Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker HD Review

When I first heard that the Metal Gear Solid The Legacy Collection coming out on Playstation 3, I seriously did not hesitate to get a copy because of Peace Walker. Aside from being a fan of the entire series, Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker brought something new to the table. The revised game design caught my attention since it’s comparable to the Monster Hunter gameplay loop design but works differently. 

Game Features

One of Peace Walker’s greatest strengths aside from the direction and storyline is building Big Boss’s ( Snake ) HQ called the Mother Base. Players can enhance the base’s functionalities by recruiting soldiers via offline or online missions and other modes as well. Each soldier or personnel has a unique set of skills that will contribute to the mother base’s needs like weapon research, mess hall, intel, or for combat.  Another interesting feature is that soldiers can also be traded from player to player for specific reasons.

Simply put, the more highly skilled soldiers, the better items or weapon upgrades the Mother Base can provide. Building an army was really quite enjoyable and worth the time. I found myself spending my first hours recruiting any soldiers that I could find to fill up the base and it was a good sidetrack aside from continuously progressing in the story. Pretty much the game modes did not change compared to the PSP version but the “ Online Recruitment “  varies depending on what console you’re playing in. Speaking of which, players can actually import or export their save data from the PSP to PS3 or vice versa depending on their needs. 

Actual combat or missions requires stealth and a tactical approach which is the main concept of the MG series after all, keeping some of the basic tactics from the previous titles. The actual gameplay demands patience and timing in order to succeed. Enemy soldiers do have a fair A.I. They can hear footsteps; check any unusual activity or call for backup once they spotted you. To be honest enemy A.I. is not impressive at all thus it can be easily fooled. Players can boundlessly blow things up; kill relentlessly or do whatever they want during a mission but in the end, the player’s mission rank will severely suffer.

Missions can be accomplished in offline or online mode and players can team up to take down hard bosses or just do regular missions. New ones can be unlocked by finishing certain missions and most of them yield new weapons and costume rewards.

For PVP fans, this game has something for you. “ VS Ops “  mode let you set the score with other players with different modes and rules. And yes you are allowed to bring any weapon and item of your choice unless it was banned. 

About the game camera, it worked well for me since it’s a third-person shooting game; I needed every good angle that I can get for aiming purposes or seeing the enemy's position. Surprisingly the game camera did its job.

Game Elements

Graphics was much better this time, well what do you expect? Character models are very much defined and they look really good with a better-looking environment and sharp edges compared to the PSP version. The best part was the game ran at 60 frames per second. It allowed me to experience seamless movements and felt the game even more. Though I still noticed the PSP roots of the game, especially when staring at emotionless character faces made me feel uncomfortable at times.  It was understandable in my opinion since this is not a remake but a remastered.

The musical scores were great in my opinion. Well, it was really one of the strengths of the Metal Gear franchise since the beginning. Most of the time, it made me feel every scene that I’m in, whether in cutscenes or actual gameplay.

Moving on to the controls, there are different types of controls and players can customize them to their liking. I never did encounter any issue with the controls instead it worked well for the Dual Shock 3. One of my favorite parts was the majority of the cutscenes were designed in comic style with player interactions and to experience what’s really happening and not just watching the scenes.

Game Challenges

Players might need quick reflexes a bit especially in boss battles since everything was in real-time. According to my personal experience, story missions’ difficulty was above average but one thing I can assure you is it all changes depending on your goal. For trophy hunters, this game requires online interaction to achieve the platinum trophy.

It’s not that hard actually while those who want to get everything in the game might consider it a real challenge. I, myself experienced it all and I am telling you it requires a lot of patience and hundreds of hours to get it all done. I cannot explain this further since an actual overview is needed to fully understand this matter and there are some parts that were not properly explained by the game itself.  I am encouraging everyone to aim for this, especially the players who want to challenge themselves.

The Verdict

Overall, I can say it did a pretty good job in spite of deviating from the traditional Metal Gear game design. Of course, it retained most of the basic elements from the previous titles. Now in PS3, it came back with revamped graphics and seamless gameplay than the PSP version that elevated my experience into a whole new experience.