The Metal Gear series originally debuted in 1987, directed by Hideo Kojima and produced by Konami, for the MSX2 platform before it was eventually ported to the Famicom and its overseas counterpart, the NES. Since then, it has come to be known as the main contributor – perhaps the origin – of the stealth action game genre, as well as acclaimed for its intricate storyline and complex themes. Thus far, it has spawned several sequels, side games, and re-releases that range over almost every console, including the PC, GBA, GC, and PlayStations 1 through 3.
The main series consists of the two Metal Gear games, the four Metal Gear Solid games, as well as the two Metal Gear Solid PSP games – Portable Ops and Peace Walker. The most recent, announced during E3 2009, is Metal Gear Solid: Rising and will also be part of the core series. Together, these games span over a period of 50 years thus far.
Over the years, the Metal Gear series has undergone many developments (not including the aging of its original protagonist, now nicknamed “Old Snake”), such as an excellent transition from 2D to 3D that preserved the feeling of stealth and tension, and the addition of a first person point of view that opens up more strategic options for the player. Now, with Peace Walker, there is the incorporation of cooperative gameplay through the PSP’s ad-hoc functionality. This component was preceded by a mode in MGS3 called Metal Gear Online where up to eight players could play in a tournament-styled game, and this was expanded upon in Portable Ops. In Peace Walker, up to two players can team up to complete a mission, while four players can work together to undertake a boss mission.
Many of the reviews on Amazon.jp consider MGS: PW a solid, if not one of the best, action games for the PSP. It earned an extremely high average of 4.20 stars, which was compiled from the ratings for the game alone as well as those for the special PSP bundle. (And for those interested, Famitsu gave this game another 40/40.)
Reviews:
The Best Gameplay and Scenario Even Among Other Games of the Series (5 stars)
This game was really fun!
I had especially liked the third game; this game had a similar style, and the scenario was also deep and engaging. The controls took some getting used to, but you can select from one of three styles, so there shouldn’t be any problem there.
Amazingly, the MonHun collaboration wasn’t just an introduction to a side event; it was actually pertinent to the core system of this wonderful game. As such, there was really no feeling of awkwardness. It was an excellent collaboration design and I thought it was great that it succeeded so well.
For series fans, there were some of the obligatory familiar sound effects to enjoy, as well as small tributes and references that were very well appreciated. With the MonHun-esque game system incorporated, you can immerse yourself deeply into this game, and this counts the highly entertaining co-op as well. This portion was a masterpiece that showed the new potential for the Metal Gear games extremely well.
You have the numerous missions you can accept from your base on the sea, developing your own weapons, leveling up, and the creation of your own personalized team members.
This game is filled with new developments never before seen in Metal Gear games, granting the game an unprecedented feeling of freedom. It is also interesting in the same way a simulation game is. However, for quick playing, I recommend you perform Data Install. You do need quite a bit of space though (around 900 MB).
Also, there are no bugs. The game also didn’t freeze for me. There were so many weird reviews about this, so I had to write that. I believe you should set your worries to rest and just buy the game.
Alone, or With Many (5 stars)
Everyone is highly praising the game’s contents, so I want to write a review for those hesitating on buying this game.
“This game is sold for its multiplayer function, so would I get bored if I want to play this game alone?”
I’ll lay it out straight. This game is so fun, I’d be surprised if you weren’t getting lightheaded and anemic from the nosebleeds this game causes. Why? It’s because the previous Metal Gear Solid games were about, “An action game where you infiltrate someplace alone.” It truly is shocking how this game is just as captivating as the previous games, without losing sight of this original essence at all.
And to add to that, you also have “infiltration friends.”
Even though playing alone is quite fun enough, going multiplayer is cranking up the fun factor to the max.
Oh, and you can’t forget the ultimate charm of this game: the Mother Base.
It’s the private, “only yours” secret base that you’ve always excitedly imagined having as a kid. You can work, research, and sometimes set out for battle with countless friends there. It makes you realize that people who have a place to return to truly shine much brighter than if this weren’t the case.
Regardless of how old you are or what your personality’s like, this is a game that will capture you.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.
