Portable Ops is not without issues, but the few that surface are easily silenced by its depth and enjoyability.
For the uninitiated, the story of Portable Ops might be a bit confusing. To put it in the simplest way possible: In the year 1970, Naked Snake (a.k.a. Big Boss) has been captured by Russian renegade troops in South America. The game begins at a prison where the player guides Snake and an army he amasses through a series of missions to ultimately stop a special nuclear-equipped weapon named Metal Gear from wreaking havoc on the world. Of course, there are many more detailed aspects to the story but its best left for the player to experience. The story is illustrated in 3D comic book-style cinematics that are mercifully briefer than ones in the other installments. A skip and fast-forward option is available for most cinematics, so those not interested in the story can jump right in the action.
Graphically, Portable Ops is very similar to Snake Eater. In fact, some of the enemy models are taken right from Snake Eater (although most of the characters are original). However, hardware limitations make the visuals more of a downgraded version than a carbon copy. Not only are the graphics a bit downgraded, the frame rate also chugs a bit when there's either too many characters on screen or there's more than one explosion happening. Those few issues aside, the graphics for Portable Ops are smooth overall and have no noticeable glitches.
The gameplay department is where Portable Ops gets a bit sketchy. Since the controls are also very similar to Snake Eater's, the translation was not perfect. In Snake Eater, the Playstation 2 controller had to use almost all of the buttons to work. However, the PSP lacks a right analog stick and only has two shoulder buttons. Such a severe lack of buttons makes tasks like aiming and moving the camera a royal pain. For instance, having a weapon equipped will cause the player to have it in the firing position whenever the camera needs to be centered to the character's back. It would be inconsequential if raising the weapon didn't also cause enemies to become more aware of the player's presence. Eventually, this will become so frustrating that unequipping the weapon to avoid this problem will come to mind.
There are a few new additions to the gameplay of Portable Ops that manage to not become much of a problem. The main tweak is being able to capture and befriend enemy soldiers so they can do your bidding. There are a decent amount of categories, ranging from snakers to spies and even medics. Every soldier has his or her own specialties and flaws categorized by letter grades. The extensive grading system offers plenty of variety and encourages the capturing of soldiers to find someone perfect for whatever tasks lie ahead. Capturing soldiers can range from laughably easy to screamingly hard depending on the situation. Since each soldier has to be carried to the vehicle Snake arrives in, the distance and time it takes to drag a single soldier can sometimes be unbearable. Thankfully, there is an option to quickly pick up soldiers through a cover system the squad can use to remedy such an issue. In any case, the soldier is then put into a "prisoner" category until they're convinced to join Snake's cause.
Another notable addition is the disguise feature that allows any befriended soldier to casually slip past enemies without the need for sneaking around. However, the right type of soldier needs to be chosen for whatever patrol happens to be there. If the disguise feature is being executed correctly, a large blue chameleon icon will show up on the upper-right corner of the screen. To be honest, this feature is unnecessary but it doesn't hinder gameplay too often (with the exception of the situation mentioned before).
The last tweak to the gameplay is the limited inventory system. While not exactly a perfect aspect, giving only four slots for items adds a little bit of strategy to the missions, preventing the whole affair from being a shoot 'em up. Even so, equipping the characters with what seems to be sufficient items only to find out that none of them have the right piece of equipment (mostly, this is TNT) for the mission is always infuriating. Yes, the items needed are specified most of the time but the missions in which the game simply tells you to either "find this" or "get from this point to this point" may require multiple tries due to lack of proper equipment. Sometimes, not having the right equipment is compensated by having the correct items hidden somewhere in the mission area but its much easier to abort the mission, put the right stuff on the right characters, and start the mission anew.
A concept from Snake Eater that's been carried over to Portable Ops is online play. Although I can never find a decent wi-fi spot to actually test this feature out, the aspects it has are interesting. From what I can gather from the manual, the online support for Portable Ops contains not only the usual multiplayer action but also an option to "send your squad through the internet." I speculate that this feature lets you unleash selected characters through an auto-fight system that lets you procure other players' soldiers and/or equipment. Sadly, it seems that I'll never get to enjoy the multiplayer aspect due to lack of connectivity.
Overall, Portable Ops is a worthy addition to a distinguished franchise. Although not a perfect game itself, it manages to mix up the Metal Gear formula to deliver an experience balancing both old and new ideas. On the downside, the entire single-player campaign can be completed in an afternoon but there are plenty of unlockables and extras to keep the fun going. If you're a Metal Gear fan looking for a portable fix or even an average Joe who wants a decent action game for those long trips, Portable Ops won't let you down.