Recruiting Portable Ops style

If in case you’ve been without an Internet connection for over a year now, here’s something to get you up to speed: Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the PSP is an action title with a healthy dose of strategy put into it.

Strategy? Isn’t Metal Gear traditionally a stealth title? Well, given that the game has a very robust recruitment system that allows players to conscript a large number of troops to support Snake on the battlefield, a little strategy is involved.

So how do we go about enlistment? What skills do these new characters have? How will the squads affect the stealth action? Read the full article to get your answers.

The full article awaits after the jump!

If in case you’ve been without an Internet connection for over a year now, here’s something to get you up to speed: Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the PSP is an action title with a healthy dose of strategy put into it.

Strategy? Isn’t Metal Gear traditionally a stealth title? Well, given that the game has a very robust recruitment system that allows players to conscript a large number of troops to support Snake on the battlefield, a little strategy is involved.

So how do we go about enlistment? What skills do these new characters have? How will the squads affect the stealth action?

In this installment of the game, not only does Snake have to worry about Russian soldiers at the South American military base he’s in, but he also has to worry about his former FOX teammates that are out for his head and a U.S. government that has no knowledge or support of his actions. So what’s a guy with a mullet to do? Recruit of course!

Snake has the opportunity to recruit former enemies to his side. There are a variety of ways for you to go about this during the events of Portable Ops.

You can do it by force: You can render your target unconscious with tranquilizer darts and what not, and then capture and drag them to Roy Campbell’s truck to torture them hold them prisoner. Depending on rank, it will take them a certain number of days before they’re converted to your side. Now, dragging bodies across the map will certainly draw attention, fortunately as your army increases you’ll be able to tow the captives to your allies hiding in the field.

You can do it via Access Point Scan: By using the PSP’s wireless functionality to scan and access Wi-fi hotspots scattered around the real world, you can track down new soldiers and recruit them to your side. You can’t just pick up troops using the WLAN switch though. Your success depends on the strength of the signal you receive. You have the opportunity to boost the signal by pounding on the circle button and that may be enough to capture a soldier that’s floating around out there. Also, don’t expect to get the exact same unit as your friend would if you both went to the same WiFi hotspot. Portable Ops generates characters based on the information on the access point and the unique system information for each PSP.

You can do it via GPS Scan: While the functionality has yet to be released in either Japan or North America, players will be able to connect the GPS receiver peripheral to the PSP and recruit solders depending on your current location in the real world. Satellites will continually update the game with your co-ordinates alerting you if you’re really close to an area where you can “stumble” onto a soldier ripe for torture recruitment.

So now that you’ve got mindless drones recruits, what can they do? Well, you’re going to have to deploy one of four teams into the field for any particular mission. These four squads (alpha, bravo, charlie, delta) can be comprised of any particular assortment of up to four characters in your standing army.

You’re going to have to mix your squad up because the new stealth system of the game depends on your team blending in with the surrounding enemies.

As far as we know, the chameleon system analyzes the particular unit member that you have and tells you if they’re fit to “fit in” in a particular scenario. For example if the mission is to infiltrate a high security area where only officers are permitted, sending in a grunt will be sort of stupid. The poor grunt will stick out like a sore thumb.

You’re going to have to swap out teams to give exhausted team members a rest, and you’ll want them to rest so they can heal injuries and avoid losing consciousness or what not.

Also because each soldier has different abilities and weapon proficiencies, picking the right unit is a must. A unit with faster running and better sneaking would be apt for certain missions, while some situations call for technical or medical teams. It’s war folks, and Snake needs an army, go build the right one.

Via IGN