Very Interesting and Engaging … But… (5 stars)
There’s a frightening amount of content in this game, making it incredibly immersive.
- The story is about [Naked] Snake and his growing concerns about The Boss. It also touches upon his ascension to Big Boss, his ability to deter everything that comes in his way, and the question of “What is peace?” Finally, he questions just what he and the MSF are, exactly. And … then the story connects to the history of MG.
- The Mother Base function is every boy’s dream of a secret base come true. I enjoyed the Mother Base, which grew bigger as time passed. It got so big that I found myself continually wondering if it was possible to grow any larger!
Other than that, there are also many things you can do with creating weapons and items there.
- The Fulton evacuation system was fun. You can easily evacuate surrendered prisoners or unconscious soldiers using it. In the previous Ops game, you had to pile them all onto a truck, which took time, but you can get many more numbers here like this.
- You can choose the control scheme from three sets. You’d have to get used to any of them at first, but after you do, there’s no problem.
It’s a shame you can’t move while sneaking around or performing CQC [Close Quarter Combat] moves anymore though.
- As for the Co-op, it’s a shame that it works specially through the ad-hoc. It would’ve been better had it also supported the infrared as well. However, the Ops online part was extremely messy or so I heard (since I haven’t played it myself), so this may’ve been the correct decision.
- All the various collaborations were really fun. The best one out of all of them is definitely the MonHun one. There’s many exclusive events and missions [not on the network] as well,
All of these go beyond just simple collaborations.
- It’s too bad that most of the boss fights are against machines rather than human characters.
The story is good, managing the Mother Base is good too, and finishing all the missions is good as well, so all in all there’s a frightening amount of content in this game, earning this game a full score.
The only thing … though it’s kind of a personal opinion. I feel a bit ashamed saying this. The Director Kojima appears too much. Not only does he have his own character (he thinks that highly of himself), he went overboard naming her Cosima Caminades [i.e. “Kojima kami nan desu,” or “Kojima is a god.”].
I believe he knows what people look for when they play MGS … and maybe he didn’t go too far this time … or so I say, but I actually think he did. It’s good I enjoyed playing this game, but there are some people that others just don’t have to accept.
Just This Side of Being a Masterpiece (4 stars)
This is a review written after having completed the story mode and played a bit of each of the other modes.
The first thing I noticed was that the controls were kind of unique. The controls for MGS4 on the PS3 were adapted to the PSP even though the latter had fewer buttons, which was why there were three possible control schemes provided even though each has their pros and cons.
I also felt that it would’ve been better if the camera was like in MGS1, where the camera was diagonally above the character, giving you a quarter-view, but switched to first-person when you were using a weapon.
A lot of the spying missions were taken off, and there were many more fighting missions, such that, as a whole, the game felt like one about conquering rather than spying. The boss characters were mostly machines too, so it was too bad that we couldn’t meet any people with such rich, unique personalities that you couldn’t imagine how they’d get by in everyday life.
Also, this may not be a problem for series fans, but this game is a direct sequel to what happens in MGS3. They could have even sold this separately, but for those unfamiliar to the series, I would’ve been happy if they had provided an MGS3 bande dessinée [French-Belgian-style comic strip. There are PSP collections of the MGS and MGS2 ones available.].
I’ve only been listing the things that bothered me, but I’ve been playing this game for 50 hours over the past two weeks since I’ve bought the game and yet I’m still seeing no signs of tiring of the game any time soon.
This game is without a question a great game, as well as a masterpiece. I sincerely look forward to the next game from Kojima Productions, who allowed us to experience such a dramatic improvement from the previous Ops game.
A Masterpiece on the PSP, a Continuation From Ops (4 stars)
Without playing any of the extra missions, the core game from start to end was approximately 20 hours. The experience was the very definition of dense and rich.
After incorporating the latest trend of co-op play while leaving the traditional style of the spy missions the same, Metal Gear manages to make a co-op with its own special flavor. The best ever!
- Player A makes a noise to lure the enemy over, while Player B attacks from behind.
- Disable enemies just by walking up to them from the front by using a stealth gun that makes allies appear invisible if you shine the beam on them.
