Do you have what it takes to get a review published right here on Kotaku? Corey does, as he does the Solid Snake Shuffle.
Yes, that’s right, we’re now publishing reader reviews here on Kotaku. This is your chance to deliver sensible game purchasing advice to the rest of the Kotaku community.
And thanks to the very kind chaps at Madman Entertainment, purveyor of all kinds of cool, indie and esoteric film, the best reader review we publish each month will win a prize pack containing ten of the latest Madman DVD releases.
This review was submitted by Corey Lee. If you’ve played with the Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walkman, or just want to ask Corey more about it, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Sony Walkman
Only 50 of these limited edition Sony Walkmans were released to us Aussies through the Sony Style website. I managed to buy two but it’s a decision I’ve come to somewhat regret over spending the last couple of days using it as a replacement for my old MP3 player.
Loved
Camouflaged Decor: Quite frankly, it’s a beautiful and striking design. Each earpiece personally evokes fond memories of the MGS3 motif and may attract people’s attention (for better or worse) when wearing the Walkman around.
Shape of the Heart: The earpieces are connected by a cord that, as the magnet in the left earpiece conveniently attracts the other, forms a nifty heart shape. The cord itself has been twisted in a factory-made manner to keep the Walkman in position as you wear it.
Nuclear Codes: Well, not exactly in this case. Instead, the Walkman comes with a special Character Download Pass that gives you access to both an in-game recruit and specialised camouflage.
Soundtrack Included: Partially, that is. You get six songs that are pre-loaded in the device to listen to as soon as you get it. The standouts are the J-pop inspired ‘Love Deterrence’ and Peace Walker’s theme song ‘Heaven’s Divide’, a decent successor to the mesmerising ‘Calling to the Night’ in MGS: Portable Ops.
Water Resistance: The sweat from your gym sessions or the rain from above will do little to affect your player. Though I’d think twice before submerging yourself underwater with it still on, ‘Tactical Espionage Operations’ style…
Hated
Sound Quality: To put it bluntly, this Walkman doesn’t particularly fare well if I were to compare its audio quality to half the other MP3 players on the market. It’s particularly noticeable on public transport where each earpiece does little to block out external sounds, making the mediocre quality that much worse.
Shape of Your Ears: Even though the device is mostly comfortable when worn, I couldn’t keep resisting the need to reposition either earpiece as they often deviated asymmetrically from the other. On the Walkman’s box, Snake is shown wearing them perfectly. If only I could clone Big Boss’s abilities?
One Purpose: This walkman only plays music. There are no other features. And even then, the only thing it can do, it doesn’t particularly do that well.
Press Those Buttons: Most of the useful buttons are located on the bottom of the right earpiece. The problem therein lies in how you need to use two fingers to keep the earpiece in place as you press any of the tiny buttons. It would’ve been much easier if they were located on the top instead.
The Peace Walker Walkman is a device that is simple to use but sacrifices much of its quality for utter convenience. Despite my issues with it, the ability to simply put on a pair of earpieces and walk off makes it my new gym companion but not necessarily my perfect solution.
Reviewed by: Corey Lee
You can have your Reader Review published on Kotaku. Send your review to us at the usual address. Make sure it’s written in the same format as above and in under 500 words – yes, we’ve upped the word limit. We’ll publish the best ones we get and the best of the month will win a Madman DVD prize pack.
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