Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

"What soldiers are looking for is outside your heaven!"

- Big Boss

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (commonly abbreviated to MPO) is a stealth game directed by Masahiro Yamamoto and produced by Noriaki Okamura and series creator Hideo Kojima. Portable Ops was developed by Kojima Productions and published by Konami in 2006 for the PlayStation Portable. It is the third Metal Gear title for the PSP and the first one to retain the series' action-based gameplay. It was the first canonical outing of the series for a portable platform, being a direct sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. This is also the first game to utilize graphic novel inspired cutscenes.

Set in 1970 in South America, six years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 3, the game follows the exploits of Big Boss after his former unit, FOX, goes renegade. The game also chronicles the eventual founding of FOXHOUND, as well as the inspiration of the military state Outer Heaven.

Gameplay
Unlike the previous games on the PSP, Metal Gear Acid and Metal Gear Acid 2, which were turn-based tactical games with stealth elements, Portable Ops retains the action-based gameplay of the console iterations, drawing heavily from Metal Gear Solid 3 and utilizing the camera system from Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence.

The main addition of Portable Ops is the Comrade System. Instead of the solo missions from previous games, Portable Ops uses a squad-based approach, with Snake having to recruit allies to form a team of trained specialists. Before each mission, the player must compose a four-man squad. The squad is then sent into battle. 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 permentenly unless they are unique characters such as Snake. Unique characters also include teammates that are bosses or supporting characters in the story. If a unique character's health is reduced to zero, they are sent to the infirmary, in order to recover. The player can also abort the mission.

A variety of methods can be employed to expand one's squad. If an enemy is tranquilized or stunned, they can be dragged to a waiting vehicle and captured. After a period of game time, the captured soldier with become a member of Snake's squad. Also, enemies can be dragged to an ally waiting in a cardboard box, where, through the use of a transeceiver frequency, they will be ordered to transport the enemy for the player, saving stamina. Alternately, 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 for a similar effect. Because some of the player's recruits include former enemy soldiers of personnel, they can walk among the enemy undetected as long as the player avoids doing anything suspicious.

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

The game also contains a Wi-Fi-enabled multiplayer mode, which is an expansion of the Metal Gear Online mode from Subsistence. One's performance in Online Mode may affect their performace in the single player campaign; the player can recruit and trade soldiers from defeated opponents or vice versa. Additionally, certain multiplayer options result in recruits being removed from one's single player roster permanently. In contrast to the console games in the series, the cutscenes are not rendered using the in-game engine. Instead, they are presented using animated comic style consisting of hand drawn artwork by artist Ashley Wood. This style was previously used in Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel. The game features voice acting, consisting of returning cast members from Metal Gear Solid 3 and new actors. However, the number of cutscenes and in-game voice sections are minimal due to the PSP's UMD storage capacity constrains.

Story
Six years after the events of Operation Snake Eater, Naked Snake's former team, FOX, 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 Philosophers' 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 most 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.

Snake and his squad defeat the top members of the FOX unit (if defeated by reducing his stamina to zero instead of his HP, Snake's former comrade Python will join Snake's squad) and eventually they make their way into the control room of Gene's underground silo complex. 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 over the CIA). Gene was actually aware of this plan the whole time from information from Ocelot and "the man with the same codename as Null." Gene himself 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 Metal Gear RAXA and eventually defeats Gene, destroying the real Metal Gear itself afterwards. After Gene is defeated he gives Big Boss the funds, equipment, personnel, and all other information regarding Army's Heaven, telling him that one day, he will be glad he has them.

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 on the phone. Ocelot speaks of using the Legacy to form another organization 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. Ocelot requests Big Boss be able to 'join' them (he and the man on the phone) in their new endeavor - becoming the Patriots.

Development
In late December 2005, Hideo Kojima announced "a completely new Metal Gear Solid" for the PSP which would not be a new Metal Gear Acid or digital graphic novel. At E3 2006 in May, Konami announced the title of this game, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Konami also stated that the game would be set after Metal Gear Solid 3 but before Metal Gear, would feature online play, and would be released in late 2006. A trailer was also released for the game. Also at E3, it was revealed that the game would take place in 1970 and would feature Big Boss as the main character.

In late August, Konami released more details about the game. They stated that the game would feature an online mode and a single-player mode that continues the canon Metal Gear story, unlike the previous PSP Metal Gear games Metal Gear Acid and Metal Gear Acid 2. As the player progress through the game, Big Boss could recruit other characters to assist him. Each character would have attributes that set them apart from others, such as one excelling in a variety of combat skills. The game would feature FOX and expand on Para-Medic, Sigint, and Major Zero, with their respective voice actors returning. Artist Ashley Wood would be illustrating the game's cutscenes. The gameplay would be more akin to the Metal Gear Solid games than the Acid games. The game would also feature an orchestrated score. It was also stated to not be a reworked port, nor a half-baked spinoff, stating that they created the game from the ground up, and also designed for gameplay on the PSP.

