METAL GEAR SOLID... all the secrets
dhod...@gamersrepublic.com
I'm happy to report the OFFICIAL METAL GEAR GUIDE is on sale (full
saturation by October 10th). I won't harp on about the quality, but with
stunning official maps, a forward by Hideo Kojima, all the artwork you'll
ever need and even a SEALED secrets section with ALL GAME SECRETS, I hope the
work sepaks for itself. Look for the white cover with red logo, and for
detailed information, please feel free to contact me (the author) with any
questions about the guide (the only one endorsed by Konami). I look forward
to your feedback...
David S J Hodgson
Editorial Director,
Millennium Publications, Inc.
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Gear Solid Perfect Guide is out now (written by Casey Loe). VERSUS BOOKS
previously published The Completely Unauthorized Final Fantasy VII Ultimate
Guide and The Completely Unauthorized Resident Evil 2 Perfect Guide (both
also written by Casey Loe). Both of our previous guides were rated by game
magazines and readers alike as superior to the official guides for those
games. (Honestly, not making that up...we got a pretty hefty stack of posts,
emails, and letters for both of those guides stating exactly that, and
reviews from EGM, Next Generation, and GamePro concurred.)
Anyway, we're really hoping our track record for producing the best guides
has continued with Metal Gear Solid. We'd like to know, what do you think of
our guide as compared to the official guide? Here is a list of features
you'll find in our guide and how we stack up at first glance, but take this
with a grain of salt - after all I am the publisher of the VERSUS BOOKS guide
so I can't exactly claim not to be biased....
€ Free Giant Poster inside every copy € Only $9.99 ($5 less than the official
guide) € Incredibly in-depth strategies for every area in the game and every
boss encounter, such as the secret way to win the second Sniper Wolf showdown
using Nikita Missiles without getting hit (note that the official guide is
missing key strategies such as this one) € Easy to follow walkthroughs and
page layouts (the official guide's layouts, by comparison IMO, are less
understandable - just compare our VR Training section to the official guide's
and you'll see what we mean!) € Interesting, informative, well-written,
humorous text (compare this to the official guide's IMO stuffy and rambling
text) € Exclusive Full-Color Maps (the official guide claims to have
"official full-color maps," but the maps are monotone one-color...i.e. all
blue or all grey, etc.) € Absolutely NO Story Spoilers (unlike the official
guide which has numerous screenshots of the cinema cut scenes throughout the
guide) € DETAILED Descriptions of 41 hidden ghosts (compare this to the
official guide's incredibly vague descriptions of the hidden
ghosts...admittedly the official guide lists 2 ghosts not found in our guide
due to the fact that these ghosts apparently were added at the last second to
the English version of the game, however, our descriptions are precise and
accurate whereas the official guide's descriptions are impossibly vague and
nebulous; I doubt it would be possible to find more than three ghosts using
the official guide's descriptions, whereas all 41 of our descriptions are
clear and to the point!) € Real World of Metal Gear Solid section featuring
ten pages packed with detailed descriptions of the real-life technology found
in the game plus brilliant photos (do you REALLY want to read an enclopedic
history of the state of Alaska? If you do, I guess the official guide is
right up your alley...)
While I have to say that the interviews in the official guide are well-done
and the official artwork is nice, it is my firm belief that when it comes to
actual gameplay strategy, useability, page layouts, and writing quality, our
guide is the best choice. But don't just take my word for it, however; please
compare the VERSUS BOOKS Metal Gear Solid guide to the official guide and let
us know what you think. Please send email comments to m...@vsbooks.com and
check out our web site at www.vsbooks.com
Our guide is available now nationwide and you should at least be able to find
it at Electronics Boutique, Babbages, and Software Etc. Thanks for your time!
Matt Taylor, publisher
VERSUS BOOKS
Empire 21 Publishing, Inc.
