Customer Reviews

Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If this game was called Metal Gear Solid 5: Peace Walker, I would not hesitate to call it that. This game is astounding. It's a technical marvel. A feat on portable platforms. There was not a single time where I said I wanted this game to be on a console. In fact, if this was on a console and cost $60, I would buy it in a heartbeat. From the gameplay, to the graphics, to the sound, to the length of the story, this is a huge console adventure, right in the palm of your hand. It's absolutely amazing that so much could be crammed into a little disc. I still can't get over it.

Unlike Portable Ops, the controls did not hinder the gameplay. Apparently, the developers learned from their mistake and made the controls work. Not once did I wish for a second analog stick. It works. It's Metal Gear Solid on a handheld. No exceptions. Do you remember the ability to recruit soldiers and use them in Portable OPs? Well, that's now more streamlined, it's improved, and overall more enjoyable. Knock out a soldier, hook a Fulton Recovery System balloon onto him, and continue your mission. No more dragging across the map anymore. Just pop on on there and continue your mission. When you go back to your Mother Base (GEE I WONDER IF THIS COULD BE THE START OF OUTER HEAVEN) you can put them in different units (such as combat and engineering) to have them do missions or build weapons or do other things of great wonder. However, you mainly want to build up your engineering (called R&D) sections. This is highly improved, because instead of getting random weapons ever so often like in Portable Ops, you choose which weapons to develop, and you can upgrade them. You can even upgrade your items, like your sonar system and Fulton Recovery System. It's awesome, useful, and you actually want to spend the time to upgrade it. And not only do you have this wildly improved Portable Ops system, but you have the main story missions, which are on-par with the likes of any of the console predecessors, and you have side-missions as well, which you can complete at any time. Let's just say this game will last for a long, long time.

The graphics are without a doubt amazing. I honestly kept forgetting I was playing a handheld. There is a ruddy texture or two, but let's cut the PSP some slack, eh? The graphic novel cutscenes are not only well done, but they fit the game. They don't feel out of place. Also, there are quicktime events inside the graphic novel cutscenes, which are beautifully animated. Also, did I mention the quicktime events don't suck?They're (shock and awe) fairly exciting, and do not seem forced at all.

The sound is also wonderfully done. Usually, I hardly ever pay attention to the sound when playing handhelds, because it usually ranges from 'alright' to 'mediocre'. Or maybe I don't even notice it at all. Well, I did this time. Do yourself a favor, play this with headphones. You won't regret it.

Storyline is your typical Metal Gear Solid fare: unmanned robots, nuclear weapons, Snake grunting in agreement, remembering the basics of CQC, etc. For those of you who have played Metal Gear Solid from the beginning will enjoy many plot points that tie in various people and objects from different games. Overall, very enjoyable, but I presume many will prefer the story lines from the console brethren.

I have only one gripe with this game: co-op. Now, usually, I would be extremely happy with having co-op for the game, but the developers put so much emphasis on co-op that some missions nearly require it, even if they don't say so. This can lead to frustration, but it is not impossible. Prepare for some difficult times, but most of the time, you will be having a blast.

Buy this game. It's only $40. $40 for one of the best video games you can get your hands on. Do it.

"Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker" may very well be the best handheld video game I've played in my life. After ten
straight hours of complete immersion in Hideo Kojima's world of sci-fi political espionage, there is nothing that
can convince me any other game on a handheld system has presented such an epic scope, heart-wrenching story and
tight gameplay as the latest entry in the venerable "Metal Gear" franchise.

Taking place a decade after "MGS 3: Snake Eater", "Peace Walker" finds Snake, aka "Big Boss", a shell of his former
self. Sure, he's still strong, deadly and ruthless, but he's an emotional trainwreck after being forced to kill
the woman whom he loved and was trained by. Ten years still can't wipe away the pain he feels, and even distracting
himself with the private mercenary organization he's founded can't make him forget. But one fateful day, a mysterious
man and young girl come forth with a mission that involves restoring peace to Cuba. Snake initially refuses, but
when the man presents an audio tape which suggests that the woman he thought dead to still be living, he rushes headlong
into the mission, unaware of the consequences which await him. On the surface, it may seem like a simple "stop the
bad guys from nuking the world" type of plot, but fans of the series will realize that it's much more; this game is
a spiritual journey for our tortured protagonist, filled with twists and turns every step of the way.

