Warning: Potential Spoilers
Set just 6 years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops follows the trials and tribulations of Big Boss, formerly known as Naked Snake during the Snake Eater mission. After the events of Snake Eater, Big Boss secured his status of being the ultimate in infiltration and espionage and is considered one of the greatest military personnel to have graced the U.S. forces.
Held in such high regard is his reputation that almost everyone he meets throughout the game is indeed awestruck by his status. In fact, it’s his reputation, in theory, that precedes him and perhaps helps him to fulfil his duties throughout the Portable Ops mission. The main objective is to recruit personnel to his cause, which is to get to the bottom of Gene’s (the main antagonist in the game) plans to destroy alliances between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and more importantly “destroy Metal Gear”! A theme, no doubt any Metal Gear fan will be familiar with.
I wasn’t optimistic going into this game, in fact, after Snake Eater; I was dreading the following four chapters of the Metal Gear Marathon. Because of Snake Eater’s unique position in Metal Gear lore, it is specifically placed before any of the other games. We’re all very well aware that Metal Gear started over 20 years ago now, and started with Metal Gear on the MSX2 console, since then it has evolved and the graphical interface of the games has evolved greatly as new generations of consoles have become more and more powerful. Being a web designer and a graphics enthusiast, I was pessimistic about playing the original MSX games because the graphics primarily form part of my overall judgment of a game. Portable Ops was no exception, I had no problem with the graphical or control limitations of the PSP. I was however, under whelmed with enthusiasm about recruiting soldiers and forming a team when all my prior Metal Gear experiences have been solo. I was worried that a break from the “norm” may have bad consequences to the marathon and my continuing enthusiasm for the entire project.
The beauty of Portable Ops is that it holds upon its shoulders the massive weight that was created with such a superb prequel as Snake Eater. Portable Ops, being set after the events of Snake Eater and before the events of Metal Gear, chronologically holds the key to why Big Boss endeavours to form Outer Heaven, perhaps the biggest story ark in the entire series. Forgive me if that isn’t true, but I’ve not played MGS4 yet to know any different! In the very least, it is one of the biggest story arks that link the first part of the saga, the parts of Metal Gear that exist before the events of Shadow Moses.
Warning, major plot spoiler! – Overview of game…
San Hieronymo Takeover
- November 2, 1970
Portable Ops, starts out with Snake getting tortured by a member of rogue unit FOX, who have a new leader named Gene and have severed their ties with the CIA. Gene secures the services of Russian soldiers scattered around the San Hieronymo Peninsula, a base located in Colombia, centred around an abandoned Soviet missile silo. Along with other FOX members, primarily Lieutenant Cunningham, Snake’s current tormentor and others that include Snake’s battlefield comrade Python, and the perfect soldier Null, Gene’s plan is to destroy the Philosophers and make a nation of soldiers, “Army’s Heaven”. Meanwhile along the way, Cunningham has a plan of his own. Working with the Pentagon, he wants Snake to push Gene into launching a nuke into Russia, thus prolonging the Cold War. With the help of Ocelot, Gene is well aware of Cunningham’s plans.
On play through, it works perfectly. Granted the PSP has its flaws as controls go, but then again so does the Gameboy but everyone seems to like Ghost Babel! It takes a little time to get used to the different tactic, this isn’t just a game that can be played from start to finish, if the player wants to make the most of the game, they need to work hard. Portable Ops demands the gamer to slog it out to recruit soldiers and if necessary (which it usually is) do the side missions!
I must admit, as I played through the game, I did so with an air of urgency. This is because I felt that I wasn’t enjoying the PSP interface. The fact that I’ve never played on a PSP before didn’t help, this was my brothers PSP and I was learning to get to grips with it as well as the game itself. However, after a few hours of game play I eventually got used to it and started to enjoy the story. At about two hours in to game play and roughly at the point of discovering the ‘perfect soldier’ and meeting Elisa, the medic who watches over him, I’d started to get a feel for the story and the game play was slowly becoming second nature to me. Had I written this article before playing Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, I would, at this particular point bemoan the constant backtracking and retracing of steps to recruit new soldiers, however, to my knowledge there is a lot less backtracking in Portable Ops than anything you experience in the MSX titles where backtracking and retracing is rife!
The conversion from PlayStation 2 to PSP isn’t necessarily a seamless one though. You can tell that cut backs have been made to preserve game play, i.e. short and sweet missions. Also, there are no FMV sequences like in MGS, MGS2 and MGS3. Instead, the pre-rendered animated cut scenes are replaced with what I like to call “still animation”. An artist by the name of Ashley Wood, who has become synonymous with the Metal Gear series, has put his artistic flare into action and created the cut scenes using illustrations. These illustrations were layered and created the atmospherics through simple movements of the layered images rather than animating the images themselves.
