10 Video Games Better Than The Sum Of Their Parts
4. Metal Gear Solid 2
Raiden's journey across the Big Shell (the offshore facility the majority of the game takes place in) is blighted by Kojima and co's tendency to throw every idea they have into the game.
Have the player wave a microphone around for ages to listen to a conversation? Go for it! Turn into a platformer for a bit, despite woefully inadequate controls? Why not! These constant gimmicks and distractions utterly wreck the pacing of the game, turning what started as an enjoyable stealth title into a barrage of shallow, mostly tedious faux-minigames.
Yet, in spite of itself, the second Metal Gear Solid is still worth playing today.
As a technical achievement, MGS 2 is still an astonishing piece of work. It's opening Tanker level is arguably worth the price of admission alone, just to admire how Kojima and his team pulled off such a stunning piece of engineering on the PS2's architecture. Plus, time has only proven its story to be terrifyingly far-sighted, as the AI-led dystopia that fuels MGS 2's plot feels less like science-fiction and more like reality every day.