PSXMASTER
love it!
dhod...@gamersrepublic.com
Matt Taylor rambled on…
Here is a list of features you'll find in our guide and how we stack up at
first glance, but take this with a grain of salt - after all I am the
publisher of the VERSUS BOOKS guide so I can't exactly claim not to be
biased....
Perhaps a mountain of salt would best be removed… At this point it’s worth
mentioning that we’ve been fans of Mister Taylor’s (or should that be
Casey’s?) guides in the past, the Tekken 3 guide was great, as was the
Resident Evil 2 book (note Millennium Publications had "ex GameFan editor
Ryan Lockhart" helping us with the Official MGS guide), but this blatant
attempt to slag off our guide and sell more copies of his book isn’t really
on. If Taylor had just ‘advertised’ his guide, we’d have no problem, but as
he poo-poos our guide, we have to reply. Here’s our take, for anyone who
actually cares…
o Free Giant Poster inside every copy
Of course, Mister Taylor fails to mention that this "giant poster" is
one-sided, features an amalgamation of images copied and pasted from the
internet, but does include the silhouette of the infamous and hilarious "Bart
Simpson Snake" that adorns the cover (yes, that is meant to be Solid Snake).
This is the cover. I’m not a big fan of the art. Personally.
o Incredibly in-depth strategies for every area in the game and every
boss encounter
The first example of the excited Mister Taylor being a little bit of a
fibber. Note that the Versus guide doesn’t feature take-down tactics for the
LAST THREE battles, rather important for finishing the game, I would say.
Don’t believe everything Mister Taylor claims…
o such as the secret way to win the second Sniper Wolf showdown
using Nikita Missiles without getting hit (note that the official guide is
missing key strategies such as this one)
The Sniper Wolf second battle take-down is alluded to in the text, but left to
the gamer to figure out (we hinted pretty strongly). Using Mister Taylor’s
logic, here’s another, just as important strategy than Messers Taylor and Loe
FAILED to include; sniping the three Nuke Building guards with the PSG-1.
o Easy to follow walkthroughs and page layouts (the official guide's layouts,
by comparison IMO, are less understandable - just compare our VR Training
section to the official guide's and you'll see what we mean!)
Hmmm, day-glo purple and yellow design might have worked in the heady days of
GameFan, but this makes the Versus guide terribly difficult to follow in
parts, IMHO. Instead of a cold "A to B with sarcasm in between" style of
walkthrough, we included Techfiles, maps with correct item placements and
loads of extra information to make the book enjoyable, not a routine
exercise. Training sections? Well, let’s look at those fastest times for
Time Attack… the Official Guide beats the Versus book eight out of ten times,
and proves the times with a screenshot. Otherwise, I’d say the VR Training
sections are about the same.
o Interesting, informative, well-written, humorous text (compare this to the
official guide's IMO stuffy and rambling text)
This obviously is some sort of joke, which did amuse me nevertheless.
Sarcastic belittling of the game isn’t what I’d call humorous, and Casey made
no bones about mentioning his dislike of Metal Gear Solid to Gamers’ Republic
staff. He also makes this pretty clear in the text, which is not only
offensive (to those who’ve forked out $50 for the game and want a ‘good
read’), but also unprofessional. But I guess Versus books aren’t bound by
the same restraints or morals… Remember this has been the life of a number
of talented developers in Japan for over four years. Now read on, as Casey
demolishes their efforts in a snide and tedious fashion… Case in point number
1 (actual Versus guide text): "Maybe I can dump a picture or two here, kill
some space…. Decoy Octopus? My GOD! Okay, I guess it’s not any more lame
than, say, Revolver Ocelot… I thought of better superspy names when I was
playing Top Secret SI in the schoolyard in 5th grade…" Case in point number 2
(actual Versus guide text): "Time for a freestyle diatribe about how much I
hate some of the supporting characters in this game…" I can’t tell you how
disappointed I was with this, especially as Casey’s books have been
entertaining in the past. The words "quick" and "buck" springs to mind.
