GAME CLEAR No. 313 -- Metal Gear Acid

Metal Gear Acid (2004, PSP)

Developer: Konami Computer Entertainment Japan
Publisher: Konami
Clear Version: PSP
Clear Platform: PSP
Clear Date: 9/7/26

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Why should I care?
Somehow, Konami’s reimagining of Metal Gear as a turn-based card game works pretty well!

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Payaso mode

It’s a busy time in ol’ Clayton’s life. I’ve got a move coming up, so packing is keeping me occupied. Good time to hack away at a handheld game, right? Right. I shouldn’t waste too much time blogging, though, so I’ll keep this one brief.

Metal Gear Acid is a PSP launch title that has long captured my curiosity but only recently became part of my collection. It turns the stealth-action franchise into a turn-based tactics game in which moves are determined by the deck of cards the player has built. I’ve long considered many of those descriptors to be things I rather dislike and/or fear in a game, but I may somehow finally be coming around on them thanks in part to enjoyable experiences like this one. Acid is no masterpiece, but it’s a hell of an effort and the kind of wild genre shift I can’t help but admire.

The game stars Solid Snake (the best of the Snakes) as he is called in to handle a terrorist incident on Lobito Island. It may not surprise you to know that a Metal Gear is ultimately involved. No man is better suited to handle such a situation. This game is not part of the main-series canon, and the writing is sillier and worse than the main games, but the basic trappings are very familiar: infiltrate a top-secret facility to put a stop to a madman’s ambitions. There’s some goofy Jungian woo, child experimentation, memory insertion, and of course a master of disguise all at play to keep things fun and confusing. Again, I don’t think the plot is a particular strength here, but I do respect the writers for getting a little unhinged with it (even by Metal Gear standards).

Anyway, rather sneaking around in real time like a normal person, you’ve got to assemble a deck of cards and make all your moves in accordance with what happens to be in your hand at any given time. You start with a deck of 30 cards, from which you can hold up to six at a time. You may use two cards each turn (unless you use a card that grants you additional actions), and you also draw a maximum of two each turn based on the size of your current hand. Each card represents some item, action, or ability (the latter of which is usually represented by a legacy Metal Gear character, which is fun). Some are weapons/armor to be equipped, some are guns to be used instantly, some grant evasion or immunity to certain attacks, et cetera. Each card also has a cost associated with its use, and that cost determines when your next turn will be. More cards can be acquired from packs scattered throughout levels or purchased at the shop between missions.

Each stage is laid out as a grid, and your objective is generally to reach some objective or point of interest on that grid without alerting the guards patrolling it. Alternatively, sometimes your job will explicitly be to eliminate all enemies and/or a boss. Pretty similar to normal Metal Gear, except with a sort of Fire Emblem approach to movement and combat. Damage done is calculated based on dice rolls and positional advantage rather than action gameplay.

Another difference from standard Metal Gear is that generally you are going to have to kill some of the guards — at least on a first playthrough before you get cards conducive to stealthy and non-lethal approaches. The idea is to dispatch them without drawing the attention of anyone else.

The best reason to be as stealthy as possible is that you are always at the mercy of the cards in your hand. This makes things tricky enough when you have not been spotted by the enemy, but it can get especially hairy once you have been. Need to deal with four enemies all with their sights on you but you don’t have a single gun in your active hand? Better hope that next discard works out for you!

Of course, the idea is to set yourself up for success between missions by modifying your deck to be as versatile as possible. This gets easier as you gather a wider variety of cards, of course. You may like the idea of doing undetected runs, but that’s a lot harder until you have cards that allow you to move a bunch of tiles at once or even become invisible for a period of time. It also helps when you are joined by co-protagonist Teliko Friedman. With two player characters, you can create some complementary pairings.

But even with the best of decks and strategies, there can definitely be some drudgery. You will often find yourself hiding behind a wall waiting for the right combination of things to appear to allow you to get around an enemy (or otherwise eliminate him in one turn to avoid raising an alarm). At other times, you’ll have to cross vast stretches of mostly unoccupied space burning valuable cards just to move (although some cards grant extra tiles, the basic way to move in the game is by using any card to move three tiles). This is the game at its boring worst. At its best, it can make you feel quite clever for how much you can turn the tables in a single round of combat or navigate a stealth section without raising an eyebrow. Like classic Metal Gear, Acid also has a fun cast of bosses with memorable and engaging battles to complement its regular missions.

My positive evaluation of the game basically comes down to the fact that I think its flawed sections are outnumbered by its fun ones. Really nailing a mission and getting through it with a high rank makes up for the periodic moments of sighing and waiting for the right card to show up. I understand Acid 2 improves on the original in many ways, so I will certainly be playing it, but I feel firmly that this one is worthwhile as well. Metal Gear didn’t transition to a card-based format as gracefully as Mega Man, but it didn’t do a half-bad job either.

Playing Acid also reminded me of how much I love Metal Gear. Might be time to replay some of the classics.