If Hideo Kojima is to be believed, the working title for MGS Peace Walker included . rather significant Phoebe numeral It doesn’t take the imaginativeness of . conspiracy theorist to see why – Having been burned by Acid twice and bemused by the clunky snatch simulator that was Portable Ops, PSP owner needed to believe in . portable episode that would be treated with the same aid and attention lavished on the mainline series.

This is however the very same Hideo Kojima that’s categorically stated that he wouldn’t make another MGS ever since 2001’s Sons of Liberty, but in the light of the trivial PSP offering in the interim, we should forgive his misleading work plans and be grateful that he has once again taken the directorial helm for Peace Walker. In many slipway Peace Walker delivers on Kojima’s promise, and in more still, it exceeds it.

Stretching the 480p PSP projection screen shots on to a monitor does them no favour but on information technology indigen hardware the game looks potato chip and clean and it move beautifully.

Set a decade after the event of Snake Eater , the narrative picks up in 1974 South America where a bitter Naked ophidian – still recovering from the treachery of being duped into violent death his mentor at the hands of a deceptive America – has put together his own army; a riffraff outfit of disgruntled soldier going by the name of the Militaires Sans frontier . ophidian is approached by a young pacifist named Paz recounting him that an unnamed military force has overtaken a defenceless costa Rica and the country need the MSF to pursuit the shady cluster away, and being the peace-loving champion of the free world that he is, ophidian takes up the gig.

Metal Gear’s labyrinthine narrative has always been a divisive issue among fans. On one hand it’s littered with crude existentialist philosopher school of thought and painfully misguided exposition, on the other it’s home to some brilliantly inventive “what if” political scenarios, captivating sci-fi fictional character and touching of all-out post-modern brainiac Thankfully Kojima finally seems to have imposed a modicum of self-editing in Peace Walker.

There may be nuclear holocaust to avert, but attaching physical structure to balloon and launching them in the air is how you will want to spend most of your time.

Positioned between an rootage narrative and the Solid ophidian chronicles, Peace Walker’s narrative was express in its scope, but barring the odd anachronistic progression in AI, it is remarkably restrained , focus on common cold War paranoia, political back-stabbing and ligature secret plan threads together rather than unravelling them further. The series career card cut-scenes are presented in lively comic book style, once again drawn by Ashley Wood and they never outstay their welcome, being well choreographed and even cleverly interactive.