Details on the latest Metal Gear Solid game have been as hard to track down as Big Boss and his clones. Producer Hideo Kojima has kept a tight grasp on the information spigot, revealing a drop here, a drip there. After the game was shown at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, however, we finally have a deluge of info to report.

Peace Walker takes place in Latin America in 1974, after the events of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. The army Big Boss was amassing in that game is now known as Militaires Sans Frontières, or Soldiers Without Borders. His army’s primary job in the game will be to protect the defenseless Costa Rican people against a mercenary force that’s quite possibly funded by the C.I.A. Big Boss is reluctant to take the job from Galvez, a professor who lectures on the subject of peace, but Snake’s mysterious partner Miller pushes him to come around. OK, he’s almost certainly McDonnell Miller, AKA Master Miller, an old codec buddy. Galvez brings in Paz, a young Costa Rican girl tortured by the mercs, to appeal to Big Boss’s human side. Quick sidenote: You can look through her clothes during this cutscene with the d-pad.
 
Fortunately, Big Boss won’t be battling these mercs alone. The game’s new CO-OPS system allows up to four players to work together in combat and infiltration missions. A number of new features have been created to ensure that the game isn’t just Metal Gear Solid with extra players. As characters get closer to one another, rings appear at their bases (à la Metal Gear Solid 4). Characters who are close enough to their partners can swap ammo and equipment, increase healing speed, and use some interesting tactical maneuvers. One of those moves lets players snake around areas in tandem. As one character acts as a driver of sorts, the other follows closely behind, automatically. The follower can even pull out his gun and cover the rear while the leader is sprinting away from danger.

One of the most intriguing new additions is the Fulton System, a balloon that inflates instantly to carry away knocked out enemy troops. When pressed on the subject the developers clammed up, but this is most definitely the new recruitment system. This is great news for Portable Ops fans forced to drag bodies all the way back to Campbell’s shady truck.