I have a bit of a soft spot for Metal Gear Solid 2; while it certainly has its share of embarrassing flaws, I'm probably one of a dozen people who were pleasantly surprised--instead of enraged--by the protagonist switch from Solid Snake to Raiden so early in the game. But even I have to admit that MGS2's story was mostly unintelligible by the end, though some of this may be due to the content cut from the game because of the September 11th terrorist attacks--or perhaps that mysterious shipment of mushrooms which arrived on the steps of Konami's HQ in early 2001.
Whatever the case, you have to give Kojima some credit for throwing so many baffling, off-the-wall ideas in what was intended to be the Playstation 2's first big blockbuster. And in case the director's unique storytelling style has still has you confused about what the hell happened in Metal Gear Solid 2 a whole eight years later, then you'll be happy to know that publisher Del Ray has a novelization of the game in the works, penned by Raymond Benson, who apparently wrote a novelization of the first Metal Gear Solid in 2008. Not exactly striking while the iron's hot, eh?
According to Game|Life's Earnest Cavalli, Benson is no slouch when it comes to video game novelizations--but I still have to question how this novel could be any more informative than the text dumps and game scripts for MGS2 that have been floating around on the internet for years and years. Though it's possible that Benson's novelization could be worth reading just to see how (or if) the author turns all of that batshit content into a cohesive narrative. My guess is this will be Benson's final project before the inevitable forced institutionalization.
This little bit of news has inspired me to show you a preview of my Metal Gear Solid 3 novelization, which I plan on submitting to Del Ray in 2012:
The Pain, covered in bees, shot a steady stream of bees at Snake, who was not covered in bees. The bees soon reached his bee-less body.
"Agh! Bees! Covered in bees!"
Snake dove underwater and decided to contact HQ for assistance. Perhaps a smoke grenade was in order?
If you would like Solid Snake to use a smoke grenade, turn to page 154.
If you would like to stop reading, close the book.
Related Links:
The 61FPS Review: Metal Gear Solid 4 Part 1
Metal Gear Solid: Hideo Kojima’s Inability to Show Instead of Tell
C'mon Kojima: Port Metal Gear!