Such cooperation tricks are utilized all over.
Even so, there were several parts I wasn’t happy about when I was playing this game.
- The limit for spy missions is 2 people and for boss missions is 4 people.
If you’re going to play co-op, you would want to play with the max number of member possible, right? But even if you gather together 4 people, you’ll have to split them into 2 groups of 2 anyways → with the groups divided this way, the mission ends up either ending too fast or too slow based off your skill, creating an annoyingly uneven pace.
- The more you play, the harder the missions got.
An attack that would take off 10% of your health when you’re playing alone would take off 20-30% when playing with 4 people. With bosses, an attack that would do 50% damage to a player playing alone would be instant death for 4 players. In other games, multiplayer mode is set to be harder than single-player mode, but with more people, the game inevitably becomes easier due to strength in numbers. That’s not the case in this game, and because of this little fact, there are levels where it’s easier for people who are bad to just not play.
- If a third person comes in to a room while an ad-hoc party is in the middle of a co-op, it’ll search for a host before the connection becomes unstable and forcibly disconnects you.
This isn’t an error with the game itself, but since the people you’re forming the party with aren’t near you. This is for those planning on forming an ad-hoc party.
Lastly, if you’re a series fan, you really should buy this. It’s not a sidestory like with Acid, but a very enthralling story that ties deeply in with the main MGS line. In this game, Big Boss appears more as a character, and you start to see traces of a link to Metal Gear, which hasn’t been remade yet…
There’s also a very interesting conversation after the credits roll and the title logo shows up on the screen, as promised in the MGS series. If this interests you even more, please buy the game and hear for yourself.
I’m Satisfied with the MGS Series on the PSP (4 stars)
I finally cleared the main story and was just about to get started on the MonHun collaboration part…
That’s where I’m writing the review from.
(But it looks like I could’ve done this anyways without clearing the story.)
The story takes place 10 years after MGS3. The previous PSP game, Ops, takes place 6 years after MGS3, so this takes place 4 years after Ops. However, there’s almost no connection to Ops, whereas the story is connected practically directly from MGS3. In other words, those who’ve only played 3 but haven’t experienced Ops will understand what’s going on perfectly well.
(Personally, I think it’s a little sad that there’s no connection to Ops.)
You play as Big Boss yet again: gathering allies, organizing them, raising them, and using the resources you’ve gathered in the place called Mother Base to develop weapons and work off intelligence information. You can also develop foodstuffs for your ally’s meals.
You can dispatch mercenaries, and also send out specialists for battle. As the story goes on, there are more and more things you can do. The weapons you can develop increases as the story moves on, and there are many conveniences that make things easier for the player. And because there are various benefits from equipping different accessories, it’s feels great when you’re able to develop more things.
MGS fans will like this because it’s a proper sequel, and it’s really interesting and fun, and I recommend it to everyone! The basic system isn’t the MGS from the PS2 and PS3, but rather a modified, perfected version from Ops. There’s the good point of it being a portable, so you can pick it up and play anywhere, and I think the co-op play is a step forward for the PSP itself. I’ve been continuously playing Ops+, but it feels like they took Ops+, the MGS on the PSP, and upgraded it to PW here.
I played this game on the PSPgo, and the controls didn’t go easy on me. I think getting used to the bad controls was the same as for other PSP versions, although I feel it was better on the PSPgo.
And then there’s the enemy’s bad eyesight. I was amazed at the power of the Sneaking Suit. It makes me feel like the only difficult parts of this game would be the boss fights and the button mashing fests. It also seems like there’s no need to do the Full Media Installation. The load times aren’t too long. [MGS: PW comes with the options of Full and Small Media Installation. One takes 330mb, the other 800mb.]
I don’t know who the next game will be about, but at this rate… I’m really looking forward to it! Lastly, sometimes I feel, when I’m playing this game, that Big Boss’ eyes are really scary. It’s kind of like they’re cold, or robotic. Either way, it doesn’t feel like they’re alive.
Definitely Not Friendly to Beginners (Guidebook Necessary!) (3 stars)
This is my first time playing the Metal Gear Solid series. I heard from word of mouth and certain game magazines that it was rated really high, so I bought it.