Write with a little bit of respect in the future! Please!
o Exclusive Full-Color Maps (the official guide claims to have
"official full-color maps," but the maps are monotone one-color...i.e. all
blue or all grey, etc.)
These maps were officially commissioned by Konami, taken from the game, and
inserted with the correct items placement, and obviously one-color, like the
actual graphics of the game. Your maps were nice. Ours were exact.
o Absolutely NO Story Spoilers (unlike the official guide which has numerous
screenshots of the cinema cut scenes throughout the
guide)
Except for the spoilers you put in, in the form of actual walkthroughs! You
didn’t hide Sniper Wolf’s death, did you? Vulcan’s death? Thought not.
Revealed Decoy’s attempt at espionage? Yep! Show the start of the Metal
Gear final battle? How could you?! We simply had the correct English
version of the game, understood all plot discrepancies and provided an
entertaining accompaniment to the game in the form of the cinema. Check the
contents pages or my introduction if you’re having problems with plot
revelations; the real hidden stuff was SEALED.
o DETAILED Descriptions of 41 hidden ghosts
Yep, your ghost descriptions are excellent. Ours have the correct names of
those present, and we hinted at their whereabouts for those with enough time
on their hands to locate them all. This is the only real advantage of the
Versus book. Obviously, you DIDN’T INCLUDE ALL THE important SECRETS.
Where’s your TUXEDO code? Opening cut-scene secret? Demo mode secret? Real
Wolf urination secret? Main theme secret? Torture secret? Reheating
Rations secret? Yep, Versus has none of these. What about the CORRECT
ranking explanation? In the official guide! Enough said.
o Real World of Metal Gear Solid section featuring ten pages packed with
detailed descriptions of the real-life technology foundin the game plus
brilliant photos (do you REALLY want to read an enclopedic [Note to Matt – I
assume you mean ‘encyclopedic’? If so, two pages on Alaska isn’t really that
much text to ‘wade’ through, but provides a nice little segue into the game]
history of the state of Alaska? If you do, I guess the official guide is right
up your alley...)
Or, alternatively, those seeking this Versus ’extra’ info could look on the
internet for a couple of hours and achieve the same results. I know, because
a similar section was going to be included in the official guide at one
point, and every single vehicle and item in the game IS INCLUDED in the
walkthrough. However, because of our official status, we weren’t able to
detail real-life versions of the weapons. Heckler and Koch, for example, sue
ruthlessly for unofficial use of their brand name without proper credit.
Whoops! Now where’s my H&K address? J/k
To end this extremely tedious debate, I’d like to put forward the key
problem with the Versus guide. It doesn’t take into consideration the
ENHANCED DIFFICULTY levels of the American version. The walkthrough is based
on the Japanese copy of the game (which is the EASY version), has no
strategies for dealing with the enhanced difficulty, and adds PURE
SPECULATION on whether the American game will use the strategies. The lame
excuse of "we’ll update our web-site" once the rest of the game is uncovered
isn’t really on, and shortchanges the reader. Note that in addition, the
Versus guide DOESN’T feature any information on the characters themselves
(Casey probably thought the characters "too lame" to warrant this sort of
attention), any of the plot, which is sometimes confusing, no Forward by the
game’s creator, no art, no interviews, and NO STRATEGIES for the FINAL
BATTLES!! Your past guides may have been excellent, and certainly, your
attempt at a MGS guide is almost commendable, but lacks the enthusiasm and
information of the official guide, which is a walkthrough and a collectable
companion to the game. But don’t take my word for it, I’m also biased! I
assume the tedious debate is now at an end?
Fond regards
David Hodgson
Author, The Official Metal Gear Solid Mission Handbook
Millennium Publications, Inc.
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vsb...@my-dejanews.com
Books, you might want to do it without using lies and half-truths. It's far
too easy to discredit such statements.
