Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Release Date: 2001 Developer: KCEJ Publisher: Konami Series: Metal Gear Platforms: Playstation 2 PC Xbox 360 Playstation 3 Xbox Genre: Stealth

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The majorly-anticipated sequel to the bestselling Metal Gear Solid and a bestseller in its own right, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty continues the story of Solid Snake in 2007 as he attempts to infiltrate a tanker to obtain photographic evidence of a new model of Metal Gear, the series' eponymous bipedal armoured combat vehicle, aboard an ocean-bound tanker in the lower New York harbour. The mission fails spectacularly, leaving the player to control a freshly-minted Foxhound agent, codenamed Raiden, who is sent in to infiltrate an environmental cleanup plant located at the site of the Tanker sinking, two years on, to deal with a terrorist takeover by a group named the "Sons of Liberty" during a presidential inspection tour. As with Solid Snake's previous adventure, Raiden himself discovers much about his mission he was not initially told, and as the terrorists' machinations unfold, he is left to question everything he knew about his superiors' motives, the terrorists' true objective, and even his own identity.

The following weapons are used in the video game Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty:

WARNING! THIS PAGE CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Overview

Metal Gear Solid 2 (referred to as MGS2 for the rest of this document) introduced a few new features with regards to ingame firearms over its prequel. The first and most obvious change was the addition of shooting from First-Person View (FPV) for all ingame weapons. Whereas FPV was used mostly to get a player-character's-eye view of an area in the previous installment and was used only for shooting with a few weapons, MGS2 allowed for players to aim and fire all its weapons in FPV.

The introduction of FPV shooting was also accompanied by an emphasis on targeting specific body parts of enemies to achieve better results than centre-mass hits would. While this allowed for somewhat-realistic effects (such as a shot to the head or heart of an unarmoured NPC instantly killing that NPC), the developers went a degree further, to the point that ingame helmets of any kind were incapable of stopping bullets of any type, and hitting both of a human enemy's arms or legs with lethal bullets would cause most of them to count as "killed."

In addition to FPV and its related shooting mechanics, MGS2 was the first game in its series where player characters had the ability to use guns in melee attacks to subdue opponents with non-lethal force. Despite the series' tendencies towards realistically-depicted weaponry, MGS2 also started a long-running trend of many ingame characters firing unrealistically-long bursts from fully-automatic-fire-capable weapons during cutscenes, something that would continue to be featured throughout the rest of the Metal Gear Solid series despite the fact that no ingame weapon in this title is modelled with a large enough magazine to support such long bursts, and the fact that fully-automatic fire generally isn't recommended for most real-life applications due to its inaccuracy.

Handguns

Beretta XM9

Solid Snake always begins the Tanker chapter of the game with a specially-modified Beretta M9 fitted with a suppressor and loaded with tranquilizer rounds that will knock out enemies. Otacon misidentifies it as a "M92F", but Snake corrects him that it is an M9. To keep noise down from cycling a new round, the slide is locked closed and Snake must cock the gun manually after every shot. It is also fitted with a laser sight attached to the trigger guard. If the Very Easy difficulty is selected when starting a new game, Raiden will start with the M9 already in his inventory at the beginning of the Plant Chapter. On Easy, the M9 is hidden somewhere in the first area of the game; higher difficulties require the player to search the warehouse in Strut F to find one. If contacted via CODEC, Iroquois Pliskin (Solid Snake masquerading as a Navy SEAL) implies that the M9 located on the Big Shell was the result of Philanthropy fanboys replicating the M9 in honor of the failed Tanker mission (the prologue). Some Marines in the Tanker chapter cutscenes are equipped with the weapon as well, but theirs do not have suppressors and are loaded with (unavailable to the player) lethal rounds. For some reason, certain ingame guards who are held up with this weapon will somehow recognize it as a tranquilizer weapon and thus will not give up their items unless the player switches to a lethal weapon instead.

This pistol is based on the Beretta XM9, a handgun that was made in collaboration with KAC. The suppressor is a quick-detach type that fits onto notches in the barrel, rather than being screwed onto a threaded barrel (as is more common with handgun suppressors). A device is fitted on the frame and locks into the slide stop and prevents it from reciprocating when the shot is fired (the real-life version allows for disengaging of the slide stop, but this ability is not emulated ingame). After the shot is fired, the device slides out of the stop so that the slide can be manually racked to extract the spent casing.

