Do you have what it takes to get a review published right here on Kotaku? Ben does, as he takes control of a cardboard box tank.
Yes, that’s right, we’re 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 Ben Latimore. If you’ve played Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, or just want to ask Ben more about it, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (PSP)
There are two types of portable games: games with great gameplay but small overall playtimes, and games with average gameplay that go on forever. Peace Walker is two-in-one – plays fantastic, lasts almost forever and has everything that has made Metal Gear great over the years.
Loved
The Best Of Things That Have Passed: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker combines most of what made the previous games great: the camera/controls of MGS4, the simple story style of MGS3, the extra missions of VR Missions, the recruitment from Portable Ops and the multiplayer of Metal Gear Online combine together to make something amazing.
Deeper than a Black Hole: With five development teams to level up, 120+ missions to finish, Mother Base/Outer Heaven to expand, armies to build, 150+ weapons/items to develop and the ability to construct your own Metal Gear (with its own player-made singing. Yeah. Singing.) Peace Walker is currently the biggest game in the whole Metal Gear saga.
Metal Gear Charm: Peace Walker retains lots of the general in-game secrets and comedy which gives the series a layer of depth. Everything from holding up enemies with bananas, dropping into hay boxes like Ezio Auditore, two players controlling a cardboard box tank (three words you’d never expect to be next to eachother), and some of the most creative missions I’ve seen in a while (everything from listening to bird calls to trying to seduce… wait, I’m not spoiling it here), Metal Gear remains as hilarious as it has ever been. You can even recruit Kojima-san in one mission.
The Missing Chapter: The story between Metal Gear Solid 3 and the Outer Heaven Uprising is completely covered in this game – a chapter I have always wanted to see come to light. The game contains hundreds of audio tapes, including mailings from EVA from Metal Gear Solid 3 to other topics like how Miller and Snake met. The game fills in many gaps in the Metal Gear storyline; and I for one am grateful for it.
Hated
Death By No Grind: The game is PSP-breakingly difficult. While it is possible to beat the whole game alone, it takes repeating missions over and over again to research weapons or finding recruits so singleplayer missions are possible. Co-op makes the game easier, but most Australians aren’t going to find players.
No Infastructure mode: The game was designed for Japan, and since they have WiFi networks and PSP-carrying players everywhere, some game mechanics such as WiFi recruitment and co-op/versus seem downright useless at times in Australia. An online mode would have made this point nought.
While suffering from some small issues that weren’t really caused by the developers, Peace Walker is one of the prettiest, biggest and longest games on the PSP. Bring a friend or three along and you’ll have one of the best games on the system to date; maybe even one of the most enjoyable Metal Gear games to exist.
Reviewed by: Ben Latimore
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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