recent games

This is an impromptu attack because I'm bored waiting for a video to load on another site (the spoony experiment){go check it out, hilarious}
anywhay...
Where was I, oh yes. I've been on vacation the last few weeks and apart from hitting the beach I played some of the newer videogame titles that have hit the shelves in the last month. I've only just gotten to them and have been busy with other things so I've only gotten ahold of 4 games. Red Dead Redemption, Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, Iron Man 2, and Mod Nation Racers.

MNR has been out for a little while but I finally got my hands on it. I haven't beaten yet, but I would like to give a brief rundown on it. For those who don't know. MNR was made by the same team that brought you Little Big Planet. But this is not a mischief filled platformer, it is a racing game. To be more precise, It is a cart (or kart) racing game. Akin to Mario Kart and the like. Which means that not only are you racing on wacky courses with jumps, rings of fire, water hazards, and other nasty squish-you obstacles, but there are weapons and items that you can use on your opponents. These range from hyperboosters, to missiles. Yet there's a limited number of weapons. All in all there are 4(not including the powered up versions) boosters, rockets, lightning, and shock waves. The lower level of these are ok for close combat but the power ups are what you need for long distance destruction. If you're falling behind on the polls, try collecting an item and see what happens. Unfortunately there's no difference in appearance for the items on the track. They all look like purple spheres, But they are necessary in some races. So far the races have had 12 positions. That means that there are 11 other drivers collecting weapons and aiming them at you. Lap 3 usually becomes a frenzy of rockets and shock waves with someone trying to boost through the carnage. Many times I've lost at the finish line because of a salvo launched behind me, but that's also the fun of the game. You never know whether you're going to win are explode at the home stretch.
Along with the fast-paced, trigger-happy tracks, MNR offers a creation system (much like LBP) where you can customize your Mod(character) your Kart, and even custom make your own courses using the exact same engine that the designers used. Hours will be spent tweaking every little detail, or you can just make the track itself and have the game auto populate it. It basically picks the obstacles, and decoration placement at random. Try it out for a spin. You just may enjoy it.
MNR has both online and offline multi-player so you can have fun blowing your friends up and stealing the gold medal(or whatever you get for winning) All in all it is an enjoyable and addicting game.

RDD is a western for the ages. The most expansive and engrossing western game ever. Made by the studio that brought you Grand Theft Auto, you are place in the rough years of the early 20th century, where industry was taking over, and there was less and less need for pioneers and cowboys. You play as John Marsten - a former outlaw who is contracted by the government to take down his former posse. The land is so enormous that you can easily get lost. But not only that, it is beautifully designed. From the variety of landscape and sky effects you can spend hours just gazing into the distance. From dry desert, to the plains, to a snow covered forest, you will have lots to see. But don't get lost in thought, because you never know when a grizzly or a bandito will attack you. The random encounters give a whole new level of gameplay that not many other games offer. The music sounds like its straight from a spaghetti western and really transports you into that world. The dead eye system (which slows down time and allows you to take more accurate shots) works with all weapons and not just the revolver. There's also more variety of weapons than in other western games as well. However the weapon menu does not pause the game, so make sure you're out of the line of fire when you change weapons or you could find yourself laying face up.
Not all random encounters are dangerous, some are just people who want a ride into town or even to reward you for your good deeds. There is an honor system (that is similar to the fame system in infamous) however it does not change the outcome of the game nor the missions, so there's no real incentive to be good. There is a wanted system, much like in GTA4, and the combat is similar as well. And of course like most Rockstar games, you can keep playing after you've beaten it, and with the random encounters, saloons, and even bounty missions there's enough to peak your interest for a long time to come.
But the game is not without faults. Among the top are: cannot swim, duel mode sucks, authorities come way too fast once you've done something wrong(by accident) seriously I walked into a town and everybody and their grama was shooting at me. So I shot back and Bam, I'm the one who get chased by the sherif. By I digress. The dueling system is flawed. You are encouraged to win non-lethally by way of shooting their gun from their hand or their hat off their head; however, there are some duels where that is impossible. I tried several times to win non-lethally, and every time I died. So I had to just pump them fill of lead. I could go on but I've got a few more games to discuss in this attack.