The gameplay has gotten an overhaul from previous PSP entries of MGS, and I have to admit: it's really for the better.
Close-quarters combat (CQC) has been streamlined and assigned to one button, making it incredibly easy to dispatch
whole mobs of foes with nothing more than your fists and a quick trigger finger. Also more simple this time around
is the gunplay; no longer do you have to stand in an awkward position to get off a good shot on your enemies. Kojima
took the fast-paced gun battles of "MGS 4: Guns of the Patriots" and put them onto the PSP with no complications
whatsoever, and without anything being lost in the process.

Speaking of "MGS 4", the very thing I liked about that entry in the series is prevalent in this one as well: options.
You don't HAVE to stealthily dispatch hostiles; you can walk in with guns a'blazing, and easily get through each
section, and vice versa. There is no wrong way to play "Peace Walker", in the sense that how it's played is
completely dependent on your own playing style. I prefer the "sneak in undetected" approach, but my friend operates
by the "might makes right" strategy. We both get through each level with our respective plans, albeit with some
complications exclusive to those plans (sneaking around often involves hiding in awkward places that you can
easily get trapped in if detected; taking the forceful approach can often leave room for unseen enemies to sneak up from
behind and take you out without any warning.) But that's the beauty of this game, really: learning from your mistakes,
taking what you've learned and then applying it to the next level. Very few games have rules that are as broadly-defined
as these.

Another key strategy that will differ from player to player is the vast recruitment system. Much less convoluted than
the previous PSP entries, getting soldiers on your side is as simple as knocking them out, then strapping a
balloon harness (yes, a balloon harness) on them to be sent straight to your Mother Base, which is incidentally a
prototype for the pivotal Outer Heaven base seen later in the series. The soldiers can then be assigned to their
respective units, such as Combat or R&D, or even Mess Hall. As the game progresses, the more soldiers you have,
the more weapons and resources you'll gain. You can even play side-missions with your recruits to unlock more
weapons to aid Snake in the main story missions. Catching and training new blood adds an addictive "Pokemon"-like
aspect to "Peace Walker", one which I found myself spending a vast amount of time with.

Now, on to minor matters (sort of): graphics and sound. And folks, these are just two more of this game's good points.

How the developers got a game this beautiful and rich in detail to fit onto a UMD, I'll never know. I won't question
their magic, though, because I'm just too blown away to even consider doing anything of the sort. The quality
and effort bleeds from each micro-pixel, putting other PSP graphics darlings such as "God of War: Chains of
Olympus" to shame. Not a single time did I feel the game was constricted because of the PSP's graphical limitations.
Kojima Productions has created the single most immersing world ever rendered on a handheld.

The music is great (as per usual for the series), and the voice acting, featuring the likes of Steve Blum and Tara
Strong, is absolutely phenomenal (again, as per usual for the series). Sound effects are also great, complimenting
the graphics to form the aforementioned immersing world. After playing this game for a few hours, it's hard
to go outside and not think of the game. It's that mind-altering.

In the end, there is no reason any PSP owner shouldn't own this, unless of course you haven't played any previous
entries in the series. In that case, go back and play "MGS 3: Snake Eater" before playing. But for veterans of the
series, buy this without delay. As a longtime fan, I can firmly say this may be one of the franchise's high points,
easily topping "Snake Eater", which was previously my favorite entry until this came along. It's also the
largest in terms of content and replay value. All subsequent entries will be greatly affected by "Peace Walker", and
thus you owe it to yourself to play it.

Then again, I won't be surprised if all PSP games are greatly affected by "Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker." It reminds
me of how good the PSP can be, to be sure, but more importantly: it reminds me of just how good a video game can
truly be.

Story: A+ (Jaw-dropping, tearjerking, and pulsepounding; there's never a dull moment.)

Gameplay: A+ (As tight as the series has ever been; nothing is lost on the PSP.)

