Metal Gear Solid 2

Items

Ration

Function:
The Ration is a small military ration that helps you recover lost health. Depending on the difficulty level you are playing on you can carry different amounts of rations with you.

Very Easy: 10 Rations.
Easy: 7 Rations.
Normal: 5 Rations.
Hard: 3 Rations.
Extreme: 1 Ration.

You can find the Rations here and there throughout the game and they are important to recover in case you lost a lot of health.

Look:
The Rations are these round and rotating items that look like oversized pills. The Rations are very important and you should pick them up whenever you find one.

where to find:
In the Tanker and in the Big Shell Level.

Scope/Camera/Thermo Vision

Function:
Works just like every modern Scope / Binoculars / Camera with a zoom works. Use the

button to zoom in, and with

you zoom out again.
The cam has the additional functionality to take a picture of what you see with

.
The Zoom bar in the top right corner shows how much you zoomed in and how far you can still go on in each direction.

The Thermal Goggles work a bit different. You can't zoom when in thermo view, but you see everything totally in red and everything emitting heat gets brighter in color the warmer it is. This way you can easily spot enemies.
And you can use the thermo vision goggles to search for dogtags. You can see which soldier still has a Dogtag and who doesn't.
And you can also see the otherwise invisible infrared sensors.

Look:
only found in the inventory.
The Thermal Goggles is in a big black box with blue stripes.

where to find:
Snake already has the Camera in his inventory when entering the Tanker, just as Raiden has the Scope with him already on the Big Shell.
You can find the Camera for Raiden in the Strut E when coming back from the Shell 2 inside the room that needs the LVL 5 Card.
The Thermal Goggles can be found in the Tanker level on the mast of the Tanker, in the Big Shell Level they are in the Shell 2 right at the beginning of the diving part or at least in a locker next to Emma Emmerich.
When you are playing on Very Easy you can find the Thermal Goggles in the Shell 1 Core already, inside the room with the hostages behind the podium.

Pentazemin

Function:
Pentazemin works just like the Cigarettes, the only difference is, that it is healthier. This means you get a more constant breath and a nonshaking hand when you aim with the PSG1. But the effect of one Pentazemin doesn't last all that long. When you run out of Pentazemin you can still select the Cigarettes but these slowly drain out your health...

Look:
A greyblue small box with a small cross in one corner and the words PENTAZEMIN written on it (what else...?).
Except for the label it looks just like the BANDAGES.

where to find:
In the Tanker and the Big Shell Level.

Bandages

Function:
When you got hurt a lot in a fight and lost a lot of blood and also health you use the bandages to stop the bleeding otherwise you lose even more health.
You can stop the bleeding by kneeing down or laying down but when you are in a bossfight this is no easy thing to do, in that case you use the bandages.

Look:
A greyblue small box with a small cross in one corner and the words BANDAGES written on it (what else...?).
Except for the label it looks just like the PENTAZEMIN.

where to find:
In the Tanker and the Big Shell Level.

Cigarettes

Function:
Besides slowly draining out your life the ciggys can also be helpful. You can breath the smoke onto the lasers and make these visible this way in case you don't have the infrared goggles and there is nothing similar at hand (flour, fire extinguisher, etc). And you also get a more stable hand when aiming with the PSG-1 Sniper rifle in zoomed in mode.

Look:
only found in the inventory

where to find:
Snake has them with him right from the start in the Tanker level, on the Big Shell you get the Cigarettes from Pliskin.

Dog Tags

Function:
Almost every soldier on the Tanker or the Big Shell has a Dog Tag around the neck. Some give it up easy, others are more hesitant and need some persuation. More explanations and locations and what you get for a specific number of collected DogTags can be found in the Dogtags chapter(s). (Sons of Liberty/Substance).

Look:
A silvergrey army dogtag with a chain to it.

where to find:
Most guards in the Tanker and the Big Shell Level have one with them.

Keycards

Function:
Some doors on the Big Shell are locked and can never be opened, while other doors are locked and can only be opened with a keycard of the according level. You use the keycard on the door and the door with the same or lower level opens up. To make it clear, a LVL3 keycard opens all LVL3 door, but also the lower leveled LVL1 and LVL2 doors.

Look:
You only see them in the inventory, but the LVL is written on it too.

where to find:
Only found in the Big Shell level. You get it from different persons you meet.

Level1 Keycard from Peter Stillman.
Level2 Keycard from the Ninja called Mr. X.
Level3 Keycard from Ames
Level4 Keycard from President Johnson himself
Level5 Keycard from Emma Emmerich

Ammunition

Function:
The more Ammunition you have, the more you can shoot! For more information about the different kinds of weapons please look this up in the Weapons chapter.

