The motives and identities of many of the antagonists and allies change throughout the game, as the protagonists discover a world-shaking conspiracy constructed by a powerful organization known as the Patriots.

However, critics were initially divided on the protagonist and the philosophical nature and execution of the game's storyline, which explores many themes, such as memetics, social engineering, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and the internal struggle of freedom of thought.

The game is often considered ahead of its time for dealing with themes and concepts such as post-truth politics, fake news, alternative facts, synthetic media, and echo chambers, that became culturally relevant in the mid-to-late 2010s.

Metal Gear Solid 2 carries the subtitle of "Tactical Espionage Action," and most of the game involves the protagonist sneaking around to avoid being seen by the enemies.

The first-person aiming mode allows players to target specific points in the game, greatly expanding tactical options; guards can be blinded by steam, distracted by a flying piece of fruit or hit in weak spots.

Players can walk slowly, allowing them to sneak over noisy flooring without making a sound, or hang off walkways to slip past below guards' feet.

[3] Other abilities included leaping over and hanging off of railings, opening and hiding in storage lockers, and sneaking up behind enemies to hold them at gunpoint for items and ammunition.

Junior Grade Iroquois Pliskin,[17] a Navy SEAL of mysterious background who provides his knowledge of the facility; Peter Stillman,[18] an NYPD bomb-disposal expert; Otacon,[19] a computer security specialist and friend of Solid Snake; and a cyborg ninja imitating Gray Fox's persona, first calling itself Deepthroat, then changing its name to Mr.

Other characters include Emma Emmerich, Otacon's stepsister and a computer whiz-kid;[31] Sergei Gurlukovich, Ocelot's former commanding officer and Olga's father;[32] President James Johnson, held hostage by the Sons of Liberty;[33] and DIA operative Richard Ames.

Raiden and Pliskin arrange to transport hostages via helicopter, but are confronted by Dead Cell's leader identifying as Solid Snake, flying a Harrier.

Johnson reveals to Raiden the United States' democratic process is a sham staged by an organization called "the Patriots", who secretly rule the country.

He explains the leader of Dead Cell is his predecessor George Sears, a clone of Big Boss known as Solidus Snake, who plans to seize Arsenal and overthrow the Patriots.

It states that GW was the only AI destroyed, and that the S3 Plan's real purpose is to control human thought to prevent society's regression in the digital era from trivial information drowning knowledge and truth in the belief that humanity is too immature to handle the flow of information responsibly, citing Raiden’s own lack of individuality and reliance on others for direction as an example when he protests the plan.

[39][42][41][43] The storyline explored many social, philosophical and cyberpunk themes in significant detail, including meme theory, social engineering, sociology, artificial intelligence, information control, fifth-generation warfare, conspiracy theories, political and military maneuvering, evolution, existentialism, censorship, the nature of reality,[39][42][44][45][46][47] the Information Age,[48] virtual reality,[49][50] child exploitation,[51] LGBT themes,[52][53] and the moral dilemma between security and personal liberty.

[58] In 2016, Alex Wiltshire of Glixel found the game to be "strangely prescient of not only its own time but also today", noting how it dodged "truth at every turn" and comparing it to post-truth politics, Facebook's curated News Feed, and the 2016 United States presidential election.

[65] In March 2018, GamesRadar drew comparisons to recent political events including the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal and the investigations involving Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

[37] In 2018, Adrian Mróz published a paper in the academic journal Kultura i Historia [pl], where the "idea of Selection for Societal Sanity" from the game is "applied into a philosophical framework based on select concepts from Bernard Stiegler's writing and incorporating them with current events such as post-truth or fake news in order to explore the role of techne and filtration within social organizations and individual psyches."

He notes that, despite being released in an era of neoliberal dominance, the game's themes resonate with current affairs in the late 2010s, such as post-truth, the collapse of political correctness, cognitive dissonance, and "the problem of filtering within a society flooded by information".

[citation needed] Raiden's support team originally featured a different field commander named Colonel Daniel Quinn; Maxine "Max" Work, an Asian woman who saves game data and quotes Shakespeare; and William "Doc" Wilson, the creator of GW.

Rika Muranaka again provided a vocal ending theme, a jazz track entitled "Can't Say Goodbye to Yesterday", sung by Carla White.

A preview event was held in Zepp Tokyo on the day of the game's North American release in which the character of Raiden was unveiled to the Japanese public.

These missions are divided into eight categories (although not all of them are available to every character): Sneaking, Weapon, First Person View (which simulates a first-person shooter), Variety, Hold Up, Bomb Disposal, Elimination, and Photograph.

The player has to complete a set of objectives before time runs out, which range from collecting dog tags scattered throughout the level to blowing up parts of Big Shell.

Other content includes storyboards, behind-the-scenes footage, preview trailers, music tracks (with the option to play alternate patterns when applicable), the finalized screenplay, Hideo Kojima's original draft (available in Japanese only), a development timeline, and a gallery of Metal Gear Solid related products and merchandise.

A second novelization by Kenji Yano (written under the pen name Hitori Nojima), titled Metal Gear Solid Substance II, was published by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan on September 24, 2015.

Hideo Kojima's ambitious script received praise for exploring numerous social, philosophical, and cyberpunk themes in significant detail, and it has often been called the first example of a postmodern video game.

It served as a killer app showcasing what the PlayStation 2 hardware was capable of, with the game setting "a new standard in cinematic presentation" and attention to detail, and demonstrating "huge numbers of enemies on screen with bodies that remain in the scene, the interaction of light and shadow, physics interactions with real world objects, multi-tiered environments and advanced enemy AI."

"[158] The early anticipation that surrounded Metal Gear Solid 2 since its E3 2000 demo has been credited as a critical factor in the PlayStation 2's best-selling success and dominance during the sixth console generation, as well as the demise of Sega's Dreamcast.

[166] In a 20-year retrospective, Christian Smith of Collider said that Metal Gear Solid 2 remains a "controversial masterpiece" that played a pivotal role in "redefining the art of making video games after the turn of the millennium".

"[169] Several critics have also drawn comparisons between Metal Gear Solid 2 and the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).