Graphics: A+ (The very best the system has to offer.)

Sound: A+ (Great music, great voice acting... Just great in general.)

Overall: A+ (One of the rare examples of a perfect game; Easily the best I've played all year.)

NOTE: I apologize for not being able to review the multiplayer; my friend lives in another state,
and this game only supports local Ad-Hoc play. I have no other PSP-owning friends (they all have
DS's, which I have one of as well), and thus can't give a review on the multiplayer. Again,
I apologize.

The stealth genre is an odd duck, as it is too slow paced to appeal to most action fans and too linear to appeal to most WRPG fans. There's only 3 or 4 major stealth franchises, which stop by every other year to remind us that the genre still thrives despite its niche appeal. We here in Massachusetts we have our local-favorite, the THIEF series, whose fantasy-based stealth sets it apart from fellow genre entries, and Canada brought us SPLINTER CELL, marked by the militarist protagonist Sam Fisher. Both are terrific series, but neither invoke the near-universal appeal of Japan's METAL GEAR saga, which has been re-birthing itself again and again since its debut on the MSX over 20 years ago.

Though I make an effort to remain objective, I can't seem to control myself around METAL GEAR. There's something about the series' unique combination of over-the-top political sci-fi, pitch-perfect stealth, and quirky comedy that just keeps tugging at my heartstrings (and my limited finances). I was young when I picked up METAL GEAR SOLID 2, and it was love at first sneak. I've been following the series ever since, picking up every damned release and re-release like Gibson to Salinger in "Conspiracy Theory". It is, in my opinion, the fillet of the genre.

And, with one notable exception (where my GHOST BABEL fans at?), the series' quality has floundered on the handheld. Desperate to adapt to the PSP's limitations, entries like AC!D and PORTABLE OPS did their best to shrink SOLID's pedigree to pocket-size through heavy redesign. Though the result was usually overall good, these games weren't fit to wipe the shoes of the canon console entries. Enter METAL GEAR SOLID PEACE WALKER.

PEACE WALKER succeeds not only as a canon entry to the saga's lore, but as the best of sequels do: by completely reworking the franchise. The sneaking mechanic - the true heart of the game - is largely unchanged (but say goodbye to "crawl"), though just about everything else has been tuned to fit portable gaming. Rather than having a continuous narrative, gameplay is broken up into chapters which are then broken up into missions. Missions vary in length - usually the side missions take about 5 minutes, while story entries can take upwards of a half hour. Almost every one of these missions can be played either by yourself or with up to 3 friends. I haven't touched AD-HOC multiplayer, but it's quite clear that certain missions have been programmed with multiplayer in mind. The boss fights in particular are absolutely brutal. Much like my experience with MONSTER HUNTER, taking down these mammoth mechanical beasts took me many attempts, each swing taking around 20 minutes. It can be pretty frustrating; the boss battles are an impressive spectacle, and yet still the low-point of the game. Outside of the missions, there's a lot of micro-management to do. As Big Boss, you are charged with running MSF, and from forming and sending out small strike squads to managing your food supply, constructing your army is a significant portion of PEACE WALKER's gameplay offerings. Much like GRAND THEFT AUTO: CHINATOWN WARS' drug-running feature, managing MSF is tremendously satisfying and productive while lending itself to short-bursts of portable gaming.

I'd be happy to yammer on about how this is the best game on the PSP, the best METAL GEAR game since SNAKE EATER, and a serious candidate for GOTY, but I'd hate to risk credibility with hyperbole. Gaming-on-the-go can be a trying experience, but with PEACE WALKER, you're in good hands.

A sequel to the PSP's earlier "Portable Ops", MGS: Peace Walker is a surprising technical improvement when compared against earlier games. Focusing on the management of a larger mercenary organization, "Peace Walker" still has its share of stealth-based tactical action.

Peace Walker returns to the world of Big Boss, rather than the series' usual protagonist, Solid Snake. In the period between Portable Ops and now, Big Boss has left the US government and assembled his own mercenary team, the MSF. Peace Walker centers around managing the MSF by carrying out missions, recruiting new members, developing new technologies, and building up the off-shore platform used as the MSF's main base.

