Review: Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker HD

Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker HD fills in some missing puzzle pieces in the Metal Gear Solid series. The game was originally made for the PSP, but was converted into HD for the PlayStation 3 and they couldn't have done a better job with it. Peace Walker isn't the best Metal Gear Solid game, but that definitely doesn't mean it's not a great game because it is!

Peace Walker is set in Costa Rica in November 1974, four years after the events of Portable Ops and a decade after the events of Snake Eater. The main protagonist, Naked Snake (Big Boss), runs a mercenary unit at "Mother Base" which serves as the main menu for the game. Mother Base eventually becomes known as Outer Heaven as the game progresses. From there, you can access all the features of Peace Walker which includes: Delivery, Outer Ops, Recruit, R&D, Staff, Versus Ops, Metal Gear, Database, and Trade. All of these aren't available at the start of the game, but instead are unlocked as you progress through the game.

The story in Peace Walker is just as good as any other Metal Gear Solid game believe it or not. Kojima and his staff did a fantastic job at continuing Big Boss's life after the events of previous games. The 3.71 GB file size may lead you to believe that the game is rather short, but you would be wrong to think so. Just the main ops alone can be a rather lengthy play-through especially without skipping cut-scenes. Along with that there are a lot of extra ops you can play through as well. However, some of the length of the game comes from having to go through the Mission Selector menu instead of continuously playing throughout.

One of the best additions that Peace Walker includes that has never before been seen in any other Metal Gear Solid game is its co-operative mode. After completing the first mission, you will then be able to play each mission with a friend or random people online. Most of the missions only allow 2 players, but the battle missions allow up to 4 players. The co-operative is definitely this titles selling-point in my opinion because it can provide endless amounts of fun.

With the co-operative and versus modes, Peace Walker has great re-playability allowing endless hours of fun. Although the graphics aren't the best, it does have a story that will keep you attached to the characters and retain your interest. If you are a Metal Gear Solid fan, or just want an all around great game, I would recommend picking up Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker HD Edition for $19.99 on the PlayStation Store.

8/10 (This game is great! Aside from very few flaws, it is more than what you would expect from a game of this size. Recommended.)