Nukezilla Review: Metal Gear Solid – Peace Walker (PSP)

Do you believe it is possible to have a slavish devotion to a game franchise that is devoid of fanaticism or even a moderate level of enthusiasm? I’ve played through nearly every modern Metal Gear title (including Ac!d 1 and 2), however just as my interest soars the moment I “PRESS START” it wanes as soon as the credits roll. Only MGS4 was able to build and sustain a high level of pre-release excitement, only to be dashed on the rocks of indifference mere hours following the last meticulously framed cut-scene.

I can attribute this phenomenon to one simple fact: each entry in the Metal Gear series is a highly polished (if severely flawed) masterpiece, skillfully crafted as a complete realization of its creators’ vision. This complete product sustains me while I play, as I follow each high and low through the laboriously long and over wrought exposition. Every game leaves me with the same overall impression: I’m glad to have played it but the frustrations inherit in the experience dull my excitement at the thought of playing the next inevitable release.

These games are made without compromise for the masses. They never feel designed by committee or sculpted by focus testing. None of them appear to be rushed or half-baked. While the finished product may not appeal to a wide audience, each creation is perfect for what it was meant to be. I imagine it’s like sex on the beach; an experience that will be remembered fondly as a beautiful expression of passion and love, tarnished by equally memorable recollections of getting sand in all the wrong places and drunken vagrants interrupting your moment of pure bliss.

Oh yes, the game.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is an indirect sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2) and a direct sequel to Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (PSP). One of the game’s central characters tells you to get over the events in San Jerónimo Peninsula, a wink and nod to players who were expecting MGS: PO to deliver a story that lived up to the epic yarn of MGS3 and were left wanting.

The year is 1974 and you’re reprising the role of Naked Snake, or Big Boss as he’s now known. When the game begins, Big Boss is still a sympathetic character, one who has founded MSF (Militaires Sans Frontières – Soldiers Without Borders, cute huh?) with the intention of helping defend the downtrodden and the meek against unchecked military oppression. Where the story goes from there is yours to discover, but I will say, by the end of the game’s hidden epilogue there’s a lot left to the imagination and interpretation of the player. Assuming Kojima doesn’t develop another sequel, this title serves as the final bridge between MGS3 and Metal Gear 1 (MSX/NES). The series is known for twisting plots and role reversals and in this regard, Peace Walker is no different.

Playing MGS:PW is a mixed bag. The default controls, “Shooter”, allow for movement with the analog stick, camera control with the face buttons and item selection with the D-Pad. I tend to play every game with default controls (except when the Y-axis is inverted, after all I’m not a MONSTER) and Peace Walker is rewarding after the first hour or so it takes to get comfortable. It’s not fair to fault a developer for a console’s shortcomings, but you can tell the game would have played without the steep learning curve if the PSP had a second analog stick. Thankfully, they’ve simplified a lot of the more complex functions found in other MGS titles to accommodate with the system’s limitations. However, if you are intent on playing Peace Walker as a run-and-gun third person shooter prepare to be disappointed. Whether an intentional design decision or severe shortcoming, it’s nearly impossible to move the character and camera fluidly enough to match the “twitch shooter” feel of Gears of War.

As the title implies, Peace Walker emphasizes a non-lethal solutions to each mission’s objectives. Tranquilizing or knocking out enemy patrols will help build your “Heroism” score, while killing every soldier in sight will decrease your score which is tallied at the end of each mission. The game’s single coolest gadget has to be the Fulton Recovery System. When equipped, after Big Boss has incapacitated an enemy he can attach a large balloon to their waist which hoists them at a high velocity off screen with accompanying helicopter fly-by sound effect signaling their safe evacuation from the war zone. These soldiers are now recruited into MSF and can be assigned via the resource management game to one of five different teams. The soldier code names are pretty hilarious. For example, in my combat squad I have the following members: Komodo Dragon, Killer Whale, Toucan, Carpenter Bee, Butterflyfish, etc. All these amount to are a series of statistics for each core competency. There are a handful of side missions that require you use a MSF team member in a support capacity to assist Big Boss. Most of the story and side missions are simple and generic, but fun.

