Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops review

Sneaking, shooting and obsessive collecting make this one of the few great PSP games

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Snake escapes Gene's clutches with the help of a wounded Green Beret named Roy Campbell, but two men aren't enough to stop the army of American and Soviet turncoats Gene controls. So instead of focusing on things like complicated puzzles, traps or gadgets, Portable Ops tasks you with building and managing your own army, one soldier at a time.

So forget about the simple joys of snapping necks. To recruit an army, you'll need to use a little restraint - along with Snake's tranquilizer pistol, his patented Close-Quarters Combat skills and Roy's waiting truck - and kidnap your enemies instead of killing them. The good news is that you can recruit hundreds of troops this way, and everyone you see - from grunts and officers to politicians and doctors - is fair game. Even the game's formidable bosses will join you, provided you defeat them non-lethally, and you'll even get an alternate cutscene for your trouble.

You'll need their diverse talents, too, as your troops will be used to assemble four "sneaking" squads (which you'll actually take into missions), as well as a medical team and a tech team to produce medicines and new gadgets. You'll also be able to send your converts into mission areas as spies, at which point they'll steal ammo, feed you information or otherwise sabotage the enemy.

More info

GenreAction
DescriptionIt's definitely classic Metal Gear action, but this sequel to Snake Eater changes everything you know about the stealth series.
Franchise nameMetal Gear
UK franchise nameMetal Gear Solid
Platform"PSP"
US censor rating"Mature"
UK censor rating""
Alternative names"MGS: Portable Ops","Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops","Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops"
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.