Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

While retaining some gameplay mechanics from its predecessor, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker introduces new gameplay elements and recruitment mechanics, providing a fresh gaming experience. The game offers two gameplay modes: Missions and Mother Base. Players can freely accept various main and side missions, choosing between stealth or assault tactics, selecting suitable party members, and flexibly switching between different weapons to easily complete missions. The game also boasts rich customization options; players can not only use a gamepad but also modify the button layout for a more comfortable gaming experience.

Gameplay:

Some changes have been made to the standard Metal Gear formula. Movement is done with the analog stick; actions such as coop actions use the directional pad; melee actions, which include multiple throws into a crowd of enemies, uses the R button; weapons uses the L button with the R button. The player is unable to move or shoot while laying down and while pinned to a wall, making Peace Walker the first game since Metal Gear to lack any crawling ability. The player can set the control system according to Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, or Capcom's Monster Hunter.

The Comrade System from Portable Ops has been removed in favor of coop gameplay, with two players in the main missions and up to four players in the boss missions called CoOps. Players can choose one of various different loadouts including one's camouflage.

Naked: Wears only light clothing. Players who use the Naked uniforms are able to move fast, at the expense of lower stealth, weaker defense, and fewer items.

From left to right: Sneaking Suit, Jungle Fatigues and Battle Dress.

From left to right: Sneaking Suit, Jungle Fatigues and Battle Dress.

Jungle Fatigues: A balance of stealth, defense, weapons, and inventory. Available in multiple camouflage patterns.

Sneaking Suit: A different version of Snake's uniform from Portable Ops, the Sneaking Suit allows players to move without generating foot noises and have higher camouflage compared to other suit while moving. Players can carry up to five items and six secondary weapons.

Battle Dress: A heavily armored variant, players equipped with the suit can carry a third primary weapon and absorb much damage at the expense of less items, slow movement speed, and a lower camouflage index.

Tuxedo: Players who wear the Tuxedo can carry many items at the expense of less secondary weapons and camouflage index.

There are several actions that can take place when two Snakes are next to each other. Snakein allows players to hold on to each other as one player leads the way. This also allows the players to fire on the move. Other coop actions include holding up closing doors, performing CPR on falling comrades, sharing items, and acting as a spotter for other players whose vision is obscured. The game adopts certain mechanics from Metal Gear Solid 4, such as the ability to move while crouched, the overtheshoulder view, the CQC system, and the ability to search heldup/knocked out soldiers. In addition, any items that are procured on site when such items are also maxed out in capacity (such as various recovery items and ammunition) can still be picked up and submitted to Mother Base, in a manner similar to the item exchange from Metal Gear Solid 4 or the Deliveryman career in Portable Ops. The truck from Portable Ops, where players can bring subdued enemy soldiers for recruitment, has been discarded in favor of the Fulton Skyhook, which players attach to subdued soldiers and prisoners. In addition, the standard formula of procuring weapons onsite has been limited to throwing/placable weapons, items, ammunition, and uniforms, and recruiting soldiers, unlike in Portable Ops, does not allow the player to gain firearms from them. Instead, the weapons themselves and other equipment have to be developed via an R&D team. In addition, playing as any enemy soldiers is only allowed for when doing a Versus Op, and even then only when gaining the costume during gameplay, a significant difference from Portable Ops, where the player could play as the person they recruited.

Story:

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker takes place in 1974, during a time when the Soviet Union and the United States held the world hostage with their nuclear arsenals and respective ideological ambitions. This "balance of terror" ironically ensured that the Cold War was an age of relative peace for the First and Second Worlds; an act of aggression by one superpower would be met with nuclear retaliation by the other and end the world. But the 1970s was also a time when subordinate states such as the United Kingdom, France, China, India, and Pakistan had amassed their own nuclear stockpiles as attempts to deter the hegemony of the United States and the Soviet Union, upsetting balance of power and the peace that came with it. It was a time when states such as Iran and China were breaking free from the superpowers' spheres of influence. The Cold War as it was known to intelligence professionals from both East and West had been changing.

Ten years prior, a hero of the West known as "The Boss" had defected to the Soviet Union. She brought her followers known as the Cobra Unit with her as well as two manportable tactical nuclear warheads as gifts for her Red Army benefactor Colonel Yevgeny Borisovich Volgin. Volgin used one of them to destroy a Soviet research facility to cover his coups attempt. With reactionary elements in the Soviet Union frothing at the mouth for war with America, the Kremlin had no choice but to strike a deal with Washington: an American must kill The Boss to prove America's innocence and avert nuclear war. For the mission  codenamed Operation: Snake Eater  the CIA chose to send in the mostbeloved disciple of The Boss, a man known as "Snake." Snake completed his mission, foiling the plans of Volgin and defeating his mentor in single combat. He ended The Boss's life at her insistence, proving America's innocence and saving the world from nuclear annihilation. From then on, soldiers from both the West and the East would refer to this legendary soldier as "Big Boss."

