Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
By: Trevor Monaghan
[[Spoilers Follow]]

A man extends his hand to shake that of a legendary hero. Instead the hero ignores him and walks out the door. The Hero is Naked Snake recently promoted to the rank of Big Boss, the man is the Director of the CIA. This slight was meant to serve as Metal Gear Solid 3’s way of showing how Big Boss went from national hero to the series primary villain…. It wasn’t enough. For those of you who played through MGS3 you know that Snakes mentor “THE BOSS” sacrificed her life to Snake under orders from the US to prevent an armed conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, the knowledge that he was used as an assassin in a covert op with out knowing the full details were supposed to serve as the basis for Snakes evolution to villain, but as I said…. this weak story and the hours of Ocelot juggling proved to not be enough for fans of the series.

The Set-Up
Thus Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops was created for the PSP marketed as “The tragedy of Big Boss leading to the creation of Outer Heaven” This story attempts to show Snake at his most raw and depict how he became the character players were introduced to back during the original “Metal Gear” Beginning six years after the events of Operation Snake Eater, John AKA Snake AKA Big Boss has left the FOX unit and begun traveling the world looking for his place in it. On his travels he is ambushed by a swift ninja like figure and several guards, is drugged and captured, awakening in a South American Prison.

The Story
The story begins as Snake is tortured by FOX interrogation expert Cunningham to learn the Location of the second half of “The Legacy” the massive fortune amassed during World War II and sought after during MGS3, having no knowledge of what became of the legacy after his last mission, Snake is left in prison. Eventually escaping with the help of future series commander Roy Campbell, Snake manages to contact his former unit and learn the FOX unit has rebelled and Snake as the former leader is considered to be the mastermind behind this. Setting out the clear his name Snake begins amassing the foundation that would later come to be known as FOXHOUND by convincing a disgruntled soldier named Jonathan who is stationed on the abandoned Soviet base to follow him and prevent WWIII. Jonathan then assists Snake in the recruitment of additional soldiers. Snake continues to infiltrate deeper into what is revealed to be a manned Soviet nuclear base set up eight years ago right after the Cuban Missile Crisis but abandoned by the U.S.S.R. due to budget cuts. Snake also discovers that the new leader of FOX a man named Gene with the code name VIPER has stolen a new Metal Gear designed by the CIA using the Russian data from the Shogohad. The plan is to launch Metal Gear into Russia, created from Russian technology and armed with the Soviet warheads from the base, America will be free from public blame and the cold war will escalate leading for a need for more soldiers, it is Gene’s wish to create a nation where soldiers will live and always be needed across the worlds conflicts, an “Army’s Heaven”

The Game
Thus MGS: PO stage is set and one of the best games ever made is set into motion. While the MGS method of stealth has begun to show its age in the modern gaming world a few hours of practice put the players back into the swing of things. Equipped now with a sonic sensor that warns of approaching enemies direction and proximity and a third person camera perspective, Snake is far better equipped than he was in MGS3 to deal with the rogue soldiers. Also disposed of is Snakes vector trap (obligatory Z.O.E. reference) which allowed him to carry an infinite number of weapons. Now soldiers are forced to manage with only four item slots, carrying ammo, weapons, gear, or medical supplies. With your recruited soldiers (all wielding animal code-names) you can form (4) four man teams, as well as a spy, tech and medical team which will assist in information & Ammo procurement, the creation of new gear, and healing of off duty soldiers. Wi-Fi can also be accessed to recruit new soldiers created using your locations IP address (I received a Medic named Turtle) Hunting & Field medicine is gone from MGS3 being replaced simply by Med packs for injury and Rations for Stamina recovery. While I did not participate in any of the side missions due to time constraint in how long I had to play the game, you can also recruit enemy bosses and characters from MGS3 into your unit, such as Raidonavich and Sokalove (who is revealed to have survived the events of MGS3 regardless of if you recruit him or not.)

