Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is an upcoming game in the Metal Gear series to be released for the PSP in 2010. It will explain the story of Big Boss and lead up of events to the founding of Outer Heaven. The game was officially announced at Sony's E3 press conference on June 2, 2009. Hideo Kojima is writing, directing, and producing the game. The theme song for the game is titled "Heavens Divide."

The game will be set in 1974, ten years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, four years after Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, and just two years after the Les Enfants Terribles project. The setting is Costa Rica and depicts the rise of Outer Heaven.

The game is set to be released in Japan on March 18, 2010; North America on May 25, 2010; and in Europe on May 28, 2010.

Plot


In Costa Rica in 1974, an unknown army of well-equipped soldiers has taken over the defenseless country. The soldiers have also brought along a nuclear warhead labeled "Peace Walker", to give the biggest explosion to set off their last nuclear warhead for deterrance. Big Boss is asked to save the country along with his Militaires Sans Frontieres (Soldiers Without Borders in English). It is later learned that the soldiers that invaded the country are financed by the United States' CIA, where if Snake fights them then he will become an enemy of America. Eventually, Big Boss and his soldiers would come to be known as the founders of Outer Heaven.

At the 2009 Tokyo Game Show, Kojima stated that President Richard Nixon's resignation during August 1974 may be factored into the game's storyline. Kojima also stated:

"Solid Snake's storyline has ended with MGS4. But there's still a lot more when it comes to Naked Snake's storyline. The Cold War was a time where people, neither good nor evil, were manipulated by various factors, and they became good or evil. The same goes for Liquid Snake, and we'll get to see just what happened to him."

Kojima also stated that there will be flashbacks to events from MGS3 and that the game's theme will be nuclear deterrence.

Characters
Until late September 2009, only Big Boss was confirmed as a character. On September 23, 2009 Konami opened their official Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker website, with a comprehensive list of characters and their Japanese voice actors. In Session 102 of the Kojima Productions report the English voice cast was announced. Naked Snake/Big Boss will be voiced by Akio Ōtsuka and David Hayter, who both previously voiced the role in MGS3 and MPO. Hideyuki Tanaka and Christopher Randolph, who both have previously voiced Otacon, will also return as Huey, a nuclear scientist with a resemblence to Otacon. Kikuko Inoue (who previously voiced the Japanese versions of Rosemary in MGS2 and MGS4, The Boss in MGS3, and Sunny Gurlukovich in MGS4) will voice Chico, Vanessa Marshall (who previously voiced the English versions of Olga Gurlukovich in MGS2 and EVA in MPO) will voice Strangelove, Tara Strong (who previously voiced Elisa and Ursula in MPO) voice Paz Ortega Andrade, and Steven Blum (who provided the English voice to Gene in MPO) will return as new character Ramón Gálvez Mena.

According to the voice credits of the Peace Walker demo released in December 2009, Suzetta Miñet (the English voice actress for EVA in MGS3) and Grant Albrecht (the English voice actor for The End in MGS3) will also be voicing characters in the game. Similarily, in the TGS 2009 version of the demo's voice credits, Misa Watanabe (the Japanese voice actress for EVA in MGS3 and MPO), Osamu Saka (the Japanese voice actor for Sergei Gurlukovich in MGS2 and The End in MGS3), and Takeshi Aono (the Japanese voice actor for both Roy Campbell in MGS, MGS2, and MGS4 and Granin in MGS3) will also be voicing characters in the game.

Gameplay
An E3 2009 trailer for the game revealed that Big Boss can crouch and walk around, similar to gameplay in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The same trailer showed Big Boss walking through jungles and hanging onto the side of a suspension bridge to avoid detection.

In a July 2009 press release, Kojima stated that players will be able to customize Big Boss before going on a mission. Players can also choose to play the game stealthily or charge in with their guns blazing. If they choose to be stealthy, then their arsenal will be slimmed down in favor of quieter movement. The game will also include a "growth feature" that allows Big Boss to "evolve", similar to role-playing games and certain first-person shooters. There will also be multiple types of cardboard boxes.



In August 2009 Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu reported that Peace Walker will contain multiplayer co-operative gameplay, and a trailer shown at Gamescon 2009 showed the co-op gameplay in action. The game will allow two to four players to play together, helping each other to clear missions, such as one player using the other player as a step to reach a higher platform. Players will also be able to heal and revive their teammates and can make the other players follow the movements of one player. Famitsu also stated that some of the different cardboard boxes that can be found throughout the game, such as one shaped like a tank, can affect the player's status. Also notable, is that when the item/weapon menu's are up, the game does not pause. The game does not even pause at all, in an attempt to simulate "not being able to pause real life".

Closer inspection of the Gamescon 09 Trailer reveals more new gameplay mechanics and features. The inclusion of a type of shield, made of clear material, allowing the player to defend and shoot at the same time, a first for playable characters outside of Metal Gear Online. New CQC moves, including being able to throw an enemy a few feet. A circle now surrounds each player in co-op that grows when near a comrade. When these circles are connected, the players can trade items with each other, and the two players health bars will then join to make one large health bar. Other special actions such as having allies able to mark targets to avoid or engage. The ability to discard the box, which can be used as a scalable object without breaking. Each player also has special codenames to distinguish them, such as "Sneaking Snake" and "Battle Snake."

