During Japan’s Tokyo Game Show in September, a playable demo for Konami’s “Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker” for PSP was available on the show floor. Near the show’s end, Konami then released this demo online for everyone to try. I took this opportunity to try the game out, despite my lack of knowledge of the Japanese language.

According to “Metal Gear” series creator Hideo Kojima, “Peace Walker” is the closest thing to “Metal Gear Solid 5.” Taking place in 1974, four years after “Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops,” “Peace Walker” puts players into the shoes of Naked Snake, aka “Big Boss,” and his clones during the time of the series’ mercenary organization Militaires Sans Frontières, a predecessor to the series’ famous Outer Heaven organization.

Gameplay in “Peace Walker” appears to mirror “Metal Gear Solid 4’s” on Playstation 3, with a similar camera and controls. When players use weapons, they can either use auto-aim, which targets enemies for the player, or they can aim and move with an over-the-shoulder and first-person camera angle similar to that used in “MGS4.” Due to the PSP’s lack of a second thumbstick and “L2/R2” buttons, the aiming and camera control are done by the right-hand buttons and weapons are siphoned through using the D-pad on the left leaving movement to the thumbstick. While the controls work rather well, the only problem I had with them was the inverted X-axis, which switched left and right aiming movements.

Like other “Metal Gear” games, players will spend a lot of time sneaking around and will have a camouflage meter that increases and decreases based on where they hide. This is also based on the suits players choose to use before they start a mission. For instance, the “Armored Snake” suit comes with heavy weapons, moves slower and make more noise while the “Naked Snake” suit is better for sneaking with heavy weapons but has lower defense. Oddly enough, the ability to belly-crawl, a sneaking standard to the series, was unavailable in the game’s demo.

“Peace Walker” also has a heavy focus on cooperative gameplay, allowing up to four Snake clones to play together. “Co-Ops” features include performing CPR on fallen comrades, sharing items, holding up closed doors for others, acting as spotters or decoys for others and more. This gameplay mechanic could be pretty fun with friends if utilized correctly in the final game.

If the demo is any indication, “Peace Walker” is going to be one of the most impressive titles for the PSP. With graphics even greater than most high-end Playstation 2 games, controls that mirror “MGS4” and an interesting story told through animated comic-book cut scenes, “Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker” is going to be a must-have title for the PSP.

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