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Metal Gear Acid 
Release date: 23 Mar 2005
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Mygamer review
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Ac!d Stings and Burns
Is Snake better suited in real time third person action, or has he found a new home in a board game?
When Konami first announced that the Metal Gear for the PSP would be a card game, I immediately scratched my head, scrunched my nose, and said a strong worded phrase that would force me to spend some time in a confessional booth. But even though I was very skeptical, I could not wait to play it as anything Metal Gear is generally worth looking forward to. I figured that if anyone could get me to play a card based video game, I would give my faith into Mr. Kojima and his development staff. While this isn’t the Metal Gear that everyone has come to love, it can still stand on its own as a game. However, most fans will not retain the amount the patience required to participate in this adventure.
Every Metal Gear game has been a third person stealth adventure. Sneaking around, clinging to walls, memorable boss battles, and an unforgettable story line have always been the driving forces in any Metal Gear game. However, Acid just does not contain the same level of excitement due to slower paced gameplay. Card battles require a great amount of strategy, but it cannot come close to the real time gunfights of the Metal Gear Solid series.
Just like every other Metal Gear Solid, Acid’s story is filled with twists, turns, betrayals, mystery, and complicated detail. This story line however, does not seem to be fully integrated into the Metal Gear series, similar to the Metal Gear for the GBC. The game may contain the same main character, but it does not truly fit into the Metal Gear universe. It can be assumed that Acid takes place after Metal Gear Solid but before Metal Gear Solid 2, but loopholes in the story generate confusion and mystery. It seems like this game, and the GBC adventure, take place in an alternate universe. Like why would Snake opt to take part in this new mission so willingly after going through the events of Shadow Moses? And why would he continue to work for the government? After Metal Gear Solid, isn’t Snake going to follow Gray Fox’s advice of fighting for what he believes in, as he did in Metal Gear Solid 2? The story stands its ground as a name for itself, but it isn’t fully integrated into the Metal Gear timeline even though it contains the same main character, Solid Snake.
The story is also very strange and off the wall… even for a Metal Gear game. A jumbo jet passenger plane has been hijacked by two marionette dolls and gassed everyone inside with a muscle-relaxer. To make matters worst, one of the passengers onboard the plane is a candidate for the next presidency. These terrorists demand Pythagoras, a top secret research project that is located somewhere in southern Africa. If Pythagoras isn’t turned over, all the passengers will die, including the next potential president. With time running out, Solid Snake is sent into this African base to find out more information about this top secret Pythagoras project. Along the way, Snake meets with a female solid named Teliko. Missions then turn into a co-op adventure as the player controls both characters for combat and puzzle solving. The story is quite strange and difficult to follow. Even when the game is finished, the player will probably still be confused as to what has happened thanks to the amount of plot twists, betrayals, and multiple character identities. To fully understand the story, the game will need to be played through multiple times.
Gameplay is unlike any other Metal Gear title. Every action in the game requires the use of cards. Nothing is performed in real time. Players of Yu-Gi-Oh (Konami produced games) or even chess will have a better understanding of the gameplay. Unfortunately, this card-based gameplay is quite confusing. The game does a horrible job of explaining the rules of the cards. Plus, the instruction booklet isn’t that helpful either. The only real way to understand the basis of the game is to play and fool around with it. Experimenting with the main mode of confusing gameplay immediately shows the gamer how much patience will need to be invested. It is a shame that the game does not better display the rules of the cards.
In the beginning of each stage, the player is dealt six cards. Each card has specific attributes like equipping items, using weapons like grenades or guns, movement, or other actions like creating an extra turn or boosting defensive capabilities. Everything is done though cards. However, the player is limited to the number of cards he can play each turn. Turns are calculated by the speed of your character’s statistics and the previous cards played as each move costs points. Some cards require more points that others. The objective of each mission is to make the best decisions possible with the cards that are dealt to you. Kind of like a game of Texas Hold’em.
Movement and combat may be restricted though card based maneuvers, but they reciprocate classic Metal Gear themes. For example, if Snake walks through a guard’s field of vision, he will become alerted and scope out the area. If he is located, backup will be called in to help eliminate the problem. The player can even crawl and knock on walls to distract the enemy. However, all this card-based combat is nowhere near as intense as a heated gun battle in Metal Gear Solid 2 or 3. Because the game is turn based, the player can take as much time as needed before making a move. This restricts the amount of heart pounding nervousness that ensues immediately after an enemy guard notices the intruder. Plus, you have to wait for the enemies to think and move as their actions are based within cards as well. Yes, it is possible to speed up enemy movement by holding down a button, but it grows repetitive due to the same character models and animations.
Since the game is grid based, environments are well detailed but lack any significant variety. The same goes for the enemy characters. Enemies can sometime be incredibly patient and static. Plus, counter attacking is only performed when a certain card is played. Having enemy soldiers not shoot back can make the game a little easier, but it creates an unrealistic atmosphere. This odd sense of enemy obliviousness is completely inhuman, and as such, defeats the sense of realism. It is possible to unload an entire FAMAS clip into the chest of an enemy, but have him “faint” instead of dying thanks to equipped body armor. This enemy will then wait for his turn to get up, turn around, and then start shooting back. Now if someone was shooting at you, would you hesitate before you started shooting back?
