METAL GEAR SOLID: Peace Walker HD Edition Review
I started Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker in the middle of 2025 and only got around to finishing it this March of 2026. Admittedly, I could have finished it way sooner, but life got in my way, and there were also a lot of great games that came along. One of them was Metal Gear Solid Delta, which is the remake of Snake Eater.
Looking back on it, I was dreading that my backlog was just piling up, but making this game wait was the right choice, as things in real life actually became more and more relevant to the message in this game. AI, patriotism, warfare, peace, and resolve—all of the things I mentioned before are now more significant than ever for the Western world.
METAL GEAR SOLID: Peace Walker Gameplay
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker continues Naked Snake’s dilemma on patriotism and war, which started in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. For its gameplay, it builds upon what was made in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops with its army-building system.
Research and Development, Gross Military Product
Recruiting—or kidnapping—soldiers is one of the main gameplay loops in Peace Walker and Portable Ops. Getting more soldiers and assigning them to specific teams unlocks different items and perks that affect gameplay. In Peace Walker, this is improved with more resource management elements in its Research and Development system. Assigning different members to different teams and reaching certain levels unlocks the recipes to build weapons and items.
In Peace Walker, this is improved with more resource management elements in its Research and Development system. Assigning different members to different teams and reaching certain levels unlocks the recipes to build weapons and items. Once the recipes have been unlocked, you must allocate a resource called GMP to research and build these recipes. Allocating resources does not spend them entirely and does not make the recipes into usable items immediately. Snake, or any MSF soldier, must complete missions to pass time and progress the research and building progress of the items allocated with GMP. GMP can be acquired and increased by adding more troops to Naked Snake’s—let’s now call him Big Boss—army. The higher-level the soldiers are, the more GMP there is to spend.
The GMP currency system is something I welcome and is a clever way of connecting all elements in the army-building system of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. While the logic behind it isn’t solid, as a bigger army does not necessarily mean a bigger budget in real life, it works in the game to keep things connected and simple. In short, there is a simple and immediate reward system for recruiting soldiers and finding better soldiers.
Others may find this added feature a useless complication to acquiring more items to use during missions, but this feature allows for more replayability and longer playtime. Padding required gameplay time is not something of the past, as even modern-day developers bloat their games with various content to achieve the same thing. This is often seen as a net negative to the experience, but I did not find it to be the case in Peace Walker.
Single Deployment Missions, Co-Op
This is neither a positive nor a negative change in my eye,s as the squad system in Portable Ops was not something I really utilized that much.
While Peace Walker retains most of the army-building system in Portable Ops, this entry breaks away from the Squad gameplay. While Portable Ops requires you to use more than 4 soldiers during missions, Peace Walker only allows one soldier to be deployed at a time: at least in single player mode. Engaging in missions with more than one soldier is possible through co-op and up to 3 more players can join in on the fun.
Still, you can choose to deploy recruited soldiers in place of Snake for side missions; called Extra Ops, and some Main Missions; called Main Ops. Certain soldiers still have some perks that give them special advantages so there is a level of personalization that can be attached to each soldier more than just their names and raw stats.
Main Ops, Extra Ops, Outer Ops
Soldiers can also be deployed in Outer Ops missions, which is a mini-game of sort that allows soldiers on stand-by to go on their own missions. There are different rewards that can be obtained from completed Outer Ops missions such as experience for soldiers and items. However, soldiers can still get hurt or even lose their lives if they were not up to the task assigned to them. Having that sense of danger in Outer Ops missions are great, giving a sense of equal; maybe even more, danger as you would have when taking regular soldiers in Extra Ops.
Some Outer Ops missions not only involve going against regular ground troops, but also armored vehicles, helicopters, and tanks which make their difficulty harder to gauge. Fortunately, you can also acquire and deploy armored vehicles, helicopters, and tanks. While regular soldiers can be recruited by using the Fulton System; you do not need to drag them to trucks anymore, vehicles can be acquired in boss fights with these vehicles, defeating all of the ground troops deployed in these fights, and incapacitating the captain riding the vehicle in a non-lethal fashion. Completing missions that are essentially boss fights with vehicles can be completed by destroying them, but non-lethally incapacitating the captain is another, much harder way with a greater reward. Allowing vehicles to join Outer Ops missions and be acquired are great additions to this game which adds more depth in the army-building system, and variety in gameplay.