Gameplay is divided into story missions (main ops) and side missions (extra ops). The main ops constitute normal gameplay, broken up into segments. The extra ops are closer to the VR missions from MGS2 - short, timed scenarios with some twist or quirk to them, like "rescue the hostage" or "find the mines". Mission maps are wider and more detailed than in Portable Ops, and many missions take place in an area consisting of several connected maps, which makes the world seem larger. There are a lot of areas that are wooded or swampy, which calls back to MGS3 and its more natural environments. Another MGS3-like feature is the lack of a "standard" radar - items like sonar must be equipped in the item slot and have limited battery life, making players more reliant on their own senses to spot enemies.

Managing the MSF is one of the game's major features. New recruits can be captured in the field either by subduing enemies or rescuing hostages. These recruits have a diverse set of stats, and can be assigned to different units, like combat, R&D, or intelligence in a manner similar to Portable Ops. Unlike Portable Ops, every recruit wears the basic MSF uniforms; there's no difference between capturing a guard or a sniper. Characters are instead distinguished by portraits and codenames, both of which are randomly assigned. This allows for some level of identification, although it unfortunately doesn't carry over to actual gameplay. Every character is now represented by a generic masked figure (male or female) except for Snake himself. However, there are different costumes and camouflage uniforms (all of which have masks), and the uniforms have different stealth values and inventory slots. This allows for different types of gameplay depending on the uniform selected.

Bosses come in two main types: vehicles and mechs. Vehicles consist of things like tanks and helicopters. Vehicle fights often involve supporting troops - if they're out of the way, the vehicle's commander can be incapacitated or killed and the vehicle can be captured for MSF's usage. Mech fights are more traditional MGS boss fare; instead of capturing them, however, it's possible to salvage parts and AI cores to build your own mech. Both vehicles and mechs can be sent off (along with troops) to missions in other parts of the world. These "Outer Ops" are automatically resolved, but provide a way for the majority of your combat forces to get experience (since only one person can sneak at a time).

Peace Walker focuses a lot on multiplayer, as well. There's a fairly standard versus mode, but the main attraction of multiplayer is a cooperative mode. This allows for players to attempt missions, or even fight bosses, in groups of up to four. However, multiplayer is limited to nearby PSPs - there's no online match-making mode or anything of the sort, despite the presence of pre-written communication (which should only really be useful if you can't talk to the person in real life). The relative rarity of the PSP means that this feature will most likely go unused.

Overall, Peace Walker does a lot of things right that Metal Gear should do right. The bosses are fun, the environments are detailed, and the controls are tight enough to not be a problem. It's not quite the second coming of MGS3, detail-wise, but it's definitely a worthy successor, considering its handheld status. The management aspect is fun and addictive, though the actual logistics of the whole thing could have used some fleshing out. Peace Walker is a solid game both for fans of the series and for those who aren't usually interested in it.

Rating: 9/10.

Game purchased through Playstation Network.

I have always loved the metal gear solid universe. I have immense respect for Mr Kojima out of all the game designers directors producers he is on top of the list he really shows that he care's for his game there's so much quality that all game developers should look at him for inspiration i did have my reservations about this one even thou i really loved the story of portable ops the gameplay i must admit just felt crap there was for me at least to much compromise with the control that it felt awkward! But Hideo has mastered the controls in this game by adding all the best bits from all the previous installments. Storyline wise it's just as good as the rest very engaging and big boss is always a pleasure to play his such a badass overall this game is a must have for any fans of the series

Ever since the original Metal Gear Solid was released on the PS1, the series has been an example of how to combine great gameplay with amazing presentation. Peace Walker, the latest installment in the series continues that tradition and proves that a portable game can be just as good as any major console release.

The first thing about Peace Walker that is worth mentioning is the storyline. Peace Walker takes place directly after the events of Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater and Portable Ops. Knowledge in the plot of those two games helps in your enjoyment of Peace Walker, but surprisingly this is easily the most accessible story in the Metal Gear Solid Series. Without spoiling anything, you can still expect all the political drama, twist and turns, and over the top characters the series is known for, but within a more centered and focused story. This is especially good for those people who in the past have found the plot in this series difficult to get into. With Peace Walker it really feels like veterans of the series as well as newcomers can enjoy the game on an equal level.

