The BudgetBin Review: Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

Budget Bin Review: Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops - Image 1

Konami has given the Sony PlayStation Portable crowd a taste of its flagship Metal Gear games with the Metal Gear Acid series. The Acid games took a break from the tactical espionage action template that has made the series famous and placed Solid Snake in a turn-based game with cards fronting the combat aspect. Mixed reactions ensued from fans and pundits, asking for a more traditional approach to the series. And though the Acid series were as good a spin-off as anyone could ask for, Konami just had to listen to the people.

Enter Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops which is a direct sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Series creator Hideo Kojima takes his role as producer of this chapter in the unfolding  MGS storyline and lets director Masahiro Yamamoto guide the franchise closer back to its sneaky roots. The result is a truly amazing experience which combines a gripping storyline with a breed of old and new gameplay elements which will challenge even seasoned series veterans. If you missed out on this title a few months ago, there’s no better time to make up for that mistake than now.

The full review awaits after the jump!

Budget Bin Review: Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops - Image 1

Konami has given the Sony PlayStation Portable crowd a taste of its flagship Metal Gear games with the Metal Gear Acid series. The Acid games took a break from the tactical espionage action template that has made the series famous and placed Solid Snake in a turn-based game with cards fronting the combat aspect. Mixed reactions ensued from fans and pundits, asking for a more traditional approach to the series. And though the Acid series were as good a spin-off as anyone could ask for, Konami just had to listen to the people.

Enter Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops which is a direct sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Series creator Hideo Kojima takes his role as producer of this chapter in the unfolding  MGS storyline and lets director Masahiro Yamamoto guide the franchise closer back to its sneaky roots. The result is a truly amazing experience which combines a gripping storyline with a breed of old and new gameplay elements which will challenge even seasoned series veterans. If you missed out on this title a few months ago, there’s no better time to make up for that mistake than now. Here’s why:

A riveting plot

If you’re one of the many people who’s followed the MGS series through the years, the fact that this game is a sequel to MGS3 and a prequel to the original Metal Gear from the 8-bit era should immediately make it attractive to you. The story of Portable Ops begins six years after the events that unfolded in Snake Eater. You return to the fray playing the role of Naked Snake, who was also dubbed “Big Boss” in the aftermath of the incident in Russia. You awaken in a cell and are tortured by a man named Cunningham who belongs in the same FOX Unit as you did.

He busts you up hoping to squeeze out an answer for a very important question: Where is the Philosopher’s legacy? Snake, of course, doesn’t have a clue and is left for a while, trying to remember where it is. During the course of your captivity, you meet a fellow detainee named Roy Campbell – the last of his Green Beret squad, who were sacked while investigating the area. You then learn that you’ve been taken to South America where some trouble is brewing.

After breaking out of the detainment facility with Campbell, you are able to establish contact with old friends Sigint and Para-Medic who inform you that the Fox Unit has broken away from the chain of command are now led by a man named Gene who has instigated a revolt and is seeking to create his own nation called Army’s Heaven. Gene’s faction is holding nukes as a major bargaining chip against the East and the West and to make things worse, Snake and Major Zero have been labeled by the US as the primary suspects to the mutiny.

Now Snake finds himself in a battle to clear his name and stop Gene from launching missiles to either Russia or the US to prevent the escalation of the Cold War. Along the way, he struggles with himself on matters such as loyalty, honor and an overall reason to stay alive and keep fighting.

Essentially, what the game’s plot does is that it fills in the gaps in the MGS saga in a manner that we’re able to see how the present day in the MGS world came to be. The groundwork for Outer Heaven and FOXHOUND are set and we’re given a clue as to how Big Boss crossed over to the dark side. Incidentally, the idea of telling the story using prequels and a hero who turns into the bad guy only to die at his son’s (or clone’s) hands reminds us of another story we’ve heard a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….

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PSP = Portable Sneaking Perfection

The PSP is a handheld technical wonder in itself, with its presentation power and other great features. Portable Ops is one of those games currently out there that drills home that point, with an audiovisual experience richer than anything as far as portable gaming is concerned. The in-game graphics are comparable to those of MGS3, and that’s saying something. You won’t find the same high-quality rendering in MGS2 and MGS3 cinematics here but the comic-style storytelling courtesy of Ashley Wood provides a brilliant alternative.