Before I get to the best game I played recently, lets discuss the worst. Iron Man 2.
Now don't get me wrong, I love Iron Man. I love the movie I love Iron man 2 the movie, but I am greatly disappointed in the game. Before I discuss the bad, I will talk about the good.
The game does not follow the movie (yes I find this a good thing) it is an adventure that takes place sometime after the events fo the movie, So You may need some knowledge of the movie (but not much) A few characters from the movie appear in the game, but most of the characters are either new or movie-like versions of comic characters. That's one of the things I love about the game, they take classic icons from the comics and use the designs from the movies to make them fit in that universe. The voices are done by the actors from the movies, so they have the same mannerisms. And you can play as either Iron Man or War Machine. SHIELD Helicarrier!
Now for the bad: I'm going to come out and say this. The designers put no effort into this game. The controls are all over the place. It takes too many buttons to do things and even then, the directional controls with the camera and flight controls are awful. It is difficult to lock on target. While you can press a button and lock, it doesn't always lock on the nearest target, nor does it lock onto targets directly behind. The game seems short, compared to other super hero games. One of my biggest problems is that it is not free-roam. In my opinion super hero games should be free-roam, where you as the hero scour the city and answer the call for help. But no. this is a straight up mission-by-mission game. Now for the biggest problem. The graphics SUCK. Where were the designers. Not at work obviously. I mean this game is not PS3 quality. First gen PS2 maybe.
For years the rift between PS3 and PS2 versions of games has been wide, but this is ridiculous. I'm glad I just rented this game and didn't buy it. I would be totally miffed if I paid $60+ for this piece of trash.
Ok. now don't you all get mad. I do kind of enjoy playing this game. I mean, I'm flying around, cracking skulls as Iron Man or War Machine. Now that's at least something. But they should have left this game in the oven a bit longer.
Now make it free roam, include things from this game like the hellicarrier - make it a fully explorable environment. Fly around and save people from things and bad guys and stuff.

Now I will talk some about the best game I've played recently. MGSPW.
I plan on doing a more extensive review, but heres a short version.
Aside from having the usual problems with PSP games (the control limitations ) Kojima Productions has outdone themselves once again. Pushing the technology to the limits and beyond. This is the most extensive PSP game ever made. Now before you say "that's not that impressive" keep this in mind. A UMD disc is a 1/4 the size of a normal one and no where near has the data storage of a modern bluray disc, yet PW has more content than MGS4. Can you believe that.
While the story is on the short side(compared to the other games) it is engrossing and filled with intrigue. You play as Big Boss in a MGS3 sequel. BB has been busy recruiting a mercenary army when he is contacted by Galvez who wants him to pursue a mysterious military that has invaded their country. On his mission, BB uncovers the new Metal Gear code named Peace Walker.
I'm not going to get too in depth with this, but the game continues after the story mode. There are dozens of side missions and missions where you send troops into battle. With an ever growing tech tree, you can play to your strengths and use the right tool for the right job. If you're a MGS fan, you definitely want to play this. It IS an official game in the series, directed by famed series creator Hideo Kojima. There's soo much in this game, that I could just go on and on, but I'll save that for another time. Needless to say, It was a very enjoyable escape that I have been hard-pressed to put down. Hours of stealth action await gamers who get their sneaky mits on Peace Walker. I strongly advise getting this game, not just for MGS fans but any gamer. It is an experience like no other. So Snake in, play with a friend. Oh, I forgot, the entire game is co-op-able. Is that a word. It is now "co-op-able" copy write Random Ninja Attack (june 26, 2010) You can play every mission in the game in co-op, that is amazing and a first for MGS. I hope it is a light of things to come from the awesome team at Kojima Productions.

