Art of Metal Gear Solid I-IV: 4 Hardcover – 7 Aug. 2018

I'm utterly blown away by what's been included in this package. I'm a huge Metal Gear fan, and always obsessed over the Japan-only Yoji Shinkawa artbooks, but only ever picked up the MGS2 one. Not only does this set include everything printed in that book, with newly translated footnotes, it expands on it with material created for MGS2: Substance and The Document of MGS2. MGS1, MGS2, MGS3, MGS4 and Peace Walker are all covered with that same generosity. The work is a fascinating look into each game's development. It's not just something to admire aesthetically, but there's extensive details on scrapped ideas and minor aspects of characters, locations and technology that was never covered in-game.MGS1 is my favourite game, so I was particularly blown away by the 12-page breakdown of every joint and piece of weaponry on Metal Gear REX, all illustrated in Shinkawa's familiar, cool style. Even if you're only particularly interested in one of the games covered in these books, it's worth it. If you're not so interested in the games, but admire Shinkawa's work, it's worth it. Even if you've picked up some of the previous Shinkawa art books, but can't read Japanese, I think it's worth it. I think this set is a more exciting and valuable item for Metal Gear fans than around half of the games in the series.

Yoji Shinkawa has been such a creative influence for the past two decades for myself! I was so excited to receive a collective edition of his metal gear concept art. It comes in two books which is housed in an ergonomic box which has a hinged opening. The book quality themselves are of the highest degree with a silver edge on each page, which gives the book that X factor for the avid collector. One great suprise was the addition of in game story art which I found to be the most breathtaking art produced by shinkawa. This is a must for any true metal gear fan, and for £45 it was the bargain of the year. 10 out of 10. Shout out to dark horse for the premium quality!

The artwork is absolutely beautiful - pages and pages of Yoji Shinkawa's iconic artwork arranged across two hardcovers inside a nice case. Both books are heavy and full of content. My only minor complaints are that there's very little outside of the artwork - just some brief character info and sporadic notes on design details (don't expect anything too much in the way of behind the scenes information) - and that the MGS4 and Peace Walker sections soon descend into mere 3D renders, which I didn't care much for. Nevertheless, as a Metal Gear Solid fan, this comes highly recommended!

If you like the MGS series this is a great piece to add to your collection. High quality paper, printing and leaving the original Japanese notes intact. Some people like me prefer it that way and we just read the annotations, some don't, but that's alright. The box is big, and heavy! But it's sturdy and for 400 pages each book, definitely good value for money.

This collection comes with two phone-book sized tomes packed with art from Metal Gear I-IV & Peace Walker.The first book contains full colour art for each game, some of which hasn't been seen before, while the second showcases behind the scenes character, mech and scenery design, a great deal of which is brand new to the public.Both books are of the highest quality and come housed in an easy access and durable folder for safekeeping. A particular nice touch is the edges of the paper having a metallic sheen to them, giving the closed pages a silvery, space age gloss.My only complaint is there being no MGSV material to really complete the set, but since it has it's own individual art book elsewhere it's not a major issue.If you're a fan of good gaming art this is a steal and if you're a fan of Metal Gear then you have to buy this, it's esssential.

These art books are amazing. Your receive 2, 400 page books, one containing colour art and the other containing sketches and more concept art. Both go in a really nice slip case. Great value as it contains all the main series games (except 5). Definitely pick it up if you're a fan of the series as it contains art work from previous books there weren't translated and now out of print meaning that they'd be hard to get now.Only gripe is that some of the pages were stuck together but other than very happy with the books

After pre-ordering almost a year ago and months of delays, I'm happy to say this book was worth the wait. It comes in a sturdy case that isn't just made to hold the books before being discarded. The two books are an excellent size and the paper is nice and thick.I already own the original 'The Art of Metal Gear Solid' from 1999 as well as 'The Art of the HD Collection' that collects art from MGS2, 3 and Peace Walker and despite many sections being reproduced page for page, I still found a pleasing amount of new content. While pages from the previous books are reprinted here in the exact same format, it's a nice touch that a lot of the Japanese notes from artist Yoji Shinkawa and other members of the production team have now been translated into English.As noted in another review, there is indeed an issue with pages being stuck together. Fortunately for me it only affected the Gallery Art volume on the bottom edge of a handful of pages sporadically throughout. While this is slightly disappointing, it is small enough not to detract from the artwork on the page and in my mind not worth replacement.All in all I absolutely recommend this book if you're a Metal Gear Solid fan, and it's a must have for fans of artist Yoji Shinkawa.

Lovely artwork. It's 2 books and they're huge. One is black and white early sketches and the other is more like finished art in colour. Arrived in great condition. So much detail.