Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

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Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Developer(s)	Kojima Productions
Publisher(s)	Konami
Designer(s)	Masahiro Yamamoto (director) Noriaki Okamura (producer)
Series	Metal Gear
Release date(s)	December 5, 2006 December 21, 2006 January 31, 2007 May, 2007
Genre(s)	Stealth-action
Mode(s)	Single player, online multiplayer
Rating(s)	CERO: C ESRB: M
Platform(s)	PlayStation Portable
Media	UMD
System requirements	PSP Firmware 2.81

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (officially abbreviated MPO) is a stealth-based game published by Konami and developed by Kojima Productions for the PlayStation Portable released in the US on December 5, 2006 and in Japan on December 21, 2006. It is the third Metal Gear title for the PlayStation Portable and the first one to retain the series' action-based gameplay. It is also the first canonical outing of the series for a portable platform (that is not adapted from a previous game), being a direct sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. It was originally planned as a new non-franchise title.^[1]

[edit] Gameplay

Unlike Metal Gear Acid and its sequel, which were turn-based strategy games with stealth elements, MPO retains the action-based gameplay from the console iterations, drawing heavily from Snake Eater and utilizing the camera system from Subsistence.

The main addition to MPO is the "Comrade System". Instead of the solo-based missions that the series is known for, MPO goes for a squad-based approach, with Snake having to recruit his own allies and form his own team of trained specialists. At the beginning of each mission, the player must compose a four-man squad, which, at the player's option, includes Snake himself. The desired squad is then sent into the battlefield. Each member of Snake's squad has their own strengths and weaknesses. While some units are best utilized on the battlefield, others may specialize in producing items, healing allies, or providing intel for each of the game's maps.

During gameplay, the player controls only one squad member at a time. The squad members not in use hide themselves inside a cardboard box, and can be swapped into play when the player-controlled character finds a "hiding spot", where they can hide in their own cardboard box.

Characters who are killed in combat are eliminated from the player's squad permanently. The player can abort the mission if they feel one of their comrades is dying, or they may choose to restart the mission if a favorite character has died (similar to Fire Emblem games). However, this does not apply to major plot-based characters, who instead of being eliminated from the team, are sent into the infirmary to recover.

A variety of methods can be employed to expand one's squad. If an enemy character is tranquilized or stunned, they can be dragged to a waiting pick-up truck and captured. After a period of game time, the captured soldier will become a member of Snake's team. Also, enemy characters can be dragged to an ally waiting in a cardboard box, where, through the use of a transceiver frequency, they will be ordered to transport the enemy for the player, saving stamina. Alternatively, by accessing the PSP in certain hotspots using the system's Wi-Fi feature, soldiers and even special bonus characters can be recruited. The PSP GPS Receiver can also be used to similar effect. Because some of the player's recruits include former enemy soldiers or personnel, they can walk among the enemy undetected as long as the player avoids doing suspicious actions.

Another new feature is the surround indicator added to the game's HUD. Similar to the radar in previous titles, the surround indicator allows players to determine the relative proximity of enemy soldiers by the noises they make. The surround indicator is composed of two circles; the outer circle displays the noises made by enemies and inner circle displays noises made by the player themself.

The game also contains a Wi-Fi-enabled multiplayer mode, which is an expansion of the "Metal Gear Online" mode previously featured in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. One's performance in the Online Mode affects their performance in the single player campaign; the player can recruit and trade soldiers from beaten opponents, or vice-versa. Additionally, certain multiplayer options result in recruits being removed from the one's single player roster permanently (see below).

An example cutscene from Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops, here we see an aged Big Boss (Naked Snake) with Metal Gear TX-55 shown partially in the backround

In contrast to the console games in the series, the cutscenes that drive the story are not rendered using the in-game engine. Instead, they are presented using an animated comic style comprised of hand-drawn artwork by artist Ashley Wood; this style was previously utilized in Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel. The game also features full voice acting, consisting of returning cast members from Snake Eater and new actors. However, only the cutscenes and certain in-game sections are voiced, whereas the radio conversations between characters are text-only due to PSP's UMD storage capacity constraints.

[edit] Plot

[edit] Characters

Further information: Characters in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

Naked Snake (voiced by David Hayter) reprises his role as protagonist from Snake Eater. While already awarded with the title of Big Boss, he refuses to use that title himself and still goes by his old codename. Snake is forced to fight off his former unit, FOX, after they instigate a revolt in a South American base. Snake's primary ally is Roy Campbell (v.b. David Agranov), a surviving member of the Green Berets team that was sent to neutralize the FOX unit.

