Customer Reviews

Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops" for the Playstation Portable is the first PSP Metal Gear game that is actually a part of the story. In it, Big Boss must lead a unit of comrades against his former unit, the now-rogue FOX Unit.

Most of the gameplay is similar to Metal Gear Solid 3 and its stealth-based gameplay, with a few new weapons added. Some things are limited by the PSP's buttons and systems, but for the most part it plays and looks like Metal Gear Solid 3. The camera is taken from Metal Gear Online, included with MGS3: Subsistence, and can be alternately helpful and annoying. A new sonar has been added, which shows the sound that both you and those near you are making, and gives a rough estimate of their position. The camouflage system is gone, now replaced with the "blending system".

The main concept of the title is the "Comrade system", where you can acquire new allies to use in your fight against FOX. In early trailers, it seemed like Snake would be leading a squad (and thus multiple people would be active at once), but in truth, it is closer to other games of the series. Only one soldier can be active at a time (and thus player-controlled); the others wait in cardboard boxes hidden around the level. These soldiers can be switched to for the use of specific items (as each soldier has only four slots for weapons and items) or if the current soldier is hurt. Soldiers also have different "sense" levels, which is represented by a blue circle around their location. If an enemy moves into that circle the soldier will detect them and they will be marked on the map. Thus, scattering your soldiers around a level can create a sort of "net".However, the emphasis is still on single infiltration, and is supplemented by a new form of sneaking: soldiers can "blend in" with other soldiers in similar costume. For example, a standard orange-suited guard could blend in amongst similarly suited guards. This does not work when approaching an enemy of a different class; the same guard would not be able to get past an officer or even a scientist. Suspicious activities (like crawling, sneaking, or pointing a gun) will also cancel blending.

A new map interface is used; different areas are marked on the map similar to Metal Gear Acid. Going to a level takes one half-day, and it switches between day and night. The game starts in November of 1970, and as far as is known there is no "time limit" for missions.

A large part of the system is acquiring and using your comrades. Snake begins alone, but can subdue and drag enemy soldiers back to his HQ (a truck, which his support on this mission drives). Between missions, Snake can manage his comrades, assigning them to different units. The Sneaking Unit accompanies Snake on his mission (or in some cases goes on the mission by themselves) and consists of four four-man teams. One team can be deployed in an area at a time. Spy Units report on events in different areas and will inform Snake of weapons and comrades that can be picked up in areas. Sometimes the spies will bring storyline-important data (the location of a hidden base or the location of a certain individual). Certain spies can also help map out an area and locate items, or reduce the health of enemies in that area. The tech unit researches new gadgets for Snake and his team, much like "Q" from James Bond. Scientists and mechanics are best for this role. The medical unit not only provides medicine, but they also heal units who are recovering from missions (IE at the base when another team goes on a mission).

There are many different types of soldier to recruit in this game. Standard grunts, officers, female soldiers, and elite FOX Unit members. There is even a way to recruit some bosses by using a tranquilizer gun. This contrasts with other Metal Gear Solid games, where tranquilizing a boss would still end up with them dying and the story remaining the same. Soldiers also improve their maximum HP and Stamina levels as they go on missions. There are different levels of proficiency with different weapons (C, B, A, and S, from worst to best) that are ingrained with soldiers (so having a person who is bad at shotguns use a shotgun a lot will not help). A large concern is that if a character dies, they are dead forever (unless you restart a level) so taking care of your soldiers is important.

The storyline has many twists and turns, some of which are important and some of which seem like they fall under George Lucas' Episode II problems (fitting in characters from other parts of the series in a place where they don't really fit).There are references to other games even in the clothes the people wear; the FOX Unit soldiers wear the uniform Snake wore in Metal Gear Solid 3 (with Tiger Stripe camo) and the FOX Unit's leader wears the same trenchcoat that Big Boss and the rebellious members of FOXHOUND wear in MGS1.

There is a great deal of online connectivity in this game. The first kind, for the more casual player, is using Wireless Connections to gain new characters. The network doesn't even need to be connected; the PSP just needs to see that there is a wireless connection there. Some characters are accessible from this process that can't be gained through the normal game, such as members of the Ocelot Unit or KGB. If these characters die, they're gone, and a wireless connection can't be used twice. There are also ways to get soldiers through a GPS Scan (which requires a not-yet-released peripheral) and Passwords (which will be released through "media outlets").

