by rbelmont - 12.28.09
Don’t take down those lights yet! Arthur Lee (Mr. Podunkian) just released Merry Gear Solid 2 as a late Christmas present to the world. Mr. Lee, whose previous works include the first Merry Gear Solid and the WIP Underside, put a much greater effort on this title than it’s prequel and it shows in every facet.
I feel like I can’t really talk too much about this game because I’ll ruin the fantastic jokes, so I'’ll keep things vague. The game starts off with you playing as a post-MGS 4 Solid Snake, codenamed “Cold Snake”, climbing to the top of the “Outer Savin’” mall. The jokes rely heavily on your knowledge from the Metal Gear series, so people who haven’t played the series will be left in the dark most of the time.
That said, the jokes are absolutely hilarious and the writing and voice acting in this title rival that of commercial games. Arthur Lee plays off of almost everything in the MGS series, from PMCs and the Sons of the Patriots from Metal Gear Solid 4 to the La Li Lu Le Lo in Metal Gear Solid 2. The voice acting is almost always fantastic, with some great performances from Solid Snake and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
Obviously, good writing and voice acting is necessary for a game like this to succeed, but Arthur Lee didn’t stop there. The first game was arguably just as funny as this one and music and graphics were nice as well, but where it lacked was the gameplay department. Merry Gear Solid had very linear levels where you collected items that more or less acted as keycards permitting you to go to the next area. Merry Gear Solid 2, on the other hand, seems to promote gameplay similar to the Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid games we know and love. There are various items which allow multiple ways through each room. You even get a gun part of the way through the game that is completely unnecessary if you don’t wish to use it (I fired it twice). I would even argue that this game does top down Metal Gear better than any game before it, including the fantastic Metal Gear Solid for GBC.
The high level of quality does not end there. The graphics are simple, but pretty and effective. And the sound effects and particularly the music are fantastic. The soundtrack of the game consists of music that takes inspiration from both Metal Gear Solid tunes and familiar Christmas songs. And guess what, it works wonderfully. At no point in the game did the music feel gimmicky or goofy. It was legitimately awesome the entire time.
I implore you to play this game. There are very few chances to get such a solid (hahaha… yeah…) and long (about 2 and a half hours) title for free.
I knew this was out but hadn’t bothered to download it until this post.
Thanks!
I liked the prequel but this is just so much better. Arthur Lee perfectly captured the feel of a classic MGS game (pre MGS4, anyway ;p), where every step something different and interesting is happening. The voice work is pretty good too. This game is quite an achievement.
showka - 12.28.09 11:22 pm