One of the things that distinguishes Peace Walker from other games in the series is its design around portability. Sure, you can play Peace Walker HD just fine on PS3 (and presumably the upcoming Master Collection Vol 2) , but it was built to accommodate the short PSP battery life. The solution? A bite-sized mission structure extending to to nearly every corner of the game. One of the advantages of compartmentalizing missions is it avoids the 30 minute cutscenes that MGS4 was notorious for.

In fact, the story-heavy Main Ops missions can be completed in a lean 15 hours or so when ignoring the ludicrous amounts of side content. Of course, to unlock the true ending, quite a lot of work is required. This is where the several Extra Ops missions come in. Some of the most varied gameplay in the series can be found in these side missions. Within these missions, you’ll find yourself engaging in traditional stealth infiltrations, blowing up enemy cargo, destroying a wide array of mechs, and capturing soldiers to work on your own base, but more on that later. Each mission ranks you based on performance, with S rank being the highest, and let me tell you, that’s reserved for the ultra-hardcore MGS fans.

Perhaps out of all MGS games, Peace Walker tried emphasizing pacifist stealth-oriented solutions to missions over the guns-blazing route the most. This is because the game penalizes players for lethally taking out enemies and being discovered. It’s far more rewarding to ghost your way through as many missions as possible, setting up a lofty challenge for seasoned MGS players. Rounding out the impressive amounts of replayability that Peace Walker offers are the substantive Mother Base mode and multiplayer offerings. Taken as a whole, Peace Walker may just be the most jam-packed full of gameplay content out of any MGS game, especially for completionists who want to see everything the game has to offer.

Many players assume MGS5 originated the base building concept in the series, but nope, Peace Walker had its own fully-fledged Mother Base mode five years before Phantom Pain did it (although Peace Walker built on Portable Ops recruitment mechanics). The cool thing about managing Mother Base is how it’s tied into Peace Walker’s missions. Snake has a Fulton parachute that transports defeated soldiers to the Mother Base where they can be put to work on a variety of projects. It’s just so much fun tying soldiers up and seeing them fly up through indoor areas as they scream.

These units have specializations and ranks and help manage Mother Base by researching new weapons for Snake to use in missions. They even go on Outer Ops missions (which by the way, are way better than the ones found in The Phantom Pain) and feed soldiers as part of a mess hall crew. There’s certain VIP characters that can be recruited too, such as Paz, who has maxed intel stats, of course. And for you mech lovers out there, the Metal Gear, codenamed ZEKE, can be developed through Mother Base. Fans who had fun with the base building in Phantom Pain owe it to themselves to play Peace Walker, if only for the Mother Base stuff alone.

Another thing most players forget is that Peace Walker’s campaign is almost entirely playable co-op. In fact, it almost seems like Peace Walker was structured as a co-op game first and foremost considering the padded health on most boss enemies, especially within late-game sections. Playing these tough missions with a co-op partner via the Co Ops mode really alleviates some of the grind and frustration that some bosses exhibit. And then there’s Versus Ops, which pits six players against each other in death matches and capture challenges. The cool thing is that the unlocked weapons and items from single-player can be used in PvP matches as well.

With the versatile Mother Base content, 100s of missions, and a co-op campaign and PvP modes, Peace Walker is absolutely teeming with gameplay variety. Which brings up the question: why the heck isn’t it give more love like a mainline Metal Gear Solid game? Well, obviously, it originating on the PSP has something to do with its diminished reputation. But does it really deserve it? Well, even according to the developers, Peace Walker is among the biggest games the team had worked on back then. It’s been said the staff for Peace Walker rivaled that of MGS4’s development.

Peace Walker provides crucial context for why Snake is so jaded and weary. The game takes place 10 years after the events of Snake Eater showing crucial flashbacks of him facing off against The Boss and some internal monologue details that help flesh out Snake’s transition between games. Aside from all the crucial character arc stuff, Yoji Shinkawa’s character design and Ashley Wood’s illustrations are just fantastic throughout the Main Ops missions. A majority of the cutscenes are done in a comic strip fashion, featuring the series’ iconic art. Contrasting the lengthy cutscenes seen in MGS4 are interactable quick time events that engage the player through the lean story. Say what you want about QTEs, but their pairing with the fantastic hand-drawn artwork provides a breath of fresh air coming from MGS4’s cinematic approach.

But Peace Walker does take several elements from MGS4, most notably in the gameplay department. For example, the game feels much smoother to play than MGS3. The crouch walking and moving around while aiming down the sights substantially reduces the jank and limited movement of previous entries. But above all, Peace Walker just feels like a tried and true Metal Gear game like all of the numbered entries do. It has all the quirkiness, convoluted story identity, and wide array of series that characterize these beloved games. As mentioned earlier, you build your own Metal Gear. Heck, not even The Phantom Pain featured such a gameplay mechanic despite being advanced not only in gameplay mechanics but also technology wise. It’s clear that a lot of love and passion was poured into this project.

