Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Review

Oh Big Boss how we have missed you. Since your last hoorah at the end of Metal Gear Solid 4, I have wondered if we would ever learn more of your story. Well my dream came true when Peace Walker was announced for the PSP. And dear lord is it the most amazing, epic, entertaining, and addicting game I have played on any console EVER. To be quite honest, Big Boss is a much more interesting character than Snake could ever hope to be. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Solid Snake has an amazing story behind him and all but Big Boss’ story throws all of his personal demons into the mix along with his mission to save the world again. He develops as a character even when he isn’t presented as the star of the game (Metal Gear Solid 4 mentions him alot).

But after all the hype I built up for this game in both the first paragraph AND in my own mind, does this game actually deliver a high quality experience that fans have come to expect from the Metal Gear franchise? And furthermore, can it pull it off on the PSP? Here are the HOTs and NOTs of Big Boss’ biggest mission yet.

HOT

Best Metal Gear Story Yet
I can not count how many times I had to scoop up my jaw from the floor during this game. Not because my jaw just dropped, but because I was violently roundhouse kicked in the mouth by how epic and amazing this game’s story is. Fans of the series and newcomers alike will be able to grasp whats going on around them as they play.

The story starts out simple enough. Taking place after the events of Snake Eater and Portable Ops, the game takes place in 1974 and Big Boss is still struggling with the death of his mentor The Boss from Snake Eater. For those of you who do not know, Naked Snake, (the man now known as Big Boss), ended her life with his own hands after she defected to the Soviet Union in Snake Eater.

At the start of the game, Big Boss is approached by a Professor and his student and asked if he could investigate as to why the countries of Costa Rica and Nicaragua are being invaded by a mysterious mercenary group. He is offered a place in the Caribbean to start building up his army, the Militaires Sans Frontieres, or Soldiers Without Borders. At first he refuses the mission stating that they are not a pack of war dogs but a mercenary group with standards. After awhile of discussing, and a tape that hints that The Boss may still be alive, he gives in and takes the mission and heads out. But soon after the intro, you learn that everything is not as it seems. Nukes have been shipped into the country and Snake wants to find out why while also getting down to the mystery of who was actually on that tape he heard.

With a story filled with twists and turns as well as enough thick plot that not even the strongest knife can cut, what you have is an epic in the making. And amazing it is. With every radio transmission and cut scene you encounter, a question is answered and another is brought up. But rest assured that all of the questions this game brings up will be answered in the end.

A Vast Well of Content
Grab some popcorn and sit tight my friends because this is going to take awhile. This game has enough content in it to satisfy any gamer out there. From weapons to gameplay this game is a gold mine. So in orderly fashion I shall list out these key features and go into a little detail about each one.

-Weapon Variety=Gameplay Variety
As to be expected from the weapons department in a Metal Gear Game, this game gives you enough guns to satisfy that palette of yours. From handguns to sniper rifles this game has plenty of all. Not to mention the upgrading system that can give you more rounds per magazine for a heavy machine gun, to adding a suppressor for your pistol or assault rifle. The possibilities are near endless for tackling a mission. Want to go for a no kill completion? There’s a gun for that. Want to go balls-to-the-walls-ape-s#!% crazy on every moving thing in sight? Feel free to pick your favorite weapon and paint the walls with your enemies. There is no limitation to how you can tackle a mission.

-Minigame-esque Modes
As you would expect from having a new place for your army to grow, you will also take part in managing that army. And don’t worry it’s not a full on RTS type thing that gets old fast. Capturing prisoners during missions using the Fulton Recovery System will add them to a waiting room roster. From there you can analyze their individual stats to see where you want to put them. You can place them into 6 different categories: Combat, Research and Development, Mess Hall, Medical, and Intelligence. All of these contribute to different things around the base. For example, the higher your combat personnel level, the more GMP (currency used in the game) you have to purchase weapon upgrades. But in order to purchase some weapons, your R&D team must be at an adequate level. All of these mesh together and flow perfectly with each other and never become a hassle to manage.

The next notable mode is the Outer-Ops mode which lets you send a squad of men and machines out to other combat zones. this helps to raise the stats of your combat team as well as raise your GMP level. You can also unlock a few of the upgrades this way. It becomes addicting to manage your squad then send them out and seeing hoe they did when they return. These are missions that you as a player will not have control over. They will run their course as you do missions and you will get a report when they are over.

