10 Years Later: ‘Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker’ Was Hideo Kojima’s Handheld Highlight

Peace Walker was a revolutionary step in the possibilities and expectations of its industry- a stepping stone for Hideo Kojima.

[Knushwood Butt]

Masterpiece, and amazing they crammed it all onto the PSP.

I played it first on the PSP Go and it was tricky to play with all the button requirements, but portable gold.

Later got the PS3 port and spent hours on it. Got the platinum trophy, which is one of if not the plat that I'm proudest of. So much depth and hidden stuff. I even bought the strategy guide book for it which is something I almost never do. That was probably the last strategy book I have bought, and still have it.

[FallenAngel1984]

“Despite being the first unnumbered mainline entry”

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops says hi

[DarXyde]

Portable Ops being canon is highly debated.

The events would make a lot of sense, but there seems to be disagreement based on a line by Miller in Peace Walker. That said, this author probably subscribes to the idea that Portable Ops is not canon.

[P_Bomb]

MGS4 shows clips from Portable Ops in flashbacks. If that isn’t an endorsement what is?

[FallenAngel1984]

How is its canonocity in debate? Kojima even said that MPO’s story was crucial for MGS4. A lot of the hype going into MPO was that it was the first canon handheld title.

https://www.engadget.com/20...

Plus various story elements from MPO heavily impact the overall arc of the series. MGS4 even featured flashbacks of scenes from MPO. There’s too much going on there to act like non of it is retroactively canon.

[atsugiT2]

This game was so good. The nod to assassins creed w/ the haystacks was dope. Wish as much care went into 5..

[Z501]

Huh? 5 has the best gameplay in the series and tons more 'audio', for example. Care in this context is obviously subjective.

[I_am_Batman]

MGSV is pretty much a bigger and better version Peace Walker in my opinion. I understand the criticism of 5 when people talk about the story feeling incomplete and rushed at certain points, but that doesn't take away from the accomplishents of the game. Despite it's shortcomings it's easily a Top 10 game of this generation for me.

[mynameisthumper]

This is my favorite MGS game, and I still play it from time to time. It's amazing how well it holds up, and playing on Vita basically fixes the only real issue, which was not having a second stick. Just another reason why probably never having another Sony handheld is just so sad...:c

[Chocoburger]

Its a good game, but my least favorite in the mainline series. Worst controls in the series (even taking the HD port into consideration), repeatedly going back into the same areas for filler missions. Grinding equipment to 'level it up' (wut?).

The biggest problem was that it started the series obsession with grinding and acquiring crap (including human soldiers) to increase / improve other crap.

The bosses were all giant robots and required a long time to defeat if you didn't bring in the right gear. This is why I still like MGS 1-4 the most, just a straight-shot video game with no grinding or collecting stuff.

It was clearly designed to appeal to the Monster Hunter fanbase in Japan being on PSP and packed with filler content as an excuse to keep playing, and of course local multiplayer for 4 players. Its a shame that Amanda, Chico, and Paz didn't get to appear enough in MGS V.

[SovereignSnaKe]

I remember I bought the camo Big Boss Edition PSP for this. I loved Peace Walker. I later played Portable Ops and thought it held up very well albeit it the controls were not as good as Peace Walker. I know Hideo Kojima stepped away as director but Portable Ops was still a great entry into the series.

[AK91]

Severely underrated gem and was super pissed they got rid of co-op for MGSV and replaced it with the broken buddy system.