The recruitment aspect of Portable Ops also returns in this game, only this time, the way to recruit the enemies to your side is with a Fulton Balloon. Recent evidence has implied that the recruited enemies are playable.

It is also implied via recently unveiled screenshots that the Mother Base, the offshore production facility that the Militaires Sans Frontieres were offered in exchange for accepting the mission to act as Costa Rica's deterrant against the invasion force, will also expand and add new facilities as the game goes on. The manner in how to unlock/build the new extensions of the original facility is currently unknown.

Development
Hideo Kojima officially announced the game at Sony's E3 2009 conference, after running various countdowns for the announcement on a Konami website, stating that the team that made Metal Gear Solid 4 will return to help develop Peace Walker. Kojima is writing, producing and directing the game, stating that the game is not a spin-off, nor is it a sidestory. Kojima refers to both Peace Walker and Metal Gear Solid: Rising as Metal Gear Solid 5, while specifically calling Peace Walker "the MGS5 inside me."

A trailer for the game shown at E3 2009 also described it as the "missing link" in the Metal Gear series. The same trailer also revealed multiple Big Bosses, indicating multiplayer or co-op gameplay, which was confirmed by Famitsu in August 2009. Credits appear at the end of the trailer that show Kojima is writing, directing, and producing the game; Shuyo Murata is also a writer on the game; Yoji Shinkawa is the character designer; and Kenichiro Imaizumi is also producing the game. While developing Portabe Ops, Kojima originally planned on only creating the overall guidelines and concepts for Peace Walker and then leave the rest to the next generation of developers at Kojima Productions. He was also planning on only being a producer of the game and focus on games not set in the Metal Gear series. He made the setting for the game in Costa Rica and created a story with themes about nuclear deterrence and the Cold War. When it looked like the story may be too confusing to a younger audience, he decided to become more involved in the development of the game and decided to direct it, feeling that it was still a little too early to leave the game in the hands of the developers without his help.

In an open letter to fans in August 2009, Kojima stated that Peace Walker will be a "full-featured" sequel that will "require hundreds of hours to complete." Koijma further stated that Peace Walker will include many features unique to the PSP and a new gameplay system. At the 2009 Tokyo Game Show in late September, a demo of the game was playable and was available to download for anyone who brought a PSP to the event, which IGN later made available on their site. A nine minute trailer was also shown that introduced the characters that will be featured in the game along with "Heavens Divide", the game's theme song. It was also revealed that Ashley Wood would be illustrating the game's cut scenes, similar to how he illustrated the cut scenes in Portable Ops.

In early December, Famitsu stated that Peace Walker will be released in Japan on March 18, 2010. On December 3, Konami announced that the game will be released in Europe on May 28, 2010. The following day, Konami announced that the game will be released in North America on May 25, 2010 and that an English demo would soon be available. On December 17 Konami released an English demo onto the European and North American PSP PlayStation Stores. This demo contained everything the Japanese demo had plus a new level which involved infiltrating an enemy facility located in a mountainous region.

Kojima and Konami also revealed on Gamernow new details in regards to Peace Walker. One of the biggest details revealed was related to the Mother Base, the Offshore production facility that the Militaires Sans Frontieres is using in their mission to halt the invasion force in Costa Rica. The Mother Base is accessed in-game as "a hub for items and weapons collected in the game." The player can also make new "expansions" for the Mother Base, and unlock more features by recruiting soldiers and/or personnel. The Mother Base can also be used as a weapons development facility, where new weapons and equipment can be created and/or upgraded.

The other biggest detail that has been revealed is the identity of some of the machines witnessed in the various promotional materials. These machines are called "AI weapons." Konami revealed that these weapons can talk and even sing during their deployment into battle using VOCALOID technology, which implies that these weapons have a surprising amount of intelligence. Konami also implied that these new AI weapons have a deeper role in the game's intricate plot. It is also revealed that three kinds of AI weapons will be encountered in the game: Aerial, Ground, and Hover.

Music
Peace Walker's soundtrack was composed by Nobuko Toda. The Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Original Soundtrack is due to be released in Japan on March 17, 2010. The game's theme song, "Heavens Divide" is performed by Donna Burke, and will also be released in Japan on March 17, 2010, coupled with the song "Koi no Yokushiryoku" as well as various other vesions of both songs.

Bundles and limited editions
On January 20, 2009, Famitsu scans revealed that Peace Walker would be bundled with a PSP upon its release in Japan. The following day Famitsu updated their website with more information. The bundle will feature a camouflage PSP, a pouch, a cleaning cloth, and a strap as well as a copy of the game and will retail for ¥26,980. A Limited Edition bundle will also be released at the game's release in Japan which will include everything the standard bundle has and a PSP stand, dog tags, and a booklet, which will retail for ¥36,980. Only 1,974 Limited Edition bundles will be available. It has not yet been stated if bundles will be available outside Japan.