>>Original Versus posting:
>>"Exclusive Full-Color Maps (the official guide claims to have "official
>>full-color maps," but the maps are monotone one-color...i.e. all blue
>>or all grey, etc.)"
>Mr. Hodgson's reply:
>"These maps were officially commissioned by Konami, taken from
>the game, and inserted with the correct items placement, and
>obviously one-color, like the actual graphics of the game. Your maps
>were nice. Ours were exact."
Please, think about your statement for a moment. "One-color, like the actual
graphics of the game?" Are you really stating that Metal Gear Solid features
one-color background graphics? I'm looking at page 56 of the official guide
which features a one-color grey map of the Heliport area, but in screenshots
of the game itself on page 57, the Heliport area background clearly features
blue, green, and other distinct colors. And just to confirm, Versus Books
page 20
features - you guessed it - a full-color map of the Heliport. The bottom line
is your claim of "Full-Color Maps" is bordering on false advertising; as your
maps are one-color, and do not accurately match the full-color backgrounds in
the game. Our maps are full-color, and although of course they were not made
by Konami and are somewhat lower resolution than the official maps, we think
the Versus Books maps are presented in a more user-friendly, understandable
fashion than the official guide. But don't take my word for it, readers -
compare for yourself! And just in case I'm wrong, please let me know if the
Metal Gear Solid game features one-color background graphics, because I could
have sworn they're full-color.
>Mr. Hodgson:
>"Obviously, you DIDN'T INCLUDE ALL THE important SECRETS.
>Where's your TUXEDO code?"
We do have the "Tuxedo Code"; it's the same exact trick as the Red Ninja
trick, and our book clearly identifies this.
>Mr. Hodgson:
>"Real Wolf urination secret?"
I'm actually very glad you brought this up, as this points out two errors in
your guide. First of all, we do have the wolf urination secret (we call it
the "Special Wolf Piss Slap", page 103 of the Versus Books guide). Your
explanation of this trick in the official guide contains a gigantic error -
your statement that "You now smell of the wolf dogs, and the hounds now leave
you alone on subsequent trips through their lair" is simply not true! Getting
pissed on by the wolves will not ensure your safety in any way. What will get
you safe passage from the wolves is equipping the Scarf - something we
explain on page 60 of the Versus Books guide. The official guide never
informs you of this important trick - in fact, you incorrectly state on page
35 that other than its involvement in a story event, this item has no
practical use in the game.
>Mr. Hodgson:
>"Main theme secret?"
Page 102 of our guide clearly states that you get a "cool new piece of music
during the ending" as part of the Red Ninja trick.
>Mr. Hodgson:
>"Torture secret?"
This is clearly explained on page 102 in the Multiple Endings section of the
Versus Books guide.
>Mr. Hodgson:
>"Reheating Rations secret?"
This is clearly explained on page 39 of the Versus Books guide: "Check out
the hand dryer while you're in the bathroom, by the way... It can unfreeze
frozen rations!"
>Mr. Hodgson:
>"Opening cut-scene secret?"
I can't believe you consider this a secret. The camera angle changes when
Snake stands up each time you start the game. So what.
>Mr. Hodgson:
>"Demo mode secret?"
I also can't believe you consider this a secret. You beat the game, and the
demo mode opens up. If something pops up automatically when you beat a game,
is it a secret?
>Mr. Hodgson:
>"What about the CORRECT ranking explanation? In the official guide!
>Enough said."
While the official guide certainly has more technically detailed information
on the ranking system, I defy any human being who doesn't have a doctorate in
mathematics to figure out anything whatsoever from the official guide's
indecipherable algebraic formula. Our guide presents the information in an
understandable fashion; the official guide's information is understandable
only by KCEJ programmers.
>>Original Versus posting:
>>"such as the secret way to win the second Sniper Wolf showdown
>>using Nikita Missiles without getting hit (note that the official guide
>>is missing key strategies such as this one)"
>Mr. Hodgson's reply:
>"The Sniper Wolf second battle take-down is alluded to in the text,
>but left to the gamer to figure out (we hinted pretty strongly)."