Well that's what I've been up to (apart form looking for a job, and dealing with family matters) but expect a few more things to come in the next week, until then, be careful when you walk down that dark path because you never know when you may walk into... a RANDOM NINJA ATTACK!!!

News

Episode 5 will be up in a few weeks. I've been on vacation for the last couple. Here's a list of things to come.

Power On Episode 5
Power On Episode 6
Power On Shopping Network
NinjaCard Commercial
Text Review Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty, the novel

There's also a few other things I'm working on, I can't wait to get them started. I don't want to give too much away, but I'm trying something new. I hope everyone out there in internet land is having a good summer.I will see you when I see you.

Attack on Horror Games

Also in keeping in with the season, I thought I'd do a review of the genre pertaining to horror video games.

I'll admit that I am not a big fan of Horror games, for a few reasons:

1, they're not scary

2, the story usually sucks

3, the controls are usually overly comlicated

4, what constitutes a "horror" game anywhay?

As I said, I am not a fan of these types of games; therefore, I haven't played many either. Among the ones I have played are some of the Resident Evil(Biohazard) and Silent Hill games. Even Devil May Cry, but I wouldn't really call that horror (even though it deals with demons and junk) But the Resident Evil and Silent Hill games are really the ones that carved out the genre we all know. And lets just say, because of them I'm not a fan of horror games.

In Resident Evil, you play either a male or female S.T.A.R.S. operative (mostly) there has been an outbreak of the T-Virus which causes the deceased to become reanimated and crave to feed on the flesh of the living, and in some cases cause severe mutation. Simple enough. So what's the problem? Well ya see, this game would technically be called an over the shoulder action shooter game because that's what it is. It just so happens that there are zombies and monsters running around. The controls are terrible(which IS the main reason I stopped playing the games) I mean really, I have to press the directional right or left buttons and then the down button to turn around (fully rotate the analogue stick once available) that's utter bull! I want to be able to turn at a moments notice in the direction I need to go. And don't say the technology wasn't there. There were plenty of games around that time that allowed instant direction change. It's a hinderance to have to fully control the turn. When zombies are pouring into the hallway I want to be able to run not pivot slowly while they draw nearer. It doesn't make sense.

Now like I said, I think this game series more accurately belongs in the action genre and not the horror genre. it's not that scary. "Yes it is," you say? Take a closer look. What is really scary about it? Monsters? Non horror games have monsters and its not scary. Zombies? Just think of them as a mass of slow moving targets. They aren't scary, there's just way too many of them. That can go for any action game too. When you're surrounded by dozens of enemies(no matter what kind they are) you get anxious. Then is it the fact that things pop out at you? The classic jump scare. All games nowadays and even back then had moments where something unexpected jumped out at you. Especially action games. You're walking along a path, or through a clearing minding your own business when BAM! monster. Resident evil is just an action game with zombies in the dark.

One of my most anticipated horror games coming out is Saw. Now I haven't played it yet so I can't really include it in this review, but I will say it seems scary from the footage I've seen. If you've seen any of the movies, you know the drill about how it works. You play a person who has to go through Jigsaw's maze of death traps. And at any moment you could to the wrong thing and BAM! dead. It seems to have an uber dark atmosphere like the movies, where you're not entirely sure what is in the shadows. I'm sure there will be some jump scares as well, but it is not an action game. Saw is a puzzle solving game. You must think in order to survive. The problem here is that once you've figured out the puzzle it lessens the replay value of the game. (that's the problem with all puzzle games, but I still play them) I will definitely play this game because its not an action game masking itself as a horror game.

Now that i've talked about the horror game genre, I'd like to illustrate the top 6 of my favorite scary moments out of video games (not just horror games) Carefull there may be spoilers ahead...

