There's been an awful lot of confusion about just exactly what Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance is. Is it a proper sequel? Is it a mission disc? Is it an Xbox exclusive? Does Snake get to go skateboarding? Well, to answer all but the last question: no. Substance is kind of similar to the VR Missions disc that was released for the original Metal Gear Solid on the PSone; however, Substance is a stand-alone title that doesn't require the original game to run--and indeed contains within it the original version of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. In essence, Substance is kind of like one of those special edition, director's cut DVDs you get for films, in that it's the same old movie but with so much cool stuff layered on top it seems totally new. There's also a similarly scattershot approach to the new features, but the most obviously appealing are the chance to play through both missions as Solid Snake (or a bunch of others including Pliskin and the cyborg ninja) instead of the anaemic Raiden. Then there's a mountain of over 100 VR missions and five brand new mini-episodes for Snake to try his luck at.
Any additional extras, and the answer to whether Snake really does get to do a Tony Hawk, remain secret until the final version is complete, but it's impossible to imagine that if you're a Metal Gear fan you won't enjoy this. For Xbox owners there's the extra kudos that your version will be out before the PS2's--and there are rumours of exclusive features that the Xbox's hard drive alone makes possible... --David Jenkins
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