Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops & Portable Ops Plus Review
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Platform: Sony PlayStation Portable
Publisher: Konami
Single player, up to 6 players in Versus/Online.
ESRB Rating: Mature, recommended for ages 17 or older.
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops takes place six years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 3.
Difficulty settings to choose from at the beginning: Easy or Normal.
Storyline
Known throughout the military world as Big Boss, Naked Snake awakes to find himself in a South American prison. Upon waking, Snake finds himself facing a man who claims to be an interrogation officer with Snake's former unit, FOX. Now an outsider to his former unit, Snake finds himself the target of the FOX Unit's most deadliest members. Led by the charismatic Gene, the FOX unit has stolen a secret nuclear arsenal from the CIA. They now threaten to launch ICBMS into the Soviet Union, turning the Cold War into a blazing hot one. Determined to prevent World War III, Snake joins forces with a young and free-spirited American soldier by the name of Roy Campbell. Surrounded by a bloody revolt led by his former unit, Snake embarks on an impossible mission to recruit the disgruntled Soviet soldiers in Columbia and lead an uprising against the nuclear-armed FOX unit.Gameplay
While other Metal Gear games have had linear sequences, Portable Ops allows more choice to the player in choosing what destination they want to go to next. A map of San Hieronymo Peninsula, the setting for MGS: PO, is displayed on the Briefing Screen. After gathering certain information, more areas on the map will become available for players to explore. Usually after any mission is complete, players can choose to go to a different area even if it does not advance the story.A significant portion of the game is used to gather recruits to aid Snake in his revolt. To do this, players can use a variety of ways to knock an enemy soldier unconscious. Once knocked out, players must drag the soldier to Campbell's truck, and then the soldier will automatically be added to their roster. Most enemy soldiers captured will not convert to Snake's side immediately and will be placed in the prisoner unit on the "Manage" screen. Usually by visiting a few more destinations, the soldier will convert and players will then have the ability to place the soldier in another unit. There are seven units all together and the decision for players of what recruits to place in each unit will affect certain aspects of the game. For example, player's who make their medical unit better will have quicker life recovery.
A great element about MGS: PO is the ability to play other characters besides Snake. Depending on what recruits a player has selected to be in their Sneaking unit and what team they play as will determine what characters they will be able to use on the battlefield. Players will always start each area with the first member of the team, but can switch to another teammate at any point (as long as there is a place to hide for their current character). By selecting a unit member that is dressed like enemies in an area, players can slip through enemy's guards as long as they don't do anything bizarre to draw attention. If a unit member is disguised like the enemy a blue chameleon icon will appear in the upper-left corner of the screen. Anything that will draw attention to the enemy will make the chameleon icon disappear and players will have a higher chance of setting off an alert mode.
As in MGS3, the stamina gauge is something that players need to keep an eye on. Any movement from their current character will decrease stamina. Any damage from attacks or a tranquilizer gun will also decrease stamina. If stamina reaches zero, the character will lose consciousness. To replenish stamina, players can use rations or let days go by in Briefing.
One of the main problems with Portable Ops is the camera. Borrowing the same camera angle as MGS3: Subsistence, a third-person view, some parts of the game where tight spots occur can make seeing player's current character difficult. The default control scheme does not make controlling the camera any easier, but luckily players are able to change the control scheme and switch the camera movement to the analog stick and movement by the character to the D-Pad.
On a positive note, all cut scenes are fully voiced and animated with illustrations done by artist Ashley Wood (the same artist who worked on the graphic novel for the first Metal Gear Solid game). The animated flow of Wood's artwork combined with the storyline offers a truly unique experience. Aside from the cut scenes, other dialogue in the game is conveyed through text that appears at the bottom of the screen.
Online
Portable Ops features various online modes: Cyber-Survival, Deathmatch, Team deathmatch, Capture Mission, and Team Capture Mission. Cyber-survival allows players to deploy teams from their squads out onto the internet. The deployed team will wander the server and automatically fight against other teams they encounter. Strong teams will return with new comrades where as weak teams will return with thinned ranks. Players can select "Extract" to return the team to their PSP. Deathmatch is an individual battle where the player who earns the most points within the time limit wins the match. On Team deathmatch, players will join sides with others to defeat the opposing team. Capture Mission is an individual battle where the player who can take the Kerotan frog and keep it for a set period of time will win the match. Likewise, Team Capture has opposing teams trying to take the Kerotan to their goal area and defending it for a set period of time to win.Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is an excellent addition to the Metal Gear franchise. The gameplay, story and online modes are executed very well. The minor issue with the camera can easily be overlooked when looking at what the game presents to players. Now having reached Greatest Hits status, the game can be found for $19.99 or less, which should feel like a bargain for anyone interested in the stealth-action title. Portable Ops should be a must-have for those who were fans of MGS3.
Metal Gear Portable Ops Plus (+)
Platform: Sony PlayStation Portable
Publisher: Konami
Single player, up to 6 players in Versus/Online.
ESRB Rating: Mature, recommended for ages 17 or older.
Stripped of the single-player campaign that is in Portable Ops, PO+ has a whole new single-player mode entitled "Infinity Mission" that offers nothing in regards to the storyline of the Metal Gear series. Players who have saved information on their PSPs from Portable Ops can carry over their saved data and use their same character roster in PO+.
Infinity Mission has Easy, Normal, Hard and other unlockable difficulties. This solo mission is split into a series of stages in which all must be completed before players are able to save. Almost every stage has the same objective: Reach the goal to clear the stage and initiate a new stage to play. Without the ability to save after each stage, this becomes challenging and somewhat frustrating as any character that dies will be lost forever (unless players restart the whole mission). If players feel too overwhelmed, they will be able to find a fulton recovery system in each stage that will allow them to extract and return to the Briefing screen.
Portable Ops Plus feels more like an expansion pack than a sequel with nothing added to the story in PO. The main selling point is that there are more online modes for players to indulge themselves. Those who liked the online modes offered in Portable Ops and would like more should be interested in what PO+ offers. Those who don't care for a non-story based Metal Gear game or those not interested in online shouldn't bother picking up PO+.