No matter how to look at it, there are some other game design issues that need to be worked out. For example, Snake’s movement will often be interrupted by a codec conversation with Roger, the commander of this mission. Not only can these codec conversations be inconvenient; they also rob the player of their remaining moves. Cheating the player out of critical steps due to a story sequence is just wrong. Also, it is a major pain waiting for a specific card to show up. For example, waiting for a SOCOM or FAMAS card in a firefight will always lead to your death. Or waiting for the single “LV 1” card to show up so that you may open a door is an unfortunate gameplay flaw. And why does the game boot the player back to the main menu after a quick in game save, only to leave a player having to select that option again from the main menu to continue? While it is handy to be able to save anytime during battle, saving is a way to back up your future questionable actions. Getting booted back to the main screen really seems like a lazy design choice. And I never understood why Konami choose to reverse the “X” and “O” buttons in their Metal Gear games. Shouldn’t “X” confirm and “O” cancel selections?
Just like the game’s story line, boss battles are nowhere near as epic as they were in previous Metal Gear games, nor are they as numerous. Even dialog between Snake and the Bosses are laid back. The two dolls that hijack the plane may be the most sadistic Metal Gear characters yet, as they like to brutally kill people and carve messages into their bodies, but the story in which they reside is just so strange. Who knew that dolls could kill in the most brutal and merciless ways and hijack a jumbo jet? Even the way the story is displayed lacks detail, but it does add to the creepiness. Each cut scene is displayed through static images with static backgrounds. The only animation during these dialog sessions is provided by the scrolling onscreen text. Each one of these still shots is highly detailed, but the lack of movement does not generate as enjoyable a feeling as it should. One of the biggest disappointments in this game is the lack of voice work. The UMD disc can hold a significant amount of data, so I do not think storage space was the issue. Why couldn’t Konami put forth a little more effort, especially since this game is text heavy? Voice acting could have lessened the pain of reading lengthy conversations.
The graphics almost look like they were ripped straight from Sons of Liberty, and this isn’t a bad thing. Metal Gear Acid makes good use of the high res PSP screen and processing power, but I wish there was a way to zoom in on the action. When a combat card is played, like a SOCOM, the camera changes to a more dynamic angle, while the gamer is limited to simple camera rotations. Zooming in or switching to First Person View in not an option given to the player. This is a disappointment since everything looks rather smooth and clean. Also, each environment looks similar in the sense that they are restricted to tile based proportions. Therefore, most environmental structures are based around ninety-degree angles.
The music is also average at best. It does not come close to the quality or quantity of the orchestrated music from Metal Gear Solid 2 or 3. The lack of any voice work drops some major points as well. However, many props are given to the fact that Acid has many references to previous Metal Gear games include the GBC Metal Gear, and Metal Gear 2. Hideo Kojima even included cards based on his sun sensing GBA game, Boktai.
The game does contain a wireless Vs battle mode for two players via Ad-Hoc mode only, and each player will need a copy of the game. This link mode only becomes available once a certain point in the single player mode is reached (when the player beats the mission where Teliko is first introduced around stage 7 or 8). It just sucks that you have to load a single player game, cancel out to the main menu, then select Link mode. Why can’t this link option be tagged to the game’s first initial load up screen? It actually took a few minutes for me to find this option.
Vs mode is for the hardcore Acid players only as new rules apply and patience is required. The objective in Vs mode is to collect Pythagoras discs and get to the exit point before your opponent does. After your opponent or an enemy solider is killed, they may drop a disc. Unlike the unlimited field of vision Snake has in the single player mode, Snake can only see a few squares in front of him (the cone of vision) when in Vs mode. This makes Vs mode tedious and keeps it down to the wire. The majority of the time, the game’s timer will become the deciding factor on who wins. Vs mode even lacks any significant options. Choosing which stage to play and setting up your deck before hand is impossible. Link mode can extend the life of the game, but finding a player who will want to participate (and have a copy of the game) may be hard to find. This game cannot be played online.
As a PSP launch game, Metal Gear Acid is alright. As a game by itself, Metal Gear Acid is alright. But as a Metal Gear game of the series, I much rather prefer the intense action of a third person real time adventure game. This game can only be played by gamers will a great amount of patience and the willingness to learn something new. With that said, you will either love or hate Metal Gear Acid. I enjoyed my time with this game, but the many minor flaws like waiting for a specific card, the bad tutorial sessions, and the inconsistent menu structure contribute to this game losing some review points. Hopefully Metal Gear Acid 2 will iron out all the kinks present in this installment. Metal Gear Acid is the worst MGS game to be released State side, but it is still a decent game in its own right. If you are looking for portable Metal Gear, play the GBC version (which even had a much better 2-player link mode) or Boktai instead.
Review by Zachary Gasiorowski on 7 Jun 2005
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9 |
 Members review score: 9 |
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