Big Boss is Portable!!!
This is true Metal Gear sneaking action. Just think of the previous Metal Gears and you have it. Hiding under the beds, trucks, boxes, (Yes the cardboard boxes are here!) Knocking on walls to get soilders to come investagate. Choke holds... The whole nine yards. This game does it well. The only grip is the camera. I still have a hard time getting use to only having one analog stick, but its getting better. Its the basic PSP *hit the left shoulder button to straighten camera*. But you learn to use it. (There were countless times where I would walk around a corner right into an enemy) You just have to learn to be more patient and look around before you move.
The way you can capture people and have them join your force is a really neat consept. If you need a medical person, go to the hospital, grab one and drag them back to your truck. You get to micro-manage your little army which I personally enjoy. You set what weapons you can have, items, rations, etc.
Besides the "little army" you can amass, the only difference between this edition and the normal console metal gears is that the environments are much smaller. You move to areas on the map and there is a small environment with soliders and buildings that you work through.(Unlike the console metal gears that have vast open levels that you move through) I believe they worked the game like this so people could pick at the game in small pieces if they wanted to. So if you have a short break at work, you can pick it up and play a few levels and then shut her down.
Online -
Finally a PSP game that uses the internet instead of just the ad-hoc mode (which I still have never used!) I haven't played to much of online play, but what I have has been great. Good game types, and no LAG at all. The cool thing about online play is that you use your small army from your single player. So what your guy uses in the single player, you use in the multi-player. Thats a really cool decision in my book, because it rewards the people that actually play the single player, and it make people play the single player so they understand it, before they jump online.
Overall a great game that is worth the price of admission. I know that some PSP games have let you down in the past, but if you are looking for a SOLID title, do yourself and your PSP a favor, and pick this little bad boy up!
All in all...It's a Metal Gear game... they haven't let us down yet!