Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus

Back in 2007, Kojima and Konami released the original MGS: Portable Ops, an action orientated Metal Gear title which was an instant PSP classic. The original title was as innovative as it was action-packed, even allowing players to go Wi-Fi signal hunting to recruit new soldiers for their army. A year on, the standalone expansion pack is hitting the shelves. With such an outstanding original, we ask the question: Was there really any point?

Set a few years after MGS:3, the original Portable Ops had a typical Metal Gear storyline, full of twists and turns, leaving the player guessing about numerous loose ends which would have been perfect for a sequel. In addition to the typically awesome storyline, players had to recruit enemy soldiers to join their army and could then use them on future missions.

Sadly, while the recruitment aspect is still there, PO+ doesn’t pick up on any of the intriguing storylines from the original.  In fact, it doesn’t seem to have a story at all. While most standalone expansion packs just add to the original by including more levels or characters etc., in PO+, the story mode has been completely removed and replaced with 'Infinity Mission’, which isn’t nearly as exciting as it sounds. ‘Infinity Mission’ turns out to be simply a random mission generator, which is basically just survival mode for your chosen squad and is effectively a thinly veiled training mode, allowing players to recruit new personnel and ‘level-up’ existing ones for when they venture online.

Similarly the ‘Boss Rush’ mode seems an odd inclusion for a game with no story and therefore no bosses unless, in a plot twist truly befitting a MGS game, the whole release is not a game at all but simply a way for the developers to cash in on the ‘gotta catch em all’ Pokemon paradigm, giving players the chance to capture characters they missed the first time around. How could we be so blind?

While it may sound more dubious than a walking nuclear robot called REX, there must be some truth to this.  Otherwise, why would they bother releasing a game with no story, but with a massive training mode and more characters? It is apparent that this expansion pack is solely for players who enjoy the online experience of head to head, and while this is great fun for a while, you will invariably come up against someone who has a team of whacked out warlords just waiting to waste you and your best troops.

While this reward for playing and building experience is a good idea in theory, it creates such massive chasms between the two teams from the start that the human players' skill is largely irrelevant much of the time. In a multiplayer game where dead characters remain dead, this can be a real killer. 

On the plus side, Portable Ops Plus retains the great sound effects and awesome graphics of its predecessor, although the lack of a story mode does mean a lack of the excellent voice acting seen in previous titles.
While it is much cheaper than other games, PO+ should really have been a free download as it adds little and takes a lot from a fantastic original. Overall, it's not a bad title and is very playable, but unless you already have Portable Ops and are gagging for more, stay away from this disappointing addition to a truly fantastic game.