is eerily similar to many locations we've seen on TV that have been attacked by terroroists. I haven't seen too many movies with Jaime Foxx but I was genuinely impressed with him in this movie, Chris Cooper had a background role, Jennifer Garner more than redeemed herself for Elektra, one fight scene she's in was just as crazy as any fight scene in any of the Bourne movies, and Jason Bateman supplied the laughs and the horror....you'll understand what I mean if you watch the movie.The last 30 mins of the movie is balls to the wall intense! That's all I'll say, go see for yourself! What I really liked was the message that the movie gives us, violence begets violence.

B+

Movie Review: Transformers

As a kid that grew up in the 80's, I was lucky to be blessed with such animated masterpieces such as Voltron, Robotech, Galaxy High, Thunder Cats, Jem and the Holograms, Dungeons & Dragons, GI Joe, and Transformers! Of all those classic cartoons one grabed kids imagination more than any other and it was the Transformers, not only were the toys really cool but the show was great, at least it was when I was a kid with an over active imagination.

The battle between the valiant Autobots and the evil Decepticons has raged for over 3 decades, been made into an animated feature length film, has had multiple comic adaptations and has now been brought back to the silver screen in a live action summer blockbuster ($309,420,425)! Not bad considering Optimus Prime was going up against Spidey and Jack Sparrow, but that might of been part of the reason Transformers did such phenomenal sales at the box office. I had been following the news of this movie since June of 2003 over at PDT and the feelings of Trans-fans stretched the spectrum from avid disgust at not being faithful to the canon to childish glee at seeing their favorite childhood cartoon coming to celuloid reality.

I fell somewhere in the middle, cautiously optimistic, and after seeing it I can say it did what needed to be done. It told a story of transforming beings from the planet Cybertron that came to Earth to find a source of energy. The Autobots lead by Optimus Prime and the Decepticons commanded by Megatron,a boy named Witwicky who befriends the Autobots and giant robots kicking the crap outta each other. All the rest was filler to grab as many Trans-noobs as possible...apparently it worked! My only complaint about the movie is John Turturo, he might be a great actor, but for the love of Cybertron, what script was he given!? If I could I'd cut every single scene with sector seven and replace it with some Decepticon transmissions with Cybertron. That is all I will say about the movie's short comings because it's a fun movie that will grab your attention with it's squirel-on-crack pace. And the work ILM did on the visuals was as impressive as the T-Rex in JP when I first saw that!

I did apreciate the fan service sprinkled throughout like, "One shall stand, one shall fall" and "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings".

The special transforming DVD case from Target is also pretty cool, too bad DW sold out to Microsoft because there are alot of consumers who would've bought it on Blu-ray, my self included.

Some fun extras to bring fans back to their childhood and show new fans how rich the Transformers mythos goes.

Looking forward to T2!

B+

Game Review: God of War

What do you get when you put your VHS tape of Clash of the Titans and CastleVania in the blender and hit puree? You get served God of War! This action/adventure game looks promising the game engine looks inspired by Konomi's Vamp slayer in Rygars realm of Greek Mythos. God of War is like a great book, you find yourself unable to put the controller down because you want to find out what happens next. The story of Kratos plays out like a Tarantino film, the begining is the end is the begining. Speaking of Kratos, he one bad ass MFer! He'd give Snake a run for his money in the "coolest game character" catagory. The games starts off mercilessly with Kratos battling the minions of Ares in the Agean Sea, and the first boss fight seals the deal that this is no CastleVania clone! The game employs a fighting engine similar to Parappa the Rappa & DDR get the sequence/timing correct and you'll pull off some impressive kills. Kratos can acquire new attacks for the Blades of Chaos by collecting blood orbs which are obtained by killing monsters, breaking objects such as pottery and statues, and opening chests. And speaking of chests (ATTENTION PARENTS), GoW is the first game I've played where there is totally topless, women in bed together plain as day. This is not some "hot coffee" secret, it is at the beginning of the second chapter and if you want to get some "expirience" hop in bed with the ladies and give em some hot Spartan luvin.... After the story unfolds a little and you realize Kratos' motivation the game becomes even more enjoyable, the action never lets up but story is what drives this title from an average action platformer to an exceptional addition to your library, it doesn't hurt either that the main character is one badass anti hero. The graphics are above par and the level design is fantastic, some areas trully help redefine the typical platformer and the sense of scope reaches new hights literaly and figuratively. One instance that comes to mind is while scaling a wall on the Temple of Pandora you'll spot the Titan Cronus, you'll suddenly realize just how high up you are. God of War also has an air of exploration that is reminiscent of Tomb Raider that can payoff, and the puzzles in the game actually seem intelligent and serve a purpose. I just completed one last night that had me sacrafice an innocent man trapped in a cage, ever see Temple of Doom? Flame On indeed!God of War also has a fantastic soundtrack that adds to the drama within the game and makes the whole experience more cinematic. If you have a decent home theater this game will sound incredible.

