How the hell do you possibly translate Metal Gear Solid 2‘s plot into a coherent movie-length narrative? Much of its story is predicated on being told via a video game: it’s stacked full of metacommentary on the relationship between player and character, the repetitive nature of video game sequels, and Kojima-brand fourth-wall bustin’.
Well, writer Alex Garner and artist Ashley Wood made a surprisingly good stab at it back in 2008 with the Metal Gear Solid 2: Digital Graphic Novel. They make the controversial decision to play fast and loose with the plot, altering and adding events, shuffling characters about, and ditching the player’s eye perspective of the story.
That last one proves most important. Whereas the game locks the storytelling focus to Snake and then Raiden, the Digital Graphic Novel is happy to cut away from them to flashbacks and scenes taking place elsewhere. It’s a smart concession to the differences between interactive and passive media, and though I don’t know that this is better or worse, it’s extremely interesting if you know the plot back to front.
To give a prominent example, the Tanker mission isn’t at the beginning of the story but flashed back to mid-way through as Snake explains what really happened on that rainy night to Raiden. Some might shout blasphemy at this, but I’ve played Metal Gear Solid 2 to death and seeing an alternate take on it was deeply refreshing.
Here are some of my faves. This retelling greatly expands Fatman’s character, which for the first time actually made me understand his relationship to the rest of Dead Cell and the Patriots. We also get a flashback to Raiden’s childhood in the Liberian civil war, showing us the warped relationship he has with Solidus, which the game had to infer rather than show. There’s also a bit more of Arsenal Gear crashing into Manhattan (including Ocelot telling Snake to “think of it as a gigantic surfboard and enjoy the ride!), all of which was jettisoned from the game in the wake of 9/11.
But the indisputable best addition is seeing what’s going on inside Ocelot’s head as he’s possessed by Liquid. Here Liquid shows up as an invisible presence taunting Ocelot about taking over his body – which even leads to The Sorrow showing up to diss Ocelot for getting haunted by a severed arm! Be still my nerdy Metal Gear lovin’ heart!
Sadly there’s one change that’s outright bad. The climactic fight between Solidus and Raiden atop Federal Hall sees the blonde-haired pretty boy getting knocked out, with Solid Snake grabbing his blade and finishing the fight. It undercuts Raiden’s arc, which is a shame as this retelling does a lot to flesh out how he’s barely held together by denial and brainwashing. Oh well.
A huge boost to the enjoyment is that practically the whole MGS2 voice cast reprises their roles, and those that don’t return have fairly good soundalikes. I think I enjoy Quinton Flynn’s performance more here than in a game, especially as he weaves in a little of the demented ‘Jack the Ripper’ voice as Raiden’s frustrations boil over. Cam Clarke is also chewing the scenery in magnificent fashion, each line dripping with smarm as he pokes fun at Ocelot.
I’m genuinely surprised this works as well as it does, and while I wouldn’t dream of subjecting anyone who wasn’t a Metal Gear dork to this, it’s catnip if you love the game. Perhaps the biggest crime is how little exposure it has: to date its only official English release is tucked away on The Legacy Collection (and even if you own it, figuring out it’s on the PS3’s video XMB tab isn’t exactly obvious).
Fortunately for all some kind soul uploaded the whole thing to YouTube, where Konami’s lawyers either don’t know or don’t care that it’s up in full. It’s a wild ride that might have some screaming heresy, but I dug it.
Pixel Hunted 