The official novelization of Metal Gear Solid (the 1998 PSX game), written by Raymond Benson, came out a few days ago.
The cover features the original MGS1 title screen illustration by Yoji Shinkawa. This first edition is a trade paperback from Del Ray.
For anyone planning to read the book, I've spoiler tagged any events or new information that appears only in the book. However, anything that happened in the game has not been tagged in this post.
Overall I thought the book was pretty poorly written. The new dialog the author added for Snake, as well as his internal monologue, don't work very well in my opinion. His shallow thoughts don't seem to match his occasional philosophical soliloquies, and his campy action-hero one-liners don't live up to his badass persona. Okay, so some of his original lines were pretty campy, but it's pushed even farther here. There's a lot of questionable phrasing in the book as well. It feels pretty rushed. They were probably tight on time to get it out before MGS4.
For the most part, the book closely follows the events of MGS1. It mainly follows the original rather than TTS; Snake doesn't do any acrobatics beyond a few tumbles and cartwheels. However, some of the translation corrections from TTS are included. For instance, Zanzibar is now Zanzibarland. There are a few additions to the plot, and since Payton and Kojima presumably had some input on the novel (going by the Acknowledgments), it's possible that these additions will be in keeping with any retconning done in MGS4. Ryan also hinted in the latest edition of the Kojima Productions REPORT that his input on the book was mostly to make it match continuity with MGS4. Therefore, any major retcons or additions that the book added may be important when it comes to MGS4.
Here's some of the interesting changes/additions the book made to the plot of MGS1
The Les Enfants Terribles Project
Johnny is described
Otacon makes mention of
After the escape sequence with Snake and Meryl in the jeep,
Even though the book follows the ending in which
In the epilogue conversation with Mr. President, Ocelot specifies that
I like the way they poked a bit of fun at the dominant/recessive controversy. For those who don't know about the argument, I'll explain. In the game, when Liquid first tells Snake that they are clones, he says that he (Liquid) got all the "flawed, recessive genes" as part of the experiment in order to create a superior clone, Solid Snake, who had all the superior dominant genes. In a last minute twist at the end of the game, Ocelot reports to Solidus that "the inferior one was the winner after all." In other words, Liquid was incorrect; Solid Snake was in fact the inferior twin. Some MGS fans argue that this means Solid Snake had the recessive genes and Liquid had the dominant genes, since Liquid said the dominant genes were better. Others argue that Snake still had the dominant genes, it's just that Liquid's recessive genes were superior. Still others say it's pretty damned stupid that all the dominant traits could be superior to all the recessive traits, or vice versa. In the book,
Then there's the controversy over whether Snake's hair is naturally blonde or brown/black. Some fans say he is blonde like Liquid, and he dyes his hair. This is based on what looks like blonde hair in the MGS briefing, and the original design of Pliskin in MGS2. In the book,
Some rather insignificant but odd changes
Some rather lame MGS4 "foreshadowing"
The cover features the original MGS1 title screen illustration by Yoji Shinkawa. This first edition is a trade paperback from Del Ray.
For anyone planning to read the book, I've spoiler tagged any events or new information that appears only in the book. However, anything that happened in the game has not been tagged in this post.
Overall I thought the book was pretty poorly written. The new dialog the author added for Snake, as well as his internal monologue, don't work very well in my opinion. His shallow thoughts don't seem to match his occasional philosophical soliloquies, and his campy action-hero one-liners don't live up to his badass persona. Okay, so some of his original lines were pretty campy, but it's pushed even farther here. There's a lot of questionable phrasing in the book as well. It feels pretty rushed. They were probably tight on time to get it out before MGS4.
For the most part, the book closely follows the events of MGS1. It mainly follows the original rather than TTS; Snake doesn't do any acrobatics beyond a few tumbles and cartwheels. However, some of the translation corrections from TTS are included. For instance, Zanzibar is now Zanzibarland. There are a few additions to the plot, and since Payton and Kojima presumably had some input on the novel (going by the Acknowledgments), it's possible that these additions will be in keeping with any retconning done in MGS4. Ryan also hinted in the latest edition of the Kojima Productions REPORT that his input on the book was mostly to make it match continuity with MGS4. Therefore, any major retcons or additions that the book added may be important when it comes to MGS4.
