Diary of an Ex-Handheld Gamer

Ever watch the WWE season weekly or overseas tour as opposed to the monthly pay-per-view events? As interesting as the storyline and matches are, almost nothing significant ever happens in terms of title change even if there is a title match with the title on the line.

In some ways a handheld game spin off from a famous franchise is kind of the same thing, no matter how good the game is, it will never be as significant as it's bigger brother. This is the diary of an ex-handheld gamer back when a handheld system was all i had. It's the user base? I digress as the most popular handheld system usually have a bigger user base than its console sibling when it's all said and done. The inferior graphics? I can't really say for sure but as I observed even with the current handheld system, the trend is still happening now.

That's the fate of a solely-handheld gamer I suppose if you don't get caught up with all the hype and big franchise then it probably won't bother you at the end of the day. If not you will never be content no matter how great Final Fantasy VII : Crisis Core and Metal Gear : Peace Walker were. Which brings to the next question is it wise to pay console-price for a handheld system like Nintendo 3DS?

The Great Escape

I have finished Peace Walker more than six months ago but still kept the game on my Sony PSP till this day. After the final credits have rolled, a final chapter has been revealed hinting that maybe the story isn't quite finished yet. There are still extra ops missions available but every now and again Miller will appear telling you that Zadornov has escaped from cell.

You can search and capture him again in a new mission listed under story mode and after that, nothing else happens. You spent some time building up your army nation of Militaires Sans Frontieres (Millitary Without Borders) then not long after that, Zadornov escapes from your compound again! This apparently goes on for about six times before it's all over so Zadornov must be a great escape artist or big boss really needs to invest in more security for his Militaires Sans Frontieres because Military Without Borders is starting to take a whole new different meaning now.

Rainy Days & Mondays

No matter what era of music you grew up on the classic Carpenters never go out of style. From being prominently featured in the movie Tommy Boy to Nicolas Cage making part of his Johnny Blaze character, the Carpenters are distinctly hip for such soft melody music. Well maybe we should leave Nicolas Cage's Ghost Rider out because badass biker with a spirit of vengeance and the Carpenters just don't mix plus Cage isn't exactly hip anymore these days.

Sing is not the first song that come to my mind when I think of the Carpenters in fact i don't even remember the song was featured in Sesame Street despite coming to know of the Carpenters from my dad's records as a kid. Now thanks to Hideo Kojima I can't think the recent Peace Walker without thinking of the Carpenters' song, Sing. It was the only source of comfort during the horrific torture sequence and also strangely became the boss' theme music in Peace Walker. Somehow it fits with the theme of Peace Walker and the game's message of peace. This is probably the second time I remember a pop culture song being featured in a Metal Gear and both instances happened to be part of the Big Boss saga. The last time was during the ending credits of Snake Eater and a popular britpop band's song was used. I can't exactly remember the band or the name of the song but I did remember thinking to myself that Kojima-san got great taste in music.

Quick Torture Event

While I take good care of my games I don't normally go overboard with my controllers like most. I believe restraining yourself with the controller will ultimately just hinder your enjoyment of the game after all these controllers are made to take the abuse. Despite my penchant for fast-paced hard-hitting action games I only had to replace my controller once on any of my past consoles so there is surely some truth to this.

Things are a little different with handhelds after all you can't just replace the faulty controls you have to replace the entire system so I'm not sure how I should restrain myself with these handheld games. Thankfully most developers don't expect you to button-mash like a madman in front of public eye so handheld games aren't really made that way.

Except Peace Walker isn't like any other handheld game and Hideo Kojima isn't any ordinary developer either. I have read fans lament about the now-infamous torture sequences that live on in every Metal Gear games fearing the worst for what's to come in Peace Walker. Tonight I survived the ordeal and my PSP lived to tell the tale but the build-up to that very moment was agonizing to say the least. I was about 25 hours into the game with no idea of when the torture sequence would pop up and what to expect save the unfavourable feedback from online fans. Then Snake gets captured in my last mission and I knew it was just around the corner but somehow I messed up the quick-time event leading up to the scene. So being the paranoid android that I am I decided to replay the last mission to get the quick time event scene right before playing the torture sequence. I'm not sure if it helped or not but I had an easier time getting Snake out of the prison cell then if I have failed the scene. I certainly don't want to replay that torture sequence again though the game itself is pretty addictive. If there is one thing I know about lady luck is you should never push her too hard.

Boy Cried Wolf

Being a metal gear fan who have lost interest in the series after MGS4, i haven't been keeping up to date with the development of Peace Walker the folllow-up to Portable Ops that's set to be release on PSP this May. Now with the release just months away, i'm only beginning to catch up with what's the game all about since i do have a Sony PSP gathering dust at one corner.

The marketing advert are proclaiming this to be the first true Hideo Kojima game on the PSP and while they are pretty accurate with the statement, this actually isn't the first time they have said such a thing. Portable Ops was also hailed as the first Hideo Kojima Game on the PSP when it came out which most fans knew wasn't entirely true as kojima only wrote and produced that game. This was because the earlier two Metal Gear Acid! game were not part of the Metal Gear canon and had little to no involvement from kojima though it isn't to say that they were terrible games. While i understand that Hideo Kojima name is a big sell among Sony gamers, you kinda get the feeling of boy cried wolf here and maybe, just maybe kojima fans has left the dire portable in search of other thrills. Let's hope there is still enough of an audience on the platform to meet the expectations.