Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

Written by Adam Woolcott  on August 07, 2006

First Impressions: Eva, oh Eva won't you marry me now!

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With all the attention focused on the PlayStation 3's Metal Gear Solid 4, it's not really a surprise to see that the announcement of a full-fledged Metal Gear Solid has been virtually ignored by a great many (but seeing how some idiotic people are calling the PSP 'dead' already, that's not really surprising). But guess what? There is a new MGS coming to PSP, and it's not just some half-assed revision or a remake of Snake's Revenge Ц instead, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is really, truly a legitimate sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3 and more importantly, 100% Kojima approved. It's going to end up a tad different from every other MGS game, but at its heart, it's Metal Gear Solid, it's got Snake, it's got huge-ass mechs that fire nukes, and most notably, it's a bridge between the Naked Snake and Solid Snake eras. If that's not enough to make MGS fans drool...well then that's good, because people drooling is kinda nasty.

Portable Ops picks up a couple years after the ending of Snake Eater Ц fans of that game likely remember the ending very well, with Naked Snake becoming Big Boss and the seeds planted for what becomes of the legendary soldier. But at this juncture he's still the hero...but not for long. Alas, Snake is being hunted, along with Major Zero and Para-Medic, simply because they're senior members of FOX. See, while Big Boss was out doing what Big Boss does, the other FOX members have led a revolt in South America, and the US government isn't happy about it, and because of their affiliation with the group, they're automatically guilty. Which sucks. However because Big Boss is the hero of the day, he's given a chance to clear the name of himself and his friends, if he can assemble his own squad and take down FOX. To sniff out FOX. To hound FOX. Hmm. Why, if you put FOX in front of hound...hey, it's FOXHOUND!

While MGS:PO retains the same stealth gameplay that we've come to expect from Metal Gear, the game features some added depth. When the game says you must recruit members into FOXHOUND to help Snake/Big Boss handle his task, it's not merely passing talk, as a major goal of the game involves recruiting members to your side to increase the odds of victory. However it's not like say Valkyrie Profile where you hunt down souls or anything Ц these are just common, everyday soldiers that you can bring to your side over the course of the game through interrogation or any other possible means (read: the details are slim right now). The whole concept is somewhat confusing at this point in terms of what exactly is done with these recruited characters, but perhaps your success in recruiting applies to how well you fare in a huge battle or maybe affects the ending of the game.

Portable Ops, though taking place just a bit after Snake Eater, will have a more 'modern' approach to the trademark MGS gameplay. Gone are the various camouflage and worrying about equipping the wrong one; Snake this time has a forerunner of the 'sneaking suit' from the first two Metal Gear Solid games. Chances are the radar will not be present, and you'll have to rely on your own vision and the gadgets Snake usually gets equipped with. Thankfully Portable Ops will be using a variant of the much-improved camera first shown in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, which means radar isn't as much of a necessity as it was during the quasi-overhead MGS days. Obviously this might raise some eyebrows since the PSP lacks that 2nd analog stick for maneuvering the angle, but Kojima and his team has designed the game around what PSP can do and thus will compensate in some capacity. If it were anyone but Kojima perhaps you could be skeptical Ц but the guy is known for delivering.

Before Portable Ops became a true Snake Eater sequel, it was an online-centric battle game. It's been changed a lot from those days; at one point the game was going to make you connect to every and any hotspot you could find to download new characters to your squad, appearing to be Kojima's latest attempt to get gamers outside for some sun (like Botaki). Now it appears to be a revision of what was included in MGS3: Subsistence. Via infrastrucutre online or local LAN play, you can assemble a team of memorable MGS3 characters such as Major Zero, Para-Medic, and Eva or a bunch of generic soldier avatars. What's new is a new morality-based way of handling death Ц if your character is killed in battle, they don't really 'die' but instead are held captive until the end of the game. However, if you want to get back out there and fight, you can just join the capturing team and turn against your original allies. That's right, it's kinda-sorta authorized Team Killing, sure to make Counterstrike dorks wet their pants in anticipation.