#6 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - During the final act of the game, Raiden - after being captured and robbed of his gear - must sneak through the Tron-looking facility butt naked. It is then that he begins to receive abnormal codec calls from the Colonel. In these calls, the colonel's voice becomes distorted as if he's mechanical. The calls also range from him giving you mission orders from the previous games, to him talking about being abducted by aliens. But the Scariest moment is the first call. Raiden - butt naked covering his junk - runs up a flight of stairs. And the colonel calls saying, "Raiden, turn the game consol off right now... The mission is a failure, cut the power right now... Don't worry, it's a game. It's a game like usual..."

"You'll ruin your eyes playing so close to the TV..." interjects Rosemary. Now a videogame telling you to turn it off is pretty out there, but think about this. Like me, most people who played this game probably played straight through with no stops(except potty breaks hopefully) and reached this point of the game after about 20 hours, probably between 2:00 and 4:00 in the morning. Running only on adrenaline and the drive to beat the game, they (and me) were extremely exhausted when this was dropped on them. I was terrified. The Colonel, the man guiding me through the game suddenly tells me that I've done something wrong and should turn off the game. And to top that, every now and then his face disappears and you can see his skull. WTF! It terrified me so much that I wont even look at the screen at that part of the game. Now to be fair, this is not as effective a scare when you play it at noon in the bright daylight. You can tell that the designers knew that people would play straight through the first time and reach that point in the still dark of 2:00 am tired and unwary. It still freaks me out tho.

#5 Metal Gear Solid - About halfway through the game you run into the boss character Psycho Mantis. At this point in the game you've already fought 2 bosses, so you're getting a little cocky. Well the game has a surprise for you. Apart from Mantis reading your memory card and moving the shock controller(which I still think is neat) you're not intimidated by his tricks and you're ready for what ever he throws at you. Or are you? The fight begins, you hear Mantis' creepy laugh and BAM! the screen goes black. A word pops on the screen "video" and you think, omg I turned off the game at a crucial point and like mantis said I havn't saved in such a long time! After a moment the screen comes back on and You see that you didn't turn the game off, but something's missing. Where is mantis? He's gone. You just have time to think, "wha't going on here," when BAM! mantis attacks you. That guy is invisible! SOB! After a few minutes of dodging his invisible attacks he reappears. Now it's on! You pull out your trust SOCOM and open fire. Wait. He dodges all of the bullets! What the hell! BAM! screen goes black again. The word video is back, but wait... it doesn't say video it says Hideo. For those of you who don't know (and shame on you for that) Hideo Kojima is the creator of the Metal Gear Franchise. So it is all to mess with the player. It really shoots down your confidence. I was 12 when I played the game for the first time, (again really late at night) it freaked me out beyond belief, now I've beaten the game so many times it doesn't even bother me, but it still remains one of the most terrifying moments of my gaming history.

#4 Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Around 2/3 of the way through the game, snake is captured, and tortured, ultimately losing his eye in the process. Afterwards Snake is held in a dingy cell and fed rotten food. I need to take this moment to explain a side aspect of the game. Every time you enter a new area and save the game Paramedic will enlighten you with a synopsis of a movie she's seen (generally science fiction) this will conclude with a witty banter by Snake which annoys paramedic. If you save the game while snake is in the cell, paramedic will tell Snake about dracula, and we find out that snake is afraid of vampires. What's the scary part, you ask? Well, I actually found this by accident. It only happens if you load the saved game from the cell. I had to stop playing because it was dinner time, and my family went out to eat. It had been a few hours since i had played, by the time I started again it was pretty late at night (again 2-3 am) I loaded the game expecting to just escape the cell and continue on my way. I loaded the game whenBAM! I was playing a completely different game. I was no longer snake. I looked more like Dante from Devil May Cry or something similar. I was in a warehouse being attacked by monsters dressed like cops. They were wolfish and large, but I had 2 sword-like weapons and began to tear into them, eventually if you kill enough monsters you transform, your hair becomes white, and instead of swords, you use your bare hands to tear the monsters in half with blood gushing. You also bound around on all fours. You eventually go back to normal. and the screen fades. Snake wakes up in the cell after having a nightmare. I was shocked and terrified when this happened. Now I just think of it as cool, and play that section on purpose.