I’m reviewing this game as a newcomer to Metal Gear. There was an easy tutorial in the beginning for the controls, but the controls were hard so they took some time getting used to.
As for the other systems and stuff about the Mother Base, the details weren’t written in the manual. This manual was way too Spartan. It’s ugly, and it doesn’t cater to beginners at all. And the tutorials are only simple explanations, so they don’t go into the details at all. Having a guidebook is necessary for those starting off.
Also, including the control scheme, the game is extremely hard for a beginner. I was about to give up in frustration at the first boss battle. As some of the other reviews have said, it would’ve been better if there were difficulty settings.
However, the game itself was fun. I think you can enjoy the game so long as you master the controls.
All the Sneaking, the Idiosyncratic Enemies… Where did the MGS-ness Disappear to? (2 stars)
- The stealth routes are mostly one-way with no detours, making the sneaking unique to MGS shallow.
- The enemies are all clearly unimportant, trivial ones (compared to the ones in previous games), and the bosses have no personality.
- The enemies are pointlessly hard, boasting of strength that you can’t oppose with cleverness. (Even though the main part of the game isn’t battles…)
- The scrapping of moving while crawling, which used to be in MPO. (Taking into account the importance of moving while crawling in stealth, I believe that’s one reason it seemed shallow.)
- The small twists and turns in the control scheme are difficult, and playing this game with its weird controls was hard. (This is definitely a problem with the PSP itself, though.)
The game itself is above average, but as an MGS game it doesn’t cut it. That’s how I feel, personally.
MPO would give you entire fields, while this game gave narrow paths, and even though you could move while crawling in the previous game, you can’t now. It’s good that the controls were simplified compared to in MPO, but why did they change these things too when they could’ve been left alone?!
The hidden defining point (?!) of MGS, the references, was great, so it’s too bad that the other things that define MGS were made shallow.
Well, I’ve been slandering this game for a while now… w
As a game, it’s highly playable, and even if it’s lacking what defines it as an MGS game, it’s worth its price. As such, perhaps people looking for an action game on the PSP should consider buying this game. As a PSP action game, it’s pretty high quality, so it definitely can’t hurt. (Although that may not be the case for the MGS maniacs like me…)
It’s a Different Series Now (1 star)
I have nothing to criticize about the story, but I didn’t get a good impression from the game itself as a whole.
First, as a stealth game, it has clearly degraded from the previous games. Most of the maps in this game are straight paths with the added monotony of enemy after enemy set up before you, there isn’t any thrill in discovering new, inconceivable areas. The only thing I felt was, “Oh, there’s going to be enemies here anyways. Look! I was right.” Quite honestly, if you rely solely on stealth, you don’t have to develop the Mother Base at all. You can get by with just the Lvl 1 tranquilizer gun and a few various grenades. But even if it’s annoying, you have to make the Base grow because you can’t advance the story otherwise.
This is because the boss battles are very unreasonable.
When you fight new bosses, you more or less die in one hit because your offense and defense are too low. If you make your support go all out and fire (and hit) all their missiles, there are times when there is still HP remaining. Even if you try really hard and get in perfectly to close range and attack, you’ll find yourself calling support often because you ran out of bullets, and then ending up with a C rank because you used it too much.
On the other hand, if you actually level up, equip strong weapons and a uniform with high defense, you win really easily. Even if you brute force your way through, you can get an S rank. It’s like being serious about this game makes you feel like a fool.
This is just one boss mission, but there are more and more of these. They never end!
And small wonder, because there are a total of approximately 160 missions, with battle missions (including defensive and extermination missions) being 6/10, stealth missions 3/10, and other misc. missions 1/10.
There is way more fighting than anything else.
For the greater half of the game, you have to go through unavoidable battle missions (where raising your character is emphasized more than technique) because some missions won’t appear unless the boss is defeated. For this reason, this game is more like a Gundam Battle Chronicles series game rather than a MGS game. The co-op was fun at first, too, but the game was so shallow that I personally got tired of it really quickly.
I have to say that I was honestly disappointed by this game.
