Besides video games, I enjoy reading. Unfortunately I never seem to make time for it like I do gaming. Let me tell you, it's challenging to actually finish a book of any substance if your reading time is the five or ten minutes you contribute to it when you're sitting on the ivory throne. But I have a deal with myself that anytime I am in an airplane flying somewhere, the portable electronic devices stay powered off and I devote all of my air time to reading or sleeping. And as luck would have it, I had about 10 hours of reading time this past weekend broken down into two 5-hour periods. And what do you know...I managed to finish a book. But not just any book - it was Metal Gear Solid.
This explosive Metal Gear Solid novel ventures beyond the thrilling videogame and delves into the dark heart of Solid Snake's world!
Highly skilled former FOXHOUND agent Solid Snake is called out of retirement to do what he does best-neutralize a crisis of epic proportions. A deadly team of renegade FOXHOUND operatives has taken over the nuclear disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island in the icy Aleutians. If their demands aren't met, a powerful, top-secret weapon will be unleashed upon the world.
Solid Snake's mission is to breach the heavily fortified base to rescue hostages and to destroy the superweapon. His only obstacles are brainwashed commandos, DNA-enhanced troops, and six first-rate killers with extraordinary abilities. All alone in hostile territory, armed with nothing but his wits, Snake has only a snowball's chance in hell of taking out his target and keeping nuclear nightfall from descending on the earth.
But nothing is as it seems. Somebody is hiding something. Somebody has a hidden agenda. And somebody wants Snake to learn secrets about his dark past-secrets that would shake any man to his core.
You can purchase the book at Amazon or other fine stores, but only if you're interested.
So, the book is an easy read and relatively short. Sure, it weighs in at just over 300+ pages but I think that's more because of the way it is constructed. Too be fair, I haven't played the game this book portrays, but I can definitely tell you it adheres to the game (the first and only Metal Gear game I have ever played is the first one, on the Nintendo). I think I finished the book in roughly nine hours.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. There were some flaws with a few technical details (the submarine had some major issues) and some of the language/grammar was questionable, but overall, I liked it. If you're a fan of this episode, you'll definitely like the book. They are strikingly similar. How do I know (if I haven't played the game)?
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I know this because one clever YouTube channel made a "movie" by seamlessly stringing all of the cut scenes together to make this Metal Gear Solid movie. And it is pretty cool. Not only does the story in the game match the book, you'll find the actual lines of dialogue quoted there too. That's kind of cool if you ask me, especially since I never played the game. I had my own mental images of the various characters and settings. Now I've seen them as the developers intended, and I've read about it too.
I'm a bit hesitant to recommend it unless you're a Metal Gear Solid fan, unless of course you're like me and just like reading video game inspired novels, then you're in luck.
Up next, I think I'm going to give Assassin's Creed (the novel) a try.
Until then,
Cheers,