9/10

Game Review: CastleVania: Lament of Innocence

Welcome back to the 12th century, time to go to work cracka Belmont! Konami brings us the next instalment....the supposed origin of the Belmont legacy. Leon Belmont surrenders his title as knight and disobeys the church mandate in order to rescue is kidnapped love Sara (coughsupermariobroscoughcough). News of her kidnapping is given by long time friend Mathias Conqest (sp?) who has gone bedridden after the loss of his love Elizabetha. Our hero to be sets off to a castle said to be cursed by a Vampire (lets lay it all out in the first 5 minutes and leave no surprises for later) to slay the Vampire.....Ok I have around 50% of the castle explored and I have only fought 1 boss! Either Ikuaragii has a SOTN surprise up his sleeve (50%=25% ) or this game is seriously lacking in the boss fight department! I guess since this IS the true begining of the CastleVania Legacy Drac hasn't recruited to many beasties yet I remember back when the original CastleVania came out I was in 8th grade and some kid had a graduation party at his house, later in the evening we slid the cartridge into the 'ol NES and played till the sun came up! We played till we died then passed the controller to the next guy, we finally got to Dracula at like 3am! Back then the 2 sprite Simon Belmont was amazing! The castle seemed enormous and the bosses were tough! Next to SOTN the original castle was like a Burger King play pen for the kiddies! Each new CastleVania has outdone the prior in size and depth. So how do you outdo SOTN?! You go where no Belmont has gone before..........the 3rd dimension! This isn't the first time CastleVania has entered the 3rd dimension, Konami ventured there years ago on the N64.....but lets try and forget those dark days Lament of Innocence is a tremendous first step into the 3D realm for the series which feels so right in 2D. The environments are alive (so to speak) with all the aspects that make this series so great, the ambient sounds, the haunting soundtrack, the attention to detail for each of the hundreds of minions, and the authentic look and feel of the castle. The game plays smoothly and control is tight and responsive, but there are a few problems with the control setup in my opinion. First off using the right analog stick to bring up an items menu doesn't work well, I don't know how many times while in the middle of a fight against hordes of badies I accidently opened a real time menu. Being that it's a RT menu I'm still being attacked while I fumble to close the menu and not use an item by mistake. Then we come to the relics and orbs.....hard to find? yes! Confusing interface? Yep. Fun to toggle while playing in RT? Nope. To set your relic (I've only found 2) you use the R2 button in RT to bring up the window then the right analog stick to rotate to the relic of choice, and for magic orbs the R1 button.... There is no doubt in my mind this castle is enourmous, and that even though it says I've explored 50% of it, I expect to find plenty of secret areas once I've collected the remaining relics and orbs. Now this may have me returning back to previously explored areas, and slaying hordes of lizardmen and skeletons, which in the past wasn't an issue. But now that the castle is broken up into "levels" thru a central hub you lose the feel of exploring one enourmous castle but that's really a minor issue. Lament of Innocence is a great game that may be dismissed prematurely by hardcore Vania fans looking for the next Symphony of the Night, beautiful environments, spectacular soundtrack, classic gameplay in a new 3D realm done well.


