By all accounts, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is the first real Metal Gear Solid title on the PlayStation Portable and a game experience that can stand toe-to-toe with the Metal Gear Solid series on the PlayStation 2. Sure, MGS AC!D and AC!D 2 were nice games for the PSP but didn't quite deliver a true-to-the-series experience like Portable Ops does. This game has so much depth and does so much to continue the MGS series that it wouldn't be far fetched to say that is truly the best game on the PSP of 2006.
Here's the part where we walk the line and not spoil the game's opening story. Needless to say, it will be a feel good moment for long time fans of the series and Snake in particular. The short unspectacular details about the story is that it picks up a few years after Snake Eater, with our favorite FOX agent Snake captured during a mission in South America by agents of FOX. Something very rotten is unfolding and Snake realizes that he needs as much help as he can get.
The first and probably most exciting aspect of Portable Ops is that it offers a well detailed and intricately crafted story as good as Snake Eater. Fans of the series should consider this game a required purchase because it continues the Metal Gear Solid in style. As is the case with an MGS game, there's plenty of betrayal, double crosses, plot twists and surprises that you might not see coming. It's storytelling at its grandest and this aspect of the game is worth the price of admission. But don't worry, there's a lot more interesting things going on in Portable Ops that will put consumers on the hook.
Portable Ops offers the classic third-person (and first-person) stealth gameplay layer as usual, but this time out there's a very intriguing and powerful strategic layer that fans will just love. But first let's just mention that there aren't too many changes in the way you control Snake and his new-found partner Campbell. Players will still use walls for cover, dive forward and peek around corners to see or avoid targets. You'll also do your fair share of crawling, and occasionally use weapons to take down bad guys. There are a few tweaks to the system for both comfort and ease of use - and overall general refinement controls that makes the game work nicely on the PSP.
Portable Ops borrows the third-person camera system first used in the multiplayer enabled version of Snake Eater - MGS3: Subsistence. This camera scheme lets you adjust the camera angle using the directional pad for a better view - you can reset it back to the default view utilizing the right shoulder button as well. There's also a new radar system in place as well that shows you nearby enemies based on how much of a racket they are making, which is helpful for staying hidden and avoiding them altogether. Missions are pretty short for the most part in single-player, spanning anywhere between five minutes to fifteen depending on your agents' skills. The missions are fun and their bite sized nature makes them fun without being overbearing or tedious.
It isn't until you manage to set up your own base in early part of the game that the true genius of Portable Ops begins to be revealed. That's because at this very point in the game you can utilize the game's most compelling element - recruiting an army! But before you get to that point, you get a map of the entire area of operation. This allows you to deploy your forces in any of these regions in any way you see fit. The mission structure is very open-ended, allowing you to tackle each area in whatever order you want.
The ability to recruit new agents (which we'll explain in just a second) also allows you to attach spies to watch any area you decide, giving you important intel on those areas. These new agents can also serve in doing research and development to create new and useful items, be assigned to the medical ward where they heal and nurture injured personal or even be added to your sneak team that goes on missions with you. It's a pretty deep and interesting experience and one that is all mostly under your control. The other nice element is that you don't have to play Snake in the mission phase of the game. You can use other characters that you can collect. Of course, for the most part, all of these characters offer a similar skill set. Still it's nice to be able to have these options in one of the most important parts of the game.
