Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

  • Thorough exploration can be very rewarding, there are a lot of items you can miss that are really handy.
  • There are new codec conversations after practically every event, so call people frequently if that's something you're interested in.
  • You can hit the choke button once when holding a guard when they start to wiggle to keep control over them.
  • Don't underestimate the usefulness of the humble Magazine, experiment with it.
  • You can hold L1 to auto-aim in first person view and to run and gun in third person. Also, in first person view, press L2 and R2 to inch to the sides and hold both to stand on your tiptoes.
  • Unequipping and re-equipping will reload your weapon instantly.
  • If you call an elevator twice, it will come quicker. This works in all MGS games.
  • Some guards constantly radio back to base reporting their progress, so if you get rid of them the game sends out a search party to your location. Either hide the body quickly in a locker before they find him or shoot his radio with your SOCOM.
  • Always log into nodes your first time through the area, it really helps for later on.
  • Chaff Grenades disrupt radio communications.
  • The angle can be finicky sometimes, but a well-aimed crotch punch can knock a guard out instantly. It helps to hold them up to get a feel for this.
  • If you are quick enough to shoot the ! above a guards head in first person mode, it will cancel his alert and put him into a dazed state.
  • The cooling spray can be used to wake sleeping guards quickly or to momentarily daze active guards.
  • If you're struggling with the sniper section near the endgame, call Pliskin to give you a hand.
  • You can only get the USP suppressor in the tanker on subsequent replays, but strut F contains the somewhat hidden SOCOM suppressor even in your first game.
  • There are a bunch of fun easter eggs. Some include conversations between Snake & Otacon based on what pictures were taken in the tanker. Call Otacon while in a locker looking at a model poster in 1PV. You can hear Johnny (the guard from MGS1) twice in the game. The first time is during a cutscene in the Shell 1 core, and the second is while on the oil fence when Emma walks behind one of the supports.