In addition to the regular trailers, a special trailer known as The Missing Link was released that stated that Portable Ops would explain the reasons why Big Boss formed FOXHOUND, how Big Boss formed Outer Heaven, and why he'd turn against the world he once saved. The trailer also stated that not only would it continue the story of Metal Gear Solid 3, but it also would set the stage for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

In late November 2006, Ryan Payton stated that Kojima Productions developed the game with a brand new game engine based on the Metal Gear Solid 3 engine. He also stated that the game would feature CQC and the ability to use enemies as shields and that the game would receive a sequel if the game's response was good.

Although Kojima did not direct the game, he served as a producer and supervised development. Masahiro Yamamoto directed the game and Gakuto Mikumo wrote the game's script. In addition, Kojima also stated in a press release that Portable Ops was essential to the story of Metal Gear Solid 4, to the extent that he refused to allow Metal Gear Solid 4 's story to be finalized until after Portable Ops  's storyline was finalized, expressing that the reason behind it was that changing one of the storylines would require a change in the other.

Theme
The theme of Portable Ops is the link between soldier and commander and the relationship the two have as shown in numerous examples. For example Gene relies on fear and manipulation to create loyalty in his troops, Big Boss views this as wrong, and instead vows that he is nothing more than a dictator, and refuses to use these methods to control his own soldiers, and instead leading by example.

Music
Portable Ops also comes with a complete score done by Norihiko Hibino, Takahiro Izutani, Yoshitaka Suzuki, Kazuma Hinnouchi, Nobuko Toda and Akihiro Honda while Kazuma Hinnouchi, Nobuko Toda and Akihiro Honda who composed the ending theme- "Calling to the Night" but was arranged by Norihiko Hibino. The ending theme's vocals are provided by Natasha Farrow, and lyrics by Nobuko Toda. Harry Gregson-Williams was unable to help compose the game's music due to schedule conflicts with Tony Scott's film Deja Vu and Kojima's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

Portable Ops Plus
On July 17, 2007, Konami announced Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus, a stand-alone expansion of the original game, focused on online play. Among its new features, the expansion includes new characters, new missions, tutorials for beginners, as well as a new single-player mode called "Infinity Mission."

In Japan, Portable Ops Plus was released on September 20, 2007 in two formats: the expansion on its own and as a deluxe package that includes the original game and the expansion. The North American version was released on November 13, 2007 and the European version was released on March 28, 2008.

Re-release
In 2007, Portable Ops was included in the Japanese Metal Gear 20th Anniversary: Metal Gear Solid Collection to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Metal Gear series.

Premium Package
In 2006, a Japan only premium package bundle of Portable Ops was released on December 22. It came with a copy of Portable Ops, a limited edition cameo-colored PSP, a beige strap with the logo of Portable Ops on it, a serial number card, and three pins that depict the various salute logos of Portable Ops (the logos have Big Boss, a Soviet soldier, and a FOX agent saluting).

KonamiStyle Package
Another bundle similar to above was also released in Japan only on the same date. In addition to the premium package's items, the KonamiStyle Package also has a large box container for the items that resembled snake skin, a case containing genuine Snakeskin on it, and a stamped form talking about the Diamond Python.

Reception
Portable Ops received very positive reviews from critics. According to GameRankings, the game received an average of 86.95% based on 60 reviews. IGN gave Portable Ops a 9 out 10 saying "Portable Ops literally stretches the system to its limits, perhaps farther than any other game to date, making this title a must have for PSP owners." GameSpot gave Portable Ops a 9 out of 10. They praised the game for its story, open-ended gameplay, multiplayer options, presentation, graphics, sound, music, speech, and replay value. They criticized the game for its lack of 3D cutscenes, full speech, blood effects and its complicated control scheme.

Trivia

 * In Portable Ops, the player uses a different weapon/item equiping system.
 * Interestingly, despite this game expanding on an event established in the timeline posted at the end of Metal Gear Solid 3, as well as referencing events from this game in Metal Gear Solid 4, the game´s events were not discussed in Metal Gear Saga Vol. 2. However, they were included in the timeline at the end and footage was seen during the credits.
 * In addition, the Metal Gear Solid 4 website's timeline also placed Portable Ops in the timeline.
 * This is notably the only canonical installment in which one of the playable Snakes doesn't smoke. Naked Snake does, however, briefly mentioning ordering a cigar during a certain recruiting side quest.
 * It is also the only canonical installment where one of the playable characters does not gain the infinity bandana, or similar special items. However, unused data as well as various hacks indicated that the infinity bandana was intended to be implemented into the game.
 * It is also the only Metal Gear Solid game to not include character/voice actor names when they are introduced. It is also the only Metal Gear Solid game where the characters don't shout out one of the characters names if getting a game over.
 * In Portable Ops, a recruitable Soviet soldier has the codename of "Markhor" which means "Snake Eater" in Persian.
 * In the European version of the game, extra spy missions were included along with a Boss Rush mode.
 * Despite being a canonical game, the events of Portable Ops are barely acknowledged in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. However, Portable Ops was nonetheless counted in the timeline supplied on the Metal Gear website during Peace Walker 's development.
 * This is the only canonical game that won't be included in any version of Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection.