Metal Gear Acid

"Snake’s debut on the PSP is more than solid."

Nintendo has always dominated the handheld market. Companies like Sega and Nokia have challenged Nintendo for the handheld market, but these companies were quickly disposed of and literally destroyed. That is right; Nintendo basically has a monopoly on the handheld market. When Sony decided to challenge Nintendo in the handheld market, I thought to myself, what is Sony thinking? The Nintendo brand would engulf them and their handheld would be unsuccessful. Well, I will be the first to admit I am wrong. After seeing the PSP's capabilities and Sony's launch lineup, I was definitely interested. However, given the price, I was a little weary to give myself to a handheld that quickly. After falling for the hype and purchasing one along with Metal Gear Acid and Wipeout Pure, I can say without a doubt that the PSP in one fine system. Let me put it to you this way; the PSP is here to stay. Whether you like it or not, the PSP is unlike any other competitors that have challenged Nintendo's portable systems. Patched with Sony's brand name and an exceptional launch lineup, the PSP is a force to be reckoned with. Beware Nintendo; you have a serious competitor in Sony's PSP.

Metal Gear in a new direction

Being a moderate fan of the series, I had always felt that the Metal Gear series had too much vivid imagery so to speak for its own good. At times I felt the story was being forced and it seemed to overshadow the stealthy mechanics. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, but I felt that there was too much watching and not enough playing. However, even with that said, Konami has always found a way to satisfy its customer, whether it is through its core mechanics or at times its seemingly cohesive and interesting story. Through an aphorism of stealth mechanics, mishmash with a well rounded card base system, Metal Gear Acid emits a certain jive and witticism that will surely keep players enthralled in its exhilarating experience. Metal Gear Acid steps into a new direction for the series, but enough of its stylish mechanics remain true to its roots that fans of the series will not be disappointed. Through a mishmash of stealth and card base strategy, Metal Gear Acid found a way to blend these two types of genre with great fluidity and complexity.

At first glance, Metal Gear Acid looks conspicuously like its home console predecessors. One's view will quickly change as they notice the cards that are present. Metal Gear Acid utilizes both cards and a turn base system. In the very beginning, the tersely combat system will show off Acid's new direction. Is it even possible? How can Konami successfully blend two conflicting genres and still expect the game to be any good? We have all heard about turn base strategy games and stealth games, but a turn base stealth game? To even come up with such a concept is either foolish or ingenious. In all honesty it is probably a mishmash of both. Konami takes two genres that are quite the opposite of each other and decides to meld it together. It is like asking a Leftist and a Rightist to sit at the same table for dinner. I cannot begin to fathom such a thought, but Konami has pulled it off and they did in a way where neither compromises the other.

Metal Gear Acid's story line is very well crafted and at the same time very confusing. This is quite typical of Metal Gear games. The game will start off and introduces a group of soldiers who enters a base to liberate the base from terrorist hands. Coincidently, an airplane is hijacked with a Senator, who is a presidential candidate, on board the air craft. Suffice it to say, the government is calling on the legendary Solid Snake to come and save them from this horrible situation. Snake, who retains his “I work alone kind of mentality” is able to emit a certain heroic characteristic about him. Yup…Snake is one bad dude…okay that was bad, but don't worry, the rest of my review won't be of the same quality.

As mentioned before, when one starts the game, one will notice the cards that are present and while these cards seem a bit simple; these cards are the bases to an extremely deep system. To this day, I am still a bit confused on how the whole system works, but even with that said the game is still extremely satisfying. Snake's cards are used in order to move, attack, and perform other miscellaneous things. One will have a set of card and each card allows one the ability to move or use the card's ability. For example, if one has a card that can attack, one can choose to use it as an attack or use it to move. Each card can move a specific amount of spaces, for example, some may enable you to move 3 spaces while others 4 and so on. When moving, one should think ahead of time and try to plot the best way to proceed. Planning ahead is a smart move because one can alert guards of one's presence and will suddenly find themselves utterly overmatched.

The cards are revolved around a cost system and this cost system determines when one moves. In essence the game is a turn base game, which means the player will take turn with the computer moving. Certain cards will have a certain cost and the lower the cost, the quicker one will get to move. While there is a lot of depth on how to play this game, the reality is this, at times the game simply moves too slowly. Hear me out on this…the game moves quite slowly due to the turn base and cost system. However, despite the slow pace, the game is still immensely fun.

There is a lot of strategy involve in order to obtain your objective without being seen. This is where stealth comes in and quite frankly it was very well implemented. For one, the game is hard and has a steep learning curve and it is the steep learning curve that makes the stealth mechanics so fun. You never know when you might be caught or be seen. When seen, the enemies in this game do a great job at coming at you in great numbers and trying to take you out.

Perhaps the biggest flaw in Metal Gear Acid is the camera. The camera can be extremely frustrating. Metal Gear Acid has a rotating camera, but even with this type of camera, the camera will get caught up in an area where the player cannot see Snake. The main problem is there are a lot of corridors and such, thus every time one rotates the camera, some form of building block will block the view. While the camera does not always affect the game, for the most part it is problematic and drastically hurts the game at times. Don't get me wrong the game is still very fun, but this major flaw really dampened the experience.

Tactical Espionage Never Looked This Good

One thing that I noticed when I first popped the game in was its unique artistic style. While it isn't quite as unique as per se a Zelda Wind Waker, but the whole atmosphere had a certain aura that was very satisfying. The character looked rather unique, I know I am not really making sense, it is hard to describe, but the truth is you have to see the game for yourself. The game also runs at a very smooth pace. I am simply astonished by the capabilities of the PSP. This game simply has PS2esque graphics and it sure does show it in Metal Gear Acid.

One thing that I have always admired about the Metal Gear games is the exceptional voice acting. I have come to love the rigid voice of Snake, which saddens me to say that this game lacks any voice acting. However, even to my disappointment, the game's music definitely makes up for it. It has a sense of tune that has that whole military feeling to it. It is dramatic and it adds to the intense feeling. All in all while the lack of voice acting does hurt, the music soundtrack definitely makes up for it.

Well for starters, this game is definitely worth your money. This game is not only quite good, but it is quite lengthy. There are numerous missions and each mission can last a good thirty minutes to an hour. It really depends on how you play and if you want to collect cards. While one can just run past the game, one is really missing the true experience of the game, so take your time and enjoy this exhilarating experience. The game will last at least 15 hours and depending on how you play it could last much longer.

Konami was able to craft together an atmosphere that is truly reminiscent to other Metal Gear games, but it was also able to offer its own unique style and flavor. While Metal Gear Acid does have some flaws that keep it from being a truly great game, the content that is in this game is truly satisfying. Again I want to reemphasize on the game's ability to emit the whole tactical espionage feeling that is attributed to Metal Gear games. So hats off Konami, you did a fabulous job at blending two conflicting genres and making them work with great fluidity.

A new direction, but still as SOLID as ever

In the end, Metal Gear Acid is not a game where I would consider it a great game, it is definitely a good game, but there are some flaws that just keep it from totally getting there. There were some things that I loved about this game and there were other things that I didn't like as much. However, the pros far outweigh the cons in this game and you owe it to yourself to play this game. This is definitely a PSP launch title that is truly worth getting a PSP for. Well this and Wipeout Pure will should definitely sway you into picking a PSP up. Metal Gear Acid was able to blend together a turn base system and still apply stealth to it that truly makes this game revolutionary if not evolutionary. The apparent innovation behind this game definitely makes Metal Gear Acid one of a kind. I give my hats off to Konami for straying from the norm and trying something different.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/21/05, Updated 08/10/05