April 29 marks the 15th anniversary of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. First released on the PSP, it is the successor to Portable Ops, also available on the same platform. However, it was written and directed by Hideo Kojima this time. As such, it's a mainline Metal Gear Solid installment, and it's a great title, but also the entry that the fewest people have played.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is arriving in August, and Peace Walker serves as the direct follow-up to that game. Not only that, but it's a must-play title before jumping into Metal Gear Solid 5, and the game itself is a lot of fun, content-rich, and has great multiplayer. Don't disregard Peace Walker because it was made for a portable system, as it's an essential part of the Metal Gear saga.

Peace Walker's Story Starts Low, But Ends High

A Great Ending

A big reason why Peace Walker is often forgotten among the Metal Gear Solid games is its story. The second mainline title is set ten years after Snake Eater, and it once again follows Big Boss, a fan-favorite playable character. Much of the plot revolves around the outcome of Snake Eater's events, with Lori Alan and Jodi Benson returning to voice The Boss and Eva, respectively. Tying up Big Boss's relationship with his mentor receives fair criticism, as it was already nicely wrapped in Snake Eater, but Peace Walker offers something else.

The second part of this title, following the Peace Walker boss fight, has some pretty drastic twists and turns you won't see coming, and the ending is great. It sets up the events of Metal Gear Solid 5 perfectly, to the point where jumping straight into that game and skipping Peace Walker is a big mistake. Building up Mother Base in Peace Walker and then seeing it get destroyed in MGS5 hits so much harder, and you'll be motivated to make the new Mother Base bigger and better.

Portable Metal Gear At Its Finest

A Phenomenal Gameplay Loop And Tons Of Content

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker was the first game in the series to have the "Tactical Espionage Operations" tagline, and for good reason. As the game was made for a portable device, all the missions are relatively short, and they're a blast to play one after another. There are 33 main missions and 128 extra ops. The variety is immense, more so than MGS5. There are stealth missions, armored enemy fights, vehicle battles, dates, and ghost missions, with The End featured as a cameo. However, one mission type stands apart.

Finally, making those top-tier gear items like the Carl Gustav Fulton launcher is incredibly satisfying after building up your team for so long.

In an excellent crossover, Metal Gear meets Monster Hunter, as Rathalos, Tigrex, and a brand-new monster must be taken down in hunting quests. These boss fights were incredible, giving that Monster Hunter feel, even to the loot rewards by breaking off body parts. Gear Rex proves to be a stiff challenge, but mastering that fight and learning how to evade all the attacks feels great. Boss fights have always been a big Metal Gear strong suit, and Peace Walker continues the tradition.

The controls were problematic when the game was first released, as the PSP didn't have a second analog stick, forcing one to move the camera with the face buttons. All of that is fixed, though, with the HD Collection version on Xbox 360 and PS3. Peace Walker has the same progression system as MGS,5 with building up Mother Base. Finally, making those top-tier gear items like the Carl Gustav Fulton launcher is incredibly satisfying after building up your team for so long. One can also make co-op-specific items, which is another great feature of Peace Walker.

Peace Walker's Co-Op Was A Blast

Even Achievement Hunting Is Fun Here

Still, to this day, the only mainline Metal Gear game where you can play cooperatively in the story mode is Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Some missions are solo only, but most can be done with at least two players, with the vehicle and AI boss fights up to four. It was a great time, and Kojima Productions leaned hard toward the cooperative aspect, as there are many items to build exclusively for co-op. Look at the Railgun and Dynamo combo, for example.

One player charges up the Railgun using the Dynamo while the other fires the weapon. During the platinum journey for this game, my boosting partner and I struggled to get the 20,000 Camaraderie achievement, as the best tactics required four players, and we only had two. We made our own effective tactics, and it was magical. During extra op 91, firing a fully charged Railgun at the perfect spot on the attack chopper will break it and make the pilot immediately available to tranquilize.

It's tricky to do, but it's incredible to pull off, and this was one of the rare times achievement-boosting was actually fun. Kojima gave us many tools to play with, and figuring out something on our own was satisfying. That's what makes the co-op so fun and enjoyable. It's unfortunate that many haven't played Peace Walker because it's a must-play Metal Gear title. The servers are still up and running on Xbox and PlayStation, allowing for phenomenal cooperative play, and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is backward compatible on Xbox Series X|S available for purchase.

Source: PlayStation/YouTube