7/10

Game Review: Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven

Live by Honor. Kill by Stealth.That's the name of the game with Tenchu:WoH, the third installment in the series. When this game first appeared on the PS1 it was overshadowed by another stealth game, Metal Gear Solid, unfortunately Ayame & Rikimaru couldn't compete with Solid Snake. A few years later and a new console This ninja duo reappear in a game that from title screen to ending credits is simply beautiful!I'm not gonna give you the synopsis of the story, but basically you choose one of two playable characters and thru stealth you kill your enemies to reach Tenrai an evil ??? who is trying to conquer 16th century Japan by collecting three mysterious stones (Earth, Heaven, Fire).I was extremely inpressed with Activisions attention to detail! The level designs are gorgeous, with incredible partical effects such as glowing candles in caverns, snow falling in the bamboo forest, and the way leaves danced around in temple courtyards. The sound and music are right on and add to the entire experience.Tenchu also does a great job with your Ki meter (stealth meter), this little meter is crucial if you plan on getting any where in this game! I tells you which direction your foe is walking, what pace he is moving at, and how aware or unaware he/she is of your presence. Your Ki meter will help you perform stealth kilss on those poor unsuspecting guards around a corner, speaking of stealth kills....WOW Now that is COOL! I've leapt off a cliff wrapped my legs around a guard a twisted his head around 180 degrees then launched off his corpse while kicking in his head! Here's where some people have issues with the game.....enemy AI (some bosses have pathetically obvious patterns) , personally I found the game well rounded in this area I only wish there was a greater variety of "human" enemies. Those undead zombie dawrves are insanely eery! As you progress thru the game you collect new ninja items like caltrops, poison rice balls, shurikens, new daggers and swords, fireworks (distraction), and new ninja abilities like cling to ceiling (limited time) new killing techniques and more! The game has more than enough replay value with mission scoring and 3 versions of each level, 2 different characters and 1 unlockable character with intertwining stories, a co-op mode for you and your ninja buddy, and a versus mode as well! All in all well worth the 50 bucks.

