Product Description

Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance is a radical new take on Hideo Kojima's best-selling tale of stealth, heroism and double-crossing. Featuring new missions, characters and settings created by Kojima-san and his team, Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance retains the ground breaking stealth-based action of its predecessor, with players guiding a series of characters through key terrorist situations.

Solid Snake and his protg Raiden return to the PlayStation 2 fold, and their various abilities are further showcased in 150 alternative missions, and across 350 VR missions designed to test their agility, stealth and weapons skills within virtual reality scenarios where the normal rules of combat are altered to push the player to new levels. The game also drops Snake into five new 'Snake Tales' set within environments seen in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4774 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Konami
• Released on: 2003-03-28
• Platform: PlayStation2

Amazon.co.uk Preview
There's been an awful lot of confusion about just exactly what Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance is. Is it a proper sequel? Is it a mission disc? Is it an Xbox exclusive? Does Snake get to go skateboarding? Well, to answer all but the last question: no. Substance is kind of similar to the VR Missions disk that was released for the original Metal Gear Solid on the PSone; however, Substance is a stand-alone title that doesn't require the original game to run--and indeed contains within it the original version of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

In essence, Substance is kind of like one of those special edition, director's cut DVDs you get for films, in that it's the same old movie but with so much cool stuff layered on top it seems totally new. There's also a similarly scattershot approach to the new features, but the most obviously appealing are the chance to play through both missions as Solid Snake (or a bunch of others including Pliskin and the cyborg ninja) instead of the anaemic Raiden. Then there's a mountain of over 100 VR missions and five brand new mini-episodes for Snake to try his luck at.

Any additional extras, and the answer to whether Snake really does get to do a Tony Hawk, remain secret until the final version is complete (if you're really desperate to see Solid Snake on a skateboard you might want to check out his cameo appearance in Evolution Skateboarding in the meantime) but it's impossible to imagine that if you're a Metal Gear fan you won't enjoy this. --David Jenkins

Manufacturer's Description
In Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, players can expect to find the same deep storyline found in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, plus bonus modes, hundreds of never-before-seen VR missions and all-new adventures in which players assume the role of Solid Snake.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic Upgrade of a Classic
I had the original version of MGS2 that i traded in a long time ago, yet i missed MGS2 so much that i purchased this "Substance" version recently. It is not just an upgrade of the orignial version. The full game is in there plus so much more. The replay value on the original game is huge as so moany unlockables have been included.
There are numberous training levels, minigames and bonus missions thrown in there as well as plenty of secrets too. Also an amazing extra skateboarding area is included where you can skate on the roof of Big Shell! This section is massively fun!! The 2nd disc that comes with it is an encyclopedia all about MGS. It features every single piece of info you could possibily want on this game. However, the question is it worth purchasing if you have the original MGS2? Yes - if you are a total MGS nut and a completist of the series and No - if you already have played MGS2 to death and started to tire of it.
All in all the most complete MGS experience and i think better than MGS3. If they cram all this and more into the "Subsistance" update of MGS3 due out soon i will be more than happy.

Solid And Raiden Put the SUBSTANCE back into the game
The name of this review says it all, this is metal gear solid 2 with the SUBSTANCE put back in, those who were slightly dissapointed at the formal sequal will love this.

packed with extra features that will keep even the harcore players occupied for hours, even unlocking characters may seem rather repetative you find yourself driven onward to complete them all, you eventually will win the chance to play as solid in the big shell, an event fans will die for!

the VR missions are fun, yet challenging and sometimes quite funny, for exaple, on level you play as raiden guarding EE(emma emirrich) from a swarm of guards, as snake its guarding meryl(his girlfreind from the first game) as iriquis pliskin(snakes alter ego) you see him guarding a curry! and it is a difficult task at that.

overall this is a fantastic addition to the game, and the other thing about it is that fact that you dont need the original game to play this, it has it all in there already!

begginers and veterans alike will always find something to occupy them, the game is challenging and gripping, a must have buy!

Just and Upgrade From Sons Of Liberty
When I bought this game, I had alread played and completed Sons of Liberty which ranks at no.1 at my top computer game list EVER. Unfortunatley, I had to do myself a favour and buy this game! it has extra's sure but you couldn't import your saved games from the previous which was a bummer.

However, I did play through the game again in all of it's glory, unlocking tons of extra's as I played through, it's a pity you can't change characters during the actual levels but having a digital camera to take photo's was still fun, and going around invisible to everyone is hillarious. When i'm bored, I pull out this game and run around the place, the game stands at the only one i've completed about 20 times, and even though the gameplay is about 20 hours you'll still want to do it again!.

Even though it has it's flaws if your a Son's of Liberty User it knocks the previous game off the top of the list and put's itself neatly up at position no.1 one. I gaurantee you WILL enjoy this game as much as me