Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker HD Hands On (Xbox 360)

The Metal Gear Solid franchise has been absent from the Xbox world for the better part of 9 years. Kojima productions are making up for this lost time with a collection of HD remakes for Metal Gear Solid 2, Metal Gear Solid 3 and Peace Walker. The HD Collection marks the first time Peace Walker and 3 will be available on a Microsoft platform. We got a chance to sit down with the HD port of Peace Walker at last week’s Konami Gamer’s Day event.

Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker is the latest entry in the franchise and originally appeared on Sony’s Playstation Portable. Peace Walker is set 4 years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 3. After breaking away from the patriots Big Boss must stop a brand new weapon that could shift the balance of power between the Western nations and the Communist east.

Translating the portable experience a modern next generation console might seem like a hard task given the difference in fidelity between the PSP and the Xbox 360. The game has not only received a new set of detailed textures but also a change in resolution. In the build on display controlled very smoothly but had a few elements that took some getting used to. Movement and free look is handled with the left and right analog sticks as expected. Entering over the shoulder aim mode was handled with the left bumper and firing your weapon was handled with the right bumper. A Stuck to cover & B was used for reloading. The build we played did not have an option to remap the controls however the menus did hint at the inclusion of CO-OP commands that could be sent in multiplayer using the face buttons.

The preview build of Peace Walker that was on display featured a number of different missions taken from early sections of Peace Walker’s campaign. The first mission charged Snake with the task of taking down an armored carrier during its patrol. Unlike the main story missions this side mission took place in an arena style compound that was walled off. Tactics from the PSP Build, namely taking down the armored carrier with a rocket launcher, were unavailable due to the lack of unlocked weapons. Instead we ran from cover to cover using a tranquilizer pistol to take out the surrounding sentries. From there it was a matter of taking out the armored carrier from a variety of different locations across the map. Once we had taken out its six bars of health the mission was complete.



The second, and final mission, we got to check out from Peace Walker had Snake making contact with an operative known as Amanda. In order to achieve this Snake had to sneak his way past varying amounts of sentries in four different swamp locations. During the first section we had the option to enter a gazebo if spotted, or to use the roof as a sniping vantage point. As we preceded through the second and third sections of the mission the number of sentries increased. This was an excellent time to check out Snakes CQC (Close Quarters Combat) abilities. By attacking with no weapon selected (right bumper) and moving the left analog stick in different directions Snake could grab an enemy, chock them or even slam them in to the ground with a violent toss. This mission came to an end with Master Miller radioing Snake informing him he had to cross a bridge full of enemy soldiers by suspending himself along the side of the rope bridge.

The Metal Gear Solid collection brings some of the best entries in the Series to the Xbox 360. The tightened graphics and redefined controls really made Peace Walker a brand new experience. During our 30 minute session with the game we only scratched the surface of this very vast game. The full collection is shaping up to be an excellent refresher for anyone who hasn’t walked around in Snake’s shoes recently. If you are new to the series the Metal Gear Solid Collection may offer the best versions of these three classics to date.

Platform:
Xbox 360
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Publisher:
Konami Digital Entertainment
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Developer:
Konami Computer Entertainment
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Genre:
Action
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Release Date:
Nov. 2011
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Game Features:
Offline Players: NA
HDTV 720p Support
HDTV 1080i Support
HDTV 1080p Support

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