Metal Gear

Worlds of Power #2

by F.X. Nine (Creator)

Agent Justin Halley, a human fighting machine, must attack a heavily-guarded terrorist base and destroy the ultimate weapon, Metal Gear, or the free world is doomed, in a story based on the Nintendo game with game-solving hints

Genres: Fiction, Childrens

122 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1990

About the author

F.X. Nine is a pseudonym used by Seth Godin for the Worlds of Power series. He was the creator of the series and wrote outlines for each book. Authors were hired to write the novelizations based on Godin's vision and outline.

Reviews

[Artemis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The weirdest, most glorious pile of hot steaming nonsense I've ever read. I'm about 90% sure F.X. Nine has never played Metal Gear and 100% sure he has never seen a scorpion before. I loved it. 17-foot-tall trained attack scorpions with eyestalks and scales that buzz with evil excitement while they advance on our Heroic Protagonist, "their stings held high in the sting position", presented entirely in earnest? What could be better?

I think it's just time for me to admit that I love garbage and have no standards. I enjoyed every second of this stupid book.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not "good" but as an 11 year old it was the bee's knees. I still have my copy through god knows how many house moves.

[Charles · Rating 1 out of 5]

First let me say I'm not the market for this book so that could account for some of my low rating of it. It's a book based on the old Nintendo game called Metal Gear and is clearly "geared" toward younger audiences. Kids might like it, especially young boys. I do read Young Adult fiction sometimes but this just didn't engage me. I've also never played this game so that probably made a difference. It read quite like a game module, which is probably intentional. I picked it up at a small bookstore in Maine when I was there and thought it looked interesting. Not for me, or for any adult, I would suspect.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a tough strong guy that Solid Snake is.

6/10

[Kristopher Latter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book concludes my pandemic Christmas read through of Worlds of Power numbers 1-6 (in random order).

Metal Gear on the NES was my favorite game back in the day (I liked it before it was cool!) and so I remember being super excited to read this as a kid. I remember being fairly let down by this as a kid. The story just tried to be too serious while being... a little stupid. Solid snake keeps finding keycards meant to grant him access to dismantle the ultimate terrorist weapon in places like: halfway through a pitch black underwater tunnel, or in a bound prisoner's shirt pocket, or plainly sitting on a table in the one room that isn't locked. We also encounter scenes where Solid Snake (Justin) has to stuff himself with food in order to survive the blistering heat of walking across a stove-hot rooftop covered in 'heat panels.' Even Snake himself remarks that he has no idea why eating too much food kept him from burning to death - - though he suspects that it is because when you overeat your organs get hot as they BURN CALORIES and therefore are not as susceptible to any further burning. Finally, some real science in the series. Seriously, I get that the author was trying to connect this moment in the book to the part in the game where Snake has to fill up his lifebar by eating rations (the game's health potion) as he crosses the roof. Could we not have just said that in the book the ration packs come with water in them... And using the water from all the ration packs helped deal with the heat?

Worse still, the author goes to great pains to try and explain what it looks like watching Snake waddle through a military base on a sneaking mission while carrying 50 different items of gear totalling over 2000 pounds - - rocket launchers, mine sweepers, anti-tank mines, bomb blast suits, machine guns, etc...

There is a sub plot that discusses how Snake's superiors are lying to him about the mission and are purposefully feeding him bad information so that instead of carrying out the mission he will instead actually merely cause a distraction so that another team will be able to slip in and carry out the mission. But Snake is clearly shown to be perfectly willing to carry out whatever orders he is given so this notion of 'betraying' him seems... pointless? There seems to be absolutely no reason why his commander couldn't have just said 'please cause a distraction so that we can slip in and do the mission please and then team America wins and the world doesn't get destroyed.'

Like most of these books, the entire success or failure is all about if the author finds the balance between silly videogame story and fun kid-appropriate adventure. This book misses the mark. Ironically, the actual series would go on and to spin stories infinitely more crazy and unbelievable than this one. The difference was that the games actually did find the balance between crazy and fun.