Ashley Wood’s unique take on the Metal Gear series has been a surprise to many fans, and the art itself has become somewhat of a grey area for discussion. Many fans consider Yoji Shinkawa as the “face” of Metal Gear, much like Hideo Kojima is considered the “mind”. With Shinkawa being such a pivotal figure in Metal Gear history, it is hard to imagine or accept anyone else’s take on the series. However, my personal feelings are that Ashley Wood would have a huge task to ever expect anyone to re-imagine the series with new art. I don’t believe for a second that this was ever his intention. On the cover of the Sons of Liberty graphic novel, he pays tribute to Shinkawa with a re-imagining of the Snake and Raiden Substance sketch.
Warning, major plot spoiler! – Includes ending of game…
As I progressed through the game, I started to put together the little bits and pieces that made up the story and linked previous and future chapters together. Realising that Null and Frank Jeager (A.K.A. Cyborg Ninja) were one and the same was a cool discovery, and the fact that Gene’s Army’s Heaven was the eventual ‘soldiers solace’ that was destined to become Big Boss’ Outer Heaven. After Gene is defeated, he hands Snake the funds, equipment, personnel and all other information pertaining to Army’s Heaven, telling him that one day he’ll need them.
“On his return home, Snake is awarded for his actions and establishes FOXHOUND afterwards. In the end it is revealed Ocelot kills the DCI and takes the Philosophers documents to “end them”. After the credits, Ocelot speaks with an unknown man on the phone. Ocelot speaks of using the Legacy to form the Patriots in place of the Philosophers. Ocelot actually wanted the trajectory data of the nuke to point to the DCI so he would bring the documents right to him. Ocelot requests Big Boss be able to ‘join’ them (he and the man on the phone) in their new endeavor - becoming the Patriots.” – Taken from the Metal Gear Wiki.
These types of little touches made a huge impression on me and gave the game a whole new meaning. It became one of the missing pieces in a massively complicated puzzle.
Stand out moments in the game, for me personally, but also after chatting to fellow members of the JunkerHQ forums, are the second or third cut-scene where one of the recruited soldiers – Jonathan, meets Big Boss for the first time. At first he’s very dismissive and his insolence proves to us the effect that Gene has on the soldiers of San Hieronymo Peninsula. However, when he discovers that Snake is Big Boss, the guy who, only a few years ago, single-handedly took down Volgin’s faction and defeated The Boss, he quickly submits to Snake’s authority and as I’ve said earlier in this review, it is Snake’s reputation that resides and causes not only Jonathan but many of the other recruits to pledge allegiance. This of course, adds a huge story to the perhaps mundane chore of recruiting soldiers and civilians to join you on your mission. It makes a hard and boring task, more manageable.
Secondly, Snake’s scenes with Elisa seem to have a mesmerising feel to them. Snake’s relationship with Elisa is somewhat father-daughter-like, yet Elisa obviously holds a flame for him, much like many of Snakes other female acquaintances. Yet it still feels like a nice break from the doom and gloom of the heavy storyline. The final scene between Elisa and Snake is where Elisa lays in Snakes arms after an encounter with Gene turns sour and she gets stabbed, the emotion is unreal.
Elisa tells Snake “The futures we saw were one and the same. Snake, you will destroy Metal Gear, and you will create a new Metal Gear in it’s place. Your children; Les Infant Terribles. Snake, your son will bring the world to ruin. Your son… will save… the world.” This is a truly phenomenal prophecy that is especially heartwrenching for Big Boss because of the fact that he and Elissa had a conversation about both of them being sterile earlier, as well as her assertion that he would be a good father: I won’t dwell on the implications of that in the context of later events as they will be covered in later chapters of the marathon… but naturally, Boss has a moment of confusion amidst the tragedy of her passing because of her mentioning his sons Liquid, Solid and Solidus who later appear in a montage. The artwork above by Noriyoshi Ohrai depicts Elissa’s death scene perfectly.
(Many thanks to David for your input and help on this section.)
Finally, as Gene is finally defeated, Snake is feeling the battle bruises and is almost at the point of giving up when he fires a rocket completely short of its target, the real Metal Gear. By this point Snake is out of sorts, after having confrontations with the prototype Metal Gear RAXA (pronounced Raa-sh-aa), Cunningham and finally Gene. Perhaps the most uplifting and truly great scene of the entire game is when Snake’s soldiers join in along side him. As he spots them, he tells them to run and save themselves, they kindly decline and thank him for what he’s done for them, and by way of repaying him, they will stand alongside and help him in this final act.
This game along with its phenomenal soundtrack may only be a small part of the massive picture that depicts the Metal Gear saga, but it stands up as one of the vital pieces of the puzzle. Looking back on it again, a month or so after completing it, it makes even more sense now, and I think I enjoyed it more than I gave it credit for initially.
For the full story, this game is a must!
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