Review - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

IN a world of video games that feature high-definition graphics and massive production budgets a title like Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker on the now ageing PlayStation Portable could easily be overlooked as a foot-note in the Metal Gear canon. But, after spending days and nights sneaking through the jungles of Costa Rica, I can assure you Peace Walker is an incredible experience that puts many “big budget” games to shame.

Set in 1974, Peace Walker has players once again entering the battlefield as Snake, the former FOX unit member who still feels he has not earned the title of Big Boss despite being awarded it after the Snake Eater mission from Metal Gear Solid 3. Now, after turning his back on his country Snake has set up his own mercenary squad, Militaires Sans Frontieres, who operate out of their new home base, Outer Heaven.

The story starts out simple enough with Snake being hired to protect the world from the threat of another nuclear missile crisis, and there’s some of the usual Metal Gear plot elements including the return of a past enemy, a lot of back-stabbing and Snake getting trapped in long conversations when he should be pulling the trigger. But thankfully the story is well paced and never feels like its dragging or filling in time, and fans of the series will love the gap-filling that Peace Walker does to the Metal Gear timeline. Also the animated comic style through which it is told is fantastic and artist Ashley Wood has done an even better job here than he did on the previous Metal Gear Solid game on the PSP, Portable Ops.

The core gameplay is what you’d expect from a Metal Gear game, emphasising stealth and hiding from enemies, with the occasional intense battle against powerful mechanical foes thrown in to even things out. The level design is far better than Portable Ops, which lacked polish and looks dull and blocky in comparison to Peace Walker’s detailed levels with multiple paths and places to hide. Even beyond the level layouts, Peace Walker just feels so incredibly well made. There’s not padding here or half-baked ideas, and as series creator Hideo Kojima has stated Peace Walker is Metal Gear Solid 5. This isn’t a side story; this is everything a fan from the series could want.

Well almost everything because there is something lacking – crazy boss battle. Don’t go expecting anything like Psycho Mantis’ memory card reading tricks or something similar to the intense sniper battle against The End. This time around the larger battles are about taking down groups of enemy soldiers and armoured vehicles - usually a tank, helicopter or powerful mech thingy - to be repaired and used in your own private army or stripped for parts to build your own secret weapon.

Managing your army is one of those side options that it is quite possible to ignore and let the game do automatically for you, but once you learn the ins-and-outs it’s actually pretty easy to do and a fun diversion between missions. If you’ve played Portable Ops you’ll be familiar with recruiting soldiers and putting them to work, but Peace Walker is far more streamlined in its approach and with the help of the Fulton Recovery System. Now you can simply air-lift prisoners and incapacitated enemy soldiers off the battlefield and back to your base instead of dragging them back to your special kidnapping truck.

Being a mercenary outfit you can also send groups of soldiers and armoured vehicles out on missions, known as Outer Ops, which are then played out as computer-controlled turn based battles. Winning can result in new recruits and improved stats for your men, but losing can wipe out entire platoons of soldiers and tanks you’ve work hard to earn. As with managing your base, these missions are simple to manage but can be a lot of fun to do, especially when you’re out-numbered and out-gunned squads come back victorious.

The controls in Peace Walker are worth noting – purely because of how good they are, especially when you consider the fact that the PSP is not a great platform for a game can require precise movement. The face buttons (triangle, square, X and circle) and analogue nub are used for moving and aiming, the D-pad for item and weapon management and the shoulder buttons for readying weapons and attacking. There are time when you’ll start running when you wanted to sneak or selecting the wrong weapon in the heat of battle, but it’s hardly the game’s fault that the PSP needs a second analogue nub, and quite frankly it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the game all that much.

What could have been improved is the multiplayer. While it’s true that if you don’t feel like playing alone you can play cooperatively with your friends, you have to do so locally as there is no online multiplayer. I can appreciate the fact that maintaining servers for the game may be more trouble than it’s worth, but the new co-op mode looks like a lot of fun and it’s disappointing that the sequel to Portable Ops, which had great online multiplayer integration, is lacking this feature. It should be noted that if you have a PlayStation 3 you can use adhocParty to connect with other players online, but I was unable to test this feature. That said, a game on portable device like this should really include multiplayer that can be played anywhere you can find a wi-fi hotspot. While this omission is not a deal breaker at all it’s disappointing that this is the first Metal Gear game in a while with no online.

But regardless of whether you play own or with friends Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is an outstanding game. In years to come when gamers look back on the PSP I have no doubt whatsoever that Peace Walker will rank up there with the best games to come out on this under-appreciated platform, and will no doubt be one of the best games released this year. A true diamond in the rough.

GRADE: A

Available on the Sony PlayStation Portable. Main campaign beaten by myself with no help via co-op, and A LOT of the Extra-Ops were beaten (including one of the Monster Hunter missions which is very difficult on your own). More than 30 hours played when the review was written. Review guidelines