#3 Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Halfway through the game you initiate a boss fight with a sniper called The End. This fight takes place in 3 areas. The End is a terrifyingly good shot, but that's not what makes this moment terrifying. There is no music during the boss fight (there's actiony music in every other boss fight in all of the games) The weather changes from calm and sunny, to a heavy rain, and to fog. The End is perfectly camouflaged to blend into the environment and he could be anywhere just waiting for you to come by so he can shoot you, which he will if you just go running around. And if you think you can wait him out, you're wrong. He doesn't move until either he shoots you or you shoot him. (he does fall alseep tho, which makes it easier for you to move in on him) He also can sneak up behind you. which is the most terrifying. You can only see one direction at a time. Sometimes you need to use First Person Perspective to find him, but that's when he'll sneak up on you. This and his creepy voice echoing through the valley, make The End one of the scariest bad guys in MGS. But like with mantis, once you've gotten through it enough times it means little.

#2 Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - I know i've got a lot of it here, but seriously the Metal Gear Series is closer to a horror game that resident evil is. After Snake escapes the cell, he has to get across the fortress without equipment, then run through a sewer being chased by dogs. He eventually leaps down a waterfall and gets pulled downstream. He wakes up and all of the trees surrounding the river are ablaze. Freaky, but not scary yet. It begins to rain, which puts out the fire, and your next boss emerges. He is levitating (which isn't really scary considering the amount of levitating/flying bosses in MGS) He also has a creepy voice(but a great one) This boss is the Sorrow, at this point in the game he has popped in and out on several occasions, and it seems that Snake is the only one who can see him. One the boss fight starts. I know you're expecting me to say BAm again, well not this time. The boss fight eases to its start. It is pouring down rain, snake is waist deep in water, and The Sorrow is floating around infront of you. But wait. The Sorrow has no health. I can totally take this guy. I fire the only gun I have after the escape which is a Single Action Army Colt. But nothing happens, The Sorrow is immune to bullets, what Kind of fight is this? Are you serious? I can't kill this guy? so I walk forward and he floats back, I'm thinking that maybe I can punch him. You can! but again it doesn't kill him. He disappears and reappears further away from you. Slowly as you progress down/up the river (immersed in creepy music) you begin to notice ghostly soldiers approach you. They're slow, kind of like zombies, but unlike zombies, these are ghosts and cannont be killed again. After a short while you realize that these are every soldier you've killed up till this point. And I mean EVERY. Depending on how many people you kill, the time of this segment is longer or shorter. If you havn't killed anyone, only the bosses appear, but if you're like me back then, you killed every hapless person who crossed your path and you had to spend upwards of 15-20 minutes wading through the vengeful spirits. And they do hurt you if you touch them. After you finally get past the hundreds of dead and the bosses, you're finally alone with Sorrow. Now I can finally hurt him right? I'll just calmly walk up to him... BAM! I died?! how did I die? did I do something wrong? How am I supposed to beat someone who can't be hurt by bullets and can't touch? You don't. That's right, this is an unwinable fight. If you cycle through you're inventory at the game over screen, you realize that you're not dead, you're fake dead. Which is something else I'll have to explain. See in the game, Snake has pills that send him into a state of apparent death. this fools the enemy into thinking you're really dead, and they leave you alone. To revive yourself, you have a pill that does that also. You can use it once you die in the river. Now as with quite a few of the other moments on this list, I reached this point of the game really late at night, while I was tired. But even still, facing the spirits of every person you killed in the game as a "boss fight" is frightening.

