The long awaited MGS:PW is out, And for a Portable system, it delivers!.
So what is this game about all about? For those familiar with the MGS series, it is the latest entry in the saga, called the "lost chapter" in the story of Big Boss A.K.A Naked Snake. The events of this game takes place about a decade after the events of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
Summary: After killing his mentor, The Boss and stopping Volgin from using the Shagohod, Naked Snake, now known worldwide as the legendary soldier Big Boss, has his own pack of soldiers following him after the events of San Hieronymo Takeover ( MGS: Portable Ops). Called The "Militaires Sans Frontieres"( 'Soldiers Without Borders' in French, or 'MSF' for short).
One rainy day, A man named Galvaz, accompanied by a young girl comes to Snake to ask for help. He asks Snake, and his right hand man, Kazuhira Miller (Later in the series known as Master Miller), for the power of his group, MSF, to help his country Costa Rica. He says mysterious armored forces has invaded Costa Rica, and are reigning control over it. The identity of those forces are unknown, but are suspected to be related to the CIA. He also speaks of the horrible things they do to the people of Costa Rica. The hooded young girl reveals herself, calling herself Paz (Peace).
At first Snake rejects the offer, insisting on the fact that they are not Dogs Of War, and will not be dragged into wars against America. His opinion changes however, when Galvaz plays him a tape where you can hear The Boss, his old mentor he killed by his own hands, in the background. As Snake believes that there might be a chance that The Boss is still alive, he takes on the job, saying he does this because of Paz. And So, Snake and his "Soldiers Without Borders" go into war against America in order to protect Costa Rica.
Graphics: The graphics are outstanding for a PSP. It's quality manages to match up with the graphics of MGS3, which were believed to have pre-XboX360 graphics!. The artistic cutscenes were also very interesting and well made. Those cutscenes are all interactive, and sometimes you even have button-pressing sequences, where you must press a button or aim to shoot at something, and thus being an active part of the cutscenes, and not just watching them. Indeed very engrossing.
Now on to the gameplay.
The Gameplay in it's core is good, and fits the engine of MGS4. The game plays well and swiftly, and the controls are somehow manageable. Still, sometimes sneaking behind an enemy can be abit tiring, and in which you will prefer to just run into him and knock him down. This could also be because of the stiff controls the game has at times.
The base management has improved a lot upon it's PSP predecessor, MGS: PO. The attributes are much more easy to understand, and it's very cool that each soldier has his own kind of face and identity. Developing weapons and items is a nice feature that helps you a lot. Also, you collecting weapons, items and vehicles in big amounts , and having to supply the soldiers with food really makes you feel like you are managing a base, and not a one man army.
But, With all it's greatness, MGS: Peace Walker Dissapointed me in more than one way.
For a start, let's begin with the main feature of this game: The Co-Op. In the Co-Op people can play together with their friends and do missions together with a team of up to 4 people (depending on the mission requirements).
For the past few months now, Konami has hyped us all around the multiplayer Co-Op this game is going to have, saying this will the ultimate online experience. Well, guess what? It's not the ultimate online experience. You know why? BECAUSE THERE IS NO ONLINE!! Yup, that's right people, it's not online like Portable Ops was. This game is local, and uses LAN to connect to other PSPs. In other words, it's not global, but only within your small range of networking. SO if you live in a small neighborhood, or the people you know don't play this game, or maybe both, then the Co-Op is nothing more than a shattered dream for you.
And for those who are thinking: " I don't give a damn about Co-Op! I play for the Single!",
Guess what? Your situation is not better!.
The game is basically an MGS version of Monster Hunter. The game was not meant to play alone! Playing through the campaign alone is a long, frustrating, and awfully annoying experience. The Boss battles are hard, and not hard as in challenging. Hard as in frustrating. Without a teammate to play with, You will probably never finish this game on your own. Also, the Co-Op has man great features of the game you will not get to play on Solo!. Tactics are useless, and bonuses you get are almost unusable unless in Co-Op. Think of the CO-Op like the same game, with a Premium edition.
The Co-Op can be made worldwide using the PS3's Ad-Hoc, but that is sort of like cheating, and not a portable option, so you're bound to stay home if you want to play Co-op
The game was obviously designed with the Japanese people in mind. In Japan, playing online on the PSP is a popular thing that keeps growing, and so you will almost never play alone!. This however, does not apply to Western and European players, who prefer the DS as the portable gaming machine. So basically those fans of the series who are getting the game are left in the dust.
It seems Konami doesn't really give a damn about us, lone players.
In the end, Peace Walker is a lot of fun and a great PSP game, with a lot of replay value, and an interesting story, but without the Co-Op, most of the features of this amazing game are taken away from you.
So for those who are newcomers to the series, or just not familiar with Big Boss's story, play MGS3 first, or any other of the main games in the series.
Bottom Line: Great, but not perfect. Could be alot better if it was online.