Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
File:MPO NA cover.jpg
Developer(s)	Konami Computer Entertainment Japan / Kojima Productions
Publisher(s)	Konami
Designer(s)	Masahiro Yamamoto (director) Noriaki Okamura (producer)
Series	Metal Gear
Platform(s)	PlayStation Portable
Release	December 5, 2006 December 21, 2006 January 31, 2007 May 4, 2007 May 15, 2007 May 25, 2007
Genre(s)	Stealth-action
Mode(s)	Single player, online multiplayer

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (officially abbreviated MPO) is a stealth-based game published by Konami and developed by Kojima Productions for the PlayStation Portable released in the US on December 5, 2006 and in Japan on December 21, 2006. It is the third Metal Gear title for the PlayStation Portable and the first one to retain the series' action-based gameplay. It is also the first canonical outing of the series for a portable platform (that is not adapted from a previous game), being a direct sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. It was originally planned as a new IP title.^[1]

Set in 1970, six years after the events of Snake Eater, the game chronicles the formation of FOXHOUND by Big Boss after his former unit, FOX, goes renegade and attempts to obliterate Russia with a stolen experimental Metal Gear. The game also chronicles the origins of the military state Outer Heaven.

Unlike Metal Gear Acid and its sequel, which were turn-based strategy games with stealth elements, MPO retains the action-based gameplay from the console iterations, drawing heavily from Snake Eater and utilizing the camera system from Subsistence.

The main addition to MPO is the "Comrade System". Instead of the solo-based missions that the series is known for, MPO goes for a squad-based approach, with Snake having to recruit his own allies and form his own team of trained specialists. At the beginning of each mission, the player must compose a four-man squad, which, at the player's option, includes Snake himself. The desired squad is then sent into the battlefield. Each member of Snake's squad has their own strengths and weaknesses. While some units are best utilized on the battlefield, others may specialize in producing items, healing allies, or providing intel for each of the game's maps.

During gameplay, the player controls only one squad member at a time. The squad members not in use hide themselves inside a cardboard box, and can be swapped into play when the player-controlled character finds a "hiding spot", where they can hide in their own cardboard box.

Characters who are killed in combat are eliminated from the player's squad permanently, unless they are "uniques". "Uniques" is the term used for team mates that are bosses or supporting characters in the story. If a unique's health is reduced to zero, they are sent to the infirmary, where they recover after a little while. The player can abort the mission if they feel one of their comrades is dying, or they may choose to restart the mission if a favorite character has died (similar to Fire Emblem games).

A variety of methods can be employed to expand one's squad. If an enemy character is tranquilized or stunned, they can be dragged to a waiting pick-up truck and captured. After a period of game time, the captured soldier will become a member of Snake's team. Also, enemy characters can be dragged to an ally waiting in a cardboard box, where, through the use of a transceiver frequency, they will be ordered to transport the enemy for the player, saving stamina. Alternatively, by accessing the PSP in certain hotspots using the system's Wi-Fi feature, soldiers and even special bonus characters can be recruited. The PSP GPS Receiver can also be used to similar effect. Because some of the player's recruits include former enemy soldiers or personnel, they can walk among the enemy undetected as long as the player avoids doing suspicious actions.

Another new feature is the surround indicator added to the game's HUD. Similar to the radar in previous titles, the surround indicator allows players to determine the relative proximity of enemy soldiers by the noises they make. The surround indicator is composed of two circles; the outer circle displays the noises made by enemies and inner circle displays noises made by the player themself.

The game also contains a Wi-Fi-enabled multiplayer mode, which is an expansion of the "Metal Gear Online" mode previously featured in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. One's performance in the Online Mode affects their performance in the single player campaign; the player can recruit and trade soldiers from beaten opponents, or vice-versa. Additionally, certain multiplayer options result in recruits being removed from the one's single player roster permanently (see below).

File:Mpothumb1.png

In contrast to the console games in the series, the cutscenes that drive the story are not rendered using the in-game engine. Instead, they are presented using an animated comic style comprised of hand-drawn artwork by artist Ashley Wood; this style was previously utilized in Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel. The game also features voice acting, consisting of returning cast members from Snake Eater and new actors. However, only the cutscenes and certain in-game sections are voiced, whereas the radio conversations between characters are text-only due to PSP's UMD storage capacity constraints.

NOTE: This section has a lot of gaps, would appreciate if someone could finish it off for me.

In Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, you can use a large array of weapons and items, but unlike the rest of the Metal Gear series, you can only carry 4 weapons/items at a time.

• KNIFE is a knife used for close combat.

• MK22 is a special pistol that fires 9mm tranquillizer ammo, used for knocking the enemy out so you can capture them.
• M1911A1 is a standard sidearm, fires the .45ACP round.
• SAA (Single Action Army) is a 6-shot revolver firing .45LC rounds.

