Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Hands-On

 

The upcoming highly anticipated PSP game from Konami, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, is thankfully being previewed and I've got the chance to play a demo of it. Rather than introducing the game myself, I'll let a quote from Kojima himself give you an idea on this game:

 

"I originally didn't plan to work on it," he said. "But with the game taking place in Costa Rica during 1974, and the theme being nuclear deterrence, the younger developers were having trouble."

 

"Solid Snake's storyline has ended with MGS4," he continued. "But there's still a lot more when it comes to Naked Snake's storyline. The Cold War was a time where people, neither good nor evil, were manipulated by various factors, and they became good or evil. The same goes for Liquid Snake, and we'll get to see just what happened to him."

 

"Costa Rica is one of the few countries that doesn't have an army of its own," he went on. "So they go and ask Snake for help. There's a kind of a Seven Samurai thing happening there in the beginning. Peace Walker is going to have a relatively straightforward storyline that's easy to understand."

 

"There's the philosophy of nuclear deterrence," Kojima continued. "America and Russia just kept piling up on their nuclear weapons. And when you have an army, it deters enemies from invading. That's yet another theory of deterrence. Why can't we get rid of nuclear arms and soldiers from the world? I'm sure that everyone's thought about it. And then there's the reality, which I hope players will think about as they're playing Peace Walker. Back then, it was a time when these theories were actually thought to be effective. And now, we're paying the price. We've still got tons of nuclear weapons scattered all over the world."

 

 

 

 

We start off the demo with the a tutorial of the game. A long running franchise such as Metal Gear Solid normally would have no need for an introductory tutorial showing you how to play, but in Peace Walker it's a welcome addition. Why? You'd probably be lost without it. This game is much more than just new ideas slapped on the Portable Ops system, the controls from the previous game have all been revamped.

 

Mapped on the D-Pad are various movements including crouching, change equipment, switch weapons, and reload, while the face buttons are actually used to control the camera. The R is used to bring Naked Snakes' weapon up to aim, and the L button will fire. Better yet, CQC has seen some refining, too. Now by tapping the R shoulder button Big Boss will do simple kicks and throw jabs, but hold it, and he'll grab and choke in enemy in the memorable way we've all seen before. This new control scheme took some getting used to but with some time I began to feel at home with it. I'm sure if even if you aren't a fan of this particular option there will be at least one control scheme in the full game you're adapt to. Another thing worth mentioning is that there is no way to pause Peace Walker. Any time you switch weapons it's happening in real time.

 

I remember playing Portable Ops, being amazed at the crystal clear graphics I was able to hold in the palm of my hand. Nearly two years later I still can say that PO is a contender for best looking portable game of all-time. This means Peace Walker is sure to look just as good, which is confirmed as soon as the demo boots up. The graphics look about the same, maybe a little crisper, but what really impressed me was the fluidness of animations. As Snake navigates the environment all his moves look less robotic and pretty damn realistic. Even better is the new system implemented in shooting enemies. Depending on where your bullet hits the soldier will react accordingly. Send a bullet colliding in there knee and watch then weaken and limp around. Connect with their arm and they may drop their weapon or possibly lessen there ability to aim.

 

The close-quarters combat mentioned earlier plays a big role in how you'll play Peace Walker. When you're faced with multiple enemies and no escape, stringing together a combo of CQC moves by tapping R as the  prompt pops up on the screen will be a nice asset for you along the adventure.

 

Once the tutorial is finished, one of those familiar comic book style cutscenes is displayed. I don't want to spoil the story for anyone, but in this brief showing we get to see an old friend of Solid Snake's that many will remember if they've played MGS1. Needless to say Peace Walker is looking like it will play an important role in telling the events after Portable Ops leading up to the original Metal Gear.

 

After this I was taken to the beach to begin the mission (this is where the public demo begins). The beach is a different setting for the MGS universe. You don't expect to see the legendary soldier Big Boss with sand beneath his feet surrounded by palm trees, but it's a breath of fresh air compared to the wooded setting we're used to seeing in the Cold War era MGS games so far.

 

 

I made my way through the relatively short mission, which I encourage all of you to also try for yourselves. I was awarded a ranking of B. Not too bad for the first try, eh? I got the chance to play through one more mission and a boss battle.

 

Any doubts I had about another PSP MGS experience were laid to rest after Konami gave me the chance to play this demo. It's already on my list of must have games for 2010.

 

-King