Here's some of the interesting changes/additions the book made to the plot of MGS1
The Les Enfants Terribles Project
was carried out in an underground cave in New Mexico by Dr. Clark, who is now a woman. (Clark was referred to as "he" in the English version of MGS, although I don't know if a gender was specified in Japanese) General Jim Houseman (who later becomes the evil Secretary of Defense in MGS) and the POTUS were present for the birth. The surrogate mother only gives birth to twins, not triplets, so Solidus was created later. This is actually their ninth attempt to clone Big Boss. The Pentagon is trying to keep the project a secret from Big Boss, but Clark suspects that Big Boss already knows.
Johnny is described
as a rookie soldier and the head computer technician at Shadow Moses, which ties in with his MGS4 role.
Otacon makes mention of
his estranged sister, E.E.
After the escape sequence with Snake and Meryl in the jeep,
Otacon meets up with them outside, and they work together to rescue some civilian hostages from an underground bunker. Campbell sends a transport to pick up Otacon and the other hostages, while Snake and Meryl leave on the snowmobile. They can't return on the transport with Otacon, since they're "officially" dead.
Even though the book follows the ending in which
Meryl lives, Campbell tells Snake that Meryl is his daughter, something that is only revealed in the game if Meryl dies. Campbell also says he was planning to tell Meryl the truth after this operation was over.
In the epilogue conversation with Mr. President, Ocelot specifies that
FoxDie didn't kill him because he had taken the vaccine. This was never mentioned in the games, and I had always assumed he was never a target in the first place.
I like the way they poked a bit of fun at the dominant/recessive controversy. For those who don't know about the argument, I'll explain. In the game, when Liquid first tells Snake that they are clones, he says that he (Liquid) got all the "flawed, recessive genes" as part of the experiment in order to create a superior clone, Solid Snake, who had all the superior dominant genes. In a last minute twist at the end of the game, Ocelot reports to Solidus that "the inferior one was the winner after all." In other words, Liquid was incorrect; Solid Snake was in fact the inferior twin. Some MGS fans argue that this means Solid Snake had the recessive genes and Liquid had the dominant genes, since Liquid said the dominant genes were better. Others argue that Snake still had the dominant genes, it's just that Liquid's recessive genes were superior. Still others say it's pretty damned stupid that all the dominant traits could be superior to all the recessive traits, or vice versa. In the book,
when the twins are first born, Dr. Clark is explaining to the United States President (Nixon?) how one clone will have the dominant traits, and the other clone will have the recessive traits. Since one will be sent to Britain, and the other will work for America, the President says something like "Ooh, make sure we get the one with the dominant genes! I want us to have the advantage." And Clark thinks to herself (paraphrasing): "Is he a fucking idiot?" Anyways, it seems that the ultimate answer is that Snake had the dominant genes, and was determined to be inferior, and Liquid had the recessive genes, and was determined to be superior.
Then there's the controversy over whether Snake's hair is naturally blonde or brown/black. Some fans say he is blonde like Liquid, and he dyes his hair. This is based on what looks like blonde hair in the MGS briefing, and the original design of Pliskin in MGS2. In the book,
Snake's hair is naturally brown.
Some rather insignificant but odd changes
Snake no longer smuggled in his cigarettes in his stomach. He has to steal some from a guard.
The damage done to the communication towers by the Hind makes Snake recall 9/11/01. Officially released timelines already confirmed that the WTC attacks happened in the MGS universe, and it's reconfirmed here.
The damage done to the communication towers by the Hind makes Snake recall 9/11/01. Officially released timelines already confirmed that the WTC attacks happened in the MGS universe, and it's reconfirmed here.
Some rather lame MGS4 "foreshadowing"
When Snake tries to blend into the shadows, he wishes he had a suit that "really could blend in with his surroundings."
Before he dies, Psycho Mantis has a vision of Snake's future, where he's an old man with a gun in his mouth.
Before he dies, Psycho Mantis has a vision of Snake's future, where he's an old man with a gun in his mouth.
