Metal Gear Solid by Raymond Benson
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Book Reviews of Metal Gear Solid
Book Review: An excellent novelization of a complex story
Summary: 5 Stars
Can a book make you love the game it novelizes even more and get you more involved with the story? In the case of Metal Gear Solid by Raymond Benson, the answer is an absolute yes! Benson, who takes the excellent storytelling abilities that he displayed during his run on the James Bond series (for my money, the best author at it since Ian Fleming) and adapts it to the much more complicated story of Solid Snake in the 1998 Konami game for the Playstation 1: Metal Gear Solid.
As a gamer who enjoys video games with stories in them, I have always liked the Metal Gear series above the rest. The point of this story is Solid Snake, an ex-mercenary/military operative (never really clear which), is dragged out of retirement to handle a hostage and ransom situation where the terrorists are threatening to unleash a nuclear device at the world that cannot be seen until it is too late. Sounds pretty simple, right? It isn't. There are plot twists, turns, and even backstory that comes in and takes the character in different and unexpected directions.
Aside from just telling a good story, Raymond Benson's novelization does two really good things to Hideo Kojima's original work that makes this such a terrific read. First thing Benson does is step up the pace tremendously. The Metal Gear Solid game is quite well known for slowing its pace down with a lot of narrative. Some of that is necessary due to the interactive nature of video games, and some of it is just the way Hideo Kojima makes his games. I think it works really well for games, but when I first saw this novelization, I couldn't fathom how Benson would pick up such a notoriously slow-unfolding story and make it interesting as a book. Fortunately, he did and he did a fantastic job at it. This book could sit right next to every other action/thriller novel Raymond Benson has ever written. The pacing of this story is so good that I could see a person getting this book and thoroughly enjoying it without even having played the game. The novel is engrossing, engaging, and a sheer pleasure to read. Feel free to get this book and give it to the Metal Gear Uninitiated and fans of action/adventure novels. They will not be lost and can enjoy the book without playing the game.
The other thing Raymond Benson did that really made the book click for me was place some of the backstory in the book that was added in later installments to the series. Things that would be impossible to go back and place in a 10+ year old video game are added into the story. Things that were added in subsequent video games to give the overall story more depth and character were inserted back into this novelization. For those that know how the overall story ends, reading these backstory passages really clicked and made you think, "yeah! This really is a part of the Metal Gear Universe!"
I really have only one complaint about this book and it isn't a fault of the author's. The physical book is printed on very lightweight, recycled paper. I find the book itself to be a little flimsy and not very durable. For a $7-$8 pocket edition-sized book, I come to expect that lack of physical quality, but for a $10 larger paperback like this one, I tend to expect those books to be made of more durable materials. And if I could make a request: I'd love to get this book on my Kindle. That too would solve the poor physical quality of the book and allow me to take it with me and read it again later on.
That one complaint aside, the book is truly a joy to read. It contains action, suspense, good writing, and as both an isolated story and as a part of a larger saga, the book works on every level. No fan of Raymond Benson, Metal Gear, or just plain good action novels should miss this book.
Book Review: Worthy of owning!
Summary: 5 Stars
Once upon a time, there was a man named Raymond Benson who was commissioned by Hideo Kojima himself to novelize the epic, beautiful, yet convoluted story laid out somewhere in the frames of the Metal Gear Solid games. Kojima read the finished product and saw that it was good. Metal Gear Solid came out in 2008 for the masses where I discovered its existence, bought it, read it, and also saw that it was good. But then, a million picky, insatiable, overprotective MGS fans flooded Amazon's review columns and tried to convince other MGS fans that it was NOT good.
I'm actually a part of that pack. When it comes to Solid Snake and crew, I'm overprotective, I'm picky, I'm insatiable. The series has been in my life since I was 12 years old and that makes me feel personally responsible for its well-being and preservation through out the mediums of entertainment it has and will travel through (MGS movie, anyone?). Thankfully, this book is a solid adaptation with some reasonable liberties taken by Mr. Benson and, more importantly, approved by Mr. Kojima. Until YOU have taken on the challenge of condensing a storyline that easily goes for 900 pages in dialog alone into a publishable 300, you have no idea the tiny miracle this book actually is.