Unlike many games of its time, the M9's Double-Action/Single-Action nature (in other words the gun can be fired without needing to cock the hammer, whereupon after the hammer will remain cocked for a lighter trigger pull until de-cocked) is emulated in this title. Accordingly, when a player character equips the M9, the hammer is shown as being uncocked, but when the slide is racked after the first shot, the hammer becomes cocked and remains so until the player character unequips (and presumably decocks) the weapon. However, the slide-racking animation has one unrealistic aspect; if the player character shoots the ingame M9 and then quickly takes cover behind an obstacle that is very close to the player character while holding down the aiming/firing button (so that the player character points the M9 upwards while holding it in both hands) before the manual-slide-racking animation has a chance to play, the slide will reciprocate by itself without any action on the part of the player or the player character (the player character's hands will still be on the gun). This was most likely done to allow for more regular shots, without having to program an additional animation or forcing the player to wait for the manual-slide-racking animation to play first.

Beretta XM9 - 9x19mm
Just like the real-life version, the ingame M9 has iron sights on the suppressor since the size of the suppressor precludes the use of the handgun's own iron sights.

Beretta XM9 with suppressor detached - 9x19mm

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty cover art where Solid Snake wields the Beretta XM9 Tranq Pistol.

In-game icon for the Beretta M9 when selecting it from the weapons menu.

Solid Snake (David Hayter) aims his custom Tranq Beretta XM9 at Olga Gurlukovich (Vanessa Marshall).

Snake sizes up his latest adversary on the Tanker while holding her at gunpoint with the XM9.

Raiden (Quinton Flynn), having recently entered the Big Shell Plant, points his own XM9 at Fortune as SEAL Team 10 tries their hand at fighting her at the Big Shell's BC connecting bridge. The game has two versions of this specific cutscene; if the player has already acquired the M9 by this point, Raiden will be depicted as using it. If not, Raiden will be depicted as unarmed. The same applies to the next immediate cutscene that plays when Raiden enters Strut B for the first time.

Raiden aims his XM9 at a Gurlukovich Mercenary guarding the Strut F Warehouse after having alerted them recently. While the Big Shell is publicly known as a civilian environmental cleanup plant, the fact that Strut F houses a full-on armoury, well-stocked with military-grade weaponry, is among the earliest clues to the player that the facility isn't quite what its Public Relations team claims.

PSS

Olga Gurlukovich (Vanessa Marshall) was seen with a PSS. It was never given a chance to be used, however: She tossed the gun overboard shortly afterwards, after Snake orders her to do so. The player cannot obtain this weapon.

PSS Silent Pistol - 7.62x42mm

Heckler & Koch USP

Exclusive to the Tanker Chapter, Olga Gurlukovich uses a Heckler & Koch USP when dueling with the player. After defeating her, Snake automatically takes the empty gun (emptied by Olga, and made so by the game programmers to avoid the bad publicity of allowing players to shoot a fictional pregnant woman with a lethal weapon) and uses it after acquiring ammunition for it. It can be fitted with a suppressor when playing the chapter for a second time in the "Substance" version of the game, and also comes with a tactical flashlight that turns on automatically when the weapon is drawn and readied in a dark area. Unfortunately, this becomes a hindrance when trying to keep a low profile and it doesn't blind enemies that are using night vision goggles (in a real-life situation, doing so would serve to disorient them significantly). Its caliber is mentioned by Snake to be 9mm Parabellum rounds, of which it can hold 15 in the magazine, or 15+1 when Snake performs a tactical reload. The script as well as Snake's reaction in the final game implied that the USP (a German-made gun issued to American forces) being used by Olga (a Russian) was unusual.

Heckler & Koch USP - 9x19mm

Snake reloads his USP

Makarov PM

Sergei Gurlukovich (Earl Boen) was seen using a PM on Marine Commandant Dolph, when holding the latter hostage. Raiden also observes the other soldiers carrying Makarovs later in the game, but only use them when they run out of ammunition for their primary weapon, or sometimes when you injure their right arm. It is also used by soldiers wielding riot shields. This weapon cannot be obtained or used by the player.

