“We abandoned our countries. Nothing more.”
In the penultimate of our six Metal Gear 25th anniversary specials, Leon, Tony, James and Paul Rooney of Ready-Up arrive at the Central America of the 1970’s for Kojima Productions 2010’s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Was attempting to follow up 2008’s epic ‘conclusion’ of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots with a handheld title a fool’s errand? And does the game work on home consoles as part of the HD Collection? Strap yourselves in, for this is another long one, as we explore in some detail the plot, gameplay and politics – sexual and otherwise – of the game.
Music used in this issue:
1: Zero Allies! by Kazuma Jinnouchi
2: Sing by The Carpenters
3: Koi No Yokushi Ryoku by Nana Mizuki
Cane and Rinse 45 was edited by Jay Taylor
Do you have an opinion about this particular game or maybe about our podcast in general? Then why not venture into our forum and leave us your feedback. Whilst there you could also interact with our ever-growing and friendly community, in discussing past, present and future videogames (and lots of other stuff too!) and perhaps even arrange some games with like-minded individuals. Sound good? Come and say hello at The Cane and Rinse forum
Josh and James take a look at co-op in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker… and completely mess it up:
If you like these Quick Rinse videos you can find many more (plus a few other bits and bobs) over on the Official Cane and Rinse YouTube channel.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:16:47 — 157.7MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
I’m playing this for the first time, and i can’t believe i ignored it for so long. I’m glad it’s on the HD collection or i never would have, it’s a good example of a good game ignored by the masses because of (most likely) the system it was originally on. It makes me wonder what other hidden gems could be unlocked to a new generation by being worked into HD collections, im thinking shemnue?
Having not played this one myself yet (although that will soon be corrected) for simply the reason of not having owned a PSP, I’ll be quite happy to see more of this, as long as they’re converted well – unlike the recent Silent Hill HD debacle.
Although, giving us console versions of handheld games should not necessarily to be consigned to just old games. I for one would like to see the possibility of seeing the likes of Gravity Rush on the PS3.
Think you might yet see Shenmue making a HD return, if the internet rumour mill is to be believed (as long as it’s in its original Japanese, not that god-awful English dub).
This is one I’ve waited on till the HD re-release, it’s amazing that this was a psp title. It’s obvious in scope of missions, but in no way the amount of content. Great tie in to other titles, can’t wait to see Big Boss back in Ground zero’s and what ever the Phantom Pain is.
I just played Peace Walker, it was the first MGS game I’ve ever experienced, and I loved it. Your guys’ review was really thorough and made me wish that I had friends with PSPs to coop the game with. I enjoyed your descriptions of the story, and some of the criticisms regarding the lack of cultural diversity were spot-on. Strangely, I really appreciated your reactions to the WTF Date With Paz mission. They represented a degree of nuance and cultural sensitivity rather than just labeling something as being plain wrong.
To me, it felt not just wrong from all the perspectives that you mentioned, but also far off character for the protagonist, who says “She’s a child”, and to Chico (who has a crush on her) “I guess she is close to your age”, in earlier cut scenes. Throughout the game you’re racking up heroism points and if you get into the character at all, you’re attempting to act honorably in most situations. So this whole mission felt very jarring and a bit destructive to the storyline that I was really into at this point. No luck, had to slog through it miserably and get the S rank if I wanted those swim shorts though!
Thanks for the awesome review!
Thank you for the kind feedback Masha – glad you enjoyed the show.