Platform: PSP

Genre: Strategy

Number of Players: 1 - 2

Snake is just popping up all over the place. Those who slacked on buying Metal Gear Solid 3 now have the chance at a new version of the game filled with additional features, and for the crowd that has been sucked into the world of the PSP; Metal Gear Acid makes a return appearance. If you never played Acid though, there is a little warning, and this is NOT the Metal Gear that you are accustomed to playing on the consoles. Konami has designed the Acid series of games as turn based card games, but that doesn’t eliminate the challenge. In fact, it can make Snake’s adventures even more grueling.

Metal Gear Acid 2 (or MGA2) finds Snake is a rather difficult position. Somewhere along the line, the elite mercenary has lost his memory and fallen in with what may very well be the wrong crowd. After entering back into the United States, Snake and his new friends have found themselves arrested by the FBI and facing extradition back to the country they fled from. However, FBI agent Dalton has a job for Snake, and should he succeed, the group will be allowed to simply slip away.

The job seems easy, and all Snake needs to do is sneak into a high-tech lab, grab some computer files to prove the company is guilty of human trafficking, and get out. For Snake . . . . jobs are never that easy. One of the company’s high ranking officials is now threatening to use nuclear weapons, the operation has been overtaken by another sector of the government, and there’s talk of a weapon called “Metal Gear,” a name that Snake knows for some reason, but he can’t quite figure out why.

There were some MGS fans that were quite upset that the game went from stealth to turn based card game, but it really does translate quite well. More or less, the game plays virtually identical to the first MGA, but if you’ve forgotten, Snake will go through some VR training that will refresh your memory or get newcomer accustomed to how the game plays. As the start of the mission, you are dealt a hand, and you’ll see a number of different items and ever characters from the MGS universe. There are a number of things to keep in mind however, and that’s what makes the game more challenging that simply sneaking around.

The turned based missions will have you performing a number of tasks, and the way they work is actually very simple. Each turn you can play the cards you have in your hand allowing you to move, crawl, or even use CQC (closed quarters combat.) The cards have a certain number of points that will be taken from your total each turn, but the cards serve other purposes as well. Some cards can be equipped, such as weapons and body armor, giving you a slight advantage. If you have a weapon equipped for example and are attacked, you will counter it. Other cards, like rations, can be played to replenish Snake’s hit points and others have special abilities. Let’s say you have The Fury (from MGS3) in your deck, you can opt to use it to move or use it as a weapon, a flamethrower in this case.

Although the turned based action isn’t what most fans are accustomed to seeing, save for the fans of the original Metal Gear Acid, Snake is capable of performing virtually every action for the games. You can knock on walls to distract enemies, you sneak along walls to avoid being seen by cameras, and you knock enemies out cold if necessary, and you can hang from areas while guards pass right by you. More or less, if you’ve seen Snake do it in a past game, he will be doing it here as well, and there is also yet another pretty female face show up; Venus.

Completion of the games stages will reward you with a number of things. First, there are cards that are earned based on your performance which will be added into your available cards, but also be on the lookout for cards lying about in the stages as well. Finishing a stage will also unlock it so you can replay it in a number of different modes. You will also be awarded points that can be used to purchase cards or improve those already in your possession. Snake is limited to the number of cards he can have in his deck, but you can tailor it to your needs or simply allow the game to put together the best possible deck for you. The card shop will also let you buy packs of cards or singles (thanks to a hacker under the name B.B.) and there are a few other tricks to get you more cards to play around with. If you have a save from the previous MGA, you can import the data to give you more cards, and MGA2 also can be linked into Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence to download even more rare cards for your deck. The possibilities become virtually limitless on what you can put together, but remember that you are also limited to the number of the same card you can hold in a deck. Upgrading and swapping out cards is always something that players should be doing between stages especially as the game moves forward and Snake is faced with tougher battles and deadly opponents. Overall, MGA2 has 500 different cards that can be earned, found, or imported making getting them all quite a challenge, but part of the fun.

Snake has a few more things going on for him however hat simply dealing with yet another possible terrorist threat and a Metal Gear. Arena battle will put Snake face-to-face with some of his most deadly foes from the past. Think it’s going to be easy? Not necessarily, and Snake will be fighting alone against not one, but two opponents at a time. If you want to take things one step further, you can fight against a friend and go deck against deck.

I know what a number of people were curious about when Metal Gear Acid 2 was first mentioned was the 3D mode. The images showed a PSP that looked like a Viewmaster, but this new mode isn’t nearly as impressive as what you might have assumed. The 3D viewer is simply a piece of cardboard that can be set up like a box to fit over the PSP. You do however need to see the Solid Eye Icon appear in order to use this mode, and it certainly isn’t easy to play the game in this fashion, in fact, it’s actually rather annoying. It’s a good idea, but it isn’t one that is necessarily pulled off with this game. This is more of a gimmick than anything else, and MGA2 can be played just as easily without the use of the Solid Eye Mode. Actually, I’d recommend that it isn’t used as all, and the novelty really does wear thin quite quickly.

The look of Metal Gear Acid 2 hasn’t changed too much from the original game. The cutscenes are done in an anime fashion, still making me wonder just why it is that Konami of Japan has yet to have the popular franchise retold in an anime series of some sort. It’s not the same Snake some might be used to seeing, but it honestly works extremely well for this format. The gameplay on the other hand looks a little closer to the Metal Gear that fans have known and loved for a number of years now, but the blending of two different styles doesn’t hurt the game in the least, and it actually gives it a much more unique approach that you would think.

The first Metal Gear Acid was quite an innovative title, but the sequel actually improves just about every aspect of the game, especially the gameplay. If you loved the original game, the follow up is going to have you addicted all over again. For those that have been apprehensive however about the change from the console to the portable, this might be the right dose of Acid that makes you a believer.

 

-mike-