Russian Makarov PM - 9x18mm Makarov

Heckler & Koch Mark 23 Phase II Prototype

Raiden is given a Heckler & Koch Mark 23 Phase II Prototype by Iroquois Pliskin early in the Plant Chapter of the game during his first visit to Strut B. It is fitted with a LAM (Laser Aiming Module), though it is not used to aim in first-person mode (instead, the player aims using the iron sights, despite the laser still being turned on anytime the gun is aimed in first- or third-person view). It can be fitted with a suppressor found in Strut F after Raiden visits Strut C for the first time. It holds 12 rounds of .45 ACP ammunition with each magazine. The tactical light on the handgun cannot be used ingame, except for a few VR missions in the Substance version.

For some odd reason, Raiden always draws this weapon in cutscenes after obtaining it (unless the player has the M9 equipped before entering the cutscene, in which case Raiden will use that instead), even when going up against a foe who can dodge bullets, or against multiple opponents, both being situations for which an automatic firearm like the AKS-74U would be much better suited. The fact that Raiden is forced to obtain the AKS-74U (much like he cannot refuse to take the SOCOM pistol), coupled with his true combat experience which an AK would be more familiar to him, serve to highlight the oddness of this directorial decision to have Raiden always "bring a pistol to an assault rifle shootout" in cutscenes.

Airsoft Heckler & Koch Mk 23 Phase II Prototype (note front cocking serrations, deleted from production models) with Tokyo Marui replica of a Knight's Armament suppressor and prototype Laser Aiming Module - (fake) .45 ACP

Colt Single Action Army

The Colt Single Action Army is the weapon of choice for Shalashashka/Revolver Ocelot (Patric Zimmerman). Cannot be obtained by the player, and is fired in only four scenes in the game.

Colt Single Action Army with 5.5" barrel known as the "Artillery" model. The most common of the SAA revolvers as it is just the right length. - .45 Long Colt

Glock 18C

The Glock 18C is Fatman's weapon of choice when he's not planting C4 explosives. It is modelled with what appears to be a 19-round magazine. He uses it in his battle with Raiden on occasion, calling it "a short recess on bombs." In the backstory he was known for disassembling and reassembling it whenever he had a spare moment, not being one to keep his hands still. This weapon made its first appearance in the Metal Gear Solid series, but would not become available to the player until the fourth game.

Glock 18C - 9x19mm

Submachine Gun

FN P90

The Arsenal Tengus in Arsenal Gear are seen carrying and using FN P90 submachine guns (unobtainable by the player). George Sears/Solidus Snake (John Cygan) is also seen with one, albeit a fictional variant that fires explosive bullets capable of penetrating the armor on a Metal Gear RAYs.

Fabrique Nationale P90 - 5.7x28mm

Solidus fires his P90 point-blank into a Ray

George Sears/Solidus Snake (John Cygan) aims his P90 at Raiden.

Rifles

AKS-74U

The AKS-74U is used by most of the Gurlukovich soldiers throughout the Tanker Chapter, and by the guards in the Shell 1 Core of the Plant Chapter, all of whom except for clearing team members use it in combination with a suppressor (likely to preserve their hearing when firing this weapon indoors). Raiden must obtain one of these in order to impersonate one of the aforementioned Shell 1 Core guards, but outside of Very Easy difficulty cannot acquire a suppressor for the rifle until he reaches the bridge connecting Shell 1 and 2. It is equipped with a laser sight for aiming, as the player cannot use the iron sights for that purpose.

AKS-74U (also referred to as the "AKSU" or 'Krinkov') - 5.45x39mm

M4A1

The M4A1 Carbine is seen throughout the game, carried by the Marines in the Tanker Chapter, the Navy SEAL Team 10 in the Plant Chapter, Pliskin himself, and certain clearing teams after Raiden's duel with Fatman. It can only be acquired by Raiden in the Plant Chapter in Strut F, and it comes with a laser sight. While the underslung M203 Grenade Launcher is used in conjunction with the M4A1 by the Tanker Marines, certain Plant clearing teams, and by Snake in his fight with Solidus, it is not possible for the player to use the M203 in any way. The M203 is also memorably used against Fortune by SEAL Team 10, where a grenade fired from it harmlessly lands at her feet as a dud.

