Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker has a lot to live up to. Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid series boasts a cast only marginally saner than keeping poisonous spiders in your pocket, and a storyline so convoluted it makes TV’s Lost look positively straightforward. Does the game continue this proud tradition of madness? Keep reading to find out in this part of our Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker review.
Read the rest of our Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker review
Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker review
Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker review: Modes and multiplayer
Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker review: Controls
Few video game franchises can boast as rich and varied a plot as Metal Gear Solid. With its mixture of clones, genetic engineering, nuclear proliferation and an entire warehouse of awesome military hardware – all finished off with a dash of melodrama and more than a little tongue-in-cheek-humour – the series has captivated millions of gamers the world over.
However, those of you expecting this portable instalment to carry on from Metal Gear Solid 4 are likely to be disappointed. Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker is all about filling in the past and takes place in 1974, just after the events of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and its PSP forerunner Portable Ops. Naked Snake – the man from whom Solid Snake and Liquid Snake were cloned (Stay with us) – has established an army that swears allegiance to no single nation and is called in to assist when CIA-backed military units begin to cause a ruckus in Costa Rica.
Naturally not everything is as it seems, and before long Snake and his team of loyal mercenaries are facing yet another nuclear crisis brought about by the creation of high-tech mobile missile launchers – better known within the series as “Metal Gear”.
Of course this PSP outing contains a starling number of twists and turns but those of you who struggled to make sense of Sons of Liberty and Guns of the Patriots – the second and fourth games in the franchise – will be pleased to learn that Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker doesn’t get too bogged down with complex plots and exposition-laden cut scenes.
Because of UMD storage limitations the cinematic sequences in Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker are kept short and tight but they’re expertly illustrated by renowned comic book artist Ashley Wood, who also had a hand in the production of Portable Ops. These scenes also feature player participation – for example, you may have to press a button at a certain point to influence Snake’s actions – and this keeps your attention locked firmly on the screen.
Hideo Kojima has gone to great lengths to point out that in his eyes this is legitimately the fifth game in the series’ canon and it definitely improves on previous PSP-based entries in the franchise. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater did a wonderful job of fleshing out the history and back-story of Kojima’s often convoluted world of nuclear-capable robots and cloned super-soldiers, and Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker builds on this framework even further.
However, there are times when the choice of format does seem to unfairly impinge on the epic scope of the tale. The biggest issue with predecessor Portable Ops was that it felt as if the plot took a backseat to the gameplay, and although Konami has made sure that Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker is packed with more drama, some hardcore fans may question the PSP’s suitability in communicating the daunting plot.
Still, Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker effortlessly eclipses pretty much every other action adventure currently available for Sony’s handheld. It may not achieve the same greatness as its home console cousins, but it does at least give long-suffering PSP supporters a storyline to really get their teeth into.
Read the rest of our Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker review
Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker review
Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker review: Modes and multiplayer
Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker review: Controls