Look:
The different Ammunitions and grenades and rockets look different, but the kind of gun they are for is always written on the box with the Ammunition.

where to find:
In the Tanker and in the Big Shell Level.

Boxes

Function:
You use the boxes to camouflage and hide yourself. More information about the boxes can be found in the Boxes chapter of course.

Look:
It looks like a cardboard box as the boxes are just that, cardboard boxes...

where to find:
In the Tanker and in the Big Shell Level.

Book

Function:
The Book could also be called boobies magazine, but Metal Gear Solid 2 is also for kids. The book is filled with the hottest ladies you can imagine and that are posing in the most seductive poses. Sadly you can not zoom in all that much.
Once you dropped the book every guard walking past it will take a look at it, then another look and finally his view cone will disappear from the radar.
The book is a distraction device for (or rather against) the guards. You drop it with the

button. Once you dropped it you cannot pick it up again.

Look:
a rotating magazine / book.

where to find:
Only in the Big Shell Level.

Cellphone

Function:
The Ninja occasionally contacts you via the cellphone and drops hints when you act way too stupid. Just use this Walkthrough and do what I suggest you do and the Ninja himself looks stupid.

Look:
Looks like a cellphone from the year 2001. You can only find it in the inventory.

where to find:
You get if from the Ninja after the fight with Fatman.

B.D.U.

Function:
The B.D.U. is the uniform used by the soldiers on the Big Shell and together with the AK it is a perfect camouflage to infiltrate the Shell 1 Core unnoticed.
All soldiers in there wear this uniform so you never get noticed when wearing this yourself.

Look:
A nicely folded uniform, only found in the inventory.

where to find:
You get the B.D.U. Uniform from the Ninja after the fight with Fatman.

Directional Microphone

Function:
The Directional Microphone is needed to listen in on other people's conversations and especially to find Ames, the contact person knowing where the president is, among the normal hostages in the Shell 1 Core.

Look:
Ingame it is found in a small black box, in the inventory it looks almost like a gun

where to find:
In the Shell 1 Core - B2.

Heartbeat Sensor

Function:
The Heartbeat Sensor recognises human heartbeats and vibrates your controller (when vibration is on) as soon as a human with a beating heart comes close to you. The closer the person comes, the louder it gets.

Look:
Looks like an iPod and is only found in the inventory as Snake and Raiden have it with them from the beginning. It is part of their basic gear.

where to find:
In the Tanker and in the Big Shell Level.

Sensor A

Function:
This highly sensitive sniffing device can smell Fatman's aftershave and brings you close to the locations of the C4 bombs. But the molecules of the aftershave float around a lot, so the sensor only shows a larger area and you have to search some more yourself to finally find the bombs.

Look:
only found in the inventory, because you get it handed from Stillman.

where to find:
In the Big Shell Level, you get it from Peter Stillman to find Fatman's Bombs.

Sensor B

Function:
Stillman developed this from scratch in no time to find the odorless bombs planted by Fatman because in this case the Sensor A is useless.
This Sensor beeps faster the closer you get to the odorless bomb.

Look:
A huge greybrown box with Bomb Sensor written on it.

where to find:
In the Big Shell Level, in the safe in Strut C, in which Stillman did hide while you were searching for Fatman's Bombs.

Mine Detector

Function:
Once you selected the minedetector you can see all the Claymore Mines that are wildely placed all over the place (especially on the EF Connecting Bridge) and you won't run into them blindly anymore and won't hurt yourself by doing so anymore.

Look:
A dark box.

where to find:
Down the stairs in the Strut E - Parcel Room.

Body Armor

Function:
The Body Armor is of course a bulletproof west. It protects you even better from enemy fire than just the skullsuit. But when you have the Armor equipped you can't equip another item like a sensor or rations.

Look:
A dark box in the water.

where to find:
Swimming in the water after the fight with Vamp and before the room with Emma. For an even more to the point description look it up in the Walkthrough part.

Medicine

Function:
In case Raiden or Snake catch a cold (this can happen when you are standing in the rain for hours or when you are running naked through metallic Arsenal Gear floors) you just take the Medicine and the boys are happy again. I haven't found any medicine in the Tanker level to cure Snake's cold but theoretically it is possible. When standing still for around 3 minutes in a warm place you cure the guys too.

Look:
Looks the same as other medical stuff like the Pentazemin, just a black box with a cross on it.

where to find:
In Arsenal Gear