MGS Portable Ops PAL bonuses

By Tom Bramwell Published 12 January, 2007

And it's out in April.

The European version of PSP title Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops will be released in April, Konami said today, and will boast a range of features that weren't available in the US and Japanese versions released last year.

These will include 12 addition characters, two more multiplayer levels and a Boss Battle mode, which ought to help make up for the traditional several-month delay between the game's completion and its release here.

MGS PO, as Konami likes to call it, has won plaudits for bringing traditional MGS gameplay to the handheld whilst also heading into new territory - with a system of recruiting and fielding a range of comrades on the game's small stealth levels, and even using the PSP's Wi-Fi features to search random access points for bonus characters.

'MGS Portable Ops PAL bonuses' Screenshot 1

Characters recruited in-game or downloaded by "hacking" access points have various attributes, and can be used in-game (switching between them using the menu, with inactive characters hiding in cardboard boxes, obviously), and the 12 additional characters in the European version should help give your squad a bit more depth. Careers of existing characters have also been expanded, to help highlight key attributes like athleticism and physical strength - obviously rather handy depending on the situation. Boss Battle mode, meanwhile, will allow you to relive tussles with the game's typically flamboyant master-villains.

MGS PO also boasts an online mode, allowing you to go on the Internet and play against friends (and enemies) in a similar manner to that of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence on the PS2, and to this end two new multiplayer levels - for a total of ten - ought to help things last. As well as simply putting your team up against others, you can also risk losing members to your adversary in certain game modes.

For more on Portable Ops, which we're definitely keen on, in case you were wondering, look forward to our import review in the very near future.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (25) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • lambtron #1 5 years ago

    Ah the reason I have not sold my PSP! Sounds v. cool.

    Although April is still quite far off - boo.
    Edited by 1 at 12/01/07 @ 13:08

  • SeesThroughAll #2 5 years ago

    Hurrah

  • Razorus #3 5 years ago

    Thank god. That should hopefully make up for the long wait.

  • dadrester #4 5 years ago

    and now for the plot spoiler... the butler did it!

  • Steroyd #5 5 years ago

    :o

    First FFXII and now Metal Gear Solid Portable ops sweet.

    But....APRIL!!!

  • Aretak #6 5 years ago

    "and now for the plot spoiler... the butler did it!"

    You forgot to mention that at the time he was piloting a bipedal tank from the future that was built by the President of the United States who in that future is actually a lizard wearing a suit.

  • andromeda #7 5 years ago

    the game is pretty good but snake looks like a mincer when he walks

  • AcidSnake #8 5 years ago

    You forgot to mention that at the time he was piloting a bipedal tank from the future that was built by the President of the United States who in that future is actually a lizard wearing a suit.

    Oh thanks!
    You've just ruined MGS4 for me!
    I hope you're happy!
    You too dadrester!
    Have you no decency?!

  • Triggerhappytel #9 5 years ago

    I've been toying with the idea of getting a PSP for months (despite the stick it gets I think it still looks decent), and this might just be the game to push me into buying one (along with the coming FF games and Jeanne D'arc :)).

  • absolutezero #10 5 years ago

    I've already finished PO.

    /am cry

  • ReNo #11 5 years ago

    I've watched some gameplay trailers for this and, sadly, it looks really difficult to play. Why couldn't they just have made it play like MGS1; that would suit the PSP's controls perfectly. I'm going to get it, but I've a feeling it won't live up to Killzone: Liberation, which IMO is as good as a shooter is likely to get on the PSP.

  • trevd72 #12 5 years ago

    i have just starting to play it and the controls are sucking big time. but why the PAL version. why the delay. there is no PAL when it comes to handheld console!!

    they really need to tailor games to the controls of the PSP. Can I just say in case there are any developers reading.....GAMES THAT WORK BEST WITH TWO ANALOGUE STICKS ARE BASTARDS ON THE PSP.
    Edited by 1 at 12/01/07 @ 14:18

  • blurt #13 5 years ago

    is that raw passion in that last sentence Trevd72?

  • CitizenGeek #14 5 years ago

    Thats a little unbelieveable. I mean....APRIL?! Ah well, FFXII should keep me going that long. :)

  • JediMasterMalik #15 5 years ago

    Cannot Wait, it's gonna be awesome.

  • nuffmon #16 5 years ago

    Crisis core and portable ops. PSP is now starting to deliver class games. Couldn't care less about the controls comment. MOH heroes was slammed for controls yet i have played it for a few hours and it feels like second nature to me now.

  • trevd72 #17 5 years ago

    passion indeed cos I want my PSP to be ace and instead i give up on games that are killa cos the controls do my head in. just like syphon filter, brother in arms and medal of honor.

  • lambtron #18 5 years ago

    Oh no trev you have ruined my day :(.

    So the controls are shite? What about the framerate? I am currently playing TR:Legend on my PSP and both are pretty bad - in some places I think the framerate can't be above 10fps, maybe even less. That and the shitey controls are almost making me give up playing the game.

    What exactly about the controls is bad?

  • absolutezero #19 5 years ago

    Theres actually nothing at all wrong with the controls. Everything feels tight and responsive, itll take a little getting used if you go from playing MGS 3 to PO but that was always going to be the case.

    They work perfectly in the context of the game, which is more than can be said of most PSP titles.

  • Goffee #20 5 years ago

    I'm playing the US import and it is a lot of fun, it only takes a short while to get used to the controls and while its not Syphon Filter-slick, it is pretty damn close but the atmosphere and sense of suspense is magic.

    Guess I'll have to get the UK version too - something I haven't done since the Japanese version of Everybody's Golf.

  • john_m #21 5 years ago

    I have the US version of this game, and I love it so much I will buy the UK version!

  • trevd72 #22 5 years ago

    the controls just feel wrong and get in the way of the game for me. controlling the camera and locking and shooting and perhaps changing item all at the same time makes me scream at times cos of the mapping. you can change things but its all too much without the extra nub

  • OldB0y #23 5 years ago

    @Aretak

    lol David Icke the Metal Gear script writer maybe Kojima should hire him!!

  • Barney65 #24 5 years ago

    I'm playing this at the moment and I have to say it's a "proper" Metal Gear game. Solid controls, a clear storyline and a nice twist on the gameplay (even the cut-scenes are missing the usual self-indulgence).

  • ctrl-k #25 5 years ago

    /off-topic

    Lambtron:
    I *loved* TR:Legend on the ps2, and got the PSP version just so I could ferret out every single little item, but the controls were SO AKWARD I just couldn't play it! I had the same with gun, which I really wanted to like - I just could not be arsed, which is terrible, as clearly a lot of effort went into several other aspects of the production.

    /on-topic
    I am absolutely certain good 3rd (and 1st) person shooters can be produced for the PSP, so I wouldn't really want to whine about Sony and hardware - blame developers, for once. Just look at killzone, that was PERFECTLY ADEQUATE in the controls dept, and let's face it, a brazillion games have worked fine in the past with plain digital input...

    K.