by Adam - April 27, 2005

Konami's newest game in the Metal Gear series is launched exclusively on the PSP. Showcased at E3 in 2004 this game was waited with high acclamation and anticipation as gamers were waiting to see what the future of Metal Gear was going to be. Hideo Kojima, the mastermind behind the entire Metal Gear, kept a tight lip about the future of the series. Gamers were excited to hear that it would be different from all the previous games in the series. This game was promised to be unlike any other game in the series.

It's your turn

Metal Gear Solid: Ac!d is unlike any other game I have ever played. It's a turn based strategy game that utilizes cards for movements and actions. Every level is a mission based board where you have to accomplish objectives and stealthily move your character around the board. Each character on each mission gets a set amount of turns in which you use to perform actions such as moving , shooting, healing, and special unique character plays. This is a very innovative concept as it requires careful strategy to learn how to evade your opponents as well as being able to time different events. When the gamer's turn starts you have a �hand� of 5 cards. These cards are either weapons, equipment, or abilities. Each card has a cost to play and you only get a set amount of points in which you can play these cards. Once you have used as many cards as possible your turn is over and it becomes the enemies turn. Upon your next turn you draw more cards and the cycle continues.

This game is pretty easy to learn and understand if you have had experience playing other card games before. Initially it might seem a little confusing and there is a slight learning curve. A walk through / tutorial in the beginning shows you how to play the game. This is extremely handy and the tutorial is very well done so it makes the game relatively easy to learn.

Stealth Suits ?

The graphics in MGS:Ac!d are in line with all of the others in the series. Character detail is amazing as you can see great detail in characters weapons , movement, and individuality. With cards that have characters abilities some will show fmv's of that character in the previous MGS games. Players familiar with the franchise will see their favorite characters appear as cards. Their special abilities come along with flashy animations and are highly detailed.

The story is told entirely through pictures accompanied by text. All of the artwork is stylized to look as if they were straight out of an Anime comic book. The art is very appealing and really adds to the games overall appeal. One aspect that the game focuses on is the fact that you are definitely playing a card game. There are �advertisements� when you receive a new pack of cards. With these really cool and odd �promotional� videos it really adds a fun element to the game.

Walk Softly , Snake

The sound in MGS:Ac!d is best played through the headphones. The tiny speakers on the PSP don't really do justice to the immense amount of sounds that this game has to offer. The sounds seemed to be lifted from the other games in the series and sound really good. Unfortunately since there is no character voice work there isn't much to listen to when not playing through the missions. During the missions however is a different story. You can easily hear when doors open as well as the sound of robotic movements, silenced weapons make whispers of gunshots. Blasts and explosions sound pretty impressive in this game as well as do character alerts and radio communications.

Go fish

Overall Metal Gear Solid: Ac!d is a lot of fun to play. The unique turn-based card strategy game is makes playing the game much deeper. Using cards and abilities to outwit and kill your opponents becomes a challenge as the missions get increasingly harder are drawbacks however, the cards are dealt at random so you may have several turns where you must keep drawing in order to obtain mission-critical weapons or be left empty handed before a firefight. There are non-card abilities such as being able to knock on walls, crawl, and fight enemies in hand to hand combat. This adds even more complicated elements to the game. Certain weapons have timers on them so that the gamer has to plan on when to use them in order not to miss their intended target have equippable weapons and abilities that give Snake an edge on his opponents. The ability to equip weapons then improve those weapons with other cards is really interesting and shakes the game up. Certain cards will allow to to improve accuracy, others provide armor protection, and others will allow you to be able to walk around as stealth or the classic cardboard box.

The heart of this game is really getting the player into thinking ahead and being able to respond quickly to obstacles put in front of the gamer. Strategy and timing are extremely important in remaining undetected and alive. This game requires players to think ahead and rewards good playing on every mission by giving bonus cards for certain feats such as not being detected and no kills.

Pick a Card

MGS:Ac!d's card based strategy is really unique. There are many different cards in the game. Finding different card packs allows for expansion with new weapons and new abilities. Upon completing missions you earn points in which you can spend buying new cards and expanding your deck. This allows you to equip certain weapons for upcoming missions as well as grant new abilities and weapons. The ability to go back and replay missions lets gamers earn more points to spend in the card shop. Unfortunately there is little variety in the missions you can go back and play. There are three scenarios that you can complete when you replay a mission. Two of these scenarios end up being almost exactly the same. So replay missions become stale after a certain amount of time. One downfall of this game is that your cards are completely randomized , this is a pain when you need to earn a certain card for missions and spend hours playing and never get it.

Mission Complete

This game overall is very unique and pretty fun. There is some frustration while playing it because it takes a lot of patience to be able to wait and draw cards. The randomization of certain cards also detracts from the overall fun of the game as you can not complete certain missions without essential cards. Don't let these minor bumps deter you from what is overall a great game. Although it is completely different from the others in the series it still is a great game with a riveting plot. I would strongly recommend borrowing this game before considering a straight up purchase.