Metal Gear Acid

"This is a shocker! A card battle game that's actually good!!"

Now that the new PSP is out, Metal Gear Solid has gotta branch out onto that like it did for the PS2. However, they did something very insane. They made it a card battle game. A CARD BATTLE GAME! I DETEST CARD BATTLE GAMES!!! Goosfraba Nate, goosfraba. OK I'm calm. Anyway, Metal Gear Acid tries to make this genre look better by adding a Snake touch to it. Thankfully, this Snake touch is gold and it works brilliantly.

GRAPHICS: 9/10
The character models are at the point that they're better than MGS 1 but not as good as MGS 2 or 3. The environments look like you'd expect from an MGS game. Cramped corridors, open fields, plenty of cover, you name it. These all look very good as well, especially since this is a portable system we're talking about. The only problem I had was while the camera allowed you to move it a lot to view your situation, sometimes it gets abstructed by walls or objects. It's a minor setback. This area is very good compared onto the handheld market.

SOUND: 7/10
If they would have had voice-acting, this would have been higher. You still get the classic "tension" music in alert situations and you still get the incredible sound effects of every move you make. It would have been really great to see them have voice-acting. That's always a joy in MGS games. Don't get me wrong the sound is still very good.

STORY: 10/10
As brilliant a story as you'd ever get from the Metal Gear series. Basically, in 2016, a plane with 500 passengers on it is hijacked. So you'd think, why'd the government make a big deal about it? Because on that plane is Senator Hach, a very famous politician and bound to be the next President. The terrorists who hijacked the plane want "Pythagoras". The only problem is that no one knows what it is. So, the US government sends Snake to deal with the problem. In true MGS fashion, the story changes more times than you can count. It's very good stuff that movies would do good to look at. Shinta Nojiri (or something like that) was the director this time instead of Kojima, but he did a good job.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10
You gotta think, a card battle stealth game? This is doomed to fail. Well it doesn't. Not by a longshot. Basically, you have a set of cards that lets you do what you want. For example, you could either move yourself instead of using cards, or you could use what you have in your hand, or you could equip any weapons you find. The key is to try and silently take out anyone in your way. Each card also has a cost factor. The higher the cost and the more you use, the lower your rank. This cost system can get kind of confusing, but the card system actually works very well in delivering stealth combat. I'm pleasantly surprised. The game can freeze up if there's a massive explosion, but you've got nothing to worry about much else about glitches. This game's also very difficult to get down. It's very difficult to finish period, what with the hard later levels and the battery life problems of the PSP. Still a fun time. Not perfect, but still very fun.

OVERALL:
This whole game turned out to be a very good surprise. It's a shame they were able to make the things that no one said would work work, but screw up on little things like camera. It's still one of the best portable games out there. If you have a PSP, you owe it to yourself to get MGA.

FINAL SCORE: 8/10
RECAP:
+Graphics outstanding for handheld
+Sound effects are very good
+Story is one of the best in series
+Card system works very well, surprisingly
+Overall experience is a big pleasant surprise
-Glitches on big explosions
-No voice-acting
-Cost system of cards confusing at first
-Very hard game
-Battery life of PSP can be a problem

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/25/05