Hinted pretty strongly? On page 123 of the official guide, the only text that
even comes close to hinting at this strategy is a caption under a screenshot
targeting Sniper Wolf which reads: "Gotcha! You can find Sniper Wolf in her
nest, but do not harm her in any way." Do not harm her in any way? I thought
the point of the game WAS to harm her. Even if this was simply sarcasm, you
don't show the safe spot required for this strategy. No one could ever
possibly figure out this strategy using the official guide.
>Mr. Hodgson:
>"Using Mister Taylor's logic, here's another, just as important
>strategy than Messers Taylor and Loe FAILED to include; sniping the
>three Nuke Building guards with the PSG-1."
Mister Hodgson, I'm afraid you are wrong. Page 63 of the VERSUS BOOKS guide
clearly states: "Of course, the three blue-clad super soldiers he left behind
are only effective when they get the jump on you... you can blow 'em away
with your sniper rifle before they even notice you." To further illustrate
this strategy, it is outlined with screenshots on this page's left-hand
sidebar.
>Mr. Hodgson:
>"Of course, Mister Taylor fails to mention that this "giant poster" is
>one-sided, and features an amalgamation of images copied and
>pasted from the internet."
How amusing... a week of Photoshop work reduced to images being "copied and
pasted from the internet." In my opinion, our cover/poster image is just a
bit more exciting than the sterile white official guide cover, especially
considering Millennium had so many fantastic, full-color Yoji Shinkawa
illustrations to choose from. What do you readers think? By the way...
posters, in general, are one-sided. The blank side is usually affixed to a
wall.
>>Original Versus posting:
>>"Incredibly in-depth strategies for every area in the game and
>>every boss encounter"
>Mr. Hodgson's reply:
>"The first example of the excited Mister Taylor being a little bit of a
>fibber. Note that the Versus guide doesn't feature take-down tactics
>for the LAST THREE battles, rather important for finishing the game,
>I would say."
We didn't include the last bosses as this is standard Versus Books policy,
just like not revealing the plot is standard Versus Books policy. It's not as
if the last two boss encounters in MGS pose any real difficulty, anyway. If
you remember, we also didn't include the last bosses in our FFVII and RE2
guides, and not one reader complained to us about this. There are some things
that just don't need to be spoiled, in my opinion.
>>Original Versus posting:
>>"Easy to follow walkthroughs and page layouts (the official guide's
>>layouts, by comparison IMO, are less understandable - just compare
>>our VR Training section to the official guide's and you'll see what
>>we mean!)"
>Mr. Hodgson's reply:
>"Instead of a cold "A to B with sarcasm in between" style of
>walkthrough, we included Techfiles, maps with correct item
>placements and loads of extra information to make the book
>enjoyable, not a routine exercise."
Are you trying to imply we have incorrect item placements? This is not the
case. As for extra info such as tech files, the official guide scatters this
throughout the walkthrough while the Versus Books guide includes all of it in
a special section at the end of the book. Again, I think our Real World
special section blows away the official guide's equivalent info.
>Mr. Hodgson:
>"Training sections? Well, let's look at those fastest times for Time
>AttackŠ the Official Guide beats the Versus book eight out of ten
>times, and proves the times with a screenshot."
Well, by the same token the VERSUS BOOKS guide crushes the official guide's
shooting mode times (which are the game's built-in times, not the Millennium
staff records) in eight out of ten stages (no, we didn't bother taking
screenshots of our times as there was no room on the layouts, but our times
are absolutely real). We give the official guide high respect for the Time
Attack times, but apparently you weren't able to beat even one of the Gun
Shooting mode's Technical Demonstration times, which are clearly much more
challenging than Time Attack mode.
>Mr. Hodgson:
>"Otherwise, I'd say the VR Training sections are about the same."
