10 Big Leaps Between Video Game Sequels
6. Metal Gear Solid (1998) to Metal Gear Solid 2 (2001)
No video game better displayed the leap from fifth to sixth-generation consoles than Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty,
In 1998, the first Metal Gear Solid game helped to turn the original PlayStation on it's head. Games from the system's first year (Tekken, Jumping Flash!, Gex) could never have foreseen what some developers would squeeze out of the console in just a few short years. Kojima's MGS was one of these - using brilliant art direction and choreography to make something unforgettably cinematic out of the PS1's sharp polygons.
But MGS2 was another story entirely, continuing the series' habit for cutting-edge thinking just three years later on the PlayStation 2. It's use of motion blur and depth of field were unprecedented. Shiny surfaces actually appeared to be reflective. Rain effects from the game's opening actually bounced off the ground and off of the player. Character models didn't just finally have eyes, they were actually incredibly expressive. Sons of Liberty seemed to laugh in the face of the mere idea of limitation.
This was one year into the PlayStation 2's lifespan and the game wound spend the rest of the generation - and the decades following it - being rightfully praised as one of the most remarkable titles on the system.