and now the #1 scary moment in my gaming history... Shadow Of The Colossus. Just Shadow Of The Colossus. The whole game is terrifying. Ok the premise of the game is that you're character brings his beloved to a sacred shrine to bring her back to life. In order to do this you must fight 16 colossi that are hidden throughout the land. And The area of land that you have to search rivals that of San Andreas and Mercenaries. You are all alone except for your trusty horse. All you have is a mystical sword that lights your path, and you are sent out into this vast expanse of changing landscape (featuring everything from beach, to forest, to desert) in search for the 16 Colossi.At first you think yeah, I can do this, no problem. But then after a while into your journey, the vast emptiness and ocasional entrance of the quite creepy music begin to make you think that at any moment something horrible is about to spring out and eat your lunch. I'm going to be very clear on this point - the only monsters you have to fight are the colossi, there are no other enemies in this game. But the mood it sets really scares you. And there is a reason that the monsters are called colossi. Apart from a couple that are roughly the size of small elephants, most range in size from 3-5 story buildings, to battle ships and planes, and they only get larger from their. the final four as I like to call them are the largest monsters I've ever seen in a game(tho I av not played resistance 2 nor lost planet 2, but the final colossus is still larger than the laviathon and the massive akrid shown in the trailers) but it is still the mood and the fact that you don't know when you'll run into the next colossus. (one thing that i dont like in that reguard is that there is only one colossus out and about at a time. I think to make it truly terrifying, they should all be walking around at the same time, it's just you can't get to some as of yet. Shadow of the Colossus is a puzzle solving game, where you have to figure out how to defeat the colossi, but what sets it apart is that, after you kill them, the scene that follows is full of remorsefully toned music and you begin to question whether what you're doing is right. The physical marks become more prominent on your character as well, you grow horns, and you become pale with weird demonic markings all over you. With just the scope of the game and the creative gameplay, as well as the terror mood it immerses you into, This is my number 1 scariest moment in gaming.

I hope you enjoyed that, be on the lookout for the next review. Maybe even a video or 2.

Attack on Metal Gear Solid: the Novel

What comes to mind when you hear the title? For most people, they will reminisce about their youth when MGS1 was released on the PlayStation in 1998. It is one of the greatest video games ever made, and one of the greatest franchises in the video game industry selling millions if not billions of copies worldwide, (I'm including all the games here) but what made it so great?

Metal Gear Solid was more than just a game. It took the gaming media and brought it to a new high. For the first time, players were immersed in a world away from reality, yet still keeping realistic themes like love, fear, hatred, and betrayal. It was the first true cinematic game which seemed like the players were part of a movie rather than just a game - a story come to life so to speak, MGS1 was one of the first games to feature full voice overs both in-game and in the cinematics. It also featured a full soundtrack and realistic sound effects (for its time) Like all Metal Gear games, MGS1 pushed the PlayStation's potential to its fullest and even surpassed what was expected of it. Even still today, it is praised for its excellence. Now in it's fourth main console incarnation(not counting the original MSX games from the 80s. The Metal Gear Saga is one of those genre busting games that starts the player off in a familiar stance then throws them off their feet and challenges them to think strategically in order to complete their mission. 

But this is not a review of Metal Gear Solid the game. Which is awesome and would take me forever to write a review up to its high level of gravitas. (possibly in the future)

Like many other widely popular franchises, Metal Gear Solid has had its run with almost every other form of entertainment media including: toys, clothes, radio dramas, graphic novels, and books. Not to mention the in-the-works Metal Gear Solid movie, but I'll touch on that in a later review about video game based movies. In terms of books their have been a few incarnations; mainly fan-written stories with their favorites characters, as well as novelized versions which are verbatum to the VO script to the games, and also unofficial versions of the main plot. However, there is one official written work.

This is my attack of Metal Gear Solid the novel.

Now I know what you're thinking, “It's just our favorite cigarette smoking, bandana wearing protagonist on an adventure that doesn't have anything to do with the regular canon of the games, right?” 