The main antagonist is Gene (v.b. Steve Blum), who became the central member of the FOX unit after Snake left the unit and seeks to acquire the remaining half of the Philosopher's Legacy to establish his own military nation. Gene is a product of the Successer Project which was a project to artificially create a perfect commander. The other members of the FOX unit consist of Cunningham (v.b. Noah Nelson), an expert in the arts of interrogation; Null (v.b. Larc Spies), a teenaged assassin trained to be the perfect soldier. He is revealed to be Gray Fox in the game; Python (v.b. Dwight Schultz), a former war buddy of Snake that was previously presumed dead during the Vietnam War; and Ursula (v.b. Tara Strong), a young woman gifted with extraordinary ESP abilities along with her twin sister Elisa (also v.b. Tara Strong).

In addition to the above characters, several supporting characters from Metal Gear Solid 3 return in the game as well. Some of them contribute to the main plot, while others are just guest characters who only appear after completing certain side-missions. Virtually every major character in the game can added to the player's squad either by fulfulling certain requirements or by inputting passwords. Hidden characters can also be recruited, including Teliko Friedman and Venus, the respective heroines from Metal Gear Acid and its sequel.

European version: This version of the game will contain extra characters and levels.

[edit] Story

Six years after the events of "Operation: Snake Eater", portrayed in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Naked Snake's former team, FOX Unit, has broken their allegiance with the CIA and had gone renegade. Snake himself is also targeted by the FOX Unit, which sent renegade FOX Unit soldiers to attack and capture him. The game begins with Snake being tortured and interrogated by one of the members of FOX, Lieutenant Cunningham, who's trying to locate the whereabouts of the missing half of the Philosopher's Legacy, with the United States Government having already acquired the other half of the Legacy from the Soviet Union at the conclusion of Snake Eater. Snake is imprisoned in a cell next to Roy Campbell, the sole survivor of an American Green Beret team sent in to investigate the base. Snake learns through Roy that they're on the San Hieronymo Peninsula, the site of an abandoned Soviet missile silo in Colombia.

The two escape and Snake makes his way to a communications base, where he attempts to contact his old CO, Major Zero. Instead, he is greeted by his old FOX comrades Para-Medic and Sigint, who reveal that Snake and Zero are being accused of instigating the revolt and that the only way for Snake to clear their name is to find and apprehend the leader of the rebellion, Gene. To complicate matters, Gene has also convinced several of the Russian soldiers stationed on the base to join their side by simply taking over the chain of command of a former Red Army unit, that was secretly stationed inside the Colombian territory. In order to complete his mission, Snake must persuade enemy soldiers to join his ranks.

Snake and his squad defeat the top members of the FOX unit and eventually they make their way into Gene's guesthouse. Snake learns many things on his way. Cunningham was working for the Pentagon and wanted Snake to push Gene into launching a nuke to Russia to prolong the Cold War (so the Pentagon could keep their importance). Gene was actually aware of this plan the whole time from information from Ocelot. Gene really wanted to launch a nuke at America to destroy the Philosophers and to make his nation of soldiers, "Army's Heaven". Snake destroys an experimental model of Metal Gear codenamed RAXA and eventually defeats Gene, destroying the real Metal Gear itself as well afterwards. After Gene is defeated he gives Big Boss the funds, equipments, personal, and all other information of Army's Heaven. On his return home, Snake is awarded for his actions and establishes FOXHOUND afterwards. In the end it is revealed Ocelot kills the DCI and takes the Philosophers documents to end them. He, Big Boss, and an unknown man form the Patriots in their place. Ocelot actually wanted the trajectory data of the nuke to point to the DCI so he would bring the documents right to him.

[edit] Audio

Portable Ops' musical score was composed by Norihiko Hibino, Takahiro Izutani, Yoshitaka Suzuki, Kazuma Hinnouchi, Nobuko Toda and Akihiro Honda. The ending theme ("Calling To The Night") was composed by Akihiro Honda and arranged by Norihiko Hibino and Akihiro Honda, with vocals by Natasha Farrow and lyrics by Nobuko Toda.

The original soundtrack CD for Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops was released in Japan on December 20, 2006. It contains 44 tracks.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Sales

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops did extremely well in its first week of sales. It debuted at #1 in North America and in Japan in all PSP video game sales.^[12] The title ranked high in preorder numbers in Japan, and has sold 178,370 copies in Japan in the first 3 days. This is highly notable for a game on the PSP as most games have been recorded peak at 30,000 initial sales in the first week.

[edit] Awards

• Received IGN's awards for:
  • Best Story on PlayStation Portable in 2006 ^[13]
  • Best Dowloadable Content on PlayStation Portable in 2006 ^[14]
  • Numerous reader's choice awards, including Best PlayStation Portable game in 2006 ^[15]
• Received GameSpot's award for best PlayStation Portable game of 2006 ^[16]
• Received Game Informer's award for Handheld Game of the Month for February 2007^[10]

[edit] Sequel

Prior to the release of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, IGN conducted an interview asking if there would be a sequel if game proved to be popular. The response was:

MPO assistant producer Ryan Payton co-hosted an episode of the PSM audio podcast and said that if the sales of MPO were high enough, a follow-up would be made. ^[18]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

• Official MPO Website
• Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Reviews at Metacritic
• Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops at GameFAQs