RETRO – Big Boss, alias Naked Snake, the recurring hero (and sometimes: villain) of the Metal Gear Solid games returns as the main protagonist this time. Set after the events of MGS 3: Portable Ops, this episode takes you into Costa Rica as one of the most badass characters in the history of video games.

 

Set back in 1974, Costa Rica, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker invites you to the nastiest era of the Cold War. The CIA and KBG are plotting heavily against each other in the country of Costa Rica, which has no military of its own.

No Country for Old Soldiers

Naked Snake and his organization, the “Militaires Sans Frontiers” (Soldiers without Borders), are asked to help out the defenseless country. While reluctant at the start, Snake eventually accepts the mission, laying the foundation for many other exciting missions where we’ll have to play hide and sneak to kill various enemy soldiers, as well as battle tanks and giant mechs in the exotic battlefield of Central America.

The shadow of The Boss, the former mentor of Snake, is lurking over the whole story, which is excellent once again (as we can always expect from master designer Hideo Kojima). The cut scenes are played out in stylish, animated graphic novels, where sometimes we have the option of taking part in action sequences, even with the ability to zoom in on the face or under the cloth of various characters. As with all the Metal Gear games, the story blends drama, betrayal, friendship and even some quirky humor, typical to the Japanese style.

Snake? Snake??? Sneak!

Of course, as always, the heart of the game is the stealth action and snaky sneak. While I wasn’t too fond of the sneaking parts in Portable Ops, here it’s admirably executed. Sneaking with Snake is smooth and challenging at the same time: we can almost feel the perspiration dripping from our back while we slowly try to reach the soldiers until they turn back and the unnerving alarm goes off.

Besides using out bare hands and several combat moves, we will have several gadgets and lethal and non-lethal weapons at our disposal. I have only minor complaints about the sneaking parts.

One of them is the cover system, which requires us to constantly push a button to put our back against a wall, and still we cannot pop out suddenly to silence or kill a foe.  Another is the fact that why, oh why, for the love of God, don’t I have a freaking KNIFE to kill my foes instantly?!

When I silence my foes with my bare hands, I can only put them to sleep, and they will wake up after a while (sometimes too soon) and then the whole area is alerted. Fortunately I have the option of capturing them with the Fulton system, but the balloons are limited, and after a while I still miss the option of actually killing silently with a knife.

These minor annoyances aside, the sneaking part is still the best on the PSP – far better than the Splinter Cell episodes and even Portable Ops.

Not your usual sneaking game

Besides the best sneaking parts on handhelds, Peace Walker is literally stuffed with several gameplay options. In outside missions you are back at your mother base on a secret ocean platform, where you have myriads of possibilities.

For example, you can train your own man (who you can capture from enemy soldiers or save from hostages) in a different unit: combat, R&D, mess hall, medical, intel, sick bay, etc. All these units have their own use: with R&D you can research and design several weapons and special items, the mess hall makes meals for your man, the medical heals those who are wounded.

On your base you can also repair captured mechanized armored vehicles and even deliver and receive from other players different “gifts”. On the battlefield we gain experience points and rewards for more sneaky and smarter gameplay – instead of just running and gunning – with heroism points, which you can either earn or lose. You even get more experienced by using different types of weapons. Summa summarum: Peace Walker is the most complex sneaking game made so far.

I’m too sexy for my PSP

Besides being complex, Peace Walker is the prettiest game ever on the PSP. The environments are detailed with living and breathing jungles, waterfalls, flying butterflies, rainbows, temple ruins, and military bases. There are moments when we can only sigh about this game in regret that it wasn’t made for PS3 instead of PSP. The comic book styled cut scenes are admirable as well, with nifty little details like Snake’s smoke passing over cells.

The sound and musical design is top notch as well, with sounds of critters in the jungle, hair-raising electronic singing of hovering special enemy weapons, and an excellent soundtrack from Kazuma Jinnouchi and Nobuko Toda. Dialogues are excellent as well, with David Hayter starring once again as Snake.

Snakes… And lots of them!

Besides single player, there is a robust multiplayer as well. First, there is the usual competitive (or “versus play”) mode, where you can play team deathmatch and base defending.  But these are not so special – the cooperative mode is far more fun.

You can play through standard missions with one of your friends and boss battles with three others. Sneaking and killing together is extremely fun, with fine additions like hiding card-boxes for two players.

To sum up, Peace Walker is one of the best, or maybe even THE best, game on PSP, with excellent gameplay, story, graphics, overall presentation, and stylish comic book cut scenes. We can only wonder how so much detail was stuffed into such a small handheld console…

-BadSector (2010)-

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Publisher: Konami

Developer: Konami

Genres: RPG, adventure, action

Publication: June, 2010,