There are online and local death-match modes. A team is taken from the player's single-player game and put online to fight enemies with their equipped items. Some games can result in the loss of a character to an opponent or the gain of a character if you win, while others are just friendly games with no stakes. There is also a "Cyber-Survival" mode in which a squad is sent off onto the Internet and fights other squads automatically. This only requires connection twice: the first time to drop off the squad, and later to pick them up. Once they are input the squad is automatically in the system. Through this, as with the death-match modes, squad members can be won and lost. There is some strategy, essentially focusing on which characters are where and who has what.

The graphics are based on MGS3's graphics, with some minor reductions (no bullet casings, no blood, some less-detailed textures). The cutscenes are done in a stylized comic book manner, similar to the Metal Gear Solid Digital Graphic Novel, and it switches between looking amazing and being annoying.

Overall, this is a fun game to pick up for the PSP. The multitude of characters is a plus, but the squad-based gameplay seems wasted. Early videos showed a team supporting each other directly, with Snake giving commands to his two allies. In contrast, the "one person sneaking and three people hiding" mode doesn't seem as exciting. The storyline was also disappointing in several areas. However, if you are looking for a fun extension of Metal Gear Solid 3 and its online mode, this is a great game.

What made the Metal Gear series so wonderful was the concept of a lone operative sneaking into a base a la James Bond, but doing it realistically (crawling, hiding, sniping) instead of getting invited to a white-tie dinner by the bad guy. In the first PS1 game, you could be a novice player and still make it through the game, each time you play making you better and better. The PS2 games got more and more complex, sort of bloating up the concept with more complex controls and quick reaction scenarios where the average player would get creamed over and over again until the learning curve was passed. These "frustration points," as I call them got more and more numerous until MGS3, where the entire last third of the game was essentially one long frustration point (e.g., oops, stepped wrong, you die, oops, didn't make the shot, you die, oops, didn't lead the girl through 5 screens of bad guys safely, start over, etc.) To a hardcore gamer, these challenges are meat and potatoes, but to a casual gamer that can't play daily, the fourteenth time that 3 Metal Gears blow Snake into atoms is the time that the game gets shelved permanently. This is where MGS:Portable Ops puts itself: it's JUST hard enough to make the hardcore MGS fans want more, but JUST hard enough to frustrate the casual gamer into just shelving it.

First off, the game looks great and the sounds are perfect. How they crammed all of this into a UMD is spectacular and shows how well software developers can compensate for poorly-designed hardware. The controls aren't too bad, but the analog nub can be hard to control at times. The real permanent frustration point in the game comes with the camera, which seems to have a mind of its own. Dragging enemies (a HUGE part of the game) becomes a comedy of errors as the whirling camera causes you to spin around while you get used to the analog nub...you look like you're tangoing with a drunken partner! The camera likes to sit right up against your active man, so you can't pan out and get a wider view of things...this is especially fatal when going through doors, where you can see an all clear and pop out right into a guard's line of fire. For me, the camera is enough to make the game unpleasant...but I suppose it can be gotten used to. The missions are broken up into little ones (UMD format again) and they seem fine. They make sense and you do have some sense of time in the game. Well done!

MGS games are all about sneaking and infiltrating. Well, this MGS takes it one step further by allowing you to recruit soldiers for different teams (this has been explained in other reviews.) This is sort of a tactics-style development where you can outfit the troops, put them in squads and deploy them as a team. However, the developers decided to hamstring this potentially fun feature by making it so killed soldiers never return...so you can get a secret character for a major accomplishment...and he gets an unlucky camera angle on the next mission and ends up getting jumped by 3 guards. Well, your hard-earned man is now gone forever unless you reload. By making the risk too great, this keeps casual gamers from risking hard-earned troops on the battlefield. They should have an option for an easier mode where the soldiers can be brought back. However, the saving grace is that the unique characters (such as Snake) can be brought back and recover slowly.

This game is very complex and mastering it, or even proceeding in it takes a large time investment...unfortunately, it's not one that most casual or older gamers might be able to make. The manual only tells you how things work on a basic level and, like ALL NEW GAMES TODAY, you can't just have fun and play through...you've got to have the FAQ/game guide/cheat sheet with you or you'll never get 100% complete and the best ending. Lame.


