I found Peace Walker to be a pretty mixed bag of an experience.
I absolutely loved the story and presentation here. The comic book style of the cutscenes and dialogue was really cool, and it made for an interesting change from the use of movie-like cutscenes from the previous games. I loved getting to see Big Boss' story expanded upon, and the plot ties in really well with MGS3. Although I found the cast of antagonists to be a little underwhelming, I thought the narrative as a whole was fairly strong and entertaining.
Where I really struggled with Peace Walker, however, was in the gameplay and structure. The mission-based campaign felt like a slog a lot of the time, and I just found the pacing to be a bit wonky at times. I also was very frustrated with some of the boss battles, since I didn't do many of the extra side missions that would've given me better gear. For my first time playing through the MGS series, I wanted to experience the story and work through the games at a good pace. For most of the previous games I was able to do just that, but Peace Walker almost forces you to do the extra content; if you don't, like I did, you'll spend far too long doing minimal damage to enemies and bosses that have absurd health bars. I liked the base-building aspects, but the execution didn't feel as effective as it could've been (it probably would've been cooler if I had done more of the side content). I wish the game didn't force me to do the extra content in order to be strong enough to progress through the story at a decent pace, but now I know that I'll need to spend some more time doing the side content on my inevitable replay in the future.
All in all, MGS PW wasn't a bad game by any means, but it's easily my least favorite game in the series so far. I was a big fan of the story and the presentation, but the gameplay structure was not my cup of tea at all. Excited to head into MGSV to finish up my journey with this amazing series.
I absolutely loved the story and presentation here. The comic book style of the cutscenes and dialogue was really cool, and it made for an interesting change from the use of movie-like cutscenes from the previous games. I loved getting to see Big Boss' story expanded upon, and the plot ties in really well with MGS3. Although I found the cast of antagonists to be a little underwhelming, I thought the narrative as a whole was fairly strong and entertaining.
Where I really struggled with Peace Walker, however, was in the gameplay and structure. The mission-based campaign felt like a slog a lot of the time, and I just found the pacing to be a bit wonky at times. I also was very frustrated with some of the boss battles, since I didn't do many of the extra side missions that would've given me better gear. For my first time playing through the MGS series, I wanted to experience the story and work through the games at a good pace. For most of the previous games I was able to do just that, but Peace Walker almost forces you to do the extra content; if you don't, like I did, you'll spend far too long doing minimal damage to enemies and bosses that have absurd health bars. I liked the base-building aspects, but the execution didn't feel as effective as it could've been (it probably would've been cooler if I had done more of the side content). I wish the game didn't force me to do the extra content in order to be strong enough to progress through the story at a decent pace, but now I know that I'll need to spend some more time doing the side content on my inevitable replay in the future.
All in all, MGS PW wasn't a bad game by any means, but it's easily my least favorite game in the series so far. I was a big fan of the story and the presentation, but the gameplay structure was not my cup of tea at all. Excited to head into MGSV to finish up my journey with this amazing series.