Now, would I have personally added all the extras Raymond did to the story? No. There are a few lines of dialog from Snake that I remember physically cringing at while I was reading. But, there's a few lines in Guns of the Patriots (a script penned by Kojima himself) that Snake said that I physically cringed at while hearing them. And to this day, I'm sure that Solid Snake's English voice actor David Hayter still believes Snake would have just pulled that damn trigger in the graveyard at the end of Guns of the Patriots instead of pussyfooting around long enough to let Big Boss show up and "talk him out of it". The point is, everyone and their grandma have their own views, opinions, and analysis about Solid Snake and that's wonderful, actually! It says volumes about the character--that there's enough substance in his presented personality and ideals to be interpreted differently by people. Trust me, there is not enough Internet to tell about the many games there are with stiff, linear stereotypes for main protagonists.
At no point in Benson's novelization did Snake break out into show tunes, shoot fireballs out of his hands, or suddenly realize he was in love with Otacon so I can't get behind some of the complaints from other fans. I read the same book everyone else did and I didn't come away feeling as if Snake had done or said anything unspeakably out of character but I guess that's just me.
Totally recommended for the casual or the hardcore MGS fan.
Book Review: Faithful to the Game and fun to read.
Summary: 5 Stars
Usually I am not a fan of books based on video games, as they are usually not very great. I bought this, seeing as MGS is my favorite video game series of all time, to see how faithful it was to the actual game. To be honest, this book far exceeded expectations, it seems as though Raymond Benson either played the game, got his hands on the game's script, or watched someone else play it. The book is very accurate, with the exception of a few parts which needed to be changed, such as the Psycho Mantis fight (that would have been a good laugh if he hadn't written something new for that part.)
As I read the book, I remembered playing every part I read, which made it more fun for me to read. I also could not put this book down, which is uncharacteristic for me as I usually hate reading.
For someone who hasn't played the game, or knows little to nothing in the MGS universe, I can't say how much you'll enjoy it; its hard to gauge how good it would be having previously played the game myself.
I recently got the book Benson wrote about MGS2, but I haven't had a chance to start it. If he can make that game's story great in book form, I'll pledge my allegiance to his writing.
Book Review: Good primer for MGS4
Summary: 5 Stars
What do you expect from a novelization of a video game. Well this was not to bad. I started playing Metal Gear Solid 4 and have not played the original for a long long time. I did not have the time to pop in the old PS1 game and play through it again, as great as it is, to get caught up on the story. So I was pleased to find this book and hoped it would be a good primer for my new game. That it was. It follows the original Metal Gear Solid game scene for scene. It is all pretty farfetched, but it actually turned out to be a good story in itself. Now, for someone not familiar with the game there may be some things that seem out of place (what is the deal with the cyborg ninja?), but in the mythology of the game series it all works. This is not for everyone, but it is excellent if you have not played the original game and want to jump into the later versions. I would love to see the novel of MGS2 and MGS3 in the near future.Book Review: A Solid book
Summary: 5 Stars
With MGS4 just around the corner, it's time too take a look back. Being the 11 year old that am, I never got to play Metal Gear Solid.I just got the book. And I have to say I'm really impressed. One thing you might notice if you played the game is that the script wasn't changed. At all.
This book is about a secret agent called Solid Snake. He's sent to shut down a nucleur warhead[Whatever that is]. While there, snake is pretty busy[Who knew a nucleur warhead would have so many gaurds?].Snake rescues a girl named Meryl, fights a cyborg ninja, and liberates bad guys from thier painful existense. Just like the game the story is deep and confusing. All in all, it's a good book. If you already beat the game, there's a small chance that you may not love this book. Hey some people like apples and some like bananas. I like satsumas. At this point, I can't wait until Raymond writes the second.