But Snake would learn the truth about The Boss's defection: she was a double agent whose cover had been blown by Volgin's use of the Davy Crockett launcher. With no other recourse, The Boss continued to play the defector in order for Operation: Snake Eater to be a success. She allowed Snake to kill her. Snake had been haunted by the thought of having never truly surpassed his mentor or being worthy of the title of "Boss" she passed onto him. He had been vexed by what The Boss meant to communicate by choosing to die for a country that had abandoned her. But more than that, he seethed with resentment toward the CIA and the world superpowers for their callous discard of their "heroes." And after Operation: Snake Eater, the CIA was calling him a "hero."

Snake wandered the earth and amassed a following of soldiers drawn to the legend of Big Boss. With the help of his righthand man and best friend Kazuhira Miller, these men were organized into a highlytrained private military company called "Militaires sans Frontières," or MSF. MSF participated in conflicts all over the world, acting as an army without borders. Snake refused to allow his men to be the army of any one state and feared that settling down and picking a side on the ideological divide would eventually make him into a warmonger like Volgin.

One day, Snake and his MSF were besought by a young girl named Paz who wanted her namesake to be restored in her home of Costa Rica, a country without an army of its own to act as a deterrent against invaders. According to Paz's benefactor Professor Ramón Gálvez of the University for Peace, Paz had escaped from a fortified encampment near Limón. Gálvez and Paz insisted that soldiers, weapons, and equipment are arriving by ship and begged Snake and MSF to drive them out. The invaders were almost certainly an attempt by the CIA to counter the KGBbacked socialist revolution in nearby Nicaragua and Snake wanted nothing to do with it.

However, what made Snake ultimately accept the mission was a recording taken by Paz of a woman whose voice was identical to that of The Boss.

Strategies:

prioritize upgrading MK22 because it's really the only weapon you need for stealth missions. upgrading it will increase the length of the silencer and do more sleep damage

don't worry too much about usage level. upgrading via R&D is more important

upgrade missile launchers for boss fights

upgrade rations and other health items to keep your survivability up

upgrade walkman for more songs and features

you will eventually get a sneaking suit which silences footsteps and gives good camo. makes the stealth missions a cakewalk, if they weren't already easy

you can get items from s ranking certain missions. usually extra ops

you can randomly get things from outer ops missions, like weapons

soldiers who get held up will not get back up on their own

using battle cries will void s ranks. if you are not using snake, some soldiers have skills which activate automatic battle cries sometimes. the skills cannot be turned off

when you get the bandana, it will not void s ranks. stealth camo will. there are other late game items that will void s ranks

you can get an alert during vehicle fights (tank, apc, heli), it will not void any s ranks. getting an alert in other missions will void it however

use the recruit section of the main menu to get more soldiers outside of fultoning them in a mission. they usually specialize in the combat skill, but you can find others.

you can use the recruit section up to 3 times in a row. you will then have to wait until you can do that again

if you feel like the game is getting too hard, host a public match and get some co op buddies

bring in support markers for vehicle and boss battles. this will allow you to call in ammo and item drops, to restock your weaponry, rations, and et cetera. consider using strike markers to dish out damage as well

If you need any specific tips on certain missions or bosses I can probably think of something. Strategies, general info, etc. I gotta go right now, otherwise I'd try to think of some more stuff.

Player Comments:

For all of those who were doubting it, rest assured: Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker is very much a true MGS... but most importantly a true game! The saga's DNA is everywhere in this title, and it's been expanded so much, that this adventure gets a distinctive taste of its own. Less interactive movie, and more game than ever, there are so many modes, bonuses, and other elements to unlock as you play that it's almost unbelievable. The Monster Hunter's influence is clear, and it's a blessing for Kojima's game. To the point that between the management of your Mother Base, your equipment, and your troops, the game even becomes addictive for other things than its solo campaign. No doubt, this is a major episode in the series, for its overwhelming content, its level of quality, and the power of its story. And the platform it has been released on as well : a strong signal sent to the industry, that portable devices are becoming more and more important, from Japan to our part of the world.

This game was like the biggest game you could ever play on the psp. The CQC felt so clean and controls were pretty good (but still the ps3 controls were better because of second analog stick). Boss fights were so cinematic! My personal favourite boss fight was the PUPA battle. The thing that i liked the most in this game are cutscenes, they are literally as good as gameplay itself especialy when you hear THE BOSS AI theme.

Between all the "mgs3 type of gameplay" games in this franchice, this was the one that clicked for me the variety of things you can do is really fun like the cqc, holdups, walkman, magazines, etc. The gameplay is just so addicting; the main ops, building your motherbase, and the score system. The missions that require you to play the game in a certain way make it so fresh that the not so remarkable story doesnt matter. If you take your time not just to rush the story, but to dig deep in this game, you will find not just the best game on the psp, but one of the best games ever made.

There is so much here to play; it's very much two games in one. Not only do you have the single player campaign to play through, which can also be done via adhoc Co-Op, but there's also a 6 player competitive mode like Metal Gear Online.

Final words:

Here you can become an existence that maintains the world order. The player is an excellent warrior who must face all kinds of difficult enemies at all times, as well as all kinds of choices and temptations. And discover the evil forces in the constant adventure, this is a battlefield full of unknown and dangerous, with a high degree of freedom tactical strategy, destroy this cunning enemy.