Metal Gear Solid by Raymond Benson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Metal Gear Solid
Book Review: SOLID
Summary: 4 Stars
Action-packed right from the beginning. Benson creates an aura of mystery that is never fully explain which leads me to believe that they will be another book in this series, despite this aura, this book reels you in from start to finish. A must read from fans of the video game or fans of the Benson's Splinter Cell novels.Book Review: Snake and the Witty One-liners
Summary: 2 Stars
Okay, even that's too nice. The title of this book should have been, "Metal Gear Solid: Snake and the Not-so-witty One-liners".
Is this novel "true to the game"? Sure. Do I think that did more harm than good? Most certainly.
I had high expectations when I picked up this book. Perhaps I felt this way because Metal Gear Solid is composed of strong, well rounded characters and a fascinating plot. And in the end, is that not what makes a great story? How could you possibly go wrong working with the Metal Gear Solid universe as your raw materials? I suppose if you were to barley mention the inner workings of the plot, destroy the characters, and make it all about hard to follow action and one-liners a STEALTH agent would not be saying in the first place you could mess things up. I'll give you three guesses as to what Benson did. Go ahead, guess.
How disappointing. This was a chance to spend some time in the head of a complex and fascinating man with highly descriptive action scenes and plot worked in, and instead the book spent all it's efforts feeding me dialog (perhaps the only thing from the game the book got right) and poorly described action scenes. Perhaps the major fault of this book is the characterization - or lack of it at all in many of the characters cases. How Benson took Snake from being a cool, logistical solider to someone who actually reveals himself to every-other-enemy is beyond me. Yes, Snake does have some wit and suave in MGS1, but he also has the angsty tragic hero side. Did the author forget about Big Boss, Grey Fox (please please do not get me started on Benson's representation of everyone's favorite Cyborg Ninja), Outer Heaven, and Zanzibar Land? I mean, the man secluded himself, alone, in Alaska for a reason. Snake's old comrade, his best friend, is gruesomely killed in front of him and Benson cannot spare a page to go into how that might affect Snake. There's little time for soliloquizing in a video game (unless you're playing MGS4, in which case you'd better make yourself comfortable and grab a snack), but I expect more from a book. What really gets under my skin is the utter lack of Otacon. Considering the man's importance later in the series, I expected a good bit of work to be put into his character and his interactions with Snake. Foreshadowing, please! Again, I was disappointed. Even worse were the half-hearted attempts at putting Snake and Meryl together romantically. It wasn't the least bit believable.
Over all, Fission Mailed.
This book might be an acceptable read for a 10-13 year old (i.e. very simple writing style) who has no further interest than the very basics of what MGS1 is. This is NOT the book for someone interested in the intricacies of the plot - past, present, or future - or of the characters. At least Benson stayed true to the dialog. At least there's that.
Book Review: Snake? Snake! 5 Stars
By far one of the best stealth games to ever be on the PSone. The complex storyline may be hard to get to grips with and Solid Snake as a character to begin with is as moody as Cloud Strife. But the whole thing works so well and will keep you hooked for years.One of my favourite features of the game has to be the boss battles. From Ocelot to Liquid all these characters seem like they share a purpose in this game and aren't just carelessly dropped in (like a certain FF12) and trying to defat them is more interesting than just just breaking every single guards neck. A must have for the PSone.
Book Review: Solid Novelization (Sorry... Irresistable Pun.)
Summary: 4 Stars
Let me start by saying that I am a fan of the game, but more importantly I'm a massive fan of the story spun in the game's universe. I'll try to be objective about the material though, that way anyone unfamiliar with the Metal Gear franchise won't feel left out.
Metal Gear Solid is your basic story of an underdog against incredible odds. It's a spy story with all the trappings of the genre... add in a bit of the supernatural, and a good dose of idiosyncratic humor and you've got a good idea what you're going in to.
The protagonist, codenamed Solid Snake, is a thirty-three year old life-long soldier living comfortably in secluded retirement until a special operations team comes to break the peace. Snake is quickly brought to a mobile command center on board a sub and told about a group of terrorist led by his former unit (FoxHound).
Foxhound, led by Liquid Snake, has taken over Shadow Moses island. Shadow Moses is a nuclear disposal facility, and a secret base for testing advanced weaponry. Foxhound has nukes, and soon enough they will have the ability to launch them. What do they want? The remains of the world's greatest soldier, a man killed years before by Solid Snake. And that's just the beginning of the labyrinthine plot, and only a gloss over what is REALLY going on.
There are elements of the labors of Hercules as Snake fights his way through the base and the special members of Foxhound. Members like Sniper Wolf, the worlds greatest sniper. Vulcan Raven, a gigantic shaman. Revolver Ocelot, an expert marksman with a taste for six shooters. Psycho Mantis, a telekinetic and telepathic sadist. And Decoy Octopus, the world's greatest master of disguise. There's also a mysterious Cyborg Ninja with ties to Snake's past who may be friend or foe.
To end before I go off on too much of a tangent, the story will keep you riveted as long as you don't mind suspending a little bit of disbelief.
To those who have played the game, and know the story, but still may want this: Get it, the author does great justice to the material, and there are a few inside references that show that he did indeed play the game before sitting down to write.
Literature it isn't, but it's a damn good read to kill a few hours with.
Book Review: Surprisingly faithful. Unsurprisingly poorly done.
Summary: 2 Stars
If you're new to Metal Gear Solid, do not buy this book. Period. Play the game, instead. Otherwise, read on.
Honestly, there is only one acceptable reason to buy this book: You've played Metal Gear Solid enough to the point where you don't want to do it yet again, and now you want to relive the story in another form. Perhaps you're hoping for an in-depth exploration of the game's plot, or you just want to get that "feeling" again. After all, playing MGS that first time is an unforgettable experience, and MGS features a story as complex and convoluted as it can possibly get... so how can this book go wrong?
Well, there are many ways it can go wrong; and it did, just not in the ways one might expect.
You might think the story is written with no regard to the game, mangling plot threads and changing character names and locations. Not so. The book is generally quite faithful -- not only to the original MGS, but also to its lesser known predecessors Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2, and even to later games in the series, such as Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. This is quite apparent even in the book's first few pages.
The book works as disposable entertainment for the MGS fan. It's fast-paced, descriptive, faithful. It's not incompetently written; it's not literature, for sure, but it's not like it's written by a third-grader or anything.
I'd give this book 3 or possibly even 4 stars if the worst thing I could say about it is that it's not good enough to stand on its own and only works for MGS fans. Unfortunately, there's another big flaw... and that's how the book handles the character of Solid Snake, the hero. While most things are fairly faithful, Snake's characterization is not. The book Snake is incredibly sloppy and murderous. While it IS possible to go shooting people all over the place and snapping guards' necks in the game, it's a stealth game -- that kind of behavior is discouraged. Moreover, Snake is not the kind of guy who goes around babbling cheap one-liners before taking someone's life. He's a gruff loner, not a blood-thirsty idiot.
For me, while the book might have an enjoyable read otherwise, this really ruined the experience.
That said, I am still morbidly curious what Mr. Benson will be able to do with the mystifying narrative maze that is Metal Gear Solid 2: Guns of the Patriots. Supposedly, it's coming this year. *fear*