The official guide's approach of combining both Time Attack and Shooting Mode
strategies onto the same page makes the maps confusing and hard to follow.
Readers, please compare- which VR Training section is more understandable and
functional, the official guide's or the VERSUS BOOKS guide's?
>>Original Versus posting:
>>"Interesting, informative, well-written, humorous text (compare
>>this to the official guide's IMO stuffy and rambling text)"
>Mr. Hodgson's reply:
>"This obviously is some sort of joke, which did amuse me
>nevertheless. Sarcastic belittling of the game isn't what I'd call
>humorous, and Casey made no bones about mentioning his dislike of
>Metal Gear Solid to Gamers' Republic staff. He also makes this pretty
>clear in the text, which is not only offensive (to those who've forked
>out $50 for the game and want a 'good read'), but also
>unprofessional. But I guess Versus books aren't bound by the same
>restraints or moralsŠ Remember this has been the life of a number
>of talented developers in Japan for over four years. Now read on, as
>Casey demolishes their efforts in a snide and tedious fashionŠ Case
>in point number 1 (actual Versus guide text): "Maybe I can dump a
>icture or two here, kill some spaceŠ. Decoy Octopus? My GOD! Okay,
>I guess it's not any more lame than, say, Revolver OcelotŠ I thought
>of better superspy names when I was playing Top Secret SI in the
>schoolyard in 5th gradeŠ" Case in point number 2 (actual Versus
>guide text): "Time for a freestyle diatribe about how much I hate
>some of the supporting characters in this gameŠ" I can't tell you
>how disappointed I was with this, especially as Casey's books have
>been entertaining in the past. The words "quick" and "buck" springs
>to mind. Write with a little bit of respect in the future! Please!"
In case it wasn't completely obvious by the fact that the text degenerated
into smaller and smaller type size and made more and more ridiculous
statements - it was comic relief. Are you similarly offended for the proud
peoples of the great state of Alaska that we ripped on the... for lack of a
better term... oddity of the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics? (Should we take
the "Ear Pull" seriously?) We've received countless emails and letters
complimenting Casey's guides on the humor, and our readers seem to be more
than wise enough to know when we're cracking jokes.
>>Original Versus posting:
>>"Absolutely NO Story Spoilers (unlike the official guide which has
>>numerous screenshots of the cinema cut scenes throughout the
>>guide)"
>Mr. Hodgson's reply:
>"Except for the spoilers you put in, in the form of actual
>walkthroughs! You didn't hide Sniper Wolf's death, did you?
>Vulcan's death? Thought not. Revealed Decoy's attempt at
>espionage? Yep! Show the start of the Metal Gear final battle? How
>could you?! We simply had the correct English version of the game,
>understood all plot discrepancies and provided an entertaining
>accompaniment to the game in the form of the cinema. Check the
>contents pages or my introduction if you're having problems with
>plot revelations; the real hidden stuff was SEALED."
Any reader simply flipping through the Versus Books Metal Gear Solid guide
would not have a single story plot twist ruined from any of the cinemas,
while any reader simply flipping through the official Metal Gear Solid Guide
risks seeing numerous pictures from cinemas which could detract from that
reader's enjoyment of the plot when the reader reaches that point in the
game. Never have we claimed not to show pictures of boss encounters - that is
part of gameplay and is unavoidable in any strategy guide. Never have we
claimed not to discuss boss battles and such things in our text. Read the
statement carefully: NO Story Spoilers. What this means is we DON'T show
pictures of the cinematic sequences or describe what happens in the cinema
sequences in text. Readers will see all the cinemas in the game, why take a
risk on ruining their enjoyment of it? For instance, the BradyGames Official
Final Fantasy VII Strategy Guide is universally reviled for showing pictures
of and describing Aeris' death - something we intelligently abstained from
doing in our Final Fantasy VII guide. Once again, our Metal Gear Solid guide
contains no pictures of or descriptions of cinema sequences, whereas the
official guide shows cinemas throughout the guide, on numerous pages. Of
course, despite our efforts to conceal plot points, we don't recommend anyone
reading too far ahead of where they are in the game in our guide, but readers
can be assured that they can flip through our guide and not have to worry
about having a major plot twist ruined.
