Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops | 
| From: Konami
Buy New: $24.64
New (15) Used (9) from $23.98
Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 326
Format: Playstation
Platform: Sony Psp
Genre: Military and Espionage Action Games
ESRB: Mature
Media: Video Game
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 17 - 20 years
Operating System: Sony PSP
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.1 x 0.6
MPN: 26031
Model: 26031
UPC: 083717260318
EAN: 0083717260318
ASIN: B000HKMG14
Release Date: December 5, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Extensive single-player storyline, unveiling a lost chapter in the Metal Gear Solid saga | | • | New MGS gameplay elements such as the Surround Radar system | | • | Online multiplayer mayhem - Team Death Match, Death Match, and Capture Mission | | • | Acquire new squad members for use in single and multiplayer modes by connecting to Wi-Fi access points | | • | Animated cinematic scenes illustrated by world-renown artist Ashley Wood |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops boasts ground-breaking online play that lets gamers recruit comrades to form a unique fighting force. The game follows the events of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, as Naked Snake establishes FOXHOUND in an attempt to hunt down the treacherous FOX unit, which has started a bloody revolt in South America. Set in 1970, the game will be the missing link in the ongoing Metal Gear saga, as players will learn more about returning characters such as Para-Medic, Major Zero and Sigint and also witness Naked Snake's greatest tragedy -- a loss that sets into motion the events of later games in the Metal Gear Solid timeline. Full voiceovers for cinematics, performed by returning cast from MGS3 - Snake Eater
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| Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...
 Canon Content with Nice Graphics December 16, 2006
Lisa Shea
28 out of 31 found this review helpful
"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.
A Great Game, But Only If You're Hardcore May 30, 2007
Cap'n Stoob (USA)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
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.
 AN EXPERIENCE IN FRUSTRATION January 24, 2007
Red Wings 10 Cups (Florida, USA)
11 out of 45 found this review helpful
Some background about my past experiences with Metal Gear games are as follows, plus some other notes:
- I am ONLY INTERESTED in single-player games/features only! So this review is based upon the single-player aspect of MGS:PO.
- I returned the game prior to level 3 (after the communications tower level), because I couldn't stand the controls. So based on that...
-I absolutely LOVED METAL GEAR SOLID for the PSX. It was challenging, but not overly crazy impossible. There were so many cool, and new gaming techniques (like the controller up to the arm part) that set this game in the upper echelon of game development. The story, the different methods to get past certain areas, etc...A TRUE METAL GEAR CLASSIC!
-METAL GEAR SOLID 2 for the PS2, tried to emulate it's predecessor, and came up short, but was still a fun game (albeit one that many fans were upset about...Raiden...) Overall, not nearly as good as the PSX game.
-METAL GEAR SOLID 3 SNAKE EATER was a pure BOREFEST. Sneaking around the jungle feeding on various vegetation and animals was tedious. Where did all THE FUN AND ACTION GO??? Very big disappointment.
So now on to PORTABLE OPS...you can see where this is going, and why I bought this game is beyond me. I will probably never buy another MGS game again.
The controls are an absolute disaster! I consider myself pretty good at gaming, but this just did not translate to the PSP very well. When I needed to make quick kills or was in a shootout...forget it! A wrong button or a wrong turn and you're spotted; and once that happens, it's over for ya! Again, the game is not very fun. Graphics are subpar, and most environments appear very empty and bare.
I did dig the cutscenes, though! They are in a comic-book style fashion, and definitely kept me interested in the game.
There is a Metal Gear digital comic available and I would recommend that one, as well as either METAL GEAR AC!D games, both of those are good, as well.
Sorry, MGS fans...this one's for the bargain bins!!
 like dying ? February 18, 2008
Sometimer
5 out of 11 found this review helpful
i highly recommend MGS Ops for those pro gamers driving feraris they've won and the amateur gamers who like the feeling , say, of trying to play medal of honor online with a dial up connection only to be sniped in the head from a bell tower before they show up on their own screen. if you like that feeling there'll be plenty of it in MSG POPS. Good luck.
i'm into stealth, patience, stategy and all that but i just don't get MGS Ops. i read the reviews and was psyched to spend the next six months mastering this game but the price is just too steep. i have been playing for six hours now and when i'm not dragging bodies to the truck i'm getting my recruits slaughtered.as soon as you're spotted it's either another hour of your young life spent building a team down the drain (and another hour of hauling bodies around at a snail's pace to look forward to) or a chase with ensuing long wait for the alert to clear (like long loading times? like watching a progress bar? then you'll love alert clearings). where's the fun in that? as far as learning curves being steep goes, there is no curve here. it's a sheer cliff.
