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Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Despite what you may have heard elsewhere, this is not Metal Gear Solid 5th Realistically, how the hell can it ever follow PS3 Guns of the Patriots? After all, runs the Peace Walker on a bit of portable plastic which is less powerful than a PS2.

Fortunately, however, does not it beat seven shades of shit sneaking out of the PSP two predecessors, namely turn-based car accident acid and mega fiddly Portable Ops. In short, this is an extremely, extremely ambitious Metal Gear game ... just someone who can not quite match its console cousins.

Above: Peace Walker hospitalized Acid and Portable Ops

If you've never sneaked into Snake skin tight sneaking suit before we probably should explain what you do in Peace Walker. Basically, you play hide-and-seek with evil, you judo throws said probe into walls, if they discover you and you see the long ass cutscenes. While the game has a traditional story-driven stealth adventure at its heart (which can be played with up to four players all controlling Snake clones over Wi-fi), there is also a fairly robust resource management sim (Whoa, check themselves) in there, too . But we will return to this later.

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Some like the plot

For those who think La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo is a Swedish designer sofa, better we will give you a quick rundown of how the game's plot fits into the series mythology. Set ten years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Big Boss (it's Solid Snake's one-eyed old man who is confusingly also called Snake) is on a rescue mission in Costa Rica to save a smoking hot french girl who have been kidnapped. Along the way he discovers a sinister plan to build a walking nuclear tank (it's Peace Walker) and hilarity ensues. Well, not so much mirth as lots of shooting giant robots in their metallic mug.

Above: This guy called Chrysalis and he's a bitch to beat

So it's not exactly the Grapes of Wrath, then. Hell, it's not even as interesting as MGS4 is ridiculous globetrotter yarn. Most of the characters Big Boss meetings are recorded in long cut scenes, so is almost never heard of again. But while it does not involve you emotionally like Snake Eater, the plot is at least told in hellavu Purdy style.

It mainly unfolds through animated 2D cut-scenes, with occasional QTE to ensure that you do not slip into a coma, amidst all the 10 minutes plus interviews. Essentially, it's like a graphic novel. And the striking visual style partially makes up for the curious lack homicidally deranged characters that normally populate every Metal Gear (which is not a single villain to stir Snake Eater's electricity spouting Colonel Volgin or undead latin Lothario Vamp).

Above: Yeah, Tex Avery Wolf. We love the cut-scenes also

While the way Peace Walker tells his story differs from the console versions, the actual sneaking about works in almost exactly the same way. Okay, a few features cut here and there (most annoying ability to crawl), but the basic gameplay is a clever combination of most of MGSIII and IV's mechanics. More specifically, a simple take on Snake Eater's camouflage system, combined with Peace Walker's streamlined control and over-the-shoulder aiming.

Lost in translation

Kojima Productions has mostly done a bang up job translating Metal Gear complex controls on a handheld with limited buttons. The analog core moves Big Boss, while the face buttons control the camera, and your goals when you fire one of his exhaustive range of guns, including tranquiliser guns, missile launchers and ... eh, a gun shaped like a banana. For basic movement and camera control makes it the job admirably. But when you have to get your murder on the imprecision of the face buttons offer makes aiming feels like arthritis and slow as a 93 years old woman trapped in a tar pit.

Above: courage, especially with distant targets, is a bit of a pain

We do not know if it was a conscious design decision to compensate the scraped control and cumbersome cannons, but enemies are now incredibly short-sighted and thick as Porky Pig's excrement. Seriously, they can not spot if you are farther than 20 yards from them. And even when they think they could have seen you, they rarely investigate. This means that the series' stealth has never been more straightforward, but it is also less satisfactory as a result.

It's not just the enemies that have gone backwards, but also the quality of set-pieces. Peace Walker's idiomatic 10-20 minute story missions are more one-note than what's come before. It's all solid, slim thing, of course. But there's nothing hugely memorable. No time to match the fantasy switch pads for the best Psycho Mantis. No great atmospheric touches like when you climb the big ladder after beating The End in Snake Eater. Nothing to touch the emotional impact of going back to a decaying Shadow Moses in MGS4.