>>Original Versus posting:
>>"DETAILED Descriptions of 41 hidden ghosts"
>Mr. Hodgson's reply:
>"Yep, your ghost descriptions are excellent. Ours have the correct
>names of those present."
Which is more important - knowing the names of the ghosts, or actually being
able to find them?
>Mr. Hodgson:
>"and we hinted at their whereabouts for those with enough time on
>their hands to locate them all."
Come on... "The dark edge of stairs?" First of all, please define what the
"edge" of a staircase is. Second, please identify which of the innumerable
staircases in MGS this may be! I find it baffling that the official guide has
only hints for the ghost locations. Perhaps hints are all you received from
Konami, and you simply decided not to find the actual locations for your
book.
>Mr. Hodgson:
>"To end this extremely tedious debate, I'd like to put forward the
>key problem with the Versus guide. It doesn't take into
>consideration the ENHANCED DIFFICULTY levels of the American
>version."
The differences between the Japanese and American versions are absolutely
inconsequential. Your guide was also based on the Japanese version of the
game, which you admit to at the beginning of your book by saying that your
walkthrough is "based on Easy Mode." The reality is that the changes in the
American version's new difficulty settings were almost completely cosmetic
(such as less life and no item re-spawn, things which don't affect the
strategy text, maps, or layouts one way or the other of either book) and that
your guide offers virtually no strategies specific to these difficulty
settings, as there is not enough of a difference to mention it in any depth.
To state or imply that our guide isn't completely useful and appropriate for
the American version is just not true. And our guide's strategies are
*better* than your guide's strategies, as I am convinced readers of this
newsgroup will inform you once they've compared the two guides in detail.
>Mr. Hodgson:
>"Note that in addition, the Versus guide DOESN'T feature any
>information on the characters themselves (Casey probably thought
>the characters "too lame" to warrant this sort of attention), any of
>the plot, which is sometimes confusing, no Forward by the game's
>creator, no art, no interviews, and NO STRATEGIES for the FINAL
>BATTLES!!"
You seem to be proud of your ability to completely make up lots of
"background information" for the characters, something you admit to in a
recent interview. What would Hideo Kojima think of a trained killer like
Snake "acquiring a taste for salmonberries," I wonder? What would he think of
your invention of plot details that the game itself disproves, such as
claiming Ninja had his nose cut off? At any rate, we feel the game's story
speaks for itself and saw no reason to create any more plot details, or to
hold reader's hands through the story. We give you much respect for Kojima
forward, art, and excellent interviews, but that's part of what you get with
an official license. We think the higher quality of our strategies, clear and
straightforward text, and better map layouts more than make up for this.
Finally, as we said, our policy is to not show final bosses, and we doubt
many if any readers will have trouble with the last bosses of this game, as
they are relatively easy.
>Mr. Hodgson:
>"Your past guides may have been excellent, and certainly, your
>attempt at a MGS guide is almost commendable, but lacks the
>enthusiasm and information of the official guide, which is a
>walkthrough and a collectable companion to the game. But don't
>take my word for it, I'm also biased!"
Lack of enthusiasm? Lack of information? Well, you beat us to the punch with
the dissertation on Alaska, but we like to think we've got you beat with
gameplay strategies, which last time I checked is the most important part of
a strategy guide. However, you have a good point, it's up to the readers. So,
readers, what do you think? Which Metal Gear Solid guide do you prefer,
official or Versus Books?
Matt Taylor, publisher
VERSUS BOOKS
Empire 21 Publishing, Inc.
email: m...@vsbooks.com
web site: www.vsbooks.com