Page 1 of 1

3 Page MPO Review (IGN.com)

Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 5:34 am
by 87th
http://uk.psp.ign.com/articles/749/749133p1.html
Some camera and slowdown issues, but it seems very positive otherwise. Considering their standard's are high enough to call the Snake Eater camera "horrendous", anyway.
Spoiler:
9/10
Oh, and it's out today! I'll be ordering my copy on Thursday.

Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 5:41 pm
by Missing
Yeah, that crack on Snake Eater got me as well. Not to sound too fanboy-ish, but I've always considered the Metal Gear camera-style to be the best in any game I've played.

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:05 pm
by Henry Spencer
The camera is awesome, I do agree.

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:51 pm
by Artemio
I should wait to see it. It is no secret I am not really into MPO, and I have no intention of bashing it. peopel that have played it have told me controls were quite difficult to master, not very intuitive. camera was ok, but was no good when moving only when standing. He works for a mag as well, and according to him the game story is great but the gameplay is not that hot. It did not end as a bad game, but not up for a 9...

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 6:59 am
by Snake700
Here“s a score list from Gamespot:

IGN: 9/10
GamePro: 4/5
Yahoo! Games: 4/5
1UP: 9.5/10
Games Radar: 9/10
Gamespot: 9/10
UnderGroundOnline: A
GameDaily: 7/10

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:03 pm
by Henry Spencer
7/10 hmmm...

I'm interested in whether they added any actual constructive criticism or whether it is merely a guy who hates everything to do with MGS. I'll see.

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 3:11 pm
by Marc
I've been playing the game today and I agree the camera criticism is warranted. It's not like Subsistence's camera, where you have control with a separate analogue stick. You pretty much have to stop moving every time you want to change the camera angle even in the slightest. This is more to do with the PSP than a lack of commitment on their part, though. But it is still unfortunate.

Also, only a small part of the text is voiced. The rest (in fact, most), including the radio, is just text. I was under the impression it was fully voiced. And the cut-scenes, while nice...I guess I'd have preferred full 3D, even with the lower quality graphics (though they're still quite good). Hayter sounds a little forced again (a la MGS3), but the young Campbell is pretty good. I think he consciously tried to put a little of Paul Eiding in his voice and it sounds nice.

It is definitely a different game too, the way you drive around completing separate missions instead of moving about one continuous area on foot all the time. I'll need to wait until after the "excitement of a new MG" has died down before I can make a clear-headed judgement.

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:37 pm
by Skycladiana
I agree, so far. It's a pretty fun, if frustrating experience. The camera's really quite claustrophobic, and I'm not sure the full-3D one really is suited to a lot of the situations here. I'd have preferred the classic top-down approach sometimes, but lots of people seem to hate it for some reason.

As for the voice acting-- it makes sense, seeing as they might not have had all the space needed for full vocal accompaniment of the text because of the UMD format, which necessitated the Ashley Woods drawings instead of full cinematics. Still, it's frustrating to have to read Snake talk about how good it is to hear Para-Medic's voice again, especially since several trailers had lines from the pure-text as spoken words-- I'm thinking especially of Campbell's line "Snake? It's got a ring to it," which was spoken in the last trailer, but is only written here. I'm guessing they recorded everything and only put in what they could fit.

Other than that, the gameplay's a bit weird and frustrating as I keep on getting beaten in the middle of a mission and having to start over, even after seeing a dramatic cut-scene which I'll then just have to repeat. Still, it all makes for a nice portable experience, and even a fun home one, as well. I'll have to play it all through to be sure, but I'm glad I bought the PSP for this.

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 12:09 am
by Marc
I find the camera makes the boss fights particularly difficult. I continued on the first one quite a few times, and even then went through all 4 team members.

Another thing is it's quite easy to "cheat" in the levels by just using one of the soldier characters to avoid detection. (But sometimes I'll get "detected" for no apparent reason; not sure why yet.)

About Wood's work... I think he's a great artist, but I don't think this format works with a MG game. DGN was different - there the whole game is in that format, but I just feel there'd be so much more expression with standard 3D scenes. I'm pretty sure they did it this way to save time and resources, though.

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 12:16 am
by Skycladiana
The soldier character work for you at all? I'm impressed. I'm always caught with them. Strange.

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 12:33 am
by Marc
Yeah, I just walk through the levels and grab all the items I can carry and I'm never noticed, as long as I stay away from the officers and scientists.

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 4:13 am
by 87th
BTW- If anyone wants a more typical MGS type game on the PSP, I'd recommend Killzone: Liberation. Altough the missions are quite unlike MGS, there a lot of things that remind me of it. It's a great game, too. If I was to try and compare it to anything I'd say MGS1 + Any strategic FPS + Cannon Fodder.

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 11:26 pm
by Marc
Just finished the game... Story was great but the game system could've been better. Anyway, it definitely leaves many unanswered questions for MGS4. Don't want to talk about any specifics until others have got a chance to finish it.

I think overall the game was a little overhyped, though (it wasn't the best MGS script like they kept going on about; I still think MGS1's is the best).

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 12:31 pm
by Henry Spencer
Thought so.

MGS4 is yet to come though; I bet Kojima pulls out all the stops for the final installment from him!

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 8:26 am
by 87th
Got my copy today. Kind of reminds me of Tony Hawk's Underground 2 REMIX, oddly enough. It's a good game, but some of the abilities from the PS2 game that have been brought over seem forced. The small levels and camera make the whole thing seem quite claustrophobic, too. Much of the game takes place in very narrow corridors, which would have worked with a traditional, over-head camera, but seems clumsy with the new one.

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 12:12 pm
by Missing
You're right about the camera. Why'd they think it would be better to include an un-intuitive free-roam camera instead of the traditional Metal Gear style? They could've at least presented the option.

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 3:22 pm
by 87th
I've been playing it a bit more, now. I like it a lot more than my first impressions led me to believe.

The recruiting feature is much more interesting than I assumed it would be, and gives the game a lot more depth.

The online mode is pretty much the same as Subsistence's, but I don't like the levels as much. It's still the most impressive online mode in a handheld title I've seen so far, though.

It's odd that something that plays so radically different from traditional MG games is still part of the canon. The quality is way above any non-canon MG game, but it seems quite poor when listed amongst MG2:SS, MGS and MGS3.

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 8:27 pm
by Skycladiana
For me, it's just about the best portable gaming experience I've had since Link's Awakening, which for me is still a golden standard for adapting a console gaming experience to a handheld. Portable Ops does a great job of gearing everything towards short missions that can be easily handled on the go, and also manages to invent a new strategy of gameplay which works perfectly into the story being told. Recruiting soldiers, assigning them to units and eventually sending them out to fight and die in combat puts the player into the role of Big Boss, not only as a warrior but also as a general. Kojima (or Kojima Productions, anyway) did a great job of handling the theme of leadership in this title, making the sacrifices a necessary evil of playing the game. I'm still not finished, but so far this has definitely been worth my purchase of the PSP.

But anyway-- yeah, the camera doesn't work well except for out-in-the-open areas, and even then it's frustrating. It just goes to show that you can't always listen to complaints from disgruntled gamers.

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 9:40 am
by 87th
It seems that Famitsu loved it
Weekly Famitsu wrote: Metal Gear Portable Ops (Konami): 9, 10, 9, 9 - (37/40)