Peace Walkin'

With the Tokyo Game Show this week, there are plenty of games out there to get excited for. Among them, a demo for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker demo found it's way into my eager hands. By now it should be clear that I'm a pretty big Metal Gear fan, and Metal Gear Solid 3, in my opinion, stands out as one of the most well-put-together games of all time, so any opportunity taken that expands the story of this pre-sequel is sure to draw my attention.

So, what makes Peace Walker such a big deal? Certainly not the title, as Snake's latest romp through jungle is sure rack up more bodies than I care to count. No, what makes it a big deal for fans of the series is that it's a genuine continuation of the Metal Gear Solid storyline. It's practically Metal Gear Solid 5, according to series creator, Hideo Kojima.

Only it's not. As it's based on the continuation of Metal Gear Solid 3, which was a prequel to MGS 1, it focuses on Solid Snake's father, Naked Snake, who later becomes the antagonist of the original Metal Gear games. So basically, the order of the series would go, MGS 3, MGS: Portable Ops, MGS: Peace Walker, MGS 1, MGS 2, MGS 4. Confused yet? Good, that means Hideo Kojima hasn't lost his touch.

For anyone who played the first sequel to MGS 3, MGS: Portable Ops, the biggest area of concern was the controls. In what turned out to be an excruciating test of the mind, memorizing complicated control schemes that attempt to map a PlayStation controller with the PSP, Portable Ops prevented me from going any farther than the tutorial level. Having to remember to stop, hold down a button and rotate the camera in whatever direction I think will be the most reliable until I have to adjust it again, just didn't work for me.

With this new game, they took the same approach as Resistance: Retribution, using the action buttons in lieu of a second analog stick. It's not too different from what the Dreamcast did with Unreal Tournament.

The benefit is that the game controls much more simple than one would expect. Almost TOO simple. Playing through the opening demo, I had a chance to test out Snake's moves in a clear, sandy beach setting. Getting used to running your thumb over the action buttons takes some getting used to, but they give you plenty of time to practice with target dummies and coconuts hanging from palm trees.

The D-pad was used for selecting my weapons and items, again using the action buttons to sift through my materials. Punches and grabs can be executed with the right trigger, while the left trigger centers the camera forward and draws your gun in the direction you are facing.

My area of concern is with the up and down buttons on the D-pad. By holding up, Snake will press himself against the nearest wall, and down will, you guessed it, plant him face down on the ground. Tapping down will put Snake into a crouched position which will let him sneak up behind enemies easier.

Still, I haven't found any good use for the up button. Pressing him against a wall is nice, but I can't slide him across the wall to gain a better vantage point. He's always been able to do this in the games, in fact, it's been the biggest fuction of gameplay for all the games up until now. Perhaps they are saving this function for later, but for now it just seems like a good way to pretend your fungus sticking to the side of a tree, subscribing to the school of thought "I think I'm invisible, therefore I am."

Clearly there are some issues with translating the controls, but so far, it still plays better than Portable Ops. The demo that I played was completely in japanese, so I can't say whether there was some miracle solution to crawling or hiding behind objects that I wasn't aware of. Still, it looks like the developers are banking on a more simple control scheme with enemies that seem catered to your limited move set.

Camouflage was notably absent from the demo, but I imagine they will find a substitute for it, after all, even old snake had camouflage when Kojima said there would be "No Place to Hide."

Of course, the biggest adjustment to the control scheme is aiming. By holding down the left trigger, you can opt for auto-aim, or go into a third-person, Over-the-shoulder aiming view where you use the action buttons to aim your shot. This was surprisingly accurate for a PSP shooter, and I found myself mastering it in little under ten minutes of practice. This, to me, could make or break this game, as I'm more than positive they'll find an intruiging story for the game.

The version of the game I played was completely in japanese, so there is bound to be more information about this title in the coming weeks, as soon as all the big news outlets hire a translator, but in the mean time, this simplified Metal Gear seems like a step in the right direction. When making games for a portable gaming system, people aren't going to invest the time into learning controls that they would for a console game.

As for the story itself, watching Snake (or, Big Boss, if you prefer) kick ass and take names was just as refreshing as ever, and it was pretty neat having Master Miller guide you through the demo, even if it was in Japanese. I'm eager to see who they get to do his voice in english.

Overall, my time with the game left me more excited about this game than I was going into it. Having been burned by Portable Ops, it's good to see progress on this new title, which will be hitting shelves sometime next year.


(Images courtesy of Gamespot)