Although not every line in the game is spoken by voice actors, the cast, led by stalwart Dave Hayter, performs as compellingly as they ever did. Dwight Schultz, Noah Nelson, Steve Blum and all the other actors have brought the FOX members to life, making for some involving encounters. That leads us nicely to the next good point about how the game was nicely thought out.

It was seldom talked about in past reviews but one thing that hardcore fans of the MGS fame missed during the course of MGS3’s run was that its bosses lacked the personality the way that FOXHOUND’s bosses from MGS1 had. This time around, emphasis was given into shedding light on the character of the antagonists to give players that feel of rapport similar to that feeling guys like Psycho Mantis, Sniper Wolf and Vulcan Raven gave us. It’s a nice touch that deepens the game’s ability to connect with the audience.

Speaking of nice touches, what was one of the most innovative things that Portable Ops gave us was the ability to take advantage of the PSP’s Wi-Fi and GPS-sensing features. The connectivity functions do more than just take us to online gaming. It also gave us neat stuff like new soldiers from hotspots. If you don’t have a clue what we’re talking about, read the next section and find out.

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The old meets the new

Easily the biggest change that we’ve seen here is with the recruitment factor in the gameplay. As opposed to solo sneaking missions in past iterations, Portable Ops will have you operating in squads of four soldiers. You’ll only be able to control them one at a time, but it’s easy to swap and it’s fun to plan which units to bring when you consider that all of them have different abilities. Some of them will be good for espionage, others for fighting, and others for creating weapons and healing teammates. It’s a bit of an RPG element which amazingly made a lot of sense in MGS: Portable Ops.

You can recruit soldiers from the enemy’s ranks by knocking them out and taking them captive. Knowing how charismatic a leader Big Boss is, the soldiers join your cause to do your every bidding. Be careful, however, as generic units are permanently gone once killed in battle.

As indicated earlier, GPS and online play will yield some nice surprises. Depending on a Wi-Fi hotspot, you can get a different unit you can use in your game. Battling online also allows you to trade characters with friends. The online mode, by the way, isn’t as deep as that of MGS3: Subsistence but it’s still a lot of fun with Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag.

Those who went through MGS2 and MGS3 will find a lot of familiar ground in the camera angles, the ability to shoot in first or third person, roll, grapple and crawl. With some practice with the PSP’s controls, you’ll be locked and loaded in no time at all.

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Tailor-made tactical turmoil

There’s no denying that some have knocked Portable Ops for its ambitious nature, calling it a game that tries to do too many things. While we concede to the part that the game is indeed a very ambitious one, we say there’s nothing wrong with that. The fact that the game presents the players with a lot of quirky nooks and crannies signifies that Konami seeks to continuously evolve the game, which is a stark contrast to living off the hype that the franchise’s name carries.

The game aspires to be a great one, yes. but is it over the top? Not really. Questions have been raised early on as to how the game in its traditional fashion could fit the PSP’s architectural constraints with consideration to controls and battery life. When the game was launched, Kojima and crew answered all of the doubts by designing the game in such a way that everything works out.

For instance, instead if having one gargantuan tract of land with bases to infiltrate, the missions were laid out as a series of maps cut up so you can tackle them one at a time with frequent saving in between. This is ideal when you’re playing on the go since a mission can be completed in a matter of minutes depending on your skill level. The comic-style cut scenes in place of 3D rendered ones and the use of text in non-essential conversations help conserve power as well. Lastly, doing away with the menu-driven survival viewer from MGS3 helps keep the game at a steady pace and saves a lot of time and electricity.

The only gripe that we’ve had was with the controls. Players who were accustomed to the Dual Shock and bought the PSP for this game will find some differences which can be annoying at the onset. We’ve had a bit of an adjustment period with close combat and firing, but once you’re over the learning curve, it’s easy to play like a pro again.

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The Verdict

There’s really no way any game can please everyone- that’s a given. However, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops does make quite a good run at it. This is simply one of the best, if not the best game for its platform. Those calling out the PSP for a defining game will be glad to know that a strong contender for that distinction has been out for quite some time now. Add to that the fact that it’s cheaper than ever and that’s why we had to make it the first game for our BudgetBin Reviews.

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