The technical presentation for Peace Walker is also amazing. The graphics are almost on par with those found on the PS2 installments of the series. However, what will really impress you is the games sound. Both the music and the voice acting is stellar, not to mention the sound effects for all the weapons you use throughout the game. The games technical aspects don't just impress during gameplay but also during cutscenes, especially the graphic novel like cutscenes. This really is the type of game you want to play with a great pair of headphones so you can really immerse yourself in the experience, and truly appreciate the effort that was put into the games sound and presentation.

In terms of gameplay, I don't know where to start as Peace Walker easily has the most gameplay/features of any Metal Gear Solid game released thus far. For those primarily interested in Peace Walkers story, you have the Main Ops which consists of five chapters and 33 missions. The Main Ops missions will remind you of those found in Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops, short but fun stealth levels that work extremely well on a portable system. Occasionally you will play some missions that end up being a little longer than others, perhaps making them harder to play in short bursts, but these are only a handful of the 33 missions so they don't really hurt the game.

Peace Walker also contains Extra Ops missions which use locations or levels from the Main Ops portion of the game while giving you new objectives to complete. These objectives include placing explosives on marked locations, rescuing soldiers, clearing levels without being detected, and so on. There are a total of 128 Extra Ops missions, all of which are separate from the games main story. These Extra Ops missions are completely optional, but are worth playing for the purpose of finding documents for creating new weapons and recruiting more soldiers.

Recruiting soldiers itself is a major part of Peace Walker. When you knockout enemies during missions, you can recover them using a balloon recovery system (Fulton Recovery) that sends them instantly to your base of operations within the game, Mother Base. Once you return to Mother Base you can place your new recruits within 5 different units. These units include: Combat, R&D Team, Mess Hall Team, Medical Team, and Intel Team. Where you place your soldiers matters as it has an impact on which weapons and items you can create and when you can create them, among other things. This aspect of the game, recruiting soldiers, is easily the biggest part of Peace Walker. Currently, I have invested about 50 hours worth of playtime into Peace Walker and have not maxed out the levels of my units yet. Trust me when I say that this is a fun, addictive, and time consuming aspect of the game.

A new feature to the series introduced in Peace Walker is being able to put together your own Metal Gear, Metal Gear ZEKE. As you defeat certain bosses during the game, you will be able to take parts from these defeated enemies to put together ZEKE. Once completed you can send ZEKE out on Outer Ops missions, which is yet another feature of Peace Walker. Like I said earlier, this game has the most features of any installment of the Metal Gear Solid series, probably too many to cover in one review.

However, despite all the great things about Peace Walker, it still has a few problems. For one, the difficulty during boss battles can get pretty high and at times frustrating. This is partly due to a lot of these bosses being protected by a squad of soldiers. Basically you end having to fight a very powerful boss and a group of soldiers protecting said boss, which can be especially challenging if you don't currently have the appropriate items and weapons. These spikes in difficulty can be alleviated by taking on the bosses with a friend (up to 4 players can take on a boss), but there is no getting around how difficult they can be while playing on your own. Occasionally, even one on one boss encounters can be far too challenging for their own good.

Another problem with Peace Walker is the controls. Now I agree with most people who feel this is a problem of the PSP as a system, with its lack of a second analog stick. However this does have an impact on how the game is played, and many players have had a problem enjoying Peace Walker because of the controls. Personally, it took me about an hour or two and I got use to the lack of a second analog stick. My suggestion is trying all three control layouts until you find the one that works for you. Some may never feel completely comfortable with the controls, but with some time and patience you learn to adjust to them.

Despite these small problems, Peace Walker is an amazing portable game. In all honesty it is as good as any of the console Metal Gear Solid games that have come before it. If your able to play the boss fights with a group of friends and have no issues with the games controls, then this is definitely a 5 star game. Regardless of the situation, if you have a PSP, this is a game you should own.

