I would describe MGS:PO as the first Metal Gear in which the gameplay completely outshines the story, which isn't a bad thing in the slightest. Although stealth and boss fights are a major part of every Metal Gear title and this one is no exception, this entry in the Metal Gear saga plays out somewhat differently. This time around your enemies on the battlefield become your tools for combat. You capture them, convince them to join your cause to stop the Fox renegades, and you deploy them into different squads based on their specialties and abilities. For example, some soldiers can drag unconscious soldiers faster than others. It's useful to have a guy like than on your team so you'd place him in your sneaking squad. Another guy might be good at making ammunition so he'd be utilized best in your tech squad. It was fun trying to get leads on my next objectives by deploying spies into the field and responding to their Intel. There are lengthy sections of the game I didn't even use Snake because other soldiers I had were better suited for missions.

Building an army is all well and good, but the real centerpiece of any Metal Gear game is the stealth. Portable Ops, though based heavily on MGS: Snake Eater, does not use camo patterns to blend in. This entry has you relying on cover to remain hidden from your enemies be it behind a wall or in a heating duct. Also the enemies you capture don't change their uniforms once they switch sides. Depending on the mission and who's in your squad, your men can freely walk around an area so long as they don't draw suspicion to themselves. This style of stealth was briefly touched on in MGS2. It was fun then and it's even more fun now. However, just because other soldiers are dressed the same as you, sometimes (and for no apparent reason) enemies spot you and sound the alarm. Maybe these troops employ a few psychic grunts to make running around a little more difficult, but it did get annoying sometimes.

The boss fights are fun, but not very challenging or original. I had to laugh at the fact that my battles with the supposedly unbeatable and perfect soldier Null were the easiest in the game. You can cut through most of them by shooting, running away for a minute, and shooting again. You could try many different ways of taking the bosses down, but overall they're not very difficult.

The only real drawback to Portable Ops is the controls. Since this game plays similarly to Snake Eater, there is a certain amount of gameplay that seems to come naturally. However, making the switch to Portable Ops was like driving a little hatchback and switching to a huge Cadillac. You know how to drive the Cadillac, but it definitely feels awkward making turns for a while. If the control scheme set up in MGS3: Subsistence was used for Portable Ops, it would have made certain parts of this game much less frustrating. However, this gripe is minor because the controls for Portable Ops are not so frustrating you can't acclimate to them in time.

As I said before, no one is more of a die hard Metal Gear fan than myself and few people know the ongoing story better. I enjoyed the story in Portable Ops, but even I'll admit that this one felt a little sloshed together. There are a few moments that fanboys will eat up that I didn't really think were necessary to the series. I also didn't like how certain plot points occurred just to attempt to make this story more cohesive to the original Metal Gear. They reminded me of the scene in Revenge of the Sith when the decision is made to wipe the droids memories to allow for better continuity. However, there are a few major revelations in this game that will factor heavily into MGS4 that I can't wait to see where they are taken.

Overall, Portable Ops is a great game. It's fun and it expands on Metal Gear's unique gameplay and style to create a cool gaming experience.

8 out of 10

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