8/10

Game Review: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

The story of Metal Gear Solid 2: SoL begins high above the Hudson River on the upper level of the GWB, a shadowy figure walks along in the pouring rain as cars zip by, they're lights casting a red and white haze illuminating the bridge. Suddenly the figure breaks into a sprint and disappears as the poncho he was wearing is cast aside. Thermoptic camouflage warps his surroundings as he leaps over the side and plummets to the tanker passing below....
The bungee cord slows the mysterious figure as he descends towards the tanker, he cuts the cord and lands on the forward most section of the ship, lightning crackles and breaks the darkness of the rainy night. The man gets to his feet and we see that it's Solid Snake, hero of the Shadow Moses incident.
After a short communique with Otacon on familiarizing him with his weapons and gear (smokes) you embark on your mission. To locate and document the existence of a new type of Metal Gear constructed by the US Marines. An amazing beginning to the sequel to one of the best PS1 games, the whole mission on the tanker really shows the power of the PS2, Snake looks even better even sporting a mullet and scruff and the movements much more fluid that in MGS1.
The game retains all the familiarities of the series like the radar, enemy field of vision,camera angle, the codec and frequencies, weapons and items are accessed via the L2/R2 buttons. The first person view mode is now entered by holding R1 button and now you can shoot, fight H2H, put the enemy in a choke hold, lean left or right and sidestep.
The enemy AI in MGS2 is more intuitive also, they work as a team once once they spot you or a downed comrade, they'll sweep an entire room...including the lockers and air ducts!
Your first boss fight is against Olga Gurlukovich, daughter of Colonel Sergei Gurlukovich of the GRU, armed with only an M9 tranquilizer gun. MGS2 challenges the player to find non lethal ways of neutralizing your enemies and rewards you for not killing.Kudos to Hideo Kojima.
MGS2 is split into two separate chapters, the first being the mission aboard the tanker, trying to get photographic evidence of the existence of a new Metal Gear. Things take a turn for the worse when Revolver Ocelot shows up and betrays Col. Gurlukovich and steals (takes back) Metal Gear Ray. As the cut scene continues we discover Revolver Ocelot or Shalashaska has had a new hand grafted onto his arm. This was the first sign that MGS2 was going to be.......different.
The first chapter ends with Liquid Ocelot stealing Metal Gear Ray and the destruction of the tanker in the Hudson river. Were the Internet rumors true? Did Hideo Kojima Kill Snake?
The second chapter of MGS2 begins two years after the tanker tragedy. A large refinery,Big Shell, has been built where the tanker sank to contain the oil spill. Snake enters the Big Shell using FoxHound's skull suit. While communicating to Colonel Cambell via codec we discover the Big Shell has been taken over by the seal anti terrorist group Dead Cell, now known as the Sons of Liberty and they are holding President James Johnson (former Vice President under George Sears) hostage, and that their leader is non other than Solid Snake! So if Snake is the leader of the Sons of Liberty who is this New Foxhound agent?
Get ready for one of the biggest mind screws in video game history...
The main character isn't Solid Snake, it's Jack, code name Raiden. Raiden is as green as they get, he has hundreds of hours in VR training and has completed the Shadow Moses Incident in VR.....kinda like YOU, holding the controller. Better strap yourself in and put on your thinking caps because MGS2 is gonna take you on one of the most mind screwing rollercoaster rides ever.
Once Raiden begins the operation he is introduced to his support team that consists of Colonel Campbell and Rosemary a data analyst for the US army and....Raidens girlfriend. A Navy Seal team has also been sent in to rescue the President but they are unaware of Raidens presence on Big Shell. Soon after Raiden reaches Big Shell he meets up with Lt. J.G Plisken, the sole survivor of seal team Alpha. Throughout the mission Plisken assists Raiden, but he also gets help from some other familiar faces like Hal Emerich (Otacon), and a mysterious ninja cyborg codename Mr. X that is very reminisent of grey fox.
The story unfolds in a similar fashion as MGS1, a rogue black ops team takes over a facility and holds hostages demanding a ransom. This turns out to be one of the intertwined story archs in MGS2:SoL, the S3, more on that later....
Along with that basic storyline there is actually a very intelligent, subplot that conspiracy theorists will really sink their teeth into, the secret society of The Patriots. Many things are revealed to Raiden when he finally finds President Johnson, the truth about the Big Shell, the the AI super computer code named GW, and the Patriots a shadowy organization that is the true power of the United States.
There is alot more going on than Raiden was aware of! After failing his primary objective Raiden and Solid Snake focus on stopping Solidus Snake (ex president George Sears), and the secret 3rd child of the 1972 Les Enfants Terribles project, leader of Dead Cell and the latest weapon of mass destruction Arsenal Gear created by The Patriots.
Meet the Snakes....
If you thought that was alot of information to absorb, hold onto your thinking caps! MGS3 comes to a screaching cresendo when all the players are face to face on Arsenal Gear as it is headed on a collision course with lower manhattan! Ex Presidents George Sears mastermined the whole Shadow Moses incident with help from Revolver Ocelot to get Metal Gear REX so he could destroy the Patriots, the Patriots were the ones who put George Sears in office and were the ones who forced him to resign. George Sears aka Solidus Snake planned on destoying the AI super computer onboard Arsenal Gear to "free" Americans from the Patriots manipulation of all information and thus the manipulation of "free" will, otherwise known as "Selection for Societal Sanity", or "S3 Plan".
But Solidus is betrayed by Ocelot, who reveals himself to be a Patriot operative, but Ocelot (son of the Sorrow & the Boss) begins to loose himself to Liquid Snake via the grafted forearm. Before Ocelot is completely over taken he reveals that Raidens entire mission was orcestrated by the Patriots S3 Plan otherwise known as the Solid Snake Simulation which was an intricately controlled test to reenact the events of the Shadow Moses Incident and see if Raiden could be made into a "clone" of Solid Snake.
And Solid Snake aka Iroqois Plisken finally about to stop Ocelot and Metal Gear Ray once again finds himself face to face or should I say Face to hand with Liquid Snake once he overtakes Ocelot...on some genetic level. Liquid boards Metal Gear Ray on a mission to destroy the Patriots and Solid Snake follows Liquid into Manhattan harbor.
Hideo Kojima took an awefull risk making the main character someone other than the hero of MGS, did it pay off? Yes and no, the MGS lore was able to expand via Raiden, but most people found Raiden to be almost the polar opposite to Snakes mojo and found it difficult to connect with him.
The story of MGS2 was a handful and I didn't like it that much....AT FIRST. But in retrospect and much thought it was fascinating and deeper than any previous MGS storyline.
Now on to my biggest gripe...
The cast of MGS2: SOL were so 1 dimensional compared to every single character in MGS! Liquid Snake vs Solidus Snake: winner Liquid Snake
Psycho Mantis vs Vamp: winner Psycho Mantis
Sniper Wolf vs Fortune: winner Sniper Wolf
Vulcan Raven vs Fatman: winner Vulcan Raven
Solid Snake vs Raiden: winner Raiden.....just kidding!
Meryl Silverburgh vs E.E.: winner Meryl
Mei Ling vs Rosemary: winner Mei Ling
Naomi Hunter vs Colonel Cambell (A.I.): Naomi Hunter....just live
MGS Otacon vs MGS2 Otacon: winner MGS Otacon
Grey Fox vs Olga Gurlukovich: Grey Fox!
7/10