Metal Gear AC!D
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2005 9:48 amMetal Gear AC!D
Rating : 6 out of 10
Overview
MGA is a turn based card/strategy game set in some incarnation of the Metal Gear universe. You play as Solid Snake on a mission to uncover the secrets and connections behind a mysterious terrorist organization, a weapon called Pythagoras, and an airplane hijacked by two living dolls. Sound weird? It is.
Graphics
MGA's graphics are decent, but definitely not at all the height of what the PSP can do. The graphics engine appears to be a port of, or based in part on, MGS for PSOne - I am not certain of this, but it appears to be the case. There is considerable dithering in the color pallette making the game appear to use thousands of colors as opposed to the millions the PSP is capable of. The polys are occasionally jittery, again, very reminiscent of MGS. All the models are well built, but the colors, or rather the shortage of them, and the grainy dithering that takes their place, take away from what could be some otherwise gorgeous models. The camera is also a hassle and requires allot of hand holding, before I figured out how to control the camera I thought the game was completely unplayable as Snake kept getting obscured behind scenery.
Sound
I though the sound in MGA was pretty cool. The music is very "James Bond 2010" if you catch my drift. I enjoyed the sound track and felt it added to the game. The sound effects are perfectly fine for the job at hand, though nothing particularly special. In an apparent attempt to conserve battery life there is no speech in the game. I found this extremely frustrating, and it definitely takes away from the atmosphere of the game. What's snake without David Hayter? Just GI Joe with a 5 o'clock shadow.
Story
I am horrible at video games and rarely finish them. They have been a love of mine since child hood, but I may have completed maybe 5 in the past 20 years. That being said, I don't know the whole story as I didn't (nor do I intend to) finish this game. What I have seen is pretty solid, but it isn't as good as the MGS franchise's stories. It doesn't seem like a Metal Gear story, but rather, someone trying to write a Metal Gear-esque story. More like fan-fic than cannon. It's a pretty good story, but it doesn't draw you in and keep you in breathless anticipation of the next big revelation like the MGS games can. It's good enough for this game, but it would be lacking for a real MG outing.
Gameplay
As a huge MG fan I found my feelings conflicted in regards to this game. The card based strategy element is definitely cool, and I enjoyed it much more than I expected, but it is just so frustrating to see all the elements of a MGS game on-screen, and not be able to play a MGS game! It's like having a tantalizing new gadget just out of reach. No matter how much I enjoyed the game, I would have enjoyed a MGS game exponentially more. I would have much preferred to play this card based sort of game with an original cast and story, not as a MG knock off to sell more units. The gameplay is fun, but if your a huge MG fan it's going to constantly at the back of your head that your not playing the game you want to be. The controls were fine for the job at hand, just navigating menus and grids, nothing fancy. This game is also not good for quick plays, if your gonna sit down and play MGA, have at least 45 minutes. Once you get into a course, your not going to want to stop until it's complete. After the course is over though, I found myself shutting the game off and in need of a rest.
Overall
I don't want to give the impression that this isn't a good game, and if you are either a strategy or MG entusiast it's worth picking up, preferably used. For the strategy/turn based fan this might be a better game than the MG fan. If you love making Snake sneak around industrial complexes choking out genome soldiers, your gonna be disappointed. If you just like seeing snake do anything at all, you'll love it. Try and strike a balance between the two and keep your expectations reasonable, you just may get a 5 or more hours good outta this one.
Rating : 6 out of 10
Overview
MGA is a turn based card/strategy game set in some incarnation of the Metal Gear universe. You play as Solid Snake on a mission to uncover the secrets and connections behind a mysterious terrorist organization, a weapon called Pythagoras, and an airplane hijacked by two living dolls. Sound weird? It is.
Graphics
MGA's graphics are decent, but definitely not at all the height of what the PSP can do. The graphics engine appears to be a port of, or based in part on, MGS for PSOne - I am not certain of this, but it appears to be the case. There is considerable dithering in the color pallette making the game appear to use thousands of colors as opposed to the millions the PSP is capable of. The polys are occasionally jittery, again, very reminiscent of MGS. All the models are well built, but the colors, or rather the shortage of them, and the grainy dithering that takes their place, take away from what could be some otherwise gorgeous models. The camera is also a hassle and requires allot of hand holding, before I figured out how to control the camera I thought the game was completely unplayable as Snake kept getting obscured behind scenery.
Sound
I though the sound in MGA was pretty cool. The music is very "James Bond 2010" if you catch my drift. I enjoyed the sound track and felt it added to the game. The sound effects are perfectly fine for the job at hand, though nothing particularly special. In an apparent attempt to conserve battery life there is no speech in the game. I found this extremely frustrating, and it definitely takes away from the atmosphere of the game. What's snake without David Hayter? Just GI Joe with a 5 o'clock shadow.
Story
I am horrible at video games and rarely finish them. They have been a love of mine since child hood, but I may have completed maybe 5 in the past 20 years. That being said, I don't know the whole story as I didn't (nor do I intend to) finish this game. What I have seen is pretty solid, but it isn't as good as the MGS franchise's stories. It doesn't seem like a Metal Gear story, but rather, someone trying to write a Metal Gear-esque story. More like fan-fic than cannon. It's a pretty good story, but it doesn't draw you in and keep you in breathless anticipation of the next big revelation like the MGS games can. It's good enough for this game, but it would be lacking for a real MG outing.
Gameplay
As a huge MG fan I found my feelings conflicted in regards to this game. The card based strategy element is definitely cool, and I enjoyed it much more than I expected, but it is just so frustrating to see all the elements of a MGS game on-screen, and not be able to play a MGS game! It's like having a tantalizing new gadget just out of reach. No matter how much I enjoyed the game, I would have enjoyed a MGS game exponentially more. I would have much preferred to play this card based sort of game with an original cast and story, not as a MG knock off to sell more units. The gameplay is fun, but if your a huge MG fan it's going to constantly at the back of your head that your not playing the game you want to be. The controls were fine for the job at hand, just navigating menus and grids, nothing fancy. This game is also not good for quick plays, if your gonna sit down and play MGA, have at least 45 minutes. Once you get into a course, your not going to want to stop until it's complete. After the course is over though, I found myself shutting the game off and in need of a rest.
Overall
I don't want to give the impression that this isn't a good game, and if you are either a strategy or MG entusiast it's worth picking up, preferably used. For the strategy/turn based fan this might be a better game than the MG fan. If you love making Snake sneak around industrial complexes choking out genome soldiers, your gonna be disappointed. If you just like seeing snake do anything at all, you'll love it. Try and strike a balance between the two and keep your expectations reasonable, you just may get a 5 or more hours good outta this one.
