If I’m the only one here who actually got Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, much less the coffee-table-size limited edition, then let me tell you that if you get this collection for any main reason, it better be Peace Walker.

My God has the time passed for Metal Gear Solid 2. It’s hit me like a kick in the teeth how much trouble Japanese developers had breaking into the 3rd dimension before around 2005. Dealing with the controls and fixed camera angles is just painful. MGS2 actually makes a lot more sense when you decide to play it like a top-down 2D shooter, but this game was the franchise’s first shaky attempt to really go into 3D (the first MGS was mechanically an 8-bit game rendered in polygons, and at least felt consistent for that). After about an hour, I’m pretty much done.

Not really Kojima’s fault though. There really wasn’t a textbook for how to do a 3rd person game with guns on consoles yet, and one wouldn’t even begin to be written for at least another four years. In many ways it feels like the older Resident Evil games. MGS2 is representative of a painful time of transition, when Japan was still trying to figure hot how to DO a 3D action game. I haven’t started MGS3 yet but the last I remember the updated camera in the Subsistence version (which was used in this collection) really helps.

One reason I hope this collection does well with MGS fans is because I think it’s unfortunate how Peace Walker got passed over on account of being on the wrong platform outside of Japan. I really do think it’s one of the better Metal Gear titles. Now with updated controls and online, it certainly feels like the most modern MGS game.

Actual “regular” controls, four-player co-op missions, full-blown 3-on-3 versus, and literally 40+ hours worth of content make Peace Walker alone probably enough game for what you’ll pay for the standard edition of this collection. I dare say that the only thing really holding it back are the PSP graphics. I don’t know if any of you would ever have time to give PW a look though…