This year has been bumpy for PSP's line up og games but here we are at it's very end. I'm back to review one of my favorite games for the Playstation Portable and I'm happy that it's MPO or Metal Gear Portable Ops.
MPO is a sequel to the PS2 game Metal Gear Solid 3 : Snake Eater, and it plays quite the same. Naked Snake, or *SPOILERS!* Big Boss *END SPOILERS* returns with an improved sneaking suit and a set mind to stop the a Metal Gear.
The controls are very "solid" if you will. You move around with the nub, the face buttons allow you to shoot, switch stances+ weapons, and perform actions. THe L and are buttons are used to go into strafe mode while using a weapon and a first person mode where you shoot with your current weapon (in this mode you can strafe using the d-pad) My only gripe with the game is that the PSP's lack of a second nub, that you can't control movement and the camera at the same time. This will prove frustrating to play the game if you like manipulating the camera.
The gameplay itslef is very entertaining. Missions are usually short and sweet, lasting from 5 mins to 15 mins depending on the mission and on your skill level as a gamer. The missions usually comprise of you taking a team of 4 and retrieving a weapon, rescuing a prisoner, blow up a building or something along those lines. But where does the team come from?
MPO features an innovative way to play. Like Pokemon you can capture enemies. Snake realizes that he needs help to stop Metal Gear. In every mission you start by a truck, if you knock somebody out you can drag them back to the truck and after interrrogation they will be part of your team. Another way to recruit new soldiers is to find wifi hot spots and you can download a recruit from that area unique to each game. You can also trade with other MPO'ers by simply trading or putting a soldier into sleep trade and it'll trade with another person in the same mode automactically.
Your new recruits can be enlisted into several squads: Sneaking, Spies, Medics, Tech. Spies will gather information on where you palce them providing you with information on where weapons are, Medics will provide rations and med kits, and Tech provide explosives,and ammo. In between missions, you can chose to wait a period of 3 half hours depending on whether you like to play the mission in day or night. During these waiting periods your squads will provide you on what they produce.
Sadly I haven't touch online yet, as I wanted to finish Story Mode first and the Story is so full of twists and turns that I didn't want to put the PSP down. The cut scenes are told in a stylistic moving comic style. It is fully voiced by the original cast of Snake Eater and is quite epic to a point. The story progresses at a quick pace and is thrilling full of interesting cast of baddies you know you'll eventually have to tangle with.
In short, MPO is a fantastic entry to the Metal Gear Solid series full of plot twists, excellent game play, an innovative recruitment feature (I took my PSP everywhere with me just to find wifi points so I could start recruiting) and will justify your purchase. The only dowfall is the controls but the blame would go to the PSP.
Do yourself a favor and throw down the cash for this game, it's a sure hit!
Excellent review! I'd go buy this right NOW if I didn't already own it . Thanks for taking the time to write it and it's obvious you thought it through. I'd have to agree, the control issues are the PSP's design. Well done.
Really really like this game, the only gripe I have with it is with the lack of pressure-sensitive buttons, there's apparently not a way to break an enemies neck, or way to slit their throat even though you can still take it out to interrogate them. Nothing major though, best so far in my oppinion.
its about sneaking, sneaking, sneaking, and sneaking.. oh and.. did i mention sneaking ?.. hehehe.. buy this game dude, you wont regret it.. its the best game at the moment..
Hey, guys! Thanks for the comments. I've played MGS: Online finally and I'm disapointed. I was expecting capture the kerropi, and team capture the kerropi. Nope, all I sad was Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, and with the leaked passwords for unique characters, a small minority is using the grunts. Most players are playing as Snake, and the bosses with their sweet HP. It's not that bad though. Since not many want to lose their characters, you should expect to see more Virtual Combat rooms. It's a nice to play for a few, but if you want to get competitive, replay the game a few times to get some weapons. Oh yea, headshots from anything is a one shot kill. Happy slaughtering! Oh by the way, sorry for the huge amounts of spelling and grammar errors in the review.
bhudda1227 said: "and with the leaked passwords for unique characters, a small minority is using the grunts. Most players are playing as Snake, and the bosses with their sweet HP"
So you can loose your character that you build up? How does that work? It doesn't sound like the Socom expierence where all players are on an even playing field.
same gripe as buddah,i earned an s ranked soldier and its worthless online because the stats are just too low.even w mission growth i'll never be able to use my number one competetively
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. Thanks for taking the time to write it and it's obvious you thought it through. I'd have to agree, the control issues are the PSP's design. Well done.