The final mission types that you as a player will be able to partake in are the extra-ops. These range from recovering important documents to extracting a number of prisoners to your base. There are over 100 of these missions and none are ever the same. One may have you finding a certain target who is blending in with the environment while another may have you mowing down waves of enemies to get to your goal. All of them are equally entertaining and offer the chance to play as one of the members of your Combat Unit. Doing so will raise the GMP earned by each soldier adding to your current amount as well as raise their stats.

-Build Your Own Metal Gear
Yeah you read that right. YOU take part in building your own Metal Gear. You customize it the way you see fit for use in Outer-Ops. All the way down to the paint job. Want to know more? Your gonna have to pick it up and see for yourself. Sorry but there are too many story spoilers at risk here for me to go into detail.

BEAUTIFUL Artwork
Yeah that was meant to be in all caps in an effort to convey the point. The cut scenes are pencil drawn and for lack of anything else to emphasize my point further, beautiful. But don’t get to entranced by what is going on in the scene because this game throws quick time events into the cut scenes to shake you up a bit. It caught me by surprise via a left hook to the face when I first encountered one. But fear not, you will not be met with a game over screen if you miss, the action simply rewinds or pauses until you hit the button. Think that’s too easy? well your rated on how quick you hit the button and how well you do. That leads to your S ranking. That S ranking leads to some awesome goodies as a reward. Get the picture I’m painting for you here?

Sounds Awesome, Looks Good To Boot
To start, this game looks really good even on the PSP. Sure you can get some drab textures from time to time but it can’t all be perfect. What matters is how well its all pulled off. From weapons to characters to environments it all looks good. Then there is the sounds of the game. They really immerse you into the world. From the animal calls of the jungle to the heart pounding gun fire in a large scale battle, everything sounds like it should. The best of it all is the eerie song you will hear at different points in the game. It has the potential to send chills down your spine.

Its Like A Slinky!
And no I don’t mean because you throw your PSP down a flight of stairs for your enjoyment. I mean that in the sense that you will find hours upon hours of enjoyment in this game. The main story alone will take you a good 16 hours while doing ALL of the missions will take you quite some time. I’m a good 30 hours into it and I STILL have not seen the end of the rabbit hole. But hopefully at the end of that rabbit hole there is another epic boss battle with that rabbit. But that’s just me wishing. Point is, you will lose track of time folks. You wake up and turn on that game you batter plug in your charger because you WILL be on it for that long.

I Just Paid $39.99 For All of This!?!?
I feel as if I just robbed the developers blind. You are getting wayyyyyyyyyy more than you paid for here people and every little bit of it all is worth every last penny you spend. I only wish that more developers could do this and put in more content than what they give you for the sticker price. Yeah it’s kinda like seeing the light and opening your eyes to a whole new world.

CO-OPS FOR THE WIN!
Got three friends that have the game? Have a tough boss to take down and can’t do it alone? Invite them over for some co-op action!! You can tackle a large number of the missions with your friends. And to be honest, this is where a slight annoyance comes in. Some of the missions will beat you black and blue. With no mercy shown. And with no set difficulty settings this can be frustrating if your stuck and have no one to play the game with. This is only a minor setback though because there are weapons and items in the game that you can find to help you with these tough tasks. Rocket launchers, heavy machine guns, and supply drops will be your best friends during the many difficult boss battles that lay ahead of you. Whats that? You want competitive MP as well? then pop on over to the versus ops and take on six of your friends in head to head battle.

NOT

It Ends
OH WAIT! No it doesn’t. Because you can play it again. And with the multitude of missions and gameplay, the entertainment only continues to grow and flourish. Even after you complete the game.

Verdict

To wrap all of this in one neat package with a bow on top, this game is probably the greatest game of all time on the PSP and in the Metal Gear series. If you own a PSP this is definitely a must buy. With all this amazing content and an awesome story for $39.99, you are getting quite the deal here. You will not be disappointed at all by what this game has to offer. And it will give you your Metal Gear fix until Metal Gear Rising is released next year. Now if you will all excuse me, I am going to go back to my crack that is called Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Yeah its that good. And yeah I have an addiction problem with it. Hellooo Therapy.