Mechs
Aside from armored vehicles, helicopters, and tanks, you can also choose to deploy your own Metal Gear: ZEKE. Unlike the other vehicles, ZEKE is a mech that can be built from fighting different enemy mechs. If I had to compare it to another game, think of Monster Hunter and how monster parts are part of the rewards when completing hunts. A big difference in the part system between the two games is that Monster Hunter encourages you to break parts to gain them or their materials, while Peace Walker actually rewards you with the part that you did not break or attack at all. This part of the game frustrated me the most with its RNG aspect. I had to try multiple times to get head parts, and even when I avoided attacking the head of different mechs, I just could not get a head part as much as I would have wanted.
Big Boss and Militaires Sans Frontières
While the army-building mechanic has much more complexity in Peace Walker, the main story gameplay focuses more on Snake and is designed for single-soldier deployments. An assumption of mine for this design is that Peace Walker has a much more personal and structured story for Naked Snake than the story in Portable Ops.
Peace Walker explores Big Boss’ encounter with Paz, the formal establishment of Militaires Sans Frontières (MSF), as well as Big Boss’ personal adoption and interpretation of The Boss’ ideals. I will be honest; I did not get Big Boss’ resolution that much, but it seems he has agreed to take on the role of leading the “soldiers without borders” with Kazuhira Miller. Still, there seems to be great distrust within Big Boss’ heart, specifically with Miller. I will find out more about this whole personal ordeal of Big Boss in the next games, so I want to hold off on exploring this for a while. I did not really feel that attached to the villains here, but I found it interesting that Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zadornov also has a red mechanical arm like Venom Snake has in Phantom Pain. Is there significance in that? I guess we will find out.
Controls
One final thing to discuss is the controls.
Overall, the experience is smooth and better than it was in both Portable Ops and Snake Eater. However, I am confused by the lack of crawling in the game. No, literally—you cannot crawl in this game. You can stand, walk, run, crouch, crouch-walk, and go prone, but you cannot crawl. Going prone actually doesn’t let you do anything other than fall chest-flat on the floor and splay out your limbs like a starfish. You cannot use items or aim your weapon while prone. This is incredibly weird, and I wish this wasn’t the case.
There is also the lack of body dragging or CQC and drag, that was a bit frustrating to know at first.
Anyway, there is still a lot of freedom for stealth or straightforward combat, so it is not that big of a deal.
is METAL GEAR SOLID: Peace Walker A Good Game? Is it Worth it?
Yes, especially if you enjoyed Portable Ops.
There are a lot of improvements in the controls and systems from Snake Eater and Portable Ops. At the same time, they took away some features such as crawling, body dragging, and moving while an enemy is held from behind.
The story is also a direct continuation of Snake Eater and Portable Ops, but has more signficance in the overall story of Metal Gear Solid than the latter title mentioned.
METAL GEAR SOLID: Peace Walker is a commentary on patriotism, warfare, AI, and resolve, which are all timelessly relevant concepts. More than anything, the year 2026 is probably the most revelant time to play this game as we are at the cusp of AI use in military warfare in the West.
METAL GEAR SOLID: Peace Walker FAQs
What’s the best strategy for the Peace Walker boss?
If you mean [MO#022] Peace Walker Battle, just move around and hit it constantly. Boss fights in Peace Walker are pretty easy and simple to deal with if you are just trying to destroy them. Do not stay too close or under the Peace Walker, or at least do not linger too long if you do. [MO#025] Peace Walker Battle 2 is pretty much the same, but make sure to interrupt it with attacks when it is trying to launch nukes. I advise using rocket launchers as they deal more damage, and you need to dish out a lot to stop it from releasing the nukes.
Why can’t you crawl in METAL GEAR SOLID: Peace Walker?
I honestly have no clue, and it also confuses me.
How do I stop the Peace Walker from launching the nuke?
Deal tons of damage using rocket launchers.
How old is Paz in METAL GEAR SOLID: Peace Walker?
Paz Ortega Andrade, or Pacifica Ocean, introduces herself as 16 years old but she is much older. As for her exact age, that is unknown.
Can you drag bodies in METAL GEAR SOLID: Peace Walker?
No, you cannot. I do not know why but that is just how it is.
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