i sensed trouble right away when even the buttons to select options in the title menu were screwey (X, konami, not O) and things only got worse from there. never did figure out how to climb a crate to retrieve stuff (how bout a bit of training, konami? just trying to shake out the newbies, eh?). even now with my blood pressure through the roof due to my most recent slaughter, i'm tempted to go back and try again. does that make it a great game? hardly. i just played the demo from Logan's Shadow and it was like second nature putting heads out and shooting around corners - a satisfying pleasure in its own right heightened immeasurably by a crummy MGS Ops experience. MGS with its awkward controls and useless "stealth" tactics is lame by comparison with the ease of use in the Syphon series. i just can't for the life of me understand how i can be so wrong about this game. it's almost as if i got a defective copy.i hate the redwings (except for chris chelios) but that guy was right when he summed this thing up as an exercise in frustration. my girlfriend won't allow me to play it in her presence even on the plane because of how aggravated it gets me. i wanted to love it. i really did.
the killer is how much of a wimp you feel like when you think of shelving it. "there must be something to it that everyone is loving. maybe just one more try," you think only to wind up caught in the end again barely resisting the urge to smash your white vader PSP against the wall. hate to be a baby but it's too much for me. anyone know how to climb a crate?
there's no fine aiming (in effect), you spend an eternity in limbo going from your belly to your feet and back again by accident and crawling around in circles, and then some of the levels are so simple you wonder if you've been giving the game more credit than it deserves. it's bizarro world. i'm giving it 2 stars because the graphic cut scenes, menu graphics, and story are dead cool. sound design is good and going byt he walkthroughs i've browsed, there are tons of missons (depth).i guess that's why i don't wanna give up on it yet.sheesh. time for the cheats then...
i know MGS Ops has it's rabid fans and i may just be a shootem up sore loser (okay, i...guess i am) so apologies to those guys and respect since to see this game through really does take metal gear (heh).
next review: poco loco :P
 Solid December 26, 2006
Sean A. Rhodes (Aurora, Colorado)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
When Metal Gear first came to the PSP with Metal Gear Acid, the result was widely mixed. Metal Gear fans waited for a true game worthy of the Metal Gear name on the PSP. Now we've got it. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Which is everything a handheld Metal Gear game should be and more. There are few PSP games out there as good as this.
Six years after the events of Snake Eater, the U.S. government has secured half of the Philosophers legacy. The other half, however, is still out there somewhere. The FOX unit believes that Snake knows the whereabouts of the other half, and so they capture him. There's a lot of gold here. The story is everything you expect from a Metal Gear game. Deep. Enduring, and full of plot twists and conversations that will blow your mind. Portable Ops, like other MGS games, is a very memorable story that will beg for you to play through the game again.
The game has a breathtaking look to it. It looks almost exactly like the MGS games on the PS2. There aren't that many PSP games out there that look this good. It is a great looking game, that doesn't falter too much when running. It's also a great sounding game too. Technologically, Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops is a huge advancement in portable gaming.
The story isn't told by traditional means, though. Normally, a Metal Gear Solid game is told through fantastic cutscenes with great voice acting. Portable Ops isn't able to present this entirely. Instead you've got still-life cutscenes similar to a comic book. This carries the story on. At first it feels strange, but in the end it works really well for Portable Ops. The artistic style is amazing, and the story is still really deep. However, what's more astonishing about Portable Ops is that because of how the cutscenes are done, there actually is more time to actually play the game. That's a treat because Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops has fantastic Gameplay mechanics.
Portable Ops feels like your typical Metal Gear Solid game in severals ways. You sneak around, outwit your guards in ways such as knocking on walls or incapacitating them. Most of the mechanics found in Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 are here, but there's a twist to the gameplay that certainly works for the better. As you go through the game, you'll have to recruit soldiers who support your campaign. You'll then send teams to certain areas to fulfill certain objectives.
Most characters feel the same, but some of them use different types of weapons and armor. Everyone can pull off the same moves, but their arsenal may differ from character to character. As you go through the game you'll take control of more than just one character. This not only adds variety to the gameplay, but strategy as well.
One of Metal Gear Solid's highest points is its epic boss battles. Portable Ops certainly has some memorable bosses, but these boss battles are no where near as satisfying as Metal Gear Solid 3's intense battles. They're fun, but there's not so much strategy required as you might think. There's nothing in this game that gives you the feeling of fighting "The End" or Psycho Mantis, but they are indeed some of the games highest points.
Online play works similar to Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. It's very fierce and intense, but if you ever need a break from the main story, it's there for you. There's a deathmatch (as well as with teams) and capture the flag. All of it is some fun stuff. There's also a strategy game called Cyber-Survival where you'll assemble a team and take on an opponent in a strategy based setting. The Cyber-Survival may very well be one of the finer aspects of the online play.
It's about time a portable Metal Gear game was done right. From its absorbing story to its fantastic gameplay, Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops is the portable Metal Gear game that Metal Gear fans have been waiting for. This a portable Metal Gear game done right.
The Good
+Beautiful looking game
+The art style used in the cutscenes is greate
+Addictive online multiplayer
+Absorbing storyline
+Fantastic new gameplay mechanics
The Bad
-It isn't really all that bad, but the game doesn't feature the visually striking cutscenes that are used in the Playstation 2 games
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