I was very hesitant to buy this game as I did not like the previous Metal Gear games on PSP that much, but then Hideo Kojima said he was deeply involved in this project and the reviewers gave it pretty good scores so I recently decided to give it a shot. After playing it and finishing it once with most of the extra missions (25+ hrs and still playing), here is what I thought.

****************PROS.****************

AN ACTUAL MGS TYPE OF GAMEPLAY ON PSP: The best thing about Metal Gear Solid games is its gameplay. Unlike most games where run and gun gameplay is promoted, in metal gear games sneaking gameplay is highly encouraged, but if you are not big on sneaking then you can always run and gun. I am so happy to see that Peace Walker carries on this legacy and allows player to choose how they want to play.

SMARTLY DESIGNED CONTROLS: So how do you play third person shooter on PSP which only has one analogue stick? Well this game has very smartly designed shooter controls that make use of (O, X, Square, Triange) buttons as second analogue stick and still delivers shooter type of experience. At first you may find it difficult to use, but once you get used to them, you will love them. If not, there are two other control formats, so chances are at least one of them will work for you.

VARIETY IN MISSIONS AND SCENARY: The story of this game progresses through you completing different missions. I have to say these missions are very nicely designed. While completing the game you will go through jungles, villages, factories and more (don't want to spoil). While going through these areas you will encounter variety of enemies and will be forced to do many different tasks to progress through the story. I have to say there hasn't been a single time I felt why I am doing this or that mission. For most part they were quite fun.

PLENTY OF SIDE MISSIONS: In additions to main missions, you will be encouraged to do plenty of side missions. Completing these side missions will reward you with variety of things. See the below section for more detail.

LOADS AND LOADS OF EXTRA GAMEPLAY: So throughout the games doing missions and side missions you are expected recruit people and create your own army. The major characters will get recruited in your army automatically as you progress through the game. As for the rest of them, you have to knock out enemy soldiers and prisoners and send them using helium balloon. I know it sounds corny, but it is quite humorous when you play it. And then you can use these recruits to complete different missions, develop different weapons, wage wars etc. etc. There is just so much to do. This game will truly surprise and please you.

ENJOYABLE BOSS FIGHTS: Bosses in this game are simply spectacular. They will range from military vehicles such as tanks and choppers to devastating Metal Gears. Simply put boss fights are strategic in nature and defeating them is quite rewarding. And when I say rewarding it is just not as entertainment value, but depending on how you defeat these bosses you can make use out of them. For example, if you defeat military vehicles the right way you can salvage them, add them to your army and deploy them in extra missions. Same with defeating Metal Gear, depending on how you defeat them you can salvage their parts and use them to make your own Metal Gear. Awesome right?

WEAPONS AND GADGETS: To complete these different missions and side missions, you will have access to variety of weapons and gadgets. Some of these include but are not limited to tranquilizer gun, sniper rifle, various machine guns and heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, radar, sound indicator and the list goes on. Not all of them are available in the beginning. You will have to unlock them of course by growing your army.

UPGRADES: All of these weapons as well as your staff can be upgraded. This adds an RPG element to the game and really encourages you to replay your missions, do better on them and grow your staff. This adds a whole new dimension to the gameplay.

GREAT STORY, DECENT VOICE ACTING AND COMIC BOOK STYLE CUTSCENES: If you have played other MGS games than you know all the Hideo Kojima games have amazing stories. They won't always make sense, but as you go through them you sure as hell enjoy them. In this game such story is accompanied by decent voice acting and portrayed mainly through comic-book style depiction. I personally loved it and found it quite artistic.

REPLAY ANYTHING YOU WANT: To me this is an awesome addition. You can replay any mission or any cutscene over again. So if you missed something or if you didn't perform well in a cutscene you can relive those moments and collect anything you have missed without having to play whole game again. Marvelous just marvelous!

ONLINE CO-OP GAMEPLAY: I am not much into online play, but if you have a buddy with PS3, you can co-op play a lot of the missions, trade your soldiers and do a whole lot of things.

KOJIMA HUMOR: This can be hit or miss. There are many moments in the game where you will encounter weird humor. I would describe it to you, but truly don't want to ruin it for you guys. I personally found it funny, but I can't say for sure for you.

