When Konami announced that MGS: Peace Walker was getting the HD treatment, there was much reason to be excited. It’s easily one of the best PSP games and just the idea of playing it on a console is awesome.
HD Edition is the same game released on the PSP but with one major improvement – the controls. Even though the PSP version had three different control schemes to choose from, each one had its own limitations. It wasn’t like MGS4 where everything made sense. That problem has been fixed now that Peace Walker is coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Konami basically got rid of the main problem by mapping the camera to the right analog stick. You’d be amazed at how much of a difference it really makes. It was easy to go from encountering an enemy to running for cover without taking an unnecessary amount of bullets to the face in the process. You can even use the triggers to switch between items (L2) and weapons (R2). This isn’t anything new for MGS on consoles but it’s huge improvement if you ever played Peace Walker on the PSP.
There are a few techniques that Big Boss can’t do in Peace Walker for some reason. He can’t move to the left or right while hugging a wall, nor can he crawl. It’s a shame that Konami didn’t make any changes for the HD version. You still need to hold the action button (triangle) to latch onto a wall. It would have been better if the set up was the same as MGS4’s where you just press the button once. Crawling is not that big of a deal since it was never intended to be in the game, but the button sheet claimed that you could do it for some reason.
Obviously the visuals have been touched up. All of the text and artwork has been remade. Most of the menus have been redone as well, although some were still unfinished. Don’t expect too much of an upgrade from the in-game graphics. Character models are noticeably improved. Overall, it looks like a PSP game on a big screen with cleaner visuals. If a tire looked like a smear on the PSP it’s going to look like giant smear on the PS3 or 360. It’s not really a problem or anything, you can just tell that it’s not a game originally built for consoles.
Unfortunately, playing co-op mode was not possible in the demo. The options were certainly there in the menus but that’s it. It’s also worth noting that both versions of the game look identical. It really comes down to controller preference and whether or not “Transfarring” data from the PSP to PS3 is important to you.
The Metal Gear Solid HD Collection is due to release this November for the PS3 and Xbox 360 and includes Metal Gear Solid 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. It’s pretty much a must buy if you’re a fan of the series.
hazelam
i played the demo on psp, and i just couldn’t get past the controls, it looked like there was a decent game in there, but that horrible analog nub and the lack of a second stick made the game too much of a chore to play.
hopefully two sticks and a decent controller should make the game play much better.
graphically it doesn’t look like it’ll challenge any true ps3 games, but it doesn’t look awful, and the way a game plays is much more important than the way it looks as far as i’m concerned.
it’s just a shame they’re not doing an hd version of the original metal gear solid for this collection.
Smallville2106
To say that it was a PSP game I think they have done a pretty good job from those screen shots. I’ll be getting this for sure.
PeacekeeperAlpha
Take my money!!!
gideon1451
I was always waiting for the price to come down on the PSP version, this would decimate the price, but this looks much better. Tough one.
jimmy-google
I’m a bit sick of MGS to be honest, MGS4 was nearly as bad as GTA IV (neither of which I enjoyed enough to finish). I’ve had peace walker on the psp (for what seems like forever) but I keep going back to the likes of football manager, modnation racers, fifa, lbp and a variety of minis instead.
I keep looking at Thief 4 on the release schedule and thinking “what if they merged thief and mgs, that would be a great game”.
Hoopiness
Looks pish.
Foxhound_Solid
Love mgs so much but wish they had made it play like MGS2!
BrainDiver
November cannot come fast enough.