Hands-on Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Preview (PSP)
As a PSP only title this game looks pretty amazing. When Peace Walker was first publicly announced just last E3 we were treated with a trailer that showed off the games impressive visuals and story; which is taking place after the last PSP Metal Gear title Portable Ops. We follow Naked Snake, or Big Boss, on an adventure to save Costa Rica from an unknown military force that has established a presence within their land. After leaving the CIA special Units FOX and founding FOXHOUND Snake is now staying in Columbia where he started a new group known as Militaires Sans Frontières (Soldiers Without Borders).
- Ramón Gálvez Mena confronts Snake and urges him to save his country from an unknown PMC.
Controls and Single-Player
Enough about the visuals and story — I should go on about the most important part of the game. This games seemed to have taken a lot of gameplay mechanics from Metal Gear Solid 4 and improved on them. When you first start you are confronted with a tutorial at a beach front which is located in Colombia’s Barranquilla coast. This is when I first realized how smooth the game feels and looks. The controls are not at all as complex as many other PSP titles out there. You take control of the camera movements by using the basic Playstation buttons on the right side of the PSP (Circle, X, Square, and Triangle), and you move Snake using the analog nub. To make Snake squat you press down on the d-pad; holding this down will make him go prone, but when you’re in this position you aren’t able to move (a first for the series). While you are crouched (contrary to the first 3 Metal Gear titles) you are able to move around like in Metal Gear Solid 4. Your basic attack button is the R button – when holding a weapon you shoot when pressing it, if no weapon is equipped then this will evoke Snake into punching or kicking, holding the R button near an enemy will prompt CQC.
After the initial tutorial sequence where you are introduced to the fluid control scheme that Kojima Productions created; you are presented to a cut-scene. A fairly long cut-scene as you would expect from a Metal Gear Solid game. The cut-scenes in this game are visually stylish – if you’ve played Portable Ops you would know what to expect. The art in the cut-scenes are drawn by Ashely Wood the same man that brought you the cut-scene art in Portable Ops and the Metal Gear Digital Graphic Novels. It looks a lot like brushstroke art and I love the aesthetic it adds to the game. As I watched the cut-scene unfold I then learned that like the previous Console Metal Gears the cut-scenes here are actually interactive. I was prompt with the decision to examine Paz’s body (the young girl Ramon brings to Snake as he persuades him to save Costa Rica) you are able to zoom in closer and move up and down her body. Unsurprisingly, when you zoom-in her clothes begin to deteriorate only to come back when you zoom out — classic Kojima! You will notice that when you Zoom-in to see her in her bikini she is almost covered in scars and wounds from when she was held hostage by the military unit Snake is hired to defeat.
- A young woman from Costa Rica who wants to keep Peace in her land. Her name means Peace in Spanish
When you’re back in control of things you’re at a beach front (a different beach) and you’re infiltrate the jungle before you. Kojima Productions created this game with the idea of making a more slow paced Metal Gear game than MGS4. For instance instead of just being able to obtain an item that an enemy drops you don’t just walk over it anymore you have to go up to the item and crouch down to pick it up, but that’s not to say that they don’t advocate the idea of continuous movement. For example when you pause the game it’s not really paused you are still prone to being spotted and the game is still continuing you’re just looking at your menu. To actually pause the game you have to put your PSP in sleep mode. The setting fo the game is much like Metal Gear Solid 3 on the Playstation 2. You’re in a jungle dressed in your jungle camo fatigue with an arsenal of grenades, a machine gun and like all Metal Gears a tranquilizer pistol. The game felt good and even with their intended slower pace I still enjoyed it and I think it is the best looking title on the PSP.
Multiplayer Co-op
There are two different modes to be played during co-op. You can play sneaking missions with up to one other player or boss missions where you can be in a team of four. When you begin a mission you are prompt with a decision to pick your type of Snake. There are four different Snake’s you can pick from including Armored Snake and Naked Snake. While Naked Snake is pretty fast but has a lower defense Armored Snake features a set of heavy weapons but he pays the price with a very low speed and almost no ability to be stealthy due to the amount of weapons. You also can pick from Sneaky Snake and Jungle Camo Snake when there are 4 different players in the Boss missions. If a player is taken down he isn’t dead he’s only momentarily unresponsive, another player can then preform CPR on the downed snake and revive him.
Like in Metal Gear Solid 4 — during co-op your Snake has a ring around him but this ring doesn’t play the same role in the gameplay as it did in MGS4. During co-op if another player is inside your ring you are able to trade equipment and preform actions together. For instance if I were playing and you came up to my Snake close enough to be within the ring you are prompt with a decision after pressing the action button to for a Snake formation with me. A Snake formation is when a second character locks on the the other character by holding his shoulder. The character who’s holding on to the other has no control of his movements. The Snake in the front moves while the snake in the back (holding the shoulder) does all the shooting. Whoever is moving can move faster depending on the type of snake he chose. Like if the Snake who was moving was Naked Snake he wouldn’t be able to shoot but he can move pretty fast; while the snake behind him (lets make that snake Heavy Weapons Snake) i shooting at enemies providing cover for the both of them. This looks to be the first game on the PSP that actually has me wanting to try multiplayer. You can look forward to the single player and co-op experience when the game is released May of this year.
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