The game lists this weapon as an M4 rifle, but its fully automatic fire makes it an M4A1, not an M4, which is limited to semiautomatic and burst-fire only.

Colt M4A1 Carbine with 4 position collapsible stock - 5.56x45mm NATO

During Raiden's first encounter with Vamp, Pliskin's M4A1 is knocked away by Vamp and Raiden commandeers it after suffering a minor cut from Vamp's combat knife. Unfortunately, just as was the case with SEAL Team 10's Alpha team, Vamp preternatural speed allows him to dodge Raiden's fire entirely, and Vamp retreats just as Raiden runs dry and reloads with a fresh magazine from Pliskin.

AN-94

The AN-94 assault rifle is used by the Gurlukovich soldiers patrolling many areas in the Plant Chapter, and by clearing teams in the earlier phases of that chapter. It cannot be obtained by the player. In the backstory, the AN-94 is the "official rifle of the Russian Army," when in reality, the Russian Army still uses the AK-74M. Many NPCs carrying the AN-94 use it along with a tactical flashlight.

AN-94 - 5.45x39mm

FAMAS G1

The FAMAS bullpup rifle makes a return from MGS1, however, it is not ordinarily available to the player in the final game and is only accessible via a cheat device used with the MGS2 demo disk. It can be seen in MGS1 gameplay videos appearing in cutscenes where Raiden mentions his VR training (implied to actually be from playing MGS1 and its bonus VR missions with VR gear), and also in the hands of Solid Snake in a flashback sequence depicting his escape from the sinking tanker (even though the FAMAS is completely unavailable during the Tanker chapter in the final game).

In the demo, the FAMAS is very inaccurate and has a few animation errors, most notably how Solid Snake keeps cocking the charging handle when firing it in First Person View. In the Substance version of the game, it is also seen in the hands of the hidden bosses of the added VR missions for Solid Snake, named Genola and Mech Genola. These two are essentially giant-sized, higher-detail Genome Soldiers in winter gear from MGS1, but they are never actually seen firing their giant-sized FAMAS rifles. One notable detail of their 3D models that was not made higher-detail for the Substance version are their fingerless mittens, raising the question of how they are supposed to properly fire their rifles without much freedom of movement for their trigger fingers.

"Genola" is reverse Pig Latin for "Enola Gay", the B29 bomber that dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima.

File:FAMAS F2.jpg

FAMAS G1 - 5.56x45mm. Older intermediate version of the G2 with magazine and magazine release system from FAMAS F1

Heckler & Koch PSG-1

Heckler & Koch PSG-1 semi-automatic sniper rifles equipped with dynamically zooming scope are used by both Raiden and Pliskin, exclusive to the Plant Chapter. A fictional variant firing tranquilizer rounds and equipped with a sound suppressor is available in Strut F or the flooded Shell 2 Core B1 area, named the PSG-1T.

Heckler & Koch PSG-1 - 7.62x51mm NATO

Shotgun

Franchi SPAS-12

The Franchi SPAS-12 is carried by the clearing teams in the Big Shell.

Franchi SPAS-12 with butt hook attached to stock - 12 Gauge

Launchers

FIM-92A Stinger

The FIM-92A Stinger surface-to-air missile launcher is exclusive to the Plant Chapter. The launcher has a lock-on function as well, strangely locking onto targets that do not possess any heat or radar signature the missile could realistically lock onto, such as human guards. Despite its supposed destructive power, nothing prevents the player from using it indoors, even inside the sections of the Shell 2 Core that are below the waterline, where blowing holes into the walls (logically resulting in flooding) would be most detrimental to Raiden's mission. As useful as this weapon may be in destroying vehicles, it is powerless to alter the game's environment in any way.

