Format: PlayStation Portable
Year: 2010
Publisher: Konami/Kojima productions
When it was announced back at E3 this year there was some slight confusion as to what was going on. Hideo Kojima had stated that he would not be involved with another MGS game after the very successful Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots. As usual though he was lying and even though he announced the game, he has not really taken a major role with the production of the Peace walker. He is using he much acclaimed fame as a game producer this time to promote the game, he states that Peace walker is suppose to "Change the way we think of the PSP".
I tried to download the demo "ops" when it was released on a special MGS Japanese website a few months ago, i was quite excited to play it. After failed attempts to read the Japanese and find the correct link, i failed and gave up. So then i kind of forgot about it except from a few magazine and online articles, but then finally my interest sparked again when i checked the PSN last week.
I straight away rummaged through my junk to find my battered PSP, i literally do mean completely and utterly "in extremies" (means near death) PSP and proceeded to download the demo. After about 20 minutes or so i was ready to play!
The first thing really that Kojima picked up upon when showcasing Peace walker was that of the "Two-Style" play, this was the control system. In Peace walker you are able to play the game through using either of two styles of controls, one closely resembles that of MGS4 and another one which makes you control the camera with the D-Pad buttons. I opted to play using the MGS4 or "Shooter style" as it was officially named. This used the Analoge stick to control Snake and the X, Triangle, Square and Circle buttons as the camera. These controls took a getting use to, but this was okay as the first level is a complete tutorial on how to play.
The demo begins with Snake walking on to a beach some where in Columbia towards a group of guerillas that Snake has put together called the "Militaires Sans Frontières" which in English means Soldiers without Boarders. This begins the tutorial level with Snake or "Big Boss" as he is now called being shouted the controls by a really loud general or captain who eggs on Snake to practise his combat moves and CQC on a poor solider. The controls as i have stated took some getting use to with the camera by default being set to inverted (left being right, right being left). But as i played through the tutorial and got to grips with the basics i really started to enjoy the layout of the controls and how easy it was now to pull of some devastating CQC moves. But as usual as soon as the fun began it ended, with Snake ending the tutorial level and giving some sort of motivational speech to the solider he has just kicked the crap out off.
Snake is met by Kaz an accomplice of Snake's who claims that Snake has a visitor. The visitor is a man named Ramón Gálvez Mena who is a professor at the Costa Rican University of Peace. He claims that there has been PMCs invading Costa Rica and wants Snakes help to get rid of them in exchange for a new base for Snake's guerilla movement "Soldiers without boarders". With Ramón there is a young girl who is studying peace at the university her name is Paz Ortega Andrade.
Tutorial level play if you like getting shouted at!
The cut scenes in which the story is told, is presented in a comic book fashion and in black and white with voice acting on top. The pictures are crystal clear and well presented with characters being drawn in typical scrawley MGS fashion. The cutscenes are also interactive as in most MGS games, with Snake being able to zoom in and out and look left and right. At one point in the first long cutscene when Paz is introduced Snake is able to zoom right through her clothes and is able to see her bra and knickers, nice to see Kojima has not lost his fan service touch.
After the long cutscene Snake is shipped of to the first area. He is equipped with a variety of weapons and equipment. He has a sniper rifle, assault rifle and a dart gun. The first area sees you get to grips with using guns and grenades with Snake being asked to shoot down coconuts and explode barrels, targeting isn't great and can be a pain especially later on in the demo facing of against enemies,. After you get to grips with the controls for shooting and moving about which can be a bit confusing to begin with and very slow, Snake can move on through the jungle, the jungle does not differ a great deal from the jungle in MGS3: Snake eater.
Overall presentation of the demo was great with the PSP really being pushed to its limit, textures look smooth and characters are very high in detail and animations being exactly the same as in all MGS games. Peace walker in a way just looks like a darker version of Snake eater.
Kaz reminds you that this is a sneaking mission, only this time in peace walker Snake cannot move while laying on the ground unlike other MGS games. This means that Snake has to move from tree to tree slowly and quietly, this can be a pain with the camera being a real pain in the ass to control especially when Snake walks around a tree and creating you the problem of moving it also which mean the camera then needs to be adjusted straight away to make sure you are always able to see the enemy.
Unfortunately though i was compromised because of the camera and turned to my old fashion tactic of running and gunning. But with the difficult camera, crappy targeting and strange way to cycle through weapons, it was so hard to even hit my enemies with bullets. I did manage to finish them all off after an energetic struggle with my assault rifle, i then moved to the next area, which ended up being the end of the level. As it ended it went back to the menu while showing off a "Coming soon 2010" banner in front of me creating this created the assumption that this was the end of the demo, but as a matter of fact wasn't it wasn't there was another level i was able to start, but i stopped playing there as i was not really interested in carrying on.
I am a huge fan of the MGS series and completely fell in love with Snake eater and Guns of the patriots, but i cannot seem to get excited about Peace walker after playing the demo, it seems to much like Snake eater and with the added difficult controls. The controls are a bit of a pain, i mean the PSP has not to be totally honest got a great control scheme for shooters and action games but, Peace walker does well with what it its got but is let down by the camera. Which is too great a part of the game for you just to ignore it and pass it over as a minor detail. I might play through it again with the different camera if i can muster up the energy to play through again.
I think Peace walker will be a great addition to the series which will please MGS fans and will be a great game to buy for people who have been dying for a decent PSP game to come out. But i don't think it will break the mold or do anything special.
Expect a plain old simple MGS game.