With very little to reward the casual gamer, I can't recommend this as a 5-star pick. I'd rate it a 1. However, since it's so appealing by its tough nature to hardcore gamers (5 stars for them!), it DOES merit a 3 on the fun factor (1+5/2). The polish of the game is super and only the whirly camera demon knocks it down to 4 stars.

I didn't see that many reviews up yet for this game, so I will just give you a quick run down about what I have seen so far.

Single Player.

This is true Metal Gear sneaking action. Just think of the previous Metal Gears and you have it. Hiding under the beds, trucks, boxes, (Yes the cardboard boxes are here!) Knocking on walls to get soilders to come investagate. Choke holds... The whole nine yards. This game does it well. The only grip is the camera. I still have a hard time getting use to only having one analog stick, but its getting better. Its the basic PSP *hit the left shoulder button to straighten camera*. But you learn to use it. (There were countless times where I would walk around a corner right into an enemy) You just have to learn to be more patient and look around before you move.
The way you can capture people and have them join your force is a really neat consept. If you need a medical person, go to the hospital, grab one and drag them back to your truck. You get to micro-manage your little army which I personally enjoy. You set what weapons you can have, items, rations, etc.
Besides the "little army" you can amass, the only difference between this edition and the normal console metal gears is that the environments are much smaller. You move to areas on the map and there is a small environment with soliders and buildings that you work through.(Unlike the console metal gears that have vast open levels that you move through) I believe they worked the game like this so people could pick at the game in small pieces if they wanted to. So if you have a short break at work, you can pick it up and play a few levels and then shut her down.

Online -
Finally a PSP game that uses the internet instead of just the ad-hoc mode (which I still have never used!) I haven't played to much of online play, but what I have has been great. Good game types, and no LAG at all. The cool thing about online play is that you use your small army from your single player. So what your guy uses in the single player, you use in the multi-player. Thats a really cool decision in my book, because it rewards the people that actually play the single player, and it make people play the single player so they understand it, before they jump online.

Overall a great game that is worth the price of admission. I know that some PSP games have let you down in the past, but if you are looking for a SOLID title, do yourself and your PSP a favor, and pick this little bad boy up!

All in all...It's a Metal Gear game... they haven't let us down yet!

This is a terrific PSP game not to mention a terrific Metal Gear game. Kudos to Kojima for being willing to support the platform and for doing so with a game rooted in canon. The game does a terrific job of both providing an entertaining narrative as well as excellent gameplay despite the PSP's lack of a second thumbstick.

This game serves as a prequel to the original Metal Gear games (on the MSX system) as well as Metal Gear Solid 1 & 2. It is essentially a sequel to MGS3: Snake Eater, following the exploits of Naked Snake prior to his ascension as Big Boss.

I'm not sure why this game is so rare and difficult to obtain. Japanese publishers like Konami tend be more inclined to discontinuing a game, however, this game is an essential piece of the Metal Gear saga as well as one of the biggest selling and best reviewed PSP titles ever. The good news is, with the forthcoming release of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Sony has finally made this game (as well as it's expansion "Portable Ops Plus") available for digital download through the Playstation store. For those unable to obtain a reasonably priced copy of the UMD version, I highly suggest you download it for a mere $15. As a PSP owner, you'll be glad you did.

The game is pretty much a must-have if you want to play through all of the "canon" story of Metal Gear Solid. It fleshes out Big Boss' character as well as a few others.

Control-wise, I must say it definitely falls short of Metal Gear Solid 3 and 4 due to the limitations of the PSP (no right analog and only two shoulder buttons). It is a bit awkward controlling the camera no matter how you customize the controls, but you get used to it over time.

The overall gameplay is pretty addicting, thanks in no small part to recruiting. That is what I spend most of my game-time doing. The funny thing about recruiting is that it essentially is kidnapping. You knock out an enemy soldier and drag him to your creepy truck.

As you might have guessed (or probably know from elsewhere) in Portable Ops, you control more than just Snake--you get to play as any one of your recruits, except for the guy who is perpetually in the truck. This includes the generic-looking masked soldiers, mechanics, and doctors/scientists as well as the handful of unique story-related characters and secret characters.

