Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriot Kindle Edition

If you've played MGS4, you know what you're getting here as far as the plot goes, and you know what to expect from the characters. Project Itoh is faithful to the story and characters to the point of reverence; yet you can tell that this book was written not just to summarize a video game but to pay homage to Kojima's impressive work. That doesn't mean nothing has been changed: Itoh has removed the "Beauty and Beast Corps" (which I, for one, did not miss, as I found them to be very bland compared to the freakish groups of elite soldiers from the other Metal Gear Solid games), and the focus on Solid ("Old") Snake's perspective (narrated by the character Hal "Otacon" Emmerich") means that some scenes have been excised (most notably, one of my favorite scenes from the video game, in which Meryl and Johnny work together to fend off countless enemy soldiers). While "Guns of the Patriots" is the fourth and final part of a vast, complex, convoluted drama about warfare, nationalism, artificial intelligence, the military-industrial complex, society, history, genetics, and family (among other things), Itoh is able to do something truly incredible. Not only has he done a superb job of realizing and fleshing out all of the themes of the series, he has also created a book that can almost stand on its own, effortlessly weaving the history of the series' major characters and the events of the past three Metal Gear Solid games into the story. People who have never played a Metal Gear game before may still be lost in the thick, zany plot, and may not feel as much of an emotional connection to the characters as someone who has lived and breathed the games, but would be able to read this book and understand all of the characters, their relationships, and their motivations.This novel was riveting and kept me occupied over two plane flights, even though I was well acquainted with the plot. For the first time, I felt like I truly understood Solid Snake, Big Boss, and the rest of the cast not just as characters, but as people. It would have been interesting to see what such a great writer could have done with the most recent (and presumably final) addition to the Metal Gear saga, "The Phantom Pain". After reading this book I feel that Metal Gear Solid 5 would have been an excellent fit for Itoh. Sadly, the writer passed away in 2009 after a long battle with cancer.There are two afterwords, one written by Project Itoh describing his approach to the task of adapting MGS4 into prose, and the other written by Hideo Kojima. If you haven't started tearing up by the end of the novel, Kojima discussing how he met Itoh and his growing friendship with the writer until his untimely death will do it for you.I must also commend the English translation, which I expected to be dry, workmanlike, and a bit of a slog (due to some previous bad experiences reading translated works). The prose was none of these things. There was some repetitive phrases and imagery, especially near the end of the book, but perhaps I only feel that way because I blazed through the whole thing in two sittings.For me, as much as I adore the video games, the characters simply did not truly become alive until I could see them in prose.

I was made a fan of the Metal Gear series when I played the demo on PS1 way back when. Shadow Moses. The demo was all in Japanese dub. My Brother and I enjoyed the hell out of it! It was new to us. It was a deadly game of hide and seek. Different from run and gun tactics the likes of Golden Eye N64. This series uniquely requires to learn Stealth to achieve your goals. Flash forward to Sons of Liberty and My Personal favorite: Snake Eater. I had no clue there would be a 4th Installment at the time. Let alone that it would be Snake's final mission. This particular book is a neat take on the events of the game from Otacon's POV. I Love Guns Of The Patriots and have played it several times. Now I get to read about it and see a few moments that weren't covered in the game and enjoy it.

The Metal Gear Solid series has a very densely layered story to it, and much of the satisfaction in the story of Guns of the Patriots is in seeing all the plot threads from MGS 1-3 find a conclusion. Thankfully for readers unfamiliar with the previous games, Project Itoh gives descriptions throughout this book to explain the significant events from those games. His approach to the adaptation is also very thoughtful (the book's Afterward explains his process). Rather than telling the story through an omniscient narrator, he focused on telling it from Otacon's perspective, with the reasoning that the tales of great men are usually written by their disciples (i.e. Jesus, Socrates, etc).A couple things to note: this book is translated from Japanese, but it only shows in the grammar (which isn't ungrammatical, it's just a little off at first. Otherwise it reads perfectly well). Also, Itoh decided to cut the Beauty and the Beast Corps from the narrative in order to give more focus to the main characters, and while I think this makes the story more cohesive, I was disappointed not to see them.

Stunning, exciting, and interesting. A very good story telling, provide a clear view about the MGS world. MGS fans will surely enjoy this book, for new comers, this book will be a very good start for getting into the MGS world. I purchased botth the first two novels as well as this one, this one is clearly the best.The flow of the story is not merely a reproduction of the game flow, the author give it a magic touch that readers can feel and experience the action as if they did it through the game pad and see it on the momitor screen. Job well done. Good translation and I understand that it won't be an easy job.Go get one if you haven't. I will get myself a hardcopy for X'mas.

The book is told through the eyes of Otacon which is one the most beloved characters of the series. His modest and tranquil tone beings balance into the chaotic story of MGS4. The book isn't just a simple copy and paste from the game it. It leaves out some of the elements from the video game in order to raise the story to the standards of a modern novel. But it doesn't leave the reader wanting anything more than it already offers.

At first, I thought this will be another game-to-book novelization of a Metal Gear game. I have to say I was deeply and gratefully wrong. This Itoh-san project is amazingly well made, developed and wrapped-up at the end of it. The book is not just about Snake and Otacon's adventures but about the meaning of find your purpose in life and be free to choose what to do. It also speaks about effort and reard, on how can a man in the verge of his own dead, be able to keep moving forward regardless the adversity.Besides, you don't feel like you were reading what you already played, you feel like you were in the head of Snake and look the world the way he sees it. Once more, amazing job by the late Keikaku Itoh.