Manage Gear Solid

While the main stealthy missions are a bit dull, then it is clear that a lot more thought has gone into all the management things we talked about earlier. As you play through the game, you can capture enemy soldiers and send them back to your headquarters via balloon (no, really). Once you've done this, you can control your troops in Mother Base, which acts as the main menu hub.

Above: Trust us, it's better than it looks

From here you can share your soldiers in teams, depending on their stats. These teams include a fighting unit, research and development, medical personnel, a department that looks after the food and one that handles Intel. If Johnny Reformed Terrorist have high shooting statistics you keep him in fighting unit. Likewise if he is a good researcher, you plop him down in R & D.

Above: Put a soldier in the wrong team, and he will soon begin to complain

When you collect enough troops you can begin to develop new products and weapons. It's a nice thought out system, where the game presents a streamlined, intuitive style that is easy for people who are afraid of RPG-style stats (like us) to understand. Even if you can not be assed develop new ammunition for the rocket launcher, the payoff to capture soldiers just to see them fly up in the air of an oversized balloon is full of the sauce we like to refer to as awesome.

Above: This literally never gets old

Large, broken head

Unfortunately there is no suggestion that the sauce in the game's boss fights, which are all uniformly awful. Joyless war Attrition, each last over 20 minutes because of their stupidly long health bars. While the sight of a duel against a killer robot the size of King Kong is great for the PSP, there's none of the ingenious invention seen in previous Metal Gear games, like grief or Psycho Mantis. Worse, the actual battles are just plain broken. Well, at least if you play on your own.

If you play on your lonesome is a good chance you run out of ammo before you can beat every massive AI unit. Despite the fact that the game gives you supply drops to refill your guns, these were limited. And it's easy to find yourself in a situation where you run out of ammunition, means that there is simply no way to conclude these artificial assholes out. And to top of the pain with a rotten cherry on top, the bloody thing too sing.

Above: Yeah, every boss humming as you fight. Urge to kill rising

The problem is, each session is designed to co-op. With four players all firing rocket launchers at the same time, sudden metal leviathan that seem so invincible on your own will be just as threatening as a defect George Foreman grill. It would not be a problem if the game was only co-op, but so much of the Peace Walker's story mode is a resolutely single-player experience.

Let's be honest, who will sit through 20 minutes cut scenes as you play co-op with a buddy? The core of the Metal Gear series has always been single-player, narrative experiences first and foremost. And this is how we come to judge the Peace Walker.

Above: Despite the co-op, is Peace Walker a single-player game at heart

In simple terms, there are certain parts of the game that just does not work when played on your own. That means Big Boss' quest suffer a bit of an identity crisis. So much of the experience is targeted at single-player, but the small section that almost demand extra players means the game's difficulty spikes and pacing jar.

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In simple terms, there are certain parts of the game that just does not work when played on your own. That means Big Boss' quest suffer a bit of an identity crisis. So much of the experience is targeted at single-player, but the small section that almost demand extra players means the game's difficulty spikes and pacing jar.

Click here to this game full version download

Does the oil hole in Sturmey-Archer gear hubs also lubricate the bearings?

I am gradually repacking all the bearings in my bicycles with grease. However, I don't know how to do this with Sturmey-Archer gear hubs - is the oil that is poured in through the lubrication hole sufficient, or does it need repacking as well? Thank you.

Yes, use light machine oil in the hub. If you are adventurous and want to tear the hub apart, you may repack the outer bearings with lithium grease and lightly coat the gears inside with Vaseline/petroleum jelly before reassembly. You can then maintain the hub with a few DROPS of machine oil every now and again.

EDIT: Trevor... you didn't read my answer very well. FYI, Vaseline- PETROLEUM JELLY- is an excellent lightweight lube for close tolerance parts, not too good for bearings. Try it next time you rebuild an internally geared hub and be amazed.

Inside a Rohloff internal hub gear