One of the most anticipated games of the PSP’s launch was a title called Metal Gear AC!D, an off-shoot of the wildly popular Metal Gear Solid franchise. The game was a pretty unique approach to the beloved series, giving gamers a wacky story (not uncommon in the Metal Gear series) and turn-based strategy gameplay. As a result, the game was meant with mixed responses from the gaming community, while some people loved it and others lamented and wished for a more traditional handheld Metal Gear Solid experience.

Konami and development house Kojima Productions took heed of this and has released Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Portable Ops takes the classic genre-defining stealth action to the PSP and features everything you’ve been clamoring for, from excellent graphics, an appropriately layered MGS storyline, and most importantly, the gameplay we’ve grown to love and expect from Kojima-san’s production house.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops takes place after the events of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and puts gamers in the shoes of “Naked Snake” (very curious name), later known as *ahem*spoiler*ahem* Big Boss. You are imprisoned during a mission in South America, and escape with the help of a Green Beret named Roy Campbell (yes, that Roy Campbell) and stop a heated situation between Soviets and Americans before it comes to a boil.

In true Metal Gear form, the story unfolds through cutscenes and radio discussions between the characters, with nonsensical plot-twists, dialogue rife with obscure allusions and socio-political jargon that most of us would have to hit up Wikipedia in order to understand (but that’s always been one of the charms of the series).

The series’ familiar gameplay has made the transition to the PSP well, but expect the control scheme to give your fingers a work out. The great third-person camera from Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence has returned, allowing players to manipulate the view with the D-Pad and still move around with the analog nub (separately of course, unless you’re Plastic Man). Given the difficulty in applying soft pressure to the nub, there’s actually a walk button (push the triangle button to make Snake sneak) that helps out a ton. Other than these changes, the game controls very much like the previous games in the series.

The real changes come out in the content of the game. The missions are a lot less fluid and more broken up (read: shorter) than in the console games, which isn’t really a bad thing on the PSP, given the pick-up-and-play aspect of the handheld format. After each mission you’re given the opportunity to save your game, select where you’d like to go next, or use your soldier units courtesy of the new strategy elements in the game.

The game’s new strategic elements allow you to essentially build an army of soldiers to help you in your cause. You go onto the battlefield and recruit units (by capturing and turning them) that will heal others, spy on different territories, and do your bidding. You can even employ them on the field, having them serve as spies to infiltrate enemy units without so much as raising an eyebrow.

The game even has some pretty hearty online features. The multiplayer allows for six players to play via ad-hoc wireless (complete with game sharing if there’s only one game to go around) or infrastructure. The standard game modes are here: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag. Additionally, the game has a pretty interesting Cyber-Survival mode that focuses on the strategy elements of the game, allowing you to pair off against other player’s units that have been accumulated through the single-player mode.

Graphically, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is as good a game as you’ll find on the PSP. The character models steal the show, and are superbly rendered and as well-animated as the console versions of the game. The environments look a little repetitive, but overall the look is very impressive.

The sound is also quite great. While there’s not as much voice work as the console games, Portable Ops still features some fine acting, with David Hayter reprising the role of Snake and great work from the supporting cast as well. The score is also fitting with the Metal Gear Solid series, and sounds very good.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops was a long time coming, but the result is the game that Metal Gear fans have wanted from day one. Pick it up this holiday season, you won’t be disappointed.

Gameplay: 9.0
The stealth action that we know and love from the Metal Gear Solid series arrives on the PSP in fine form. The controls have a bit of a learning curve, but the third-person camera is a great carryover from MGS 3 and the new strategy elements are a nice and innovative addition.

Graphics: 8.7
The character models are some of the best on the PSP, and the animations are just as good as the PS2 MGS games. The repetitive and drab environments are the only downside, but all in all, this is a great looking game.

Sound: 9.0
Fantastic voice work by series vets like David Hayter and a fine supporting cast. The score is also appropriately cinematic in tandem with other games in the series.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 9.0
Portable Ops packs an impressive amount of stealth action into a small package, presenting the narrative and rich dialogue the franchise is known and also introduces some nice new strategy elements.

Multiplayer: 9.0
The game features the standard multiplayer staples, like Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and CTF, as well as an interesting new addition (Cyber-Survival) that allows you to square off your units accumulated in the single-player game against someone else’s. Ad-hoc and Infrastructure modes for up to six players are also quite nice.

Overall: 9.0
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops will offer fans what they want: an action game worthy of Snake’s name, and one of the best games yet on the PSP.