Konami’s Metal Gear is easily one of gaming’s most beloved franchises, despite (or perhaps because of) its many eccentricities and surprising entries. Whether it’s the infamous bait-and-switch of Metal Gear Solid 2 or the unexpected nature of curiosities like Metal Gear Ac!d, Kojima-san has kept fans on their toes, while consistently delivering great gameplay, delightfully convoluted stories, and enough sociopolitical commentary to keep an undergraduate liberal arts student busy for a lifetime. Peace Walker continues this tradition, while also playing to the PlayStation Portable’s particular strengths.

If the PSP’s purpose was to give the consumer a console experience on the go, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is the closest the system came to perfection. The graphics are crisp, the sound design is nigh-indistinguishable from its full-sized brethren, and the whole experience is lengthy and involved. That doesn’t mean this is just a smaller version of your traditional Metal Gear title though, as the game’s overall feel is closer to that of Monster Hunter, with considerable RPG elements and mechanics which reward connectivity and refinement of strategy.

I would make a sin city joke, but Frank Miller would eat my family.

Perhaps most obviously, Peace Walker is broken down into smaller sections, which may at first seem like a concession to the UMD format. However, once you play enough of the game you see that this design is much more conducive to portable play, as well as replay-ability, because you can go through the short levels quickly if you need to recruit more soldiers for the aforementioned party-building elements of the game. There’s also an inclusion of a minor loot system, as you can salvage parts from mechanical bosses. In the end you can even collect enough scrap metal to build your own Metal Gear!

If this doesn’t sound like the Metal Gear you know, don’t panic. There are certainly a lot of differences in this unique game, but the core of the popular Solid versions is still intact. As long as you aren’t put off by kidnapping mercenaries to run your terrorist organization’s kitchen, Peace Walker offers all the same tense stealth, epic bosses, and melodramatic cutscenes that the series is famous for. In fact, you may even find said cutscenes vastly improved here, as they’re shorter and animated in a neo-noir style that really gives the game an interesting aesthetic.

PSP graphics don

For fans of Snake and Co., this is a no-brainer. Play Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. It’s everything you love, with some added twists that complement the hardware and a story that helps bridge the Cold War era titles and the more modern ones. For newcomers or casual stealth enthusiasts, this is definitely a quality game that offers the chance to get in on one of gaming’s few truly epic narratives. The only thing that could have made this entry better is a second thumbstick… and would you look at that.

You can find more articles in our series 25-in-25 series over here, and stayed tuned tomorrow for another look at a great PSP title!

Austin Y.

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