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jp's Metal Gear AC!D 2 (PSP)

[January 10, 2008 01:04:20 PM]

Playing this game has been somewhat of a trip down memory lane coupled with a tiny view into the broader Metal Gear universe. As far as I know, there are 4 different collections from which all of the cards you use in the game come from. Each card collection corresponds to a different franchise in the game, with one of the collections covering all(?) of the pre-Playstation metal gear games. What's cool about the collections is that many cards from each feature artwork from the respective games. Sometimes the artwork is the in stylized (ie, concept art/illustration) form, but other times (especially for the pre-PSX games) you get the actual 8-bit graphics! So, if you've played many of the games in the series, you might be due for a trip down memory lane.

Now, just the cards and the pics is probably not enough to get you REALLY into the Metal Gear world. Many of the cards (especially those that feature characters from the games) trigger a short cut-scene/videoclip when you use them in-game. I'm pretty sure that most of these videoclips are actually cut-scenes from the respective games. While I'm sure YouTube might help, this might be the only way (short of going back and playing the original games) of seeing video footage from the older games. Nice!

Also, just to show you that they aren't kidding, many cards (ie, more than the ones that just have videos triggered in-game) have additional videos attached that you can watch from a separate menu (ie, not in-game). I've only watched a few, mainly because you don't know what video you're going to get because apparently the card itself doesn't have much to do with it. So far I've seen the trailer for MGS4, some cut-scenes from MGS3 (more than one have spoilers I didn't know about), and some bizarre live-action videos of a Japanese model in cammo fatigues playing with guns. I really have no idea what these last ones are about. Maybe some famous Japanese model? What's weird is that they're live action and unrelated to MGS except for the guns...

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[January 8, 2008 09:43:14 PM]

Wow. I guess I ended up writing less about this game than I did playing it. I've already finished it and I geel that the game was fun and entertaining enough that I seriously considered buying Metal Gear Acid when I spotted it at Gamestop earlier this evening. :-)

Although I felt that the game was shorter than I expected (shorter in a good way) I was actually surprised to note that I spent almost 20 hours playing it! (which is about double my personal rule of thumb for ideal length of a game). Wow. Additionally, I enjoyed how the final missions were paced. The last mission is sort of like an epilogue. It's short and it's easy. A nice respite from the climax mission that came right before it.

For some ungodly reason, as soon as I finished I started playing again. I was hoping to get back to the menu from where I could replay select missions (and try to do better at them). Unfortunately, the game literally starts over (from the tutorial missions no less) and I only had the stomach to do a few missions before I decided to move on. At least I was able to keep all the cards I had collected from the first time I played it.

I really wish it was possible to selectively go back and pick certain missions to play again. :-(

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[December 26, 2007 03:43:03 PM]

Having recently written about time in games I'm strangely compelled by how gameplay is coordinated in this game. I'm sure that some other game (most likely a japanese RPG) uses something similar but I found it interested nonetheless.

Basically, whenever it is your turn you can perform a certain number of actions. (Snake can do 2, unless you've used some card to give you more actions). Each action has a certain cost (which depends on the card you want to use) and is expressed using a number (values tend to be between 3-8, though there are lots of exceptions). The total cost of your turn is the sum of the values of the cards you used. (sort of, successive actions are cheaper by one, but still). Once you've decided to end your turn, it is time to decide who goes next. The next player (PC or NPC) is the one with the current lowest cost total. That person can act, their cost is subtracted from everyone else's cost, and their cost is set to zero. If you decide to skip your turn (ie, perform no actions) you are assigned a cost of 4. So, depending on the cost of the actions you perform during your turn, you may not be able to act again in a while, or you might be able to act again before anyone else...which makes for some interesting gameplay choices!

Essentially, there is a tension between the number of actions you want to perform, the actions available to you (ie, what cards you have in your hand) and the cost of each action, AND the current cost of everyone else. Sometimes it makes sense to perform only one action and then pass because you'll be able to act again before anyone else (and between turns you get to draw two more cards, giving you more tactical options) and thus, you could get 3 actions instead of two, while keeping your overall cost low. Alternately, you might want to go "all out" and perform lots of actions in hopes that you'll take out the enemies or meet the mission goal (so as not to care what happens next). I've really enjoyed the subleties of the system with the sole exception of grenades. I haven't been able to use them effectively because they detonate after the enemies act. (yes, I should be paying more attention to this, grenades detonate after a certain amount of "cost" has passed.

So far it's been pretty fun, even if the story is kind of lame (but typical for a Metal Gear Game). I wonder if the storyline is part of that MGS canon?

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