Alright so the true sequel to 2001’s Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty finally makes its long awaited debut in March of 2008. That means fans will have waited over 6 and a half years to finally find out what the hell was going on at the end of MGS2. Because seriously . . . what the hell kind of ending was that?!

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater ended up being a prequel to the original Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Games chronicling the ascension of the former Snake to Big Boss, the foe of the Snake we know and love. MGS2 ended with . . . well I still don’t know.

When it came along in 1998, I thought Metal Gear Solid on the Playstation system was one of the coolest games I had ever played. It felt innovative and different. And here was a game that was all about AVOIDING contact with your enemies rather than trying to shoot or blow up everything on screen. I’ll always have a soft spot for Metal Gear Solid on the Gameboy Color, which in my humble opinion was one of the greatest and most un-sung games ever. I’d say it’s second only to the first MGS. I mean Snake even had to use the cigarettes in that game, how awesome is that?

In 2001, the director of the MGS game series, Hideo Kojima, promised that it would be his last MGS game and he would still work on future games of the series but hand it off to another director. And then after MGS2 happened, that all seemed to change. Kojima in fact did stay on as the director for the games and ended up handling MGS3 and now Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots. Why the change of heart? Was he truly disappointed with how the second game and felt he needed to make amends?

What I found disappointing about MGS2, besides having to spend playing most of the game as the whiny Raiden, was that the story had to shoe-horn in a huge plot twist way too often. In the third act of the game, with the saturation of cut-scenes it just felt absolutely ridiculous with the constant double-crossing, plot twists, and reversals. So much so at the end, the gamer had no idea that was happening. What we’re given felt pretty unfair for playing all of the game up to that point. There was no satisfaction in finishing.

Even more disappointing was that the next game in the series would be a prequel. So we’d have to wait even more than three years to find out what happens unlike after the end of MGS. Now that the end is over, and we’ve seen some interesting trailers as well as the play-through demo performed by Kojima himself, I hope it was worth it. And I hope we stop hearing about this La-li-lo-or whatever crap.

Also more than anything, I still hope a movie doesn't get made. Because like it or not, video game based movies still tend to suck. But that's another story.