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Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty[b] is a 2001 stealth game developed
and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 on November 13, 2001. It
is the fourth Metal Gear game written and directed by Hideo Kojima, the
seventh overall game in the series and is a direct sequel to the
original Metal Gear Solid. An expanded edition, titled Metal Gear Solid
2: Substance, was released the following year for Xbox and Microsoft
Windows in addition to the PlayStation 2. A remastered version of the
game was later included in the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for the
PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and Xbox 360.
The story revolves around the Big Shell, a massive offshore clean-up
facility seized by a group of terrorists who call themselves the Sons of
Liberty. They demand an enormous ransom in exchange for the life of the
President of the United States and threaten to destroy the facility and
create a cataclysmic environmental disaster if their demands are not
met. The motives and identities of many of the antagonists and allies
change throughout the course of the game, as the protagonists discover a
world-shaking conspiracy constructed by a powerful organization known
as the Patriots.
The game had sold more than seven million copies worldwide, and received
acclaim for its gameplay, graphics, and attention to detail. However,
critics were initially divided on the protagonist and the philosophical
nature and execution of the game's storyline, which explores themes such
as the Information Age, memetics, social engineering, political
conspiracies, censorship, artificial intelligence, existentialism,
postmodernism, virtual reality, and the internal struggle of political
liberty and freedom of thought. Metal Gear Solid 2 has since been
considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time, as well as
a leading example of artistic expression in video games. The game is
often considered ahead of its time for dealing with themes and concepts,
such as post-truth politics, fake news, alternative facts, and echo
chambers, that became culturally relevant in the 2010s.