File:-0976t.jpg

FIM-92A Stinger - 70mm

RH-Alan RGB6

Croatian made 40mm grenade launcher in a six-shot revolver configuration, reloaded with a speedloader fitted for grenades. Exclusive to the Plant Chapter, and only available from Strut F once Raiden completes his objective in the second basement level of the Shell 1 Core. It is cumbersome to use given that the player cannot use the sights on the weapon, and that there is no arcing trajectory display in this game as in Metal Gear Solid 4 when a grenade is drawn and readied, though use of the lock-on feature will allow the player to compensate for its arcing trajectory so as long as the target is not behind cover or out of sight. While ostensibly loaded with anti-personnel grenades, it has the ability to damage vehicles such as a Harrier II jet or even Metal Gear Rays if a hit is scored.

Nikita

A fictional missile launcher which fires remote controlled missiles with their own cameras that feed the warhead's visual data back to the player. While dubbed a "missile" launcher, the munitions launched by this weapon move slowly enough to be miniature hovering UAVs with contact-detonation warheads. Exclusive to the Plant Chapter, Raiden must use one to reach an objective in the Shell 2 Cor, which is shutting down the electrified floor to reach President James Johnson--easier said than done given that the warheads cannot change altitude on their own, have a limited supply of power, and become uncontrolled if the player character suffers damage while standing still to guide a launched warhead. Also, the missile can only be fired in-doors, which the game explains as being because the Sons of Liberty activated an electronic interference field around the Big Shell to prevent enemy UAVs from entering. Most likely, if the SOL knew of the weapons existence in the Big Shell, they didn't want to take any chances if an intruder found the launcher and tried it.

While the following function of the launcher is not elaborated on in the game, Raiden can disregard all the precision-machined-high-technology this weapon encapsulates and use it in one of the most blatantly low-technological ways possible, by swinging the launcher as a large, unwieldy, club to whack guards (and one boss) around. It can often knock guards out in one well-timed swing or deal heavy stamina damage to a boss, even in the higher difficulty levels, and not harm its performance in any way while being used in this "warranty-voiding" fashion. The Stinger missile launcher by contrast cannot be used this way.

This game is the Nikita's last appearance in the main Metal Gear Solid series, which ended at Metal Gear Solid 4.

M203 Grenade Launcher

The M203 Grenade Launcher was seen mounted on M4A1s utilized by both the SEAL Team 10 Bravo Squad, and by the attack teams. The former attempted to launch it at Fortune, but because her "luck" (later revealed to be an electromagnetic pulse device that the Patriots installed on her without her knowledge), the grenade ended up disabled, resulting in it rendered a "dud," to the soldiers' confusion.

M203 grenade launcher - 40x46mm.

Explosives

C4

C4 explosives were utilized by both Raiden and Fatman, the latter's C4s also served as a major plotpoint for the first act of the game, as Raiden and Iroquois Pliskin (Solid Snake) had to disarm them (they were originally planned to be disarmed by SEAL Team 10's Bravo squad, but Fortune took care of them.

Fatman's C4 were larger than normal due to utilizing a large amount in them, and contained a wireless detonator. He generally utilized C4 that emitted microbe leaks as well as cologne left on them as a "calling card," although he abandoned that usage when using the true bombs to destroy the struts. In addition, he also carried a briefcase-sized C4 explosive that was activated via a one-way remote detonation (yet required a countdown), and was also implied to have more than enough explosive power to destroy the entire Big Shell in one blow.

In addition to Fatman's C4, much smaller blocks can be procured by the player. In addition, just like in Metal Gear Solid, the C4 blocks are stated to have a scrambler, in order to ensure that any wireless signals that are not the wireless detonator do not accidentially it off.

Semtex

Semtex, also known as Terrorist C4, which were also suspected to be responsible for the Pan Am bombings, was utilized in both the Tanker and Plant Chapters, although they are never available to the player. Both instances had them using infrared sensors that automatically detonate the explosives should they be crossed. Solid Snake had to bypass these by shooting out the control boxes in the Tanker Chapter, although Ocelot nonetheless detonated the explosives on the Tanker while hijacking RAY. Later, the Sons of Liberty also rigged the connection bridge to the two shells at the Big Shell with Semtex to deter would-be intruders. In addition, the SOL, having obviously anticipated that Raiden and/or Snake would consider using the coolant spray to freeze them after deactivating the C4s on Big Shell via this method, set them up to be beyond the railing and out of reach of the coolant spray's range.

