Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is a stealth action game for the Playstation 2 released in 2001 by Konami. It is the sequel to the widely-acclaimed Playstation1 game Metal Gear Solid and features many of the same characters. In Sons of Liberty, a terrorist cell who call themselves the Sons of Liberty have seized an enormous offshore cleanup facility wherre they are also holding the President of the United States hostage. They threaten to kill the Presidnet and also create a cataclysmic environmental disaster if their ransom demands are not met. You play as Raiden, a member of special forces unit FOXHOUND who is sent into the facility to rescue the hostages. On his mission he discovers an enormous conspiracy where nothing is as it seems.

Sons of Liberty is an outstanding game. The storyline is one of the best I have ever experienced in a game, and in my opinion is better than that of any of the other Metal Gear Solid games. One thing which many people don't like about the Metal Gear Solid games is that you do have to be somewhat acquainted with the plot of the previous games in order to really understand what is going on, as the plot is very complex and contains n8unerous references to previous games. However, for someone like me who is a massive fan of the series, this was not a problem and I found the storyline to be hugeley entertaining. The graphics in Sons of Liberty are outstanding with a tremendous level of intricate detail rendered. Although the majority of the game takes place on the offshore facility, there are quite a wide variety of settings, including an oil tanker and the streets of New York. The sound quality is also excellent with atmospheric music throughout.

The stealth aspect of the game is one of the best things about it. Rather than most games where you would just go in all guns blazing and killing the enemies left, right and centre, in Metal Gear Solid you have to rely on stealth to get your mission done. Hiding behind obstacles and taking your enemies out silently is much more exciting, although it does require some level of patience. The game is not all stealth, as there are some great fight scenes with some outstanding bosses including Fatman - a rollerblading bomb expert, Fortune - a woman is able to cheat death by her supernatural levels of luck, and Vamp - a seemingly immortal man with vampire-like attributes. The game is very long so you certainly get your moneys worth, and it is consistently entertaining with some very humorous moments.

Overall, Sons of Liberty is an amazing game that I personally could not find faults with, although players who are not accustomed to the series might be a little confused by some aspects of the plot. The graphics are amazing as is the gameplay and story and I would certainly recommend this game to anyone who has not yet played it.