MGS; Peace Walker impressions

Be adviced; These impressions is by playing the demo, not the full game.

I am admittedly a Metal Gear Solid freak, so imagine my surprise when I woke up yesterday to see that the Peace Walker demo was going live on the playstation store. How could I not know this was coming? Oh – maybe because I have had the japanese version (and the language barrier left me unsure of what was going on) of the demo for about a month now and thought it would be ages before the US saw their copy. Thankfully, as if an early Christmas present, I was wrong.

With the demo you get to play three missions. The first being a tutorial mainly focusing on CQC. I was glad to have it to get me back into the swing of things since last playing Portable Ops. I did find my blood boiling when the commander tells you “You’re doing it wrong Boss” over and over when you do not do the prompt as he says. (Hey! No one tells Snake what to do – if it would have been me I would have flicked my cigar and maybe the bird at him and walked off that beautiful beach.) It controls easy enough aside from a finicky analog stick and as with all Kojima games, you can customize your options almost limitlessly. The second level is also a tutorial in which you learn how to use your firearm and grenades. Nothing really special here, just helping you re-grasp what you probably already know.

Finally you get to see action in the third mission. I love to run and gun in most shooters but not MGS. Part of the attraction for me is the slow stealthy way Snake takes out his opponents. Now, it is a “sneaking” mission but I had to see what the alert looked like. I popped a guard in the head and nothing happened. Saddened, I started to creep forward only to hear a guard do his familiar “huh?”! Here we go! The alert was on and they started coming for me. I crouched down in the grass (by the way – this third mission looked similar to the wooded areas of “Snake Eater”) and then laid down. I tried to crawl while laying, but that is not an option. It is more like MGS 4 where you look like you are dead once you are prone. So, in a panic of button pressing I ended up face to face with a guard and decided to try out my CQC tactics. They worked perfectly and after taking out the rest of them using a combo of firepower an hand to hand combat the mission ended.

Playing a Hideo Kojima game is always like controlling the main characters in a movie. Some people loathe the long cut-scenes but I think it’s part of what makes this series so special. From the art to the dialogue, the gameplay and the humor – my love of this series just grows stronger. I feel the way about MGS as most people feel about Halo. This game is my “Reach” and on May 25th, 2010 – I will be first in line.

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