Having finished the Worlds of Power series now (at least of the ones I own), I would recommend that anyone stick with Castlevania and Blaster Master. Everything else is sort of varying degrees of not very good.

[Claudio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will Justin Halley, also known as Solid Snake to his comrades, be able to foil the plans of Colonel Vermon CaTaffy, and thus prevent an all-out nuclear war?

The novel is geared towards a younger audience, meaning that there aren’t a lot of “deep” themes being presented, but still, Solid Snake, as par for the course for his character, shows an unparalleled determination and grit when it comes to fulfilling the missions he’s been given, but also brotherly love and compassion towards his comrades.

The story is more or less an adaption of the Metal Gear NES game, with many key points and characters being replaced, or omitted altogether. Solid Snake, a North American soldier, who’s also the leader of the elite squad known as the “Snake Men” (instead of FOXHOUND), will have to infiltrate a heavily militarized base, Outer Heaven, led by the evil Colonel Vermon CaTaffy (who replaces Big Boss). While there, he’ll have to take out all the nuclear facilities, and rescue his fellow comrades, who’ll come through for him in the end…

My favorite moments include the amazing ending, where all the rescued Snake Men help Solid Snake defeat Vermon CaTaffy, by holding off his remaining forces, and thus allowing the former to take on the latter one-on-one, and most of the sneaking sequences, especially since they’re not always played out perfectly, therefore Snake ends up having to take on certain enemies head-on at times (much like an average player would, particularly during his first few playthroughs of the game).

The book, despite its short length, is still packed with many enjoyable action sequences, and on top of that, as a whole, its story is also incredibly tight, meaning that it never loses its focus. It would have been nice if Outer Heaven had been adapted more thoroughly, and for some of the bosses to either put up more of a fight, or to just appear in the first place.

Fans of the franchise will probably scoff at the inaccuracies, or at the vast superficiality of the story (in comparison to the incredibly deep stories the Metal Gear videogames are known to possess), while more mature readers most likely won’t be impressed by anything the novel has to offer, but the book’s target audience, children, will definitely have a good time with it. It’s also worth noting that there are some tips for the game at the end of each chapter, so it also functions as a guide of sorts.

[Damen Eckroth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frankly, this book is terrible. The plot is nonsense, the pacing is horrible, there's so much setup with absolutely no payoff, and it is absolutely absurd in every sense of the word. And I love it with all my heart.

I am a big fan of the game series this book is based off of, which is no stranger to absurdity, so I see this as more a part of the history of one of my favorite franchises than as a genuine work of art. It's a pretty shameless cash grab aimed at children. It's not meant to be a literary marvel.

The Worlds of Power series was not officially licensed by Nintendo, so all of the books in the series took very creative liberties with the source material, and that includes this entry, so don't go in expecting it to be a faithful adaptation of the game, or else you will be severely disappointed.

If you are looking for a genuinely thrilling and well told story, I advise you look almost anywhere else. But if you just want something to laugh at, or appreciate obscure elements of gaming history, I'd recommend you at least check this out. That's why I give it three stars out of five. It's a genuinely awful story, but I haven't had this much fun tearing into a book in a long time.

[Chris Tognotti · Rating 1 out of 5]

An abysmal book on the merits, though attempting to novelize a threadbare blow-by-blow of the NES Metal Gear was never going to yield fruit. Notably built around the considerably more braindead American plot retcons, in which Big Boss gives way to terrorist kingpin Colonel Vermon CaTaffy, an avatar of Reagan-era America's Gaddafi obsession.

Very poorly written, at times humorously so, but mostly dead boring. The author decides that Solid Snake's real name is Justin Halley, and will switch between calling him Solid Snake, Justin, Halley, Justin Halley, or Marine Captain Justin Halley at will, sometimes within the same sentence.

Recorded a full (if not terribly serious) audiobook of this for Now We Know, full cover-to-cover and additional thoughts here: https://youtu.be/UtJ_gHphveQ?si=mBNNv...