Wrong. While on the outside you may think that, because after all, most video game based novels are just taking place in the same reality with either different characters or different circumstances; but in this case both are wrong. It actually is based on the first game. (by first I mean MGS1. MG and MG2:SS came out a decade earlier and I could do an entire attack on why the novelization of those sucks) But as it is this book MGSTN doesn't suck. It is written by Raymond Benson whom some of you may recognize as David Michaels, the writer of the Tom Clancey's: Splinter Cell books. I have to admit, his style of writing is not my favorite, but he is quite a competent writer and has a grasp on characters which he himself has not created. 

 After picking up the book, the first thing you notice, other than the familiar font used on all of the PS2 metal gears, is the cover image. Its the classic Yoji Shinkawa illustration of Snake with the goggles seen on the title screen of the game. Awesome! Yoji Shinkawa has been the lead artist and character designer of the series since MGS1, its only fitting that his work accompany the novel. It is one way that you can tell that it is an official release. Above the title there is a sentence which reads, “The official novel of the thrilling Konami video game created by Hideo Kojima!” By reading the synopsis on the back cover, you find out that this book is not just a novelization but actually delves into the mythos of the world Solid Snake inhabits, giving insights to the characters and their motivations, as well as a little back story (which helps tie-in the series)

Ok, there is a little hiccup on the back. Complaint #1: on the back of the book it says, “Solid Snake's mission is to breach the heavily fortified base to rescue hostages and to destroy the superweapon.” My problem with this is that; 1: its technically not a base, but a secret government-run nuclear warhead storage and disposal facility, but I'll cut them some slack seeing as that's a mouthful to put on the back cover synopsis; and 2: Snake doesn't know that there is a “superweapon” in the “base.” It's not part of his original mission plan, it only comes up after he finds out about it; but again, I'll give them slack on this because its a catching phrase and the prospective reader may buy more readily if they know there is a “superweapon.”

I'm not going to give spoilers (technically – since it is based on the game) but I will discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of this novel. Pun intended. 

As I said earlier, the writer gives insights into the characters that was not offered in the game itself, and he shows incidents outside of the game that influenced Snake and the other characters. He does this fairly well. Of course he did have several sources to draw from including: the game, the graphic novel, the development team, and the creator – Mr. Kojima – as well.  

For those of you who have played the game, you will note several differences, many differences in fact that span the entire novel. These differences are not bad mind you, but it does detract from the nostalgia a bit. For those who haven't played the game or are just not familiar with it, this point is moot.

The first being that Snake meets the support team before leaving the sub. Not that this is bad, in fact in all likelyhood, he would have met the team before disembarking. Second; snake already has his SOCOM from the get-go, I actually do have a problem with this. Disregarding that it does make more sense that snake goes in with at least one weapon, in the game you have to out think your enemy while not having any weapons until a little while into the story. Third and most notable is that Snake goes in without his trusty cigs. Really? I mean, he even says that he was thinking of smuggling them in like he does in the game, but doesn't; although Snake does quickly grab some from an enemy which he comments are “terrible.” The author uses this as a recurring bit where Snake keeps complaining about having them instead of his “good” cigarettes. Another thing that fans of the game will note is that the structure of the facility has been altered to make it more convenient for storytelling. Again this really isn't all that terrible in that it does make the story flow better, but again, it loses nostalgia. Some of the fights are different than in the game, but this too makes sense, because a game and a novel flow differently. Its a bit more realistic in that it doesn't take a million bullets to take down the bosses like in games.

One thing I like about this novel is that Snake's inner monologue is shown in one line italicized text. However, halfway through the novel, these already established inner monologues are accompanied by the phrase, “Snake thought.” Why? We already know that these...

Metal Gear!?

...are Snake's thoughts. So why halfway through the book do they start saying “Thought Snake.”

