A walk worth taking or just walk away?
*WARNING: THIS DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS*
PRO:
Story: The story starts off with training lessons in a rundown training ground. As this takes place after Snake Eater and Portable ops, they are soldiers that left their country. After Kaz brought up a professor named Ramon Galvez Mena and a student named Paz Ortega Andrade. Both are looking for a way to free Costa Rica from the chaos that is brought upon it. Offering up a base, which would later become Outer Heaven, Kaz says yes, but Snake says no. After revealing a familiar voice from one of the people Snake cares about, he decides to fight for Paz's name.
*Characters: As the story goes on, there are many characters that you met up on the way. All are filled with regrets and sadness that you can relate to from being used, the desire to bring back a loved one, or the desire to create peace to end the fighting.
- The story shows a more realistic side in the series without too much craziness from the last games. It shows the struggle for self redemption as Snake tries to forgive himself for killing his mentor. It's good at it's own rights as it shows the evil in war and shows that not all who want peace are good guys.
Graphics: From the detailed forests to the stunning bases, this is certainly one of THE best looking PSP games to date. Sure there are some areas that need work, but that won't stop the awe from the game itself as it looks really amazing.
*Cutscenes: The game offers a stylistic black and white comic scenes that are fully voiced with quick timed events. This keeps players on their toes and decides whether or not Snake succeeds.
Gameplay: Instead of the First-person aspect from Portable ops, the game gives us a third-person aspect that gives us more freedom than PO. This is a TACTICAL ESPIONAGE game, meaning to get the highest grade, you must try your best to not kill anyone. Though it is recommended to kill people after your done with the mission and replay it, it seems more fun to play with the sneaking aspects rather than mindless killings.
*Other Gameplay: You know the option to play other soldiers? Yes it's back with more depth. You can only play with them in certain missions *Though there are A LOT*. Within the base, you can assign jobs to the designated soldier. Soldiers can be recruited via fulton recovery system *And later on recruit by contact*. They have jobs to do so it's best to put them on the ones their best at *C-S being recommended* Their placement on jobs determine how well soldiers preform battle, prevent fatigue, recover from battle, or develop weapons. You have a set amount of soldiers that you must keep under or at the limit, so choose wisely on who you fire. *Another feature worth mentioning is an off tactical game (Can be only finished when you succeed a mission *Vehicles play with soldiers if you capture them*)* All these features keeps the game running without the soldiers feeling useless, but be warned, sometimes it's random when things happen.
Multiplayer: The game features a co-op session. It's a blast to play with pals. Though sometimes it feels too mandatory in some missions like bosses, It feels great knowing that a buddy has your back. You can also fight others in ad-hoc.
Music: Epic themes
Sound: Realistic environments sounds like realistic environments
Controls: There are four options on whether you choose on what suits you better. It's a step up from PO and you'll get used to it faster.
Replyability/Content: It's loaded with many things form the story missions, extra missions, and the fact the you need to make new weapons for better success rates, gives you more reasons to come back and play it.
*Extras: You can create a metal gear, download music for it, and much more gives you incentive to play it MORE.
CON:
Boss Battles/Villains: While the boss battles are great and somewhat still crazy, some fans will miss that gear vibe as the series is known for it's creative bosses and bad guys
Controls: Can be too iffy at first
Missing "gear": There are some things that are missing that is questionably wondered, why they didn't bring it over? The ability to crawl while at the most lowest you can go on the floor and knifes would've been fun to use.
The Pros out weights the Cons as this game is really amazing. Many will be impressed as this game will walk you on a path of an epic journey of redemption, the ability to understand, and cooperation.
Final Score: 9.6/10