**************CONS.*******************

MEANT TO BE MUCH BIGGER (OUTER OPS): Don't get me wrong this game is amazing and you will love it. But while playing it you will get the feeling that this game was meant to be much bigger than it is. It could have been meant for PS3 with a lot more stuff added to it. For example, in outer ops section you simply deploy your troops/mechs/metal gear and do nothing else. Knowing Kojima he probably planned something better for it (i.e. deploy it and then strategically use them to beat enemies). It is hard to describe, but if you are a Kojima fan, you will see what I am saying.

****************CONCLUSION********************

Simply put, I have enjoyed Peace Walker as much if not more as any other MGS. It is a must buy for MGS fans and if you are not a fan you should still give it a shot. Chances are it will sweep you off your feet. Contrary to the con I described, I give it 10/10. Giving it anything less just seems very unfair. Bravo Kojima Bravo.

This game is awesome. The story is great, the controls are easy to handle and easy to change. The amount of weapons that can be used and created is unbelievable. There are over 150 different missions, even after the story line. This game is a perfect mix of stealth and combat. If your sneaking around and you get caught you can fight back (unlike splinter cell) and win. Only thing i found wrong is at the end there are a bit to many machine battles and not enough fighting people. But that gives no reason not to buy this game, it is a fantastic game and I am extremely happy I bought it.

This is easily one of the best psp games on the system, and I'll let the other 20+ 4 and 5 star reviews handle the positives. There is a caveat for Metal Gear's hardcore fans, though. The difficulty mode selection is gone. Gone. This means all but roughly 8 missions are ridiculously easy even to s-rank solo. On top of that, once you attain the bandanna, you can use it and still s-rank missions--not to mention the M47 missile launcher that makes all the mechs a breeze even without infinite ammo...

Dividing the entire game into missions to s-rank separately was a great way to take the tedium out of redoing bits over and over (similar to MGS4's chapters, albeit the missions are much shorter), but it also takes away from the skillful feel of completing an entire game without alerts/kills/etc. The series as a whole has decreased in difficulty over the years, but being completely unable to select your own difficulty for veterans who've been playing on extreme for years seems out of place. Even at the end of the game you can run at soldiers straight on from the side and still not be seen. You also either start with or grab very early the sneaking suit to eliminate your footsteps while running, which makes this even easier. Most disappointingly, the enemy's AI never seems to get better with difficulty as it did in previous games. Instead, the HP, Psyche, and damage of the enemies increase to add a sort of pseudo-layer of difficulty. Unfortunately, if you were already not being seen/hit, it just adds time/tedium. Just be prepared if you want the difficulty of the former PS2 installments to make your own challenges.

Nonetheless, the title brought spectacular new things to the series, and I'm looking forward to the next installment keeping them in some form--and as always, the MGS series is a step above most other games in storytelling and gameplay. Well worth the $40 pricetag.

There's not much to say about Peace Walker that hasn't already been said... if you like MGS, this is a required play! It combines the best elements of the last few MGS games into a perfect package. The control scheme is based on MGS4, which really plays a lot smoother with a walking crouch and a third-person shooting stance. Gone are the days of having to switch to first-person mode every time you want to take out an enemy...

Also, the meta-game of capturing enemy soldiers is vastly improved from Portable Ops. Instead of having to drag soldiers back to your truck, you hook a balloon to them and your helicopter automatically picks them up. Also, you can send your army out on operations while Snake does the missions, allowing them to acquire extra items for you. You can also research new weapons and items... the selection compared to the bland offerings from Portable Ops is astounding. There are so many guns and upgrades, you'll never see them all in a single go. This game demands multiple playthroughs.

The only weak point (to me) is the story. It's a bit better than Portable Ops, but as with all MGS games some convoluted schemes will leave you scratching your head. I don't want to spoil anything though. Peace Walker takes the best elements of MGS3, MGS4, and Portable Ops and slams them all together in a way that works. Not only is Peace Walker a great MGS game, it's the finest PSP game to date. This is what you bought your PSPs for, ladies and gentlemen.