MGS: Peace Walker is a pretty good game in the context of the release, with that same MGS feel in terms of story of style. But I don't think the substance of the actual gameplay is enough to make this a really great game, and I would only recommend playing this if you're going to play MGS5.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is a little different than the other mainline games. This one is mission-based, where you are sent out on missions and prepare your loadout before you go into the game, and you have a military base you control. You can research things and recruit people to unlock more things to research and manage, as well as play other characters. This is the precursor to MGS5, and definitely was the main inspiration. Once you get into a mission, either a main or side one, you will go through the level following the objectives. You have a couple of paths and options you can take, but it isn't nearly as free as the main games. The gameplay is very easy. Enemies are easy to take down, they don't notice you nearly as often, and you really only have a few people on screen that you have to deal with at a time. It is probably the easiest MGS game I've played so far. The missions are also pretty annoying because of the format. Some of them are literally one or two rooms and bam, mission complete. The reason for this is usually you have boss fights you can't stealth, so they let you do the stealth mission for two rooms then you go loud for the boss. The boss fights though are amazing, but I wish they were more natural to encounter with the mission system. The mission system also has side ops, but these were complete bloat for 90% of them. There are a few unique ones, but most are just remixes of things you're already doing and not in fun ways. But, the best part about this game is the multiplayer. I played through this with a friend and it was what really made this game fun and enjoyable. Doing objectives and needing to do different things was really cool, and I wish we got more experiences like this with the MGS format.
Story:
The story follows Big Boss as his military is hired by a Russian Professor, and your goal is to help stop the cold war from escalating, and you of course stumble across some Metal Gears. I won't discuss the story much but it is the highlight of the game, with some AMAZING characters that get completely fleshed out like Miller. I would say also if you want to play MGS5 you should play this first, because there is a lot of crossover. It is good, especially for a side game. I really liked this part the most.
Artstyle:
Not that great. It has some unique areas but they all blend together and don't have much variety. I like some of the environment aspects though, like having blow up doll enemies or snipers that are actually hidden in the environment that you won't easily spot. Some of the aztec locations are cool and the beach areas but I wasn't too impressed.
Music:
Great music, though there isn't a lot. You can also use a walkmen and unlock a lot more songs, but the soundtrack is really good and helps capitalize a lot of emotional scenes.
Overall:
Pretty much, it is a good MGS game. If you're a fan of the series play this, but if you're not big then you can skip this (unless you're playing MGS5).
Gameplay:
The gameplay is a little different than the other mainline games. This one is mission-based, where you are sent out on missions and prepare your loadout before you go into the game, and you have a military base you control. You can research things and recruit people to unlock more things to research and manage, as well as play other characters. This is the precursor to MGS5, and definitely was the main inspiration. Once you get into a mission, either a main or side one, you will go through the level following the objectives. You have a couple of paths and options you can take, but it isn't nearly as free as the main games. The gameplay is very easy. Enemies are easy to take down, they don't notice you nearly as often, and you really only have a few people on screen that you have to deal with at a time. It is probably the easiest MGS game I've played so far. The missions are also pretty annoying because of the format. Some of them are literally one or two rooms and bam, mission complete. The reason for this is usually you have boss fights you can't stealth, so they let you do the stealth mission for two rooms then you go loud for the boss. The boss fights though are amazing, but I wish they were more natural to encounter with the mission system. The mission system also has side ops, but these were complete bloat for 90% of them. There are a few unique ones, but most are just remixes of things you're already doing and not in fun ways. But, the best part about this game is the multiplayer. I played through this with a friend and it was what really made this game fun and enjoyable. Doing objectives and needing to do different things was really cool, and I wish we got more experiences like this with the MGS format.
Story:
The story follows Big Boss as his military is hired by a Russian Professor, and your goal is to help stop the cold war from escalating, and you of course stumble across some Metal Gears. I won't discuss the story much but it is the highlight of the game, with some AMAZING characters that get completely fleshed out like Miller. I would say also if you want to play MGS5 you should play this first, because there is a lot of crossover. It is good, especially for a side game. I really liked this part the most.
Artstyle:
Not that great. It has some unique areas but they all blend together and don't have much variety. I like some of the environment aspects though, like having blow up doll enemies or snipers that are actually hidden in the environment that you won't easily spot. Some of the aztec locations are cool and the beach areas but I wasn't too impressed.
Music:
Great music, though there isn't a lot. You can also use a walkmen and unlock a lot more songs, but the soundtrack is really good and helps capitalize a lot of emotional scenes.
Overall:
Pretty much, it is a good MGS game. If you're a fan of the series play this, but if you're not big then you can skip this (unless you're playing MGS5).