If you're a fan of Metal Gear Solid and you own a PSP, you have to buy
this game. This game continues the
story left after MGS3, where you control Big Boss (who prefers to be
called Snake, and who can blame him?) and it's actually a full blown
MGS game, that actually fits into the timeline of the Metal Gear series
quite well. The controls changes need a little getting used to, f you
haven't played Subsistence (which I haven't) you may not have used the
3D camera yet, but you can get used to that pretty easily, plus it
makes it better to take a look at your surroundings. In MPO you can
capture new recruits to join you. Just knock them out and drag them to
your truck, then after a little while they'll be on your side. Each new recruit will have his/her own unique health, stamina and weapon skills, but some of them will be useful
for more then their shooting abilities, as some of your new recruits
can blend in with the rest of the enemies, but this will only work in
some areas. But there is a limit to the amount of items each member can
hold, each soldier sent down to the battle can only bring with him/her four pieces of equipment, so before each mission you have to think about what each member
should (or shouldn't) bring to the battlefield. MPO also uses mission
style game play, where you can choose which location to go to, and what
to do there, meaning that you don't have to go through the whole story
straight away. You can have a maximum of 100 members in your party, and you can assign each one to different units, from sneaking to tech and medican, so each member can do things from improving the amount of health recovered between
missions, to help create new weapons and equipment (and cardboard
boxes). You can also create a spy unit that will help you find new
missions, new equipment and new things to blow up with your TNT. MPO
doesn't use 3D cinematic cut scenes that the MGS series has used since
MGS1, though they do use comic book style cut scenes, which
may be different, but still display the events fine. This game may not
be as graphic detailed as MGS3, but it's still a great looking game for
the PSP. Some minor edits may have been needed, but they were needed
to keep the MGS feel in the game. A game where every MGS fan needs to buy
or at least play, but if you're not a fan of MGS but you own a PSP, buy
it anyway, it's a really good game, and you could get hooked on it very quickly.