Each mission is well suited to a portable gaming experience. Some of the longest missions can last up to 30 minutes, but most can be completed in less than five. They’ve added in a massive quantity of side missions, resource management and statistics-based battles to give players something to do in addition to the main story. These modes offer a bounty of rewards and are designed to be played in tandem with the story. You receive credits and items through playing each of the mini-games that helps expand your core arsenal of weapons and recovery items, making the more difficult story missions much more manageable when played as single-player mode.

Any review of Peace Walker wouldn’t be complete without a mention of its robust Co-Op modes. Supposedly, you are able to trade items, tackle most of the game’s missions, battle friends and even take down massive Monster Hunter^tm dinos. I say supposedly because this feature is only supported via the PSP’s measly Ad-hoc mode. So, if you don’t have any local partners who own the game, you’re shit out of luck. Several of us on the Nukezilla staff have the game and would have loved to test out the features for review, but we are spread out all over the globe and the one workaround to enable Infrastructure mode involves too many dongles and compatibility issues for us to resolve by the time of this review. I don’t even know how they’ve balanced the missions when tackled in Co-Op mode. My assumption is that some of the more challenging sections of the game would be a blast to play when tackled with another player. If we get it sorted, we’ll post a Co-Op review. Le sigh.

Another critical failure of the game is the character designs for several key cast members. Though itself a generalization, Japanese developers aren’t known for their cultural sensitivity or accuracy. Three main characters in Peace Walker who make up the guerrilla fighters you fight for in Costa Rica suffer from this syndrome. Blonde hair, school girl outfits, blue eyes and a kid who obsesses over Monster Hunter^tm knocks the already shaky logic train completely off the rails, down the ravine and into a massive fireball of poor design. I understand that there are many examples of lighter featured people south of the equator, but for each character to look like a cast member of The Hills is a joke and an offensive one at that. The voice performances save the day with just the right ratio of ham to cheese. Also, Kojima and Co. come across as a bunch of Roman Polanski level creeps. Play through to the end of the game and you’ll see what I mean. You could argue that a couple of lines of dialogue would have salvaged this area of the game and yes, the localization team should all be murdered for letting it slip by, but this is some seriously facepalm worthy stuff, folks.

There is one shining star among the rubble of poor concept design: The Bosses. It’s no spoiler to say that during the course of the story, Big Boss battles a cast of nasties on his way to taking out the ultimate baddie, Metal Gear (they’re featured in the attract video). That’s been the game’s formula since MG1 and in this regard Peace Walker, doesn’t disappoint. You battle three different forms of “A.I.” (unmanned) vehicles that are suggested to be Metal Gear prototypes. Each of these metal monstrosities present an overwhelming challenge upon your first encounter. Only after multiple attempts will you find just the right tactics to take them down. In the past these boss battles are fought against human opponents with supernatural skills or abilities. There’s something impressive about fighting a massive robot that takes 20 missiles to best as it hums the haunting melody of the game’s title track in a child-like electronically distorted voice. I’ve gone back and played through each of these battles several times for fun and also to collect salvage from the beasties which can be used to construct my very own Metal Gear! The only confusing element to these machines comes into play when you factor in the “Episode 1″ effect (why does the technology present in Star Wars Episode 1 seem more advanced than Episodes IV through VI?). Some of the technology you fight looks outright futuristic and absurdly out of place in 1974.

Like each and every Metal Gear before it, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker can be viewed as more than the sum of its parts. Never excelling in shooting, storytelling, micro-management or stealth-action, MGS: PW manages to surpass these often mediocre elements to create a compelling game out of the stew of content. Some of the story and characters are laughably bad, but in the end I enjoyed the 20+ hours I poured into this game. A great title for gaming on the go, Peace Walker offers nearly as much sheer bang for your buck as such PSP classics (in Japan, at least) as Monster Hunter or Phantasy Star Portable assuming you have a few like minded and equipped friends. If you’re on the fence, give the demo a shot, but if you like or love Metal Gear this should be a no brainer. The rest of you out there, steer clear. If the franchise hasn’t hooked you yet, Peace Walker won’t be the game to do it.

(What does this score mean?)