Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops Plus

by Konami

• Unique gameplay modes and missions will engage evn the most experienced strategy veteran
• Recruit brand new soldiers from the Metal Gear Solid universe
• Choose from a variety of new environment maps for more multiplayer mayhem
• upload your saved data from Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops to create instant squads
• Tutorials and improved in-game support helps players of all skill levels

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000UZVL9O
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches ; 3.8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: November 13, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,241 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus is a standalone addition to last year's award winning title of the same name. Focusing on a portable multiplayer experience, players will be able to enjoy more maps, more missions, and recruit a talented crew of war heroes for battling real opponents in online arenas.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars new content, new characters, and an all-around new experience January 14, 2008

By Lisa Shea HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

This review was written by James Shea, my son!

An "expansion" of sorts to the original Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops, "Plus" delivers new content, new characters, and an all-around new experience.

First, the basics. Portable Ops Plus is a standalone game that does not require the original Portable Ops to play. Possessing save files from Portable Ops does, however, let you bring your old save files over and continue playing with all the characters and items that you unlocked in Portable Ops. So, for example, if you had assembled a highly skilled team and unlocked all the unique characters in the original Portable Ops, those characters would not be lost. Hideo Kojima, in interviews, said that he envisioned the original Portable Ops as multiplayer only and decided to put in a story later; Portable Ops Plus is more like this vision, with everything designed to supplement multiplayer play.

The main mode of play is "infinity mission", a sequence of missions that range from easy to extreme. The harder it is, the more likely you will find rare characters. The player moves from stage to stage, looking for exits to the next stage while collecting items and characters in a manner similar to the original Portable Ops. The main problem with this mode is that, except for a rarely found item (the Fulton Recovery System) there is no way to leave the mode except to beat it all the way through, which usually may take a good hour to an hour and a half. You cannot save and quit midway, either. Soldiers who are killed during the Infinity Mission mode can be recovered later as prisoners on another playthrough. However, what happens sometimes is that you will recover your character, or find a really good new character, and then later lose another character. The choice is "lose your new characters" or "lose your old character and have to come back for him later", a difficult one given the amount of work that has to go into each Infinity Mode.

The characters and their management has changed too. The main change is the addition of many character types from earlier Metal Gear games, and the addition of female versions of some of the soldiers in the original Portable Ops. However, the system of advancement has changed, as well. Characters now get experience for going on missions or being in a support unit (the spy, medical, and R+D parts of the unit). Experience raises LIFE and STAMINA scores, invaluable for surviving the long process of Infinity Mode. Furthermore, textbooks can be found that will raise a character's proficiency in a given field (for example, pistols, assault rifles, or setting traps). Formerly, a character's proficiency was unchangable. There are still limits though - a character has a maximum amount that each limit can be upgraded, so that you can't build a single "supersoldier" (though you can at least come close). New careers have been added to supplement the new gameplay, as well; with the emphasis on collection, the "Headhunter" and "Decoy" classes (among several others) have been added. The Headhunter can see an enemy character's stats, allowing you to judge if they are worthy of being captured. The Decoy makes all enemy characters stronger, which is bad if you have to fight them, but good if you want to capture them (as their strength means they will be better once they are on your side).

To accommodate these new characters, the maximum level has been raised from 100 to 200 soldiers. Furthermore, the number of "teams" - the units you send out on missions - has been changed from 4 (A through D) to8 (A through H). These teams are used for almost everything; in addition to their old uses, such as single player missions and multiplayer, the teams are also used for online trading (send a team online to offer up with set requirements for what you want in return and wait for a response from someone else's team) and AP Scan, a way to collect new soldiers by using wireless networks. In the old game, the player simply had to be near a wireless node - near enough for the PSP to detect it - and mash the "O" button until the soldier joined up. In Plus, the requirements for nearness are lessened (you rarely have to walk around looking to boost the signal strength) but in exchange you have to send out a team; the prospective new character will tell you what he or she is looking for (ranging from "I want someone with an S rank in some weapon" to "I want someone wearing a nice hat" to "I want a person who is a Doctor"). If you have what they want, they will join you; otherwise, you can go out, reassemble your team, and come back to that hotspot. Characters will not change, so you can always come back and collect him later. The key is to make one's team as diverse as possible, with a wide range on every single set of stats, so that all prospective enlistees will have something to look for. Furthermore, the characters are of much higher quality now from AP Scan mode (as opposed to before, when they had random stats that could easily be fairly low, all characters obtained from AP Scan are higher level than most characters collected from single-player mode).

Multiplayer is, of course, the basis of the game. The main infrastructure mode is standard online play, boosted by the many new characters, weapons, and maps introduced (many of which are similar to or copies of maps used in MGS3's multiplayer mode). Also introduced is the new "motion" system, a form of taunting that expands from the basic "salute" into a wide variety of poses, which can be expanded by finding and using "fashion magazines" in single player. These poses range from bowing to cheering to Revolver Ocelot's trademark gesture from MGS3 to a wide variety of "Justice Poses" used in various Japanese superhero shows. There is also now a "beginner's server" in multiplayer; going in will give you the beginner's status, which reduces a lot of the damage you take from headshots and explosions. After a certain number of kills, you will lose the status, showing your "graduation" to a regular player. Finally, one of the new game modes is "chatroom", which is a server with no fighting and no goals; it is, as indicated, a room for people to talk using their MPO characters as their avatars.

With this array of new content, MPO+ is almost an entirely new game, and is definitely more than I thought it would be. While the "infinity mode" gets fairly irritating, the wide variety of new content keeps me entertained throughout it.

