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Spinning Its Wheels

I've made it clear in my previous articles on Peace Walker that I don't think the game will be worthy of the "MGS5" nomination, saying that it's a spinoff at heart, and pointing out the huge likelihood of it being judged by a much lower standard than a "real" MGS game, thanks to being on the PSP. And while I still stand by these sentiments for the most part, I also feel that they shouldn't keep the game from receiving proper credit where credit is due, or being appreciated on its own terms. It might not be worthy of being called MGS5, but it could still kick ass.

It's like how Kojima recently said that Peace Walker will take hundreds of hours to complete. As much as this may tantalize the imaginations of optimists, this is the kind of nonsensical hype that turns me off. All it tells me is that the game will feature a bunch of time-consuming dickery to occupy "completionists". I imagine a feature similar to Portable Ops, which encouraged players to wander the globe and recruit soldiers as if they were Pokemon, adding nothing but a distracting gimmick to the experience.

We put a lot of thought into gameplay that handhelds excel at. "Teamwork," "multiplayer," and "trade," are all great components but that is not everything. We also wanted challenge toward a new game design. This is something we couldn't have achieved if we had developed PW for a next gen console. - Kojima on Peace Walker's design, via Twitter

Trading, huh? Of course you can't fault a game for having superflous features beyond a good core experience, but my point is that misleading hype can actually hurt more than it helps by creating extra room for disappointment. Just ask this asshole, who now serves as the posterboy for under-delivering in the industry. Big promises can always backfire, and while Kojima usually promises more than he delivers, what he delivers is still better than most. And strange enough to make his promises seem besides the point anyway.

Hype is like getting smashed into a tree upside down?

As far as length goes, Metal Gear Solid is still considered a masterpiece to this day, and it only takes about 5 hours to complete if you skip the talking. One could argue that "completing" the game requires finding every easter egg and listening to every line of codec conversation — which would probably take closer to 50 hours. But if somebody told you it took 50 hours to complete, you'd probably be disappointed, even though the game is amazing.

Clearly, then, it's more important that the game grabs you and doesn't let go until the end, whether it's for a 5 hours or 50. Also clear is the importance of rejecting hype while still keeping an open mind.

Hype, like all such marketing, is designed to shift your attention away from potential problems and toward certain "selling points"; they want to set the parameters by which you'll judge their product. Like a presidential election, they want to be the ones who frame the issue, in their own terms, so that they can downplay their weaknesses, preempt critics, and win the vote. Or in this case, sell copies. Whether the President keeps his promises or the customer gets his money's worth doesn't matter to the marketer; they want your vote and your money, and they'll deal with the fallout when it comes.

 

A Change of Heart

Comparing Peace Walker to Metal Gear AC!D², I once said the following: So it could be with Peace Walker. After the hype and momentum dies down, we'll be left staring at what the game truly is: a bad spinoff.

But I've been playing Portable Ops recently, and it's given me a whole new appreciation of what a bad spinoff is really like. Peace Walker may still end up feeling lackluster by the time I'm finished with it, considering that nobody knows what the majority of the story and gameplay will be like (or how long it will actually take to complete,) but I've started believing that it might actually be something a little bit different. I think it might be a good spinoff. Possibly even a great spinoff, if the story accomplishes half of what it's supposed to.

The reason for my change of heart is thanks to a few small details, which I had overlooked before.

The Soliton Radar, sneaking's best friend

Yep, it's the Soliton Radar. I didn't even notice it the first two times I played the demo, much to my chagrin. But now that I know it's in the game, I've actually used it to my advantage while playing and I'm finding the gameplay to be many times more fun because of it.

As I said in my Metal Gear Solid 1 article, the Soliton Radar is designed to give players a reliable method of tracking enemy positions and planning accordingly, creating a puzzle element that, quite frankly, is missing from Snake Eater and Guns of the Patriots. I was genuinely shocked when I realized that the Radar was back in Peace Walker, but as soon as I started using it I fell back into my old habits and felt like I was playing a classic Metal Gear game once again. It rotates with the orientation of the camera, which is a nice touch, and uses up battery power so that you can't rely on it all the time, which is good too.

In fact, the whole Stealth Equipment mode is designed with me in mind. Did you know it's the only mode where Big Boss doesn't make noise while running? That means you can maneuver like MGS1 or MGS2, without worrying about noise — unless it's a noisy area, presumably. It also features a reduced arsenal, like MGS1, which means that you'll need to use a little more stealth to get by, and that's great.

Combat controls take some serious getting used to, but they're actually decent once you got the hang of it. SELECT allows you to pick Auto-Aim, while the left and right D-Pad buttons switch your shoulder while aiming. I found it hilarious how punching a soldier who's climbing a ladder will cause him to instantly fall down to his death, while pumping 30 machine gun rounds into an unconscious soldier doesn't kill him, but I take this to be a hint that players should look for opportune moments to hit, rather than blaze their way through. I've complained before about how long it takes to kill an enemy, but it seems that it's all part of Kojima's plan to deter violence by making it less effective. Most guards are even wearing helmet, which means they need two headshots to kill/tranq. From a design point of view, that's a simple way of telling players that it's not the best way of dispatching the enemy.

On the other hand, look at how easy it is to take them out non-violently. Simply tap the L Trigger when behind an enemy and he will instantly lay down and keep quiet; follow this up by pulling out your Fulton Recovery balloon and — voila — he goes flying into the sky, soon to be part of your army. If the player is pragmatic, he will realize the benefits of the "stealth action" approach and adapt his strategy towards it. It's comforting to see that Kojima hasn't abandoned stealth, even if he does make sure to give them a "Westernized" shooter camera and weapon-heavy equipment modes.

In the demo, level design seems to have a bit of a puzzle element when played using stealth, but obviously have multiple scenarios in mind. Sniper rifles, rocket launchers, and cooperative gameplay ensure that "freedom" will trump "tight level design" in many areas, but I assume Kojima will only introduce multiple equipment types, weapons, and player limits as the game unfolds, adding and removing restrictions along the way to keep it interesting.

 

Spinning into the Future

It's not easy for me to ignore the "MGS5" hype and simply enjoy the game as a well done spinoff for the PSP, but when I do it can be loads of fun. I have higher standards for a "true" Metal Gear game, but when I simply accept it as a spinoff I become content to compare it to a shit-fest like Portable Ops instead. The stealth elements, story and overall design is surprisingly good, and gives me hope that when future PSP Metal Gear spinoffs are released, they'll match the quality here. (Personally, I've got my fingers crossed for remakes of the first two Metal Gear games.) Lower budget costs, quicker development times, and less pressure to be on the cutting edge could be really good for Kojima; he seems to be actually enjoying game development this time around, and I think that's a great sign.

It seems Kojima wants to win back fans who were disappointed by MGS4, and considers this game to be a sort of peace offering (pun intended). To that extent I think it could succeed, based on the demo and the trailers that have been released. Even though we know how it ends, and we know that Portable Ops is still partially canon, it would get rid of the bad taste in our mouths if Peace Walker proved to kick ass.

Is it a spinoff at heart? I'm not so sure anymore. Maybe it really does take itself as seriously as we're led to believe. We'll have to wait and see what the bulk of the game is like, and how it all fits together. But whatever its heart is, it will only truly be great according to PSP standards.

 

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