The fans will apreciate this little jewel.
As stupid as it can be, the digital novel is good at making people who NEVER read, actually read this time just because it is on PSP. The graphics of the game, if we can call this a game, aren't the best drawings out there, but theya re totally AWESOME. Anybody who enjoys art should apreciate how they are drawn. As for the story, it is basicaly Metal Gear Solid as found on the Playstation. They don't miss a single thign within the story and to the oposite, you learn alot that I bet none of ya'll knew about the game. At first it looks only like a typical comic on a handheld device, but there are different options you can toggle through. The main story, named VR Simulation, is the graphic novel itself and it contains 271 pages, if I recall correctly. Which means you'll have some time to spend before finishing this interactive UMD. You can also search for hidden memories throughout the pages using the Mental Search mode, and use those memories to build a 3D graphic explaining alot about the Metal Gear story. Stuff youalready knew, stuff you never knew existed..I'm far from having finished the Memory Building space because I still have a hard time working my way through it. This would be my only complaint..maybe not for everybody, but for me, even after reading the instructions, I'm having a hard time with it.
Anyway, on with the main attraction of this UMD game, video or interactive UMD, however you want to place it, believe me on this: It'll get you stuck on your PSP for hours wishing you never have to turn it off before the end of the story. Sadly, you'll have to unless you have a good 3 hours to waste of your day, assuming you're eyes don't turn red from staring at the same screen for a long lenght of time.
The fans of Metal Gear Solid will find themselves in the novel, as for people who doesn't like it..why the hell would they buy it anyway? people who never played Metal Gear can get this if they want, but they won't be drawn into it as much as a fan will be. It is like going through the game itself again only with more explanations and see things you always wodnered " how did it happen!?" when playing the game, only this time you actually see what happened!
I really don't know how this can be reviewed, so I'm doing my best at it. There isn't much you can say about a digital graphic novel other than you liked it, or hated it. But you sure can say that the music in the game fits perfectly every scene, every happenings, every move the characters do, everything just fits perfectly.
The fights are something rather interesting to see, although I would of liked more trial and error the same way the game goes when you play it. In the novel, it is like Snake always gets everything first shot, and that would be my only complaint about the main story, but gotta keep in mind that this is the way it should be.
I ain,t got much more to say about this, other than it is extremly addictive. I'll sit at night, start watching and reading, and when I look at the time it's like..dman! I should be in bed already and then I'm tired like never when I get up to go to work. All that because of one interactive UMD.
That said, I'm leaving ya'll, thre isn't all that much information in my review, but I said enough for anybody to know wether they want to try it out or not. A good review isn't about the content you give, but about the opinion regarding who will enjoy it, and who won't, and I believe I've done that. Anyway, to anybody who have it, you know there isn't much we can say in a review for Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel other than: "WHERE'S THE DIGITAL GRAPHIC NOVEL FOR MGS2!?"
Fans - get this as fast as you can before they vanish into thin air like most games do one day or another.
Anybody else - it all depends on your tastes, if you like to read and want a good comic style adventure for your PSP, get it.
By the way, good luck for finding every single memory, there are alot of them all around...but you have to find them which isn't an easy task sometimes.