The Metal Gear series is sometimes slagged-off for being set in its ways, still demonstrating problems from earlier games and failing to remedy them. Ironic, really, considering that Kojima is a progressive, and always tries to move the gaming world onward through his storytelling. Perhaps, though, the ‘Solid’ series of games have stuck to a pattern too rigidly; perhaps the nay-sayers were right, and far from being a masterpiece of innovation and evolution, MGS3 was tedious, restrictive and illogical. Maybe, because of a vocal percentage criticising his franchise, Kojima green-lit Metal Gear Ac!d.

SNAAA….!!

It’s remarkable how close to the Solid series the game is in terms of presentation. Codec scenes often contain stretches of bush-league philosophy; the ‘alert’ music is the same; Snake still repeats the last line of every conversation….fans will lap it up. Ac!d is a bizarre mixture of the ‘Solid’ series and a card battler (think Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon and...er...Top Trumps) which – surprisingly – works well. The story concerns the hijacking of passenger jets by a mysterious terrorist organisation whose only demand is that a mysterious object or substance – codename ‘Pythagoras’ – is handed over to them. There’s only one reptile for the job: Solid Snake. They wouldn’t be getting Snake on the phone if this wasn’t serious, though. One of the hostages is a presidential candidate, and ‘Pythagoras’ is being held at a research institute in a hotly contested African state, full of various militia groups battling the corrupt government.

The plot is standard Kojima, with themes of cross and counter-cross all the way through, counter pointed with difficult moral choices. Codec scenes explain just how deep the CIA has managed to sink you in the shit this time around (answer: very). The tale progresses as you complete each area on the map, with a cutscene - done in a sort of Flash-animation style, but classier and with decent artwork - revealing more and more of the plot. During game-time, Snake uses a deck of cards to do everything: move, shoot, crawl, you name it. Your deck contains cards of various classes, such as Weapon and Support, along with the really interesting ones – the Character cards, which contain familiar faces from the series, and grant you some unique and powerful moves. Some of their uses are obvious (Cyborg Ninja card attacks with the HF Blade) and some are quirky but smart interpretations of that character’s usefulness (Emma Emmerich card grants you ‘Weak Knees’, where you can dodge any attack for a round by falling to the side). Every card can either be used for its primary purpose, obviously, or the secondary purpose: to move. The floor is laid out in a grid that becomes visible once you choose to move and, much like a Tactical RPG, you move proximate to your quarry then perform an action. When it's your opponent's turn, they react to your actions as per all Metal Gear games - if you fail to knock them out or hide yourself in time, they’ll run away and call for help. Your objective is normally to reach a certain section of a level, moving through the use of your deck, avoiding detection and engaging in combat where necessary.

….AAA….!!!

The cards themselves are a mine of information, but a lot of the stats are baffling. Mostly, you can ignore stuff like “ATK=50 –4% when Beefcake STATUS effect = FISH –10” and concentrate solely on their cost and effect. Unless you are a stat whore or a trainspotter. Creating a decent deck takes time and experimentation. You carry a deck of thirty cards from the beginning, with six available to select from at a time. Once these are used, the deck is shuffled and presented back to you in a different order. Each card has a cost attached, with the more useful and damaging cards carrying the highest cost. If your cost at the end of a ‘mission’ (a level, essentially) is high, you receive a lower grade and fewer points. And what do points make? Yep, prizes. Points allow you to buy more sets of cards from the decks available, increasing your range of moves, and are awarded for speed, low card cost and stealth during a mission. The fewer times you are spotted and the fewer people you kill, the greater the reward – Kojima reminding you that this is still “Tactical Espionage Action”, not ‘Blow Big Holes In Stuff With Guns”. Initially, the Metal Gear Solid deck is the only one available to purchase cards from, with decks from Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater becoming available later in the game.

Buying cards from a deck obviously means you acquire duplicates (just as with any real life trading card sets) but don’t worry: not only does having, for example, four FAMAS cards mean you can stack the deck more highly for assault scenarios, say, but later in the game you are joined by another operative, named Teliko. You card stock is then split between her and Snake during a mission, so duplicates are a positive bonus.

Once a mission is complete, you can return at any point and replay it with a different objective. These are usually either ‘avoid detection’ or ‘eliminate all enemies’, although there are slight variations. Replaying sections allows you to improve your skills and test out cards, which is particularly useful with cards that provide counter-measures. You have slots that can be filled with certain Support card items, such as body armour, extra weaponry and status-changing devices. Being attacked whilst these are equipped can adversely affect the enemy, or positively affect your status, and ought to be toyed with and pushed to their limits before use in the active scenarios.

…AAAKE!!!

As Hannibal from the A Team recognised, it’s truly satisfying to have a plan come together. Watch a guard’s pattern, gauge how many moves it’ll take to get to him, equip the right tools for the job and take him out smoothly and efficiently, and leave the area with bonus cards for speed, low cost and zero kills. Ac!d sports what can only be justifiably described as ‘functional’ graphics. Although the engine is almost as powerful as that used by Silicon Knights in The Twin Snakes (minus some of the flashier effects), the environmental design is quite flat and uninspired. The character models are nicely drawn and animated, though, and it’s great to see Snake back in his MGS1 ‘Sneaking Suit’ (and minus his bad-hair-day Mullet). The cards themselves are well drawn, and featuring artwork by series regular Yoji Shinkawa. Sadly, close-ups of the cards are scaled and blocky – a seemingly minor criticism, but really there’s no excuse for it, and the cards should have been viewable in the PSP’s lovely native high res. The new art for Ac!d fits the tone of the series well (reminiscent of Castlevania artist Ayami Kojima’s work, in places), and audio is grand and well composed throughout, being a blend of Harry Gregson-Williams' main theme plus some suitable variations. SFX come directly from the other titles, meaning they are as impressive and appropriate as in any MGS game (the distinctive ‘burrrrEEEPPPP!!!” noise when spotted by a guard will never, ever be bettered).

Ac!d is a very tough game that requires a lot of patience, practice and experimentation. There is, though, immense satisfaction to be gained by building a really varied and adaptive deck that can be used for any contingency, and that also allows room for some showboating cards. Described by a mate of mine as “Totally Marmite” (you’ll either love it or hate it, nothing in-between), Kojima’s latest addition to the canon is as close to a Metal Gear RPG as you’re likely to get and, if that idea intrigues you, it’s definitely worth your money. You could say Aci!d is pretty much the ‘Raiden’ of the Metal Gear series…Kojima really likes throwing a curve ball to his fans now and again, doesn’t he?