One problem I have with the novel is that certain instances happen before they actually did in the game. Not by much mind you, but I think that these parts of the  story flowed better the way they did in the game. This doesn't happen often but when it does its kind of annoying. Maybe people who haven't played the game wont notice these. Some instances were even left out entirely. All of the scenes were present but, sometimes little treasures were no where to be seen. When you read you'll notice which one's I'm talking about (if you've played the game)

 I will say that the characters were intriguing and captivated me while reading, and it was all a bit more ground in reality that the game itself. As I said with the enemies being more realistic and not taking forever to kill. 

Not all characters were as fleshed out as the others, one of these being Nastasha. Arguably though, you can in fact play through the entire game without actually contacting her. But It would have been nice if her character in the novel was a bit more fleshed out. Another character I feel that didn't get enough “screen time” was Mei Ling. True, she's not a big character in the game either, but she does play her part. She's just another character I feel could have been better developed given the style of writing. If the novel was only following Snake and didn't delve into the other character besides when he actually contacts them it would have been okay to leave her and the other characters not as developed. 

The scenes which were added to the story do actually give more insights to character's and show that they are not just two-dimensional. Particularly one towards the end which I won't spoil for you. Just know that it is heartwarming. 

A few discrepancies in continuity I noticed; 1:The Hind goes after the F-16s just like in the game but there's never any mention of their encounter again in the book. 2: Sometimes there were miscounts on Snake's ammunition (i.e. he used more chaff grenades than he actually had in one scene) 3: Some rooms from the game were combined into one for the book (this is okay in some instances, but in others gets confusing) 4: In one scene a room was actually added and didn't necessarily need to be. (you'll notice it when it comes up if you read the book) 5: (this is actually in the game as well) how does the Ninja get past the electrified floor? 6: Both Miller and Deepthroat tell Snake about things way before they need to (i.e. about weapons Snake needs long before the instance Snake will need them. - I know this makes more sense, but part of the fun of the game was coming to an area you couldn't pass unless you backtracked or went to a different area to obtain the item or items needed to pass.) 7: Snake's hair is black in the novel, yet clearly in the games its brown. 8: (this is more of a problem than a continuity error and may be a spoiler to those who don't know the story) the Hind fight is over way too quickly. 9: How old is Naomi? 10: (this is in the game also) How does Miller know about Octopus when clearly Snake has told no one about it? 11: (almost a spoiler) When Snake's hands are tied, how does he “punch in” the codec frequency? 12: they also don't show his hands being untied, but they are soon after. 13: (in the game too) How does Otacon get past the security hell that Snake must navigate (guards, traps, etc)? I know the explanation Otacon gives in the game and novel, but that still leaves a lot of places that he couldn't possibly get through by those means. 14: (though not really a fault of continuity but still...) conveniently placed items. (you'll notice them) There are actually a few more, but those would contain definite spoilers. If you've played the game, you will definitely notice them. Even if you are an adept reader and are knowledgeable of plot structure you'll notice them. 

Overall I would say this book is pretty good, because if you wanted an exact word-for-word translation of the game, why not just play the game itself. It does read pretty fast, and as I said there are a few minor discrepancies, but those are generally overcome by the great character and overall story. The characters in the novel are true to their pixilated brethren (accept for some minor details which would kind of be spoiling, but are nevertheless close to how those characters would react) It's a fast read and a short read, being just over 300 pages long, but an enjoyable one. I would recommend that if you are a fan of the series, to at least check the book out, and even if you aren't a fan, but would still like to know the story. Especially if you are not a gamer and would like to know the awesome tale of Solid Snake without actually having to play through the game, you should check this book out. It's an affordable price and even cheaper if you buy from the internet.

 I give Metal Gear Solid the novel a 4 out of 5.

Metal Gear Solid the novel is produced by Del Rey and is written by Raymond Benson, with cover art from Yoji Shinkawa and cover design by David Stevenson

Metal Gear Solid, Solid Snake and all other characters and games are property of Konami and Hideo Kojima

It is in the science fiction section of your local bookstore; also try Amazon.com

Metal Gear Solid 2 the novel is due out later this year. You can expect another review from the Random Ninja once it arrives.