M18A1 Claymore Mine

A fictional variant of the M18A1 Claymore Anti-Personnel Mine is available in the game, exclusive to the Plant Chapter. Unlike real-life versions, they are invisible to the naked eye (the game mentions that they are "stealth-equipped", though their locations and sensor coverage are visble with a mine detector) and explode if someone walks into their cone of detection. Raiden can disarm them and use them for himself if he crawls over one from outside its cone of detection, and they are plainly visible to the player if Raiden plants them himself. They can also be seen with the "thermal goggles" (Infrared) during the plant level.

M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel mine

Various Grenades

Three types of grenades can be used in this game. They are a generic frag grenade, a flashbang grenade, and a fictional chaff grenade.

The usage of the first two types is quite cumbersome compared to later installments in this game series, as there is no "arcing trajectory display" which displays the exact path the grenade will take when thrown as was used in Metal Gear Solid 4. To use one of them, the player must first press a button to ready the grenade (depicting the player character pulling the pin with his teeth), and then release the button to throw the grenade. The catch is that the player character doesn't hold onto the safety lever when the pin is pulled, and if you don't throw it before the fuse runs out, the player character suffers painful consequences. What's worse is that the force at which the button is pressed determines the velocity of the grenade, which is not indicated on screen before you throw the grenade and is in general difficult to get right without a lot of practice.

The chaff grenade avoids the problems of the aforementioned user-unfriendly grenade-throwing mechanic by virtue of being absolutely harmless and completely location independent. Regardless of where it is thrown (except into water), upon detonation it will release a great deal of radio-reflective fragments that temporarily blind all UAVs and security cameras in the current area, as well as temporarily jamming radio transmissions, so guards cannot call for backup if they spot you while the fragments are still suspended in the air. The chaff is even capable of slowing the reaction times of Metal Gear Rays.

The frag grenade acts more like a concussion grenade by killing with its explosive force rather than releasing visible fragments. The flashbang grenade instead creates a non-lethal explosion that stuns anyone caught in its blast radius, though the white flash seen while using flashbang grenades in later installments of this series is not implemented in this game. Both types will cause an alert to be sounded in the area you are in if one is not already active, or if a chaff grenade's chaff is not still active.

Underwater mine

Underwater mines were found in the flooded area of the Shell 2 Core. It was implied that they were placed there by Vamp as obstacles for Raiden. According to Otacon, the mines contain built-in compound sensors that could track anything from somethings acceleration speed to changes in the water pressure, and even body temperature, among other data. They obviously cannot be used by the player.

Other

NRS-2 Knife

A disguised firearm concealed within a Spetznaz knife Olga draws and fires at Snake when ordered to throw it overboard, only to miss, which causes Snake to take cover anyway and give her an opportunity to draw her stolen USP pistol. The knife's concealed firearm fires an SP-4 suppressed pistol cartridge, and the barrel is pointed in the opposite direction from the tip of

Fortune's Rail Gun

The only weapon used by Fortune (Maura Gale) is a fictional man-portable but large prototype railgun. It is equipped with a laser sight and a scope of undisclosed model, firing slugs of undisclosed size.

According to the Colonel that Raiden can contact for advice, the railgun supposedly accelerates projectiles to a high enough velocity to possess "ten megajoules of kinetic energy," incidentally half that of the "twenty megajoules imparted to the ammunition of a 140mm smooth bore gun" mentioned by the game. Even if it is assumed the projectiles fired are as heavy as 20mm cannon bullets (100 grams), the railgun would still have to accelerate its ammunition to some 46,400 feet per second (a little shy of 42 times the speed of sound) to achieve this. Fortune herself never endures much recoil from using it, to the point that she is able to double-tap the rail gun in higher difficulty levels. No power or coolant source on her rail gun requiring periodic replenishment is apparent either, despite the massive amounts of electricity (and the likely-to-be-high resulting levels of waste heat) electrically accelerating a projectile over such a short distance would require in a man-portable platform.

The railgun isn't actually wholly a digital creation; a physical prop was created from wood for motion capture sessions. The fearsome size of the railgun meant even this was rather on the heavy side, and Fortune's motion capture actress has stated she ended up "covered in bruises" every time she had to handle it.