Monster Hunter fans have a lot to gush over too, as there’s an entire island dedicated to taking down a Ratholos and Tigrex. Monster Hunter’s own Trenya even flies Snake to the island, though you’d best come prepared since these iconic monsters have a ton of health. Another fun secret is tucked in one of the Extra Ops missions. One of these missions features a spot where Snake can perform an Assassin’s Creed inspired ‘leap of faith’ into a hay pile before using the hay as a disguise. Peace Walker has such a wide array of fun secrets that it’d take another video just to list them all.

I may dislike all the equipment grind and bloated boss health that exists within Peace Walker, but it cannot be denied how much substantive content is packed into the package. In the past, the development team has expressed just how big the production for Peace Walker is. Not to mention its realization of Snake’s character arc following the events of Snake Eater fill in a crucial spot in the timeline. Peace Walker is a a fantastic MGS game and its gameplay perks are worth going through a bit of grind for.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

But nostalgia can be deceptive in nature, and what we fondly remember from the glory days might not be all that impressive anymore – all thanks to the rapid advancements that happen in the gaming landscape with each passing generation. While a lot of retrospectives have been done on the mainline MGS series, we would like to shift our gazes toward other and arguably lesser-known games in the franchise; games such as 2010’s Peace Walker.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is not only an important game in terms of the overarching narrative, it also served as a technical achievement for the power of the PlayStation Portable. It’s an interesting thought to revisit the game and try to understand how it would be received in the modern gaming landscape, which elements have stood the test of time – and which haven’t.

So starting things off with the story, Metal Gear Peace Walker takes place after the events of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and sees our series protagonist Naked Snake building up a military unit all while uncovering the mystery behind a strange voice recording of the dead The Boss. It obviously goes much deeper than that, but Peace Walker is one of the more approachable games in terms of the narrative. The game was always envisioned to be played on a handheld console (probably in short bursts), so the story is built in a way that doesn’t require a ton of effort to keep track of all the conspiracies and revelations that come together to form this narrative.

It’s also a surprisingly emotional story that touches on the familiar themes and relationship between The Boss and Snake, which makes it all the more engaging. Kojima also makes smart use of the PSP’s comparatively less horsepower and presents the story through stylish comic book-style screens instead of the traditional in-engine cutscenes to save up on both resources and space. It also has the added advantage of holding up really well to this date, so we can safely say that Peace Walker has aged beautifully in terms of the narrative presentation which remains an entertaining thrill ride through and through.

Moving over to the gameplay, Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker excellently adapts the third-person shooting of the console games to the handheld console. Despite having only one analog stick on the PSP, Snake is surprisingly convenient to control – thanks to a bevy of smart design tricks that come together to make the movement and menu navigation a breeze. Snake can clamber up walls, crawl under cardboard boxes, and engage in CQC among a slew of other things – and all that works beautifully on such a compact console layout. Even jumping back to this date, Peace Walker is really easy to pick up, which is a testament to the excellent design chops of Kojima and Konami.

It’s also surprising that Peace Walker might just be the biggest and most complex Metal Gear game up until its release, and a lot of what made the Phantom Pain such a fun experience can be traced back to Peace Walker. You see, this game is all about raising a private military – so the gameplay meshes together action and management elements in a way that feels really unique and fresh.

Of course, the core gameplay revolves around slowly sneaking through labyrinthian levels and carefully plotting your path to the objectives while trying to thin out the enemy resistance one by one. It all works just as well as you would expect, but Peace Walker also adds additional layers into the mix to make things more interesting. In addition to completing your mission objectives, you also have to be on the lookout for soldiers to Fulton extract to your base and make them join your cause. In a similar vein, you also have to look out for resources and tools that will help you craft better and more useful tools that will make your survival on the battlefield a lot easier than before. The overload of systems and mechanics can be a lot to take in at first, but the gradual sense of progression that comes from getting more and more powerful is something that can keep you hooked for hours and hours upon end.

Apart from the main story which is chock full of well-designed missions and memorable boss fights, Peace Walker also features a plethora of extra content available for players to dive into. You can send your best soldiers out on operations where they might return with valuable resources along with completed objects, and there’s also a real chance that your soldiers might die trying to further your cause and leave you with a big loss. You could also embark on these additional and tougher challenges all by yourself, or you could pair up with a buddy for some co-op action. Or if you’d like to face friends, there’s a fair bit of options for duking it out in versus modes as well.

All in all, there’s a ton of content on offer – and players can spend dozens upon dozens of hours working their way through the many missions and building out a powerhouse army. It’s a beautifully designed game where every aspect of the progression feeds back into the gameplay and vice versa, making spending time much more worthwhile. One thing that might make the game a bit unapproachable for modern audiences is the visuals which haven’t aged as well as other aspects of the game. The game can look quite blurry on modern high-resolution screens, so fans accustomed to shiny graphics might not find the presentation all that interesting.

But discounting that fact, Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker is a game that has largely stood the test of time. Everything from the story to the gameplay and the progression strongly resonates with one another, resulting in an experience that feels like an absolute thrill ride through and through. Peace Walker is an excellent experience for having some Metal Gear Solid action on the go, as you consistently working towards creating the greatest private army of all time. So, in 2024, rating the game on a scale of 10, Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker would easily score an 8 out of 10 in my book, thanks to its addictive gameplay loop and its ability to punch far above its weight.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.