Fending off the enemy with firearms feels kind of clunky, but this is because I generally do not use my any guns aside from tranquilizers. My play style involves sneaking around and using CQC (close quarters combat) to knock out the enemy and then recruit them (yes, I recruit every enemy on each map almost all the time).

The game's story is fairly engrossing, especially if you have played the previous games (particularly, MGS3).

Overall, the game is fun and addicting. Controls are pretty good. Gameplay is fun thanks to recruitment and the joy of knocking soldiers out before they know what hit them. And the story is worth your time, especially if you want to get the full Metal Gear Solid experience.

Metal Gear is a video game series that has stood the test of time better than alot of other video game franchises. Its games have gradually matured and grown into a complex world full of political drama and interesting characters. That's not to say the attributes that make it a video game have not improved as well, as its gameplay and graphics have reached cinematic levels not yet reached by many games. All these qualities apply to the latest cannonical installment in the series, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.

The story picks up six years after the previous installment, Snake Eater/Subsistence, with Naked Snake (now known as Big Boss by many) being kidnapped by his ex-unit FOX in South America. Breaking free from his cell he encounters a young green beret called Roy Campbell (who many fans know will become the Colonel Campbell of later installments) and so with his help, Snake must find out what is the reason for his ex-unit's rebellion and subsequently put a stop to their plans. Of course, this description reallys sells the events of the game short so as not to spoil anything important but rest assured, if you are a fan of the series or even a rookie in the Metal Gear mythology, you will definantly enjoy the story.

The gameplay is the big deal to many about this game. It is a return to the tried and true gameplay of the the first 3 installments in the 'Solid' series (as opposed to the card based strategy AC!D games that were previously released on the psp) and so it involves plently of sneaking around enemy guards and grueling boss battles. However, a key difference in this game is the addition of the recruitment system. While on a mission, if a guard is knocked out and taken back to the base of operations, this enemy will eventually become a fully playable member of your cause and you can make this character either a member of your sneaking squad or spy or tech engineer or medic, each with varying purposes. Despite the initial learning curve that the psp controls might place upon first timers (trust me, I had some trouble initially as well), the game is very addictive once the controls have been mastered and so I don't really see them as a hinderance of any kind.

Graphics wise, this game is amazing for a psp game. Kojima Productions somehow managed to shrink the Subsistance game engine for the psp and so with it comes a 3D camera (a second for the Metal Gear series) and so angles are never a problem. Granted, while the psp may be powerful, I doubt it would be able to handle the cutscenes that previous games of the series have established as the norm and so to make up for this fault (if it could even be regarded as that) Kojima and co. hired famed comic book artist Ashley Wood to create the cinematics for this game and I must say they are increidibly meshed with the rest of the game.

In sound, this game excels. The voice acting is done by returning actors of Snake Eater and new actors and each have their great moments. David Hayter as always delivers a great performance as a man thrust into a leadership position in the global arena, fitting for the eventual events of future games and Steven Blum is execellent as Gene, the leader of the new Fox Unit. Voice acting aside, the sounds for this game are great (and might I add very loud for a psp game). The score is remarkbly good and the theme song for this game, Calling to the Night, is something I hope video game music fans will have a chance to listen to at some future vg music concert.

Overall, this game delivers everything a Metal Gear game is supposed to and even adds a gameplay quirk of its own to the series, and that's saying alot considering the platform upon which this was released. Indeed, perhaps the recruitment system of this game might even play a hand in the forthcoming Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. But until we get that game in our hands, rest assured that Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is an excellent game that will surely entertain on its own right.

i would like to just start by saying this is a breathtaking psp title and i would recommend it to fans of the series as well as psp owners despite the missing aspects from classic MGS games.

No this is not an "Acid' game like the previous metal gears for psp but is it really quite so much a classic metal gear game? To be perfectly honest, its a mix of a metal gear acid and metal gear solid game. Although the transition of graphics and sound from the ps2 is absolutely amazing, (the graphics pushing the limit of the psp system to the max) it is missing key elements that veteran MGS fans like myself will be be dissapointed not to have.