Release date: May
Year: 2010
Publisher: Konami/Kojima productions
When it was announced back at E3 this year there was some slight confusion as to what was going on. Hideo Kojima had stated that he would not be involved with another MGS game after the very successful Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots. As usual though he was lying and even though he announced the game, he has not really taken a major role with the production of the Peace walker. He is using he much acclaimed fame as a game producer this time to promote the game, he states that Peace walker is suppose to "Change the way we think of the PSP".
I tried to download the demo "ops" when it was released on a special MGS Japanese website a few months ago, i was quite excited to play it. After failed attempts to read the Japanese and find the correct link, i failed and gave up. So then i kind of forgot about it except from a few magazine and online articles, but then finally my interest sparked again when i checked the PSN last week.
I straight away rummaged through my junk to find my battered PSP, i literally do mean completely and utterly "in extremies" (means near death) PSP and proceeded to download the demo. After about 20 minutes or so i was ready to play!
The first thing really that Kojima picked up upon when showcasing Peace walker was that of the "Two-Style" play, this was the control system. In Peace walker you are able to play the game through using either of two styles of controls, one closely resembles that of MGS4 and another one which makes you control the camera with the D-Pad buttons. I opted to play using the MGS4 or "Shooter style" as it was officially named. This used the Analoge stick to control Snake and the X, Triangle, Square and Circle buttons as the camera. These controls took a getting use to, but this was okay as the first level is a complete tutorial on how to play.
The demo begins with Snake walking on to a beach some where in Columbia towards a group of guerillas that Snake has put together called the "Militaires Sans Frontières" which in English means Soldiers without Boarders. This begins the tutorial level with Snake or "Big Boss" as he is now called being shouted the controls by a really loud general or captain who eggs on Snake to practise his combat moves and CQC on a poor solider. The controls as i have stated took some getting use to with the camera by default being set to inverted (left being right, right being left). But as i played through the tutorial and got to grips with the basics i really started to enjoy the layout of the controls and how easy it was now to pull of some devastating CQC moves. But as usual as soon as the fun began it ended, with Snake ending the tutorial level and giving some sort of motivational speech to the solider he has just kicked the crap out off.
Snake is met by Kaz an accomplice of Snake's who claims that Snake has a visitor. The visitor is a man named Ramón Gálvez Mena who is a professor at the Costa Rican University of Peace. He claims that there has been PMCs invading Costa Rica and wants Snakes help to get rid of them in exchange for a new base for Snake's guerilla movement "Soldiers without boarders". With Ramón there is a young girl who is studying peace at the university her name is Paz Ortega Andrade.
Tutorial level play if you like getting shouted at!
The cut scenes in which the story is told, is presented in a comic book fashion and in black and white with voice acting on top. The pictures are crystal clear and well presented with characters being drawn in typical scrawley MGS fashion. The cutscenes are also interactive as in most MGS games, with Snake being able to zoom in and out and look left and right. At one point in the first long cutscene when Paz is introduced Snake is able to zoom right through her clothes and is able to see her bra and knickers, nice to see Kojima has not lost his fan service touch.
After the long cutscene Snake is shipped of to the first area. He is equipped with a variety of weapons and equipment. He has a sniper rifle, assault rifle and a dart gun. The first area sees you get to grips with using guns and grenades with Snake being asked to shoot down coconuts and explode barrels, targeting isn't great and can be a pain especially later on in the demo facing of against enemies,. After you get to grips with the controls for shooting and moving about which can be a bit confusing to begin with and very slow, Snake can move on through the jungle, the jungle does not differ a great deal from the jungle in MGS3: Snake eater.
Overall presentation of the demo was great with the PSP really being pushed to its limit, textures look smooth and characters are very high in detail and animations being exactly the same as in all MGS games. Peace walker in a way just looks like a darker version of Snake eater.
Kaz reminds you that this is a sneaking mission, only this time in peace walker Snake cannot move while laying on the ground unlike other MGS games. This means that Snake has to move from tree to tree slowly and quietly, this can be a pain with the camera being a real pain in the ass to control especially when Snake walks around a tree and creating you the problem of moving it also which mean the camera then needs to be adjusted straight away to make sure you are always able to see the enemy.
Unfortunately though i was compromised because of the camera and turned to my old fashion tactic of running and gunning. But with the difficult camera, crappy targeting and strange way to cycle through weapons, it was so hard to even hit my enemies with bullets. I did manage to finish them all off after an energetic struggle with my assault rifle, i then moved to the next area, which ended up being the end of the level. As it ended it went back to the menu while showing off a "Coming soon 2010" banner in front of me creating this created the assumption that this was the end of the demo, but as a matter of fact wasn't it wasn't there was another level i was able to start, but i stopped playing there as i was not really interested in carrying on.
I am a huge fan of the MGS series and completely fell in love with Snake eater and Guns of the patriots, but i cannot seem to get excited about Peace walker after playing the demo, it seems to much like Snake eater and with the added difficult controls. The controls are a bit of a pain, i mean the PSP has not to be totally honest got a great control scheme for shooters and action games but, Peace walker does well with what it its got but is let down by the camera. Which is too great a part of the game for you just to ignore it and pass it over as a minor detail. I might play through it again with the different camera if i can muster up the energy to play through again.
I think Peace walker will be a great addition to the series which will please MGS fans and will be a great game to buy for people who have been dying for a decent PSP game to come out. But i don't think it will break the mold or do anything special.
Expect a plain old simple MGS game.
Release date: May
