When you think of gaming action heroes, who comes into your mind? Sam Fisher? Dante? Nathan “Nate” Drake? Kratos? For me, there’s only one hero who sums up an all American bad-ass action hero: Snake.
Love him or hate him, Snake is a well established and respected figure in gaming, despite the twisting, turning, near incomprehensible storyline around him. But seeing as the next big game in the series is set around the character of Raiden, a guy I could take or leave, even with his all new ninja-badassery; I’ll be concentrating on the upcoming PSP release: MGS Peace Walker.
OK, so its Solid Snakes father Big Boss, but you know you’re just playing another incarnation of Snake. The game is set after Big Boss’s last outing inSouth America where he saved the world again! Now a free agent, he’s decided to use his soldier stealing skills from Portable Ops to make his very own mercenary group named called ‘Militaires Sans Frontières’, or Soldiers Without Borders. They’ve been called into Costa Rica in ‘74 because a mysterious armed group has sprung up. This is a problem for the government because their constitution bans the creation of an armed force; meaning the country is up for grabs if you have the firepower. So far so standard, but the character development is gonna be where it’s at, finding out what made a former government agent into a ruthless mercenary leader bent on changing the world through military means!
A key feature in Peace Walker will be the new co-op mode with 2-4 players involved on infiltration missions. As has been shown in trailers, Snake will be working with…clones of himself to exploit the enemy’s weakness, even going so far as to share a cardboard box. This is perhaps the most ambiguously gay duo since Batman and Robin, although the box now has more practical uses like using it to get the cookies down from the top shelf or to get over that wall which is just a tad too high to hop over.
The combat interface has been changed too with MGS4’s over the shoulder camera replacing the static FPS mode, allowing you to fire while moving and be more flexible in a fire fight. You can also bring back incapacitated allies by performing CPR on them, though how that cures bullet wounds I’ve yet to fathom. Not forgetting the thinly veiled mecha Metal Gear bots you’ll be bringing down.
Still, the graphics look improved from Snakes last outing and it looks like the PSPs power is being fully utilised. So despite my sarcastic comments, I’m looking forward to Peace Walker and finding out what happened to Big Boss.