First off, the only true MGS element in the game is the gameplay. For the most part, all the classic moves from MGS on the playstation consoles is there (do i even need to go over all of them?) with a different control scheme. (controls refitted for the psp) For this, the game is worth getting for the gameplay is fun, at least the classic MGS elements are. As far as classic MGS gameplay, the thing that takes away from that is the enemy AI. you can literally run 10-15ft in front of them and they will not see you unlike other MGS games where they will see and hear you from 50ft away. The un-fun part for me is the new recruiting system. This is where Konami dissapoints me. Konami for some reason feels that they have to change the classic MG style just because its on the psp instead of a console system, hence the new recruiting system. Now instead of Snake having a good ol' mission to stop terrorists with the elements we have all come to love, you have to play through some of the same mission areas, (yes, the game is divided up into mission levels like the acid series instead of classic MGS games where you just naturally transition through areas) you play through some of the same areas over and over again to recruit soldiers that have specific traits. (Which can be difficult to find sometimes and just ends up feeling like busy work to make the game longer) This can be very frustrating boring and by the time you get enough soldiers with that specific trait, you just want to turn off the psp and play a real MGS game. You can send these soldiers, depending on their traits to do different tasks such as spying and making equipment which is enjoyable at times but overall is not necessary for the already great MGS gameplay and overall takes away more than it gives.

The biggest thing to me thats missing in this game is the classic MGS cutscenes that the console versions are known for. Instead of full motion graphic cinematics, you get comic book drawing scenes that dont get close to bringing that same level of enjoyment and excitement that you get from the iconic MGS cutscenes. Although there are all new voiceovers for these comic book sequences, its just not enough to give them life. Now maybe there isnt enough room on the psp disk to fit the iconic cutscenes (in which case im happy to get what i can), but there are still no in-game cutscenes which takes a chunk away from the advancing story and character development.

Now to the story. The story isn't too bad. (much, much better than the acid stories) it ties into the MGS timeline (with a MGS3 feel) which does give it more depth but while playing through the game, i couldnt shake the feeling that it was more forced into the series just for the sake of making a psp title instead of an actual MGS game that has true meaning and place in the series. While the story does have familiar traits such as bosses with weird abilities and help from other characters using nanomachines,(by the way, none of the conversations using nano are voiced which takes away from it as well, for that can be alot of words to read) you do get a feel of a MGS game somewhat and it is for the most part enjoyable. Another thing that does add to the story is the strong musical score.

Alot of people are automatically giving this game great reviews bacause they're so impressed with the transition from the ps2,(Which, again does look incredible, nearly flawless in terms of graphics/ framerate) and are so happy to have MGS gameplay on a psp that they are blinded by what the game is missing.

Overall, i think this is a good game a an impressive PSP title. Any fan of the series will enjoy it, just dont expect the whole package you'd get from the console version. Can we please just have a regular ol' classic Metal Gear Solid title on the psp??

I do enjoy the MGS series quite a bit, and I've tried numerous occasions to enjoy this game and try to play it through, but it just doesn't do it for me as much as the other games in the series.
First, I made the mistake of wasting my money on Portable Ops Plus, thinking it was updated version (Like MGS2 Substance and MGS3 Subsistence) instead it's more like VR Missions.
Anyway, I finally realized my mistake and purchased this. The graphics look fairly good. The cut scenes, although not animated like the other games, are still halfway decent and watchable. The controls are much different from the other games, and after months of having it, I still can't get used to them. I'm constantly finding myself hitting the wrong buttons at critical moments.
Also, the enemy spots you far too easily. It is almost impossible to be sneaky. Aiming the gun is another pain. I have to admit I haven't gotten very far in the game, and I have tried numerous times, but I just find myself wanting to play the other classic games. I would say it's not for everyone.

Metal Gear Portable ops (MG:PO), for the psp is a great game with an awful control scheme. The PSP has a well documented lack of a second analog nub, so I will not beat that dead horse. Instead I will say I wish PO used the same control scheme as peace walker. There are only two faults with this game, the first being the previously mentioned awful control scheme and the second being the awful camera. Without these two problems this game easily would have gotten five out of five! All that being said if you are a metal gear fan or just looking for a great if not flawed psp game, pick this up. 4 out of 5.

It was too hard to control Snake and his compatriots in this game. The mission structure was nothing like the console iterations of Metal Gear, as levels were self-contained and not free flowing. However, i do realize this is an important plot point later on in Big Boss' life leading to the eventual creation of Outer Heaven. The graphics and animation were excellent however for the portable, but the gameplay is restrictive and frankly boring.

But, if you're an avid MGS fan, you must own this game, as it is part of the canon storyline.