Metal Gear World Opened to Newcomers

Kojima Productions' Digital Graphic Novel opens up the Metal Gear universe to fans and newcomers alike, as producer Noriaki Okamura explains to Kikizo.

A new PSP title from the renowned Kojima Productions unit of Konami is aiming to attract newcomers to the world of Metal Gear Solid, while giving long time fans a bit of a nostalgic treat.

Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel hit shelves just recently with an easygoing, innovative comic-book design and feel, based on the comic books released in the US that revisit the goings on of Metal Gear Solid 1. And as producer Noriaki Okamura explained to Kikizo in a recent interview, the game offers something a little bit different to the action-heavy Metal Gear formula.

"It's really aiming for both audiences," explains Okamura-san. "The core fans will like this because Metal Gear Solid 1 is an old game and it will bring back some good memories. The story will connect all of the Metal Gear stories together, including Metal Gear Solid 4.

Metal Gear Solid Digital Graphic Novel for PSP

"It also aims for beginners who are not so good at the action-based Metal Gear titles; instead of playing the difficult action areas, they can get enjoy the story in a different way." Konami thinks players will be attracted to this different way of enjoying MGS, which lets you add information to a "Metal Gear matrix" with stylised artwork from respected artist, Ashley Wood.

Noriaki Okamura, Producer, Kojima Productions Contents Unit

Players proceed through pages pressing the X button - although there's an automatic mode to browse through with even greater ease. Saving your progress as you go along, you search the pages themselves by pressing Square - "the game pauses and you can go into the depth of the graphics, zoom in and out, and find things inside the graphics," explains Okamura. "So when you find something you hear a sound, and you get those items, which can be viewed in your database".

Pressing Triangle then takes you to the library mode of your items and R1 shows you the description of items, and items are linked if they are related in some way. With more than 300 database entries possible, it's an incisive look at the detail Metal Gear for fans eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next full games on PS3 and PSP - MGS4 which is out next year, and MGS: Portable Ops, available in the US in December.

Mr Okamura added: "The game is one hundred per cent a Kojima Productions title, and Mr Kojima is overall directing and advising how the game should be built within the Metal Gear Solid brand, so that the everything with Metal Gear is consistent."

We'll have a lot more on the forthcoming MGS big-hitters as we get it. Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel is available now on the PSP for around $20 or £15.

Kikizo Staff