My Absolute Personal Favorite PSP Game of All Time
The first thing that makes Acid stand out from its predecessor is the overall gameplay. The previous Metal Gear games emphasize a lot in third-person perspective but now, Acid still roughly introduces the same concept but all actions have been replaced through card-based strategy. It's a strange concept for the Metal Gear franchise and fans were baffled whether MGA can deliver the same performance and thrills than the previous ones. The answer is yes. The system is not too complex once you get the hang of it and it is much easier to jump into than other RPG or strategy games alike.
Metal Gear Acid is a spin-off game, meaning the overall plot has no connection with its predecessor and has little relation to it whatsoever. You once again take the role as Solid Snake. The year is 2016 and Snake once again is taken back from retirement (Doesn't he ever get a proper and peaceful rest for once?) to cease a group of terrorist who hijacked a plane and demands something of value as ransom called Pythagoras. The person in charge is no longer Colonel Roy Campbell but a new guy called Roger McCoy. He takes charge of the operation and with the help of Solid Snake, this starts a new but kinda predictable storytelling. Metal Gear is known for it's twisted and unexpected storyline which loop-sides here and there. It's not that it is a bad idea, but grasping can take quite a while to figure out what the hell is going on and it might take too much of your time.
But anyway, let's get to the best part. Metal Gear Acid is such a great game and it fits exceedingly well for the PlayStation Portable. It's not as fast-paced like it's previous games because it involves you a lot of thinking and making tough decisions, but all in all it's a fun experience and I had blast playing it.
There are no voice over in the cutscenes and it's replaced with text dialogs instead. The music is nice to listen to and the popular Metal Gear sound effects are present as well. As mention before, Metal Gear Acid is a card-based strategy game and all your actions are based on the cards you use. There are more than 200 cards exist in the game and you gain more through bonuses or in Card Shop. Each cards have Cost points and the value of the card whether it's common, uncommon or rare. You are entitled to use a certain number of cards in each stages and the progress of your action depends on the cost of the cards itself.
Acid is certainly not an easy game to quickly dive into not because of the difficulty level, but generally the core mechanics of the game. The in-game tutorial and the instruction manual doesn't deliver an accurate teaching for beginners and newcomers alike, which may draw you out of the experience. My advise is by trial-and-error. Don't worry too much about what to do next. Just do it, and if you need further assistance, ask your friends or seek help from the Internet. I don't understand why most people complain about the game being so hard and all that stuff, but if you ask me, it's not that difficult since you don't have to worry about leveling up your characters. There's definitely some replay value in here because after finishing the game, you would want to collect other missing cards to boost up your power and confidence.
I love this game very much and even though I don't play it that often, it's really a fantastic game. It introduces a whole new concept and it really made an impression on me. As crazy as it sounds, I actually bought this game three times within two years combine, all with good reason. The first copy I had got stolen, the second one was faulty for some stupid reason and I finally got the third copy in overseas. But lemme tell you, finding this game was not an easy task at all. Since Acid was released quite some time ago and is now considered old, every store I went to had either sold out or no longer selling them. I was pissed like hell. That's why I really cherish this third copy very close to my heart and I'm not afraid to say that it's my absolute personal favorite PSP game of all time.