[Manuel Messina · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is a surprisingly 'good' adaptation of the game, but that's its problem. The book can seem absurd at times and him finding Key cards wherever he goes is just lame writing, because what do you mean he enters an EMPTY room, he turns around and finds a keycard on a shelf. The Plot Armor is insane too, he killed 3 scorpions that were 15 FEET tall plus he fell from a high point and nothing broke, just an headache. And the fact he kept getting more and more weapons was hilarious. At one point, he walked with a rocket launcher, an smg, a pistol and grenades that made him 'heavy', but was still able to somehow carry his friend.

[Pixel Lit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Has nothing whatever to do with the actual storyline of Metal Gear, which is off-putting, but also somehow so weird it's hilarious. You've got to read this for the Reagan-era winks to the audience, at very least.

Listen to our full talkthrough of this book with our special guest Jesse Guarascia (NoClip) anywhere podcasts are found or by clicking below:

https://pixellitpod.com/metal-gear-wi...

https://pixellitpod.com/metal-gear-wi...

[Nabil Abdulla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this would have been ok as a children’s book but utterly disappointing for adults 😅 Only go through it if you’re a fan of Metal Gear and like me are curious about this outing of Solid Snake or should I say “Justin” 😂😆😂😆😂 still can’t get over that .

[Josh Griffiths · Rating 1 out of 5]

There's no reason to ever read this book or any other in the Worlds of Power series. This series features several novelizations of video games by somebody who neither played the game or is an author. In this book, everything from the original game has been changed, mangled to fit some half-baked story that doesn't make much sense. To give you a little taste, Snake's name is changed to "Justin Hailey."

To be fair, these books, Metal Gear included, are all based off NES games which aren't exactly none for rich, detailed stories and engrossing characters. But the book should at least stick with what's in the game, not disregard it entirely to make up its own plot. All of these books use the name of whatever game they're aping solely to bring attention to itself.

This particular book was actually written by Alexander Frost, a wholly unremarkable author. But the mastermind of the Worlds of Power series is F.X. Nine, real name Seth Godin. Godin is the creator of Yoyodyne and Squidoo, who's since turned into a writer of terrible self-help books about becoming rich. That should tell you all you need to know about the quality of both this book and the Worlds of Power series overall.

[Michael B Tager · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review says everything better than I can.

https://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/07/21/t...

[Nate · Rating 2 out of 5]

A genuinely not terrible book (especially considering the other stinkers in this series), but I like them a lot more then they’re garbage.

[Nico · Rating 2 out of 5]

fanfiction of the worst version of metal gear that takes heavy liberties
its almost comedic if it werent so dull

[Keith Good · Rating 1 out of 5]

Metal Gear is not a good book. It’s not really even nostalgic fun. The text is expanded from the instruction booklet for US release of Metal Gear, which itself ignored the game’s storyline. Because it’s for kids, we end up with a strange, bloodless military story about Marine Justin “Solid Snake” Halley trying to defeat Vermon CaTaffy.

Bonus points though for Solid Snake at one point musing why the terrorists keep leaving their security key cards laying around. Also the unintentional humor of the line, “to divert the guards’ attention, Snake decided to blow up a tank.”

[Willow Redd · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the better, if not the best of the Worlds of Power books. Unfortunately, that's not saying much. The problem with these books is that they are written so simplistically and poorly. Even as a kid I would have been a little insulted by the writing.

At least this Worlds of Power book didn't incorporate the unnecessary kid like the fantasy books do. That is exceptionally annoying in this series.

The writing is so bad at points that it makes one cringe. Lines like "The metal itself seemed to radiate evil," and "Time had slowed down, but each second moved too fast." I mean, eesh. Awful, just awful.

One of the best features of these books is the recommendations section in the back. They give readers the option of finding books similar to what they've just read, but written so much better.

[wststreet · Rating 3 out of 5]

A better way to read it is to imagine Snake instead of any other names he's being called and also to imagine him more badass than he's presented. That's what I did after a few chapters and it felt better that way.

[Matt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Holy mackerel this was a dumpster fire. It was pretty great when I was 8 or 9 but oh my god was it just terrible.

Of course if you think I won't read the Ninja Gaiden Worlds of Power book, you are wrong.

[Eddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dream come true for Nintendo-freak kids like me, growing up.