• SCORPION is a machine pistol firing the light .32ACP ammo resulting in very little recoil.
• UZI is a machine pistol that fires the 9x19mm round.
• M10 is a machine pistol with a high rate of fire therefore extremely inaccurate, fires the 9x19mm round and can be equipped with a silencer.

• AK47 is an assault rifle that is the standard weapon of the opposition. Known for it's very high reliability and it's 7.62x39mm ammunition.
• M16A1 is the standard assault rifle of the US. Fires the 5.56x45mm round.
• XM177E2 is a carbine version of the M16, features a shorter barrel, retractable stock and a flash hider to suppress the sound and flash.

• M870 is a shotgun that fires the standard 12-gauge.
• M37 is a smaller shotgun, weighing less and only able to hold four shells.

• SVD is a semi-automatic sniper rifle that fires 7.62x54mm tranquillizer round.
• MOSIN NAGANT is a bolt-action sniper rifle, also has a lower clip capacity than the SVD. Fires the same ammo.

• M63 is a machine-gun with a high rate of fire, massive clip capacity of 100 rounds and fire the 5.56x45mm
• RPG7 is a rocket launcher which fires explosive projectiles.
• STEALTH Allows user to turn invisible for limited time. Uses battery like termogoggles(to unlock stealth need to get tech level up to level 99)
• Body Amrour This allows user to take less damage when hit (Pretty self explanitory)
• GRENADE is a fragmentation grenade.
• STUN G is a grenade that temporarily blinds enemies.
• SMOKE G is a grenade that releases thick smoke to either signal aircraft or cover your movements.
• CLAYMORE is an explosive device which you can deploy on the ground and detonates when something moves into the target area.

• TNT is an explosive used for blowing up objectives.
• SHIELD (Anti-Ballistic Shield) is a shield made of special armour that can protect you from some bullets and explosives.
• C BOX is a cardboard box which you can hide in to conceal yourself from enemies.
• MAGAZINE a magazine that you can put on the ground to distract enemies.
• RATION is used to heal your player.
• MEDICAL KIT is another item used to heal your player.
• GA-KO is a wind up toy that you release to distract enemies.

Naked Snake (voiced by David Hayter) reprises his role as protagonist from Snake Eater. While already awarded with the title of Big Boss, he refuses to use that title himself and still goes by his old codename. Snake is forced to fight off his former unit, FOX, after they instigate a revolt in a South American base. Snake's primary ally is Roy Campbell (v.b. David Agranov), a surviving member of the Green Berets team that was sent to neutralize the FOX unit.

The main antagonist is Gene (v.b. Steve Blum), who became the central member of the FOX unit after Snake left the unit and seeks to acquire the remaining half of the Philosopher's Legacy to establish his own military nation. Gene is a product of the Successor Project that aimed to artificially create the perfect commander. The other members of the FOX unit consist of Cunningham (v.b. Noah Nelson), an expert in the arts of interrogation; Null (v.b. Larc Spies), a teenaged assassin trained to be the perfect soldier; Python (v.b. Dwight Schultz), a former war buddy of Snake who was previously presumed dead during the Vietnam War; and Ursula (v.b. Tara Strong), a young woman gifted with extraordinary ESP abilities along with her twin sister Elisa (also v.b. Tara Strong).

In addition to the above characters, several supporting characters from Metal Gear Solid 3 return in the game as well. Some of them contribute to the main plot, while others are just guest characters who only appear after completing certain side-missions. Virtually every major character in the game can added to the player's squad either by fulfulling certain requirements or by inputting passwords. Hidden characters can also be recruited, including Teliko Friedman and Venus, the respective heroines from Metal Gear Acid and its sequel.

European version: This version of the game will contain extra characters and levels.

Fictional chronology in Metal Gear
1964 – Snake Eater (Delta) 1970 – Portable Ops 1974 – Peace Walker 1975 – Ground Zeroes 1984 – The Phantom Pain 1995 – Metal Gear 1999 – Solid Snake 2005 – Metal Gear Solid (The Twin Snakes) 2007/09 – Sons of Liberty 2014 – Guns of the Patriots 2018 – Rising: Revengeance
v t e

Six years after the events of "Operation: Snake Eater", portrayed in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Naked Snake's former team, FOX Unit, has broken their allegiance with the CIA and gone renegade. Snake himself is also targeted by the FOX Unit, which sent renegade FOX Unit soldiers to attack and capture him. The game begins with Snake being tortured and interrogated by one of the members of FOX, Lieutenant Cunningham, who's trying to locate the whereabouts of the missing half of the Philosopher's Legacy, with the United States Government having already acquired the other half of the Legacy from the Soviet Union at the conclusion of Snake Eater. Snake is imprisoned in a cell next to Roy Campbell, the sole survivor of an American Green Beret team sent in to investigate the base. Snake learns through Roy that they're on the San Hieronymo Peninsula, the site of an abandoned Soviet missile silo in Colombia.

