Let’s Talk: Peace Walker With Konami In London

Essentially one might argue that the Metal Gear series has become synonymous with evolution within its genre, always finding new ways to innovate and expand from its humble beginnings on the MSX2.  From the first appearance of Solid Snake in ‘Metal Gear’ back in 1987, the adventures and escapades of the mullet equipped hero have captivated audiences over twenty three releases across equally as many years from providing a spectacular game experience on the MSX2 to a high definition masterpiece on PlayStation 3. 

Metal Gear, also released on the NES, was a different type of game at the time of its release, a game where tactics were incorporated seamlessly into an adventure game, making stealth, and not all-out action, the key to success.  The goal was to infiltrate the ‘Outer Heaven’ facility, which the antagonistic ‘Big Boss’ had created initially as a home for mercenaries, but was instead becoming a terrorist threat with the manufacture of the eponymous ‘Metal Gear’, a weapon of unprecedented nuclear capabilities.  This new title was an unexpected hit and was swiftly followed by a non-canonical sequel, entitled ‘Snake’s Revenge’, again released for Nintendo’s 8-bit console.  After learning of the development of the title from one of the developers of this game, Kojima himself stepped back into the ring and continued Snake’s saga in ‘Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake’, where the player once again faces off against Big Boss, this time in the defended African territory of Zanzibarland.

It wasn’t until 1998 however that the series took its biggest gamble and once again revolutionized the genre, taking Snake into the third dimension via Sony’s PlayStation, a console upon which the series has become synonymous with ever since.  Adding ‘Solid’ to the title, as a indication of the state of new 3D world Snake would now find himself in, it was followed by numerous sequels, re-releases (Twin Snakes) and side stories (Ghost Babel), until the third title in the series began to expand upon the saga of Snake’s nemesis ‘Big Boss’.  The first canonical title for the PSP ‘Portable Ops’ continued these adventures, and ‘Peace Walker’ will now continue to this story of the MGS universe.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is the fifth canonical instalment in the ‘Metal Gear Solid’ franchise.  The second title of the series to arrive on PSP, it serves as the continuing saga of the ‘Big Boss’, or Naked Snake, and so can be thought of as Metal Gear Solid 3.5.  Several weeks ago we were able to speak to Steve Merrett, Konami press representative for Peace Walker in the United Kingdom regarding the upcoming PlayStation Portable masterpiece.

One of the first questions we asked was if there were any plans for co-operative content downloads to Peace Walker, in a similar capacity to what was provided for Portable Ops. In response we were told that it wasn’t one of the key points to this title, but the concentration on co-operative play led for the re-thinking, yet again, of how the audience plays Metal Gear.  After the success of ‘Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops’ Kojima wanted to take the game in a truly co-operative direction and focused more on what you could achieve with friends by your side.  It was due to this way of thinking that the bosses themselves were designed to make it possible to re-think standard options based upon the number of squad mates you have along for the ride;  choices such as the ability to flank, or act as a decoy while the other shoots.  It’s due to this that the subtitle of the series has now changed to “Tactical Espionage Operations”; and it’s one which most definitely makes sense when you take into account that the “Action” merely referred to the single player element of the series thus making it redundant in the multiplayer world Naked Snake now finds himself in.  “Operations” represents a new start to this era of Metal Gear, with further changes coming when Metal Gear Solid: Rising (Lightning Bolt Action) arrives, hopefully, later in the year.

Kojima’s love the era of Naked Snake is felt once again, and in place of the hi-tech weaponry of ‘Guns of the Patriots’, you learn to survive on the environment and weapons available; a welcome change compared to MGS4’s locked, hi-spec guns, and a return to classic soldiering values comparable to the ‘Sharpe’ saga.  The change in location (Costa Rica) and weaponry can also reflect the changes which have dictated the rules of war; in place of the PMCs of MGS4, Snake finds himself stuck between communist Russia and the CIA; once again reflecting a time and place where war and intrigue were fought on simpler terms.  By paying close attention to the characterisation in place, especially in Ramón Gálvez Mena, Kazuhira Miller and Paz you’ll see that there is idealism evident within their personalities, idealism which is representative of the time in which the events occur; and it’s detail like this at which Kojima Productions excels.

We also spoke a little on the reasoning why Kojima chose the PlayStation Portable console for this outing, and that was to show how a complete, fully featured Metal Gear title was possible on the handheld.  From the time I spent with Peace Walker I am in absolutely no doubt that this will indeed be a premium Metal Gear title, showcasing amazing graphics and sound, whilst demonstrating to critics that even though the title runs on PSP hardware it doesn’t equate to a drop in graphics or complexity.  The code available itself was testament to this; solid textures, crisp audio and extremely slick presentation, the game showcases what the PSP is capable of, adding to the somewhat lacking library of strong titles, with the exception of ‘God Of War’ and ‘Resistance’.

The only problem we found during our hands on was the somewhat slow loading times when moving between areas, although this may have been due to the fact it wasn’t the final release candidate – as well as the title running on PSP-1000 series units.  The game does benefit from the use of an install option, not dissimilar to the one found on Dissidia: Final Fantasy, which allows you to install large sections of the game to memory stick and thus assists the loading process of the game itself.  The first option is a larger install, taking up a larger portion of the memory, and allows for more of the audio to be spoken as opposed to the lighter install option which will display the dialogue as text.

Also, just in case you were wondering whether or not it was coming to PSPgo – it is.  Konami have confirmed that the title will launch day and date on PlayStation Network alongside the UMD edition, providing what essentially is life support for the dying, poorer brother in the PSP family.

And finally we briefly touched on the addition of items designed with the co-operative player in mind.  The “lovebox”, for example, a covert disguise made in the now traditional MGS style of, you’ve guessed it, a box (which brings health benefits) and the latest and greatest addition, the ‘stealth gun’.  Working in a similar capacity to the Stealth Camo suit, the gun allows you to temporarily hide the person or object it is aimed.  This can vary from human bodies to larger items, and is best explained by the very real idea of co-operative play, thus allowing players to move unseen, opening up a whole new way to play.  This, when combined with the ‘Snake-in, Snake-out’ system of the PSP, allows for a Metal Gear title that while not focusing solely on multiplayer like the previous PSP offering Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus, still offers an amazing, unique single player experience worthy of Kojima Productions.

This truly is the game which PlayStation Portable owners have been waiting for, and one I can’t wait to return to.