Solid Snake has
been sneaking around on the PSP before but the adventures weren’t exactly the
way we remembered it. No, Metal Gear Solid Ac!d and its equally
interesting sequel were turn-based stealth/action games that used cards and your
sharp wits rather than your quick thumbs. Still, fans just couldn’t help but
wish they would take the gameplay style of the console games and fit it on a UMD.
Thankfully, fans got their wish last year with Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
… a true Metal Gear Solid game and one of the best PSP action games
available. Instead of rolling out a sequel, though, Konami brings us a
stand-alone expansion called Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus that is
comes to us at a budget price.
Raiden: “Boy, did I make a wrong
turn.”
Still, the
budget price does not mean we’re getting all the bells and whistles of the
original. You see, Portable Ops Plus doesn’t offer the same experience
the original game offered nor does it fix any of the problems that plagued the
first PSP offering. This is, of course, simply an expansion. This means this one
simply offers more multiplayer maps, a few single-player missions and new
characters to recruit. You can even import your favorite characters from the
original Portable Ops to add more characters to the already plentiful
lineup of characters.
Like the
original, the expansion continues to take place in the same timeframe. That is,
it takes places directly after the events seen in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake
Eater. Portable Ops brought together the familiar elements that make
up the Solid Snake era such as the FOXHOUND unit and the man who Solid Snake
will come to know as Colonel Roy Campbell. In the single-player mode, you can
import your old experienced unit or start anew with a fresh team as a young
Campbell offers new missions via Codex. Really, the single-player missions are
simply training exercises for the multiplayer game. It is here where you will
learn the finer points of stealth, completing mission objectives and
“recruiting” enemies (you can knock out any enemy and drag them into a truck
where the enemy will be persuaded to join your side).
As I mentioned
above there are new characters to recruit. In fact, the new characters come
directly from Hideo Kojima’s past Metal Gear Solid games as well as soldiers and
characters from the upcoming fourth title, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the
Patriots. That also includes the Guns’ version of Solid Snake who has
aged considerably. There are new weapons to use as well, many of which make
stealth kills far more effective or sniper rifles with a better range for those
who prefer to take out the enemy from afar.
“Um, mommy, Grandpa’s doing that
crazy war flashback thing again.”
Control-wise,
the game remains the same. You can still flatten yourself against a wall,
perform a throw down when you catch your enemy off guard or even use an enemy as
a human shield. You can still drag unconscious enemies where patrols won’t find
them or eliminate them with precision by going into first-person view. Once
again, you will also have to struggle with the awful camera you have to manually
move around. Mixing and matching a four-member squad that includes personnel
from the medical unit, technical unit, spy unit as well as a sneaking unit. Each
specialist plays a key role in helping his or her team in any given situation in
both the single-player and multiplayer mode.
Online, the game
still flows smoothly and without framerate stutter. Up to six players can still
take each another on in game modes such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture
Mission and Team Capture Mission. There’s also Shooting Range, a mode that
allows you to improve your shooting skills. The game modes allows players to use
characters they used in the original game or ones they manage to unlock and
upgrade from this expansion. As an expansion, there are new maps – many of them
great additions that will surely be fan favorites for returning gamers.
Graphically,
Portable Ops Plus looks just like the original game and that’s not a bad
thing at all considering the fact that the original looked a lot like the PS2
Metal Gear Solid games. Everything from the character models to the
backgrounds and visual effects are true to the series and there are a number of
cool surprises for fans including characters and elements from nearly every game
in the series (and, yes, that means the upcoming PS3 game). What also makes a
return, however, are the heavy clipping problems that have body parts
disappearing into walls or other graphical glitches like passing right through
unconscious enemies.
“When I said everyone get dressed
to kill I didn’t mean it literally.”
If the visuals
are familiar territory for fans of the franchise then so is the game’s
soundtrack. The score is still wonderfully cinematic and dramatic enough to make
enemy encounters even more exciting in the single-player game. The dialogue,
sadly, is still done in text rather than use familiar voices but at least the
sound effects are wonderfully detailed and come out nicely through the PSP
speakers.
For those gamers
and fans of Kojima’s much-loved Metal Gear Solid franchise who
enthusiastically played the living daylights out of the Portable Ops,
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus adds more of the same but there just
isn’t enough to rival the main game. As an expansion, Portable Ops Plus
simply inserts a few extras that will extend your Portable Ops experience
so this one is more for the hardcore fan who just couldn’t get enough. Everyone
else can just pick up a copy of the main game and decide for themselves if this
bargain-priced add-on is worth the money.
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Gameplay: 7.0
The game plays
just like Portable Ops did and this includes the flaws and glitches found
in the original. Still, there are some mouth-watering single-player missions to
tackle and it’s a blast unlocking and playing Metal Gear Solid 4 “old”
Solid Snake. The heart of the game is it’s multiplayer mode and the new maps and
action make for a good time.
Graphics: 8.0
Visually, the
game looks as good as the PS2 games and that’s saying a lot. Not only do the
character models really stand out but so do the environments and visual effects.
There are still some clipping problems and a few pop-up issues that show up
frequently.
Sound: 7.5
The typical
Metal Gear Solid-styled soundtrack can be found in Portable Ops Plus,
which is a very good thing but the game still could have benefited from the
voice cast such as David Hayter as Naked and Solid Snake. At least the sound
effects will be familiar to any MGS fan.
Difficulty:
Medium
This is still
a surprisingly challenging game no matter what difficulty setting you pick or
what rank you happen to fall under in this game. As a single-player game, the AI
is bright on occasions and you will certainly come to learn that stealth is a
key to your survival.
Concept: 7.0
All the major
elements from Portable Ops is back including recruiting enemies to your
cause as well as managing your own specialized squad in single-player mode. You
can import characters and other goodies from the original as well. There are
also more maps, weapons and a number of other characters from all the major
Metal Gear Solid games including the upcoming fourth title.
Multiplayer:
8.0
Like the
original game, online multiplayer is the main mode and it is here where you’ll
play alongside a squad of friends. There are new maps and characters you can use
and things run smoothly enough. Still, you won’t help but feel that the original
had more depth to the action.
Overall: 7.0
Metal Gear
Solid: Portable Ops Plus
for the PSP might not be as deep or as juicy as it’s core game
but this expansion has enough extras to make this budget title a worthy addition
if you’re a MGS fan. Still, even with the reasonable price tag, you won’t
help but feel that there could have been more to this title or at least it could
have ironed out all the problems found in the original.
