Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus

The long awaited expansion to the PSP hit, Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops is here. At quite a low price, Portable Ops Plus is at least worth looking at. It is an expansion on which you can upload your previous game save data from the original Portable Ops. As soon as you start up the game you instantly get sucked into a sort of re abilitation stage in which you are reintroduced to how the Portable Ops system works which can either be seen as quite helpful or, how I found it, really boring. You can use all of your soldiers from previous save data which isn't really a bonus and more of an expected necessity.

The single player campaign in Plus is basically a string of missions taking you to revisit maps from the previous game. There is the slight twist that your Health and Stamina have been dramatically reduced and your weapons have vanished, meaning every bit of equipment is going to have to be P.O.S'd (procured on sight). The missions are quite simple, use your radar to find the advance point which allows you to advance to the next level. In some missions you are required to take out a few enemies or fufill some other short request before the advance point appears. It feels pointless to do this but some would argue that the soldiers you could possibly unlock and recruit along the way make the tedious outgoings worth it. After completing a string of these missions you will unlock harder difficulties, the difficulties being Easy, Normal, Hard and Extreme. After clearing the difficulties above normal you will unlock something when you do so (When you beat Normal you unlock "Old Snake".)

The pure quality graphics from the original have been kept and also the stunning voice acting which makes it feel more like MGS than just a cheap spin off.

The old stats system has also been changed somewhat. Instead of your standard S,A,B and C they are split to define the stat more accurately (S1,S2,S3 instead of just S.) Some new abilities have also been added such as the ability to look at a soldier and identify his stats.

The Boss Rush mode is still in place which allows veterans to restore their prowess by fighting the bosses they encountered in the first game. A new training mode has also been added to help players in mastering the usage of each weapon, from knife to sub machine gun.

The online experience hasn't changed too much either. There is still the game sharing mode, the infrastructure and ad-hoc mode available along with the "Cyber Survival." You can choose to play either the Plus or Original versions of the infrastructure and Cyber Survival but if you really wanted that you could stick with the old Portable Ops.

The lobbies and ranking system hasn't changed but there is an arsenal of new weapons, a host of new playable character including Raiden and the Tengu and a few new maps included with one being the Metal Gear Hangar itself from MGS1.

Without the single player mode having a narrative I didn't see much point in playing it apart from to get the new soldier types. The online is currently populated by Auto locking spammers who kick you for using the traditional headshot method which makes it seem like the old skilfull players are no longer welcome.

Graphics: 4.8/ 5.0
Gameplay: 4.2/ 5.0
Story: 1.5/ 5.0
Online: 2.6/ 5.0