8/10. Read more ›

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars I honestly feel tricked. July 7, 2010

By EJStrat

Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

I suppose it is my own fault for not looking into this game more. But I picked it up with the understanding that it was an expanded version of the first game, and have since come to realize that it is instead an expansion that does not include the actual story at all. It's funny that they call this Portable Ops Plus when they've subtracted the actual game.

I haven't played this online at all, so I can't say either way on that. But the Infinty mode, or whatever it is called, that I've been playing thinking I'm actually playing Portable Ops is decently fun. Its like Metal Gear Pokemon or something. Collecting different soldiers and characters that assist your teams in different ways. The basic gameplay is impressive - its metal gear on psp lol. But i have to say I feel tricked. A game released under the same title as the original with a + sign at the end isn't the game its named after at all... I'm disappointed.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A small, standalone experience worth the price. July 18, 2013

By Owen Murray

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

Some Gamestops sell this at a very low price, all the way down to three dollars, a steal! Portable Ops Plus is still worth the Amazon price, regardless.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus is NOT Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. The storyline has been removed and has little to do with the original game itself, besides the setting and characters. Set right after the events of Portable Ops, Naked Snake is tasked with rounding up the best soldiers the world has to offer, and making the best squad possible. In Portable Ops, you had Soviet Soldiers, Officers, the FOX unit, and the main characters. Portable Ops Plus expands this roster to a staggering degree; over 100 unique soldiers are available for recruitment. These include many types of friends and enemies from nearly all Metal Gear Solid games to date. Gurlukovich soldiers (guards from MGS2), Navy SEALs, GRU and KGB agents, the Ocelots, even Genome Soldiers all the way from MGS1 can be encountered and recruited (you can also use a special item on Genome Soldiers that has an awesome effect, but I won't spoil it). Included as well are many "Special Characters", heroes and villains from other Metal Gear titles. For example: Clearing the new mode on Normal nets you Old Snake (the best hero of the game, with the highest LIFE and STAMINA, and great skills with all weapons), beating it on Hard will give you Raiden (who is always allowed to use his katana, giving him a huge advantage), and having save files from Metal Gear Ac!d 1 and 2 will unlock the main characters of both games for you (though they can still be acquired using a code). Finding and recruiting all the types of soldiers in this game is very reminiscent of Pokemon.

In place of the standard story mode we instead get a special mode called "Infinity Mission". The name comes from the fact that every level is always randomly generated, allowing for new scenarios every time you play. In this mode you are stripped of all your weapons and gear, and need to navigate through various, enemy filled bases to find the exit. This means during early levels you must be very careful; your only means of defense is CQC and without healing items, your squad will go down quickly. This supports and greatly encourages the stealth-based gameplay Metal Gear Solid is famous for. You can acquire all kinds of weapons and items from around the map and off of guards. Knocked-out guards will drop two items, dead guards will drop only one item, and guards being held at gunpoint will give up all four of their items. Early on, knocking out guards and shaking them down is a quick way to find a gun, as well as first aid. When you find a gun, start sneaking up on guards and holding them up. Trust me; you're going to need everything you can find on the harder difficulties. You'll also encounter "Special Levels", that have you meet certain goals before letting you move on, such as "Kill or knock out all enemies", "Survive for three minutes", or "Reach the exit without being seen". After these levels you can take a breather, re-equip you squad, use items on them, check on the soldiers they may have captured, and continue on. Make sure to keep their health and stamina high at all times; if they run out of health, they die. If they run out of stamina, well...they pass out...then die! If one of your soldiers die, that's it. They're dead forever. No exceptions. If a soldier is about to pass out or die, find a hiding spot and switch to the next soldier.

Soldiers can now learn from being sent out on missions. All units can acquire up to 50,000 experience, allowing even weak soldiers to become tough. As they gain experience, they will acquire extra life and stamina. As they near their peak, soldiers will also gain a considerable boost to their abilities; a shaky handed rookie can become a seasoned sniper. A wimp can become a master of CQC. All soldiers, however, have a maximum "potential" they can reach for each skill, preventing a single soldier from being perfect at everything. Having close combat experts, snipers, handgun experts, and riflemen on one team will allow you to pick who is best suited for each level. Keep your team varied not only in skill, but in appearance. If one of your soldiers looks like the ones in the current level, they can be seen by guards but remain hidden, as long as you don't do anything suspicious. Crawling around, aiming your weapon, or attacking guards while in sight will instantly make your disguise useless. Keep in mind, guard dogs can see through disguises. Along with new mechanics, new abilities have been added. Some soldiers will make enemy guards stronger (making them tougher to fight but making them better recruits when captured). Some soldiers are "Headhunters". Just looking at an enemy as them will give you a detailed list of all their skills and strengths.

Another addition to PO Plus is an emphasis on online play. As of this review, the online servers have been shut down. The only modes available now are Infinity Mission, Boss Rush, and various training missions. (Boss Rush lets you bring any and all weapons and items you have found into battle against every boss of Portable Ops. If soldiers die in Boss Rush, they will come back afterwards. This is the ONLY mode that does this.)

All in all, Portable Ops Plus is a very fun and entertaining game. All the different kinds of levels and soldiers can keep you coming back to this game for more, trying to find new scenarios and soldiers with special skills and abilities. Strong emphasis on stealth, combined with a lot of replayability makes this a title well worth your money. Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Game November 26, 2011

By GAMERMAN123

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

I bought this game to play with my friends on the bus with game sharing on the PSP 3000. We have a blast on the bus now that i got this game. But I was disipointed that it only had 1 map for game sharing. You can also play not online and you have to go through easy, medium and hard then some other missions easy was extremely easy and medium was pretty easy and hard was a little difficult but not to hard then the others i think are pretty dang tough.you can also play online with people across the world i was really bad my first time online. Now im still pretty bad i guess people online are real good.