The two escape and Snake makes his way to a communications base, where he attempts to contact his old CO, Major Zero. Instead, he is greeted by his old FOX comrades Para-Medic and Sigint, who reveal that Snake and Zero are being accused of instigating the revolt and that the only way for Snake to clear their name is to find and apprehend the leader of the rebellion, Gene. To complicate matters, Gene has also convinced several of the Russian soldiers stationed on the base to join their side by simply taking over the chain of command of a former Red Army unit, that was secretly stationed inside the Colombian territory. In order to complete his mission, Snake must persuade enemy soldiers to join his ranks because of the scale of his mission.

File:MPO Null - Snake.png

Snake and his squad defeat the top members of the FOX unit and eventually they make their way into Gene's guesthouse. Snake learns many things on his way. Cunningham was working for the Pentagon and wanted Snake to push Gene into launching a nuke to Russia to prolong the Cold War (so the Pentagon could keep their importance). Gene was actually aware of this plan the whole time from information from Ocelot. Gene really wanted to launch a nuke at America to destroy the Philosophers and to make his nation of soldiers, "Army's Heaven". Snake destroys an experimental model of Metal Gear codenamed RAXA and eventually defeats Gene, destroying the real Metal Gear itself as well afterwards. After Gene is defeated he gives Big Boss the funds, equipments, personal, and all other information of Army's Heaven. On his return home, Snake is awarded for his actions and establishes FOXHOUND afterwards. In the end it is revealed Ocelot kills the DCI and takes the Philosophers documents to end them. After the credits, Ocelot speaks with an unknown man (referred to as "the man with the same codename as Null") on the phone. Ocelot speaks of using the Legacy to form the Patriots in place of the Philosophers. Ocelot actually wanted the trajectory data of the nuke to point to the DCI so he would bring the documents right to him. Right before the end of the conversation, Ocelot requests Big Boss to be one of the Patriots along with himself.

The European and Australian version of the game will include a number of exclusive features and characters due to the longer wait for the game:

• The European and Australian version of MPO features support for massive online battles in ten areas specifically designed for multiplayer encounters—two more than the US and Japanese version of the game—letting up to six players take their custom squads online and battle in stealthy encounters across several different modes of play.
• European and Australian users will enjoy twelve more characters than existing Japanese and US versions, while the careers of the available characters have been expanded with new "Bait" and "Stuntman" job titles.
• The European and Australian version also includes a new Boss Rush mode, allowing players to battle the game's bosses whenever they like. Because of this, the method of recruiting Gene is different.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops was released in Australia on May 15th, 2007.

The game was originally due for release on May 4 in the UK, however as the BBFC certification not printed on the UMD disks, all copies were recalled before they reached store shelves. The game was re-released three weeks later. [1]

Portable Ops' musical score was composed by Norihiko Hibino, Takahiro Izutani, Yoshitaka Suzuki, Kazuma Hinnouchi, Nobuko Toda and Akihiro Honda. The ending theme ("Calling To The Night") was composed by Akihiro Honda and arranged by Norihiko Hibino and Akihiro Honda, with vocals by Natasha Farrow and lyrics by Nobuko Toda.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Original Soundtrack was released in Japan on December 20, 2006. It contains 44 tracks.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops did extremely well in its first week of sales. It debuted at #1 in North America and in Japan in all PSP video game sales.^[12] The title ranked high in preorder numbers in Japan, and has sold 178,370 copies in Japan in the first 3 days. This is highly notable for a game on the PSP as most games have been recorded peak at 30,000 initial sales in the first week.

• Received IGN's awards for:
  • Best Story on PlayStation Portable in 2006 ^[13]
  • Best Downloadable Content on PlayStation Portable in 2006 ^[14]
  • Numerous reader's choice awards, including Best PlayStation Portable game in 2006 ^[15]
• Received GameSpot's award for best PlayStation Portable game of 2006 ^[16]
• Received Game Informer's award for Handheld Game of the Month for February 2007^[10]

Prior to the release of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, IGN conducted an interview asking if there would be a sequel if game proved to be popular. The response was:

Absolutely. If the response to MPO is as good as we're expecting, you can look forward to new chapters in the Big Boss legacy on PSP. We still have many stories to tell about the early years of Metal Gear Solid -- I hope we can continue to do that on PSP.^[17]

MPO assistant producer Ryan Payton co-hosted an episode of the PSM audio podcast and said that if the sales of MPO were high enough, a follow-up would be made. ^[18]

• Official MPO Website
• Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Reviews at Metacritic
• Template:GameFAQs