10 Best Gaming Secrets Kept Before Release

10. You Play As Raiden In Metal Gear Solid 2

When Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was coming out, the hype was real.

This was the sequel to one of the most well-received games in gaming history, and in the build-up to release, it looked like everything we could have wanted.

Here was our trusty protagonist, Solid Snake, rendered in a visual fidelity we'd never seen before. We marvelled as he bungee jumped off a bridge onto a ship while hiding under stealth camouflage, and absolutely everything we saw in the build-up to release showcases that A) This looked amazing and B) we'd be playing as Solid Snake throughout.

Then, after just a few meagre hours of Solid Snake gameplay, it happened. Hideo Kojima pulled a fast one on all of us, and gone was Snake, replaced by Raiden and his stupid floppy blonde hair.

It was a true, actual WTF moment.

You've got to remember this was back in a time when the internet wasn't as prevalent as it was nowadays, so for the vast majority of people playing Metal Gear Solid 2, the switch from super badass Solid Snake to rubbish Raiden was a massive shock.

While the game itself is still extremely solid, the massive backlash towards Raiden as a protagonist forced Kojima to completely redevelop his character and turn him into a cyborg ninja, which is much more impressive than the annoying guy who was nothing compared to Snake.