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Metal Gear Acid Review
Written by Modojo Staff on Friday, April 1, 2005
Great looking, but also quite a unique and addictive twist on gameplay.
We're still waiting for the series to make an action-based PSP debut.
One of the major problems with the game industry is certain publishers have abandoned innovation for cookie cutter gameplay experiences full of pop culture icons, but not Konami, which decided to release a new Metal Gear for Sony's PSP but didn't provide the type of game many of its fans expected. Enter Metal Gear Ac!d, a brand new adventure starring everyone's favorite mullet-wearing bad ass Solid Snake.
Just like in past games the story makes little sense, there are numerous cut scenes, and there are surprises around every turn, but the decision to make this a card-based adventure instead of a traditional action blast fest has left many of you angry and for little reason. After tasting Ac!d's greatness, I've come to realize that complaints filed against it are, as I assumed, much ado about nothing.
When you break this game down into its component parts, Ac!d is very much like all of the other games in the Metal Gear series. Solid Snake is dispatched to a secret base to save the world from a terrorist group that's hijacked a plane. Actually, it's more like two psychopathic dolls that are wrecking havoc. They've unleashed some sort of gas that's knocked out the passengers, one of whom is a senator/presidential hopeful, the reason being they want some secret item known as Pythagoras, and if the government doesn't deliver it to them they're going to increase the gas level and kill everyone on board.
So you see, just like in the other Metal Gears, Ac!d's story doesn't make any sense, but that's not the only similarity. You'll also wade through more cut scenes than you can shake a PSP at, meet scores of new characters that are introduced at random, and as far as the gameplay's concerned, Snake will still need to sneak past guards, knock them out, shoot them in the head, take out security cameras, and knock on walls to lure enemies from their posts. However, you won't actually be doing any neck snapping or shooting using the PSP's buttons. Instead, your fate's all in the cards.
Metal Gear Ac!d's gameplay is purely card-based, meaning that everything about this game, from shooting to sneaking, hell, even moving just one space requires you play a card. In a sense it's unlike other card games in that you don't walk around looking for people to battle. Instead, if Snake's on a path and needs to get somewhere you're going to need to select a card from your deck and then elect to move a finite amount of spaces.
There are numerous types of cards (some you'll gain from dead guards or high scores) that are broken down into the following five types: Weapon, Action, Support, Item, and Character, all of which have been assigned a value or Card Cost. You only have so much Cost available before your turn ends, so if you play a card with an extremely high Cost it'll seriously limit what you can do compared to playing cards that have minimal costs.
All of the cards allow you to move, so while it may seem odd at first to select a Genome Soldier card in order to climb a ladder, that's what it takes to move about in Ac!d's world. However, the cards have many other functions. If you creep up behind someone and want to take them out you could equip and play a weapon card. There are a plethora of weapons in this game including the SOCOM, claymore mines, and machine guns, and each has a certain level of stopping power, so you may not be able to kill someone by firing a few rounds from your handgun, but an automatic rifle such as the FA-MAS or the M4 will almost certainly rip weaker enemies to shreds.
After your turn is over the AI makes its move, and this is where Ac!d differentiates itself from the rest of the Metal Gear adventures. You really need to strategize before doing anything, and that includes using the camera to survey the area, keeping in mind enemy positioning as well as what structures you can use to your advantage. Where in previous games mistakes can be easily corrected, in Ac!d they'll almost always get you killed, meaning you may need to restart missions several times before finally figuring out the most efficient way to complete them.
If you consider yourself a true and hardcore Metal Gear fan then Ac!d will fill you full of rich nostalgia with many of its cards, some of which feature familiar characters and weapons from the series including Ocelot, the Ninja, and Otacon. All of these cards (including the others) can be grouped into a deck that you'll bring with you into battle, so it's important to figure out which cards are the most effective.
Like most of the PSP's launch games this one features wireless multiplayer (unlocked by playing the single-player game) but it's not really that impressive. In it you battle another person and the AI to collect Pythagoras discs and kill one another, and while it's certainly fun to play for a little while only the most diehard of card battlers will be able to continuously play it. In the single-player game things are more subdued and the enemy always takes advantage of its turn, but in multiplayer you're sort of the mercy of your opponent who may or may not decide to move quickly enough. However, the inclusion of this mode (it's absent in the Japanese version) is a welcome addition.
Graphically Ac!d's not the PSP's prettiest game but it's definitely among the greatest looking, hovering somewhere between Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Son's of Liberty. When the camera's pulled back it looks more like the PS2 masterpiece, but when you see things up close you'll notice that the character models are jaggy and there's a lack of facial detail, but those are minor gripes. By and large the game looks incredible. The environments, which include forests and sterile corridors are well detailed, and the cut scenes, all of which are still images instead of FMV, look amazing. Lastly, all of the special effects such as explosions and gun shots are superb. Ridge Racer it isn't, but Ac!d is definitely a showpiece for Sony's hardware.
Ac!d's soundtrack also deserves big praise. It's not as epic or moving as the music found in the PSOne Metal Gear Solid or PS2 Sons of Liberty but it's extremely enjoyable to listen to, and the same can be said of the game's various sound effects. However, the absence of voice acting is very disappointing.
Journalists love to say that Metal Gear Ac!d's not for everyone, but when you think about it the same can be said of every videogame. Bottom line, this is a highly enjoyable tactical espionage adventure that forces you to think in new and exciting ways. It's also a sweet puzzle game, a card-based strategy title that takes familiar (albeit stale) gameplay mechanics and breathes life into them. The multiplayer mode isn't too impressive but when you factor in the 15 plus hours of single player gameplay that doesn't really matter. Buy it! Love it! Master it! Metal Gear Ac!d is like nothing that you've ever experienced, and that's why it's so much fun to play.