The Characters
Enemy characters in the game are also far more interesting than “The Cobras” of MGS3. while the Cobras were obviously set up as boss battles from the moment you meet them and featured next to no interaction with the actual plot, The villains of “Portable Ops” are deep, with rich back-story and are placed as boss fights at seemingly random intervals leading to a more genuine, less scripted feel to the story. Also MGS3 laughing stock Ocelot is moved to a much more appropriate and IN character background role only appearing to advance the conspiracy of the story instead of juggle his guns.
The story shows Snake the truth about his world of black ops espionage. That he was not truly framed at all and FOX did not truly rebel, the CIA gave the Russian rebels the new Metal Gear which was based off of soviet technology hoping they would launch it into Russia with the Russian warheads from the base, thus re-vitalizing the cold war and keeping both super-powers alive. When he learns that he has been a pawn in all of this as an attempt to make the CIA look bad so that the Department of Defense can regain political power, Snake defies his mission and set out to truly stop Metal Gear and avoid a nuclear catastrophe.
The people he meets during this game also play an impact on Snakes life. The first soldier he recruits, Johnny whom he had previously met while in a soviet prison dies saving Snakes life. A pair of mentally unbalanced sisters, psychic Elisa & Ursula, children who lost their parents due to a nuclear accident in Russia which caused them to develop ESP powers. Ursula is Gene’s right hand and a powerful psychic who has seen Snakes future and the future of his son as a bleak one. Elisa has only weak powers and has seen a brighter future for Snake and his son; due to her past she helps Snake to stop the use of nuclear arms. However it is revealed that they are both one and the same as the accident caused her to develop schizophrenia. With Snakes help Elisa is able to overcome her handicap and face Gene who ultimately kills her. Dying in Snakes arms she tells Snake what his future holds, that both visions are of the actual future.
Perhaps one of the most surprising characters is Null. The previews for MGS: PO showed what many fans considered to be “yet another cyborg ninja” a child soldier Snake had rescued four years earlier and placed into a relief shelter the boy was instead taken by the CIA and trained along with Snakes former partner “Python” (believed killed in Vietnam), into a “Perfect soldier” to be used against Snake. This boys name is revealed by Snake to be Frank Jeager who would later to known in the MGS games as Grey Fox. This plot thus shows why Grey Fox sided with Big Boss during the events of Metal Gear & Metal Gear 2. Along with the young Roy Campbell who believes in Snake when the world thinks him a traitor all shape Snake further into the man he would become.
The story also introduces the primary villain of this outing, a man named Gene who has been conditioned and trained to be the “Perfect Commander” based off of the Boss. He is a brilliant tactician possessing super-human reflexes and a modified voice which allows him to influence and inspire those he wishes to. His hope is to use the chaos of a nuclear strike to create a nation where soldiers are always needed, doing so by attacking Washington rather than the Soviet Union. He also reveals to Snake that the Events of MGS3, Volgins use of the “Davy crocket” missile, The Boss death, and the development and theft of both Metal Gears Shogohad and RAXA had all been more that multiple conspiracies but were in fact all carefully planned and guided by a single man. A man Gene refuses to identify. After being defeated he realizes that while his dream was a just one, his methods were not and he hands over documents containing his wealth and resources to Snake to create “A heaven outside the one I had envisioned” Showing where the ability and motive for Big Boss later decisions came from.

Conclusion
In conclusion MGS: Portable Ops is a fantastic game. Had it been a launch title 2 years ago when the PSP first came out the little system may have shared a different fate. The art of Ashley Wood while normally disjointed and erratic in the MGS comics seems to have come together to find a happy balance that narrates the games cutscenes. My only personal complaints are the fact that time passes on a calendar in the game yet this does not influence the story (A week passed from Gene stating that he was about to launch Metal Gear, to me actually penetrating his compound) and the wish that Konami had found someone who sounded like David Hayter to play Snake instead of using the same actor. Such a small detail would have been nice to separate the two characters in my mind, since Liquid Snake featured a separate voice despite also being a clone. Best Metal Gear Solid game to date? Perhaps, but certainly a solid entry into the series, the game ties up every loose end prior to “Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty” and even introduces the mysterious architect of events and Ocelots true master, elements that will obviously be addressed and used for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.