Sunday, July 18, 2010

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

For PSP
[SPOILER ALERTS]
PW is what I expected MGS3: Snake Eater to be. Don't get me wrong, MGS3 was still a good game, only in an unexpected way. As a MGS fan I get chills as Big Boss develops his sanctuary for soldiers without a country, knowing that it will all be inevitably taken down to his son, Solid Snake.

The boss battles are with mechs: armored carriers, tanks, metal gears. This is a change from the uncanny special forces units that usually make up boss battles in previous MGS games. The near-supernatural powers of the past bosses were interesting and fresh at first, but after a while they became ridiculous and silly.

Players have frequently complained about the lengthy codec conversations in past games of this series, but in PW these conversations have been cut down during gameplay. All that extra stuff is now available outside of combat missions, served in a retro tapedeck. Codec calls in-mission are now strictly related to what the player needs to know at that exact time. All of the extra background information on the setting and characters is optional and the player can now go listen to it if desired.

The cut scenes have improved from the previous canon MGS game on PSP, which are made up of 2D paintings by Ashley Wood. Even though I enjoy the MGS comics drawn by Wood, I felt the pace and spirit of the previous game was hurt by those cutscenes. Mostly I was disoriented because it was so different. The cutscenes in PW are still 2D, but now include a level of interactivity that starts to make up for my previous complaints.

One thing I've always enjoyed about the MGS series is how much I learn about real history and science without feeling like I'm in school.

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