High Dynamic Range Lying

Metal Gear Portable Ops, the direct sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and the first main series Metal Gear on a portable system, is a far departure from its home console brethren. Doing away with the traditional pacing, interface, and even some of the tried and true gameplay elements that have been mainstays in the series for years, Portable Ops (charmingly abbreviated as MPO), treads new ground in ways that past sequels only dreamt about.

On this week’s 1up Show, Previews Editor Bryan Intahar had a very interesting point about the vast changes in MPO’s gameplay. With Metal Gear Solid 4, the direct sequel to Metal Gear Solid 2 almost a year out, and gameplay elements still largely up in the air, could some of the more controversial (and largely unrevealed) gameplay elements have already showed themselves in MPO?

Series creator and director Hideo Kojima revealed shortly after MGS4’s unveiling last year, that the game would involve protagonist Solid Snake choosing a side to align with during the conflict. In MPO, Big Boss must form a crack team of soldiers to take on his old Fox unit. Once recruited, team members can scout out locations for items or weapons. When undertaking a mission, players form a 4 man team, including Big Boss himself.

Pacing has changed as well. Instead of being a smooth 10 hour affair like past games, MPO is broken up into bite sized mission chunks, sometimes taking mere seconds to complete. What lengthens the experience, though, is the ability to recruit any character you see. By incapacitating and retrieving an enemy, you can deliver them to a nearby truck or teammate for recruitment at a later time.

In addition to the recruitment and mission changes, MPO limits the character inventory for each team member to a mere four items. Players must choose carefully which items and weapons they wish to bring on the mission, much the way they must choose their missions carefully.

The connection to MGS4 lies in the story of Solid Snake and Big Boss. Much of the thematic influence in Metal Gear lies in the parallels between Solid Snake, and his genetic father, Big Boss. Shortly after MGS3, we discover that Big Boss becomes disillusioned with the US military and government, choosing to disappear rather that continue his military service, much the way Solid Snake felt after the original Metal Gear. Continuing the parallel with his son, Big Boss is pushed back into service to stop the elite commando team that made him famous.

In MGS4, there’s no telling if Solid Snake himself will try to form his own fighting force. Otacon is heard in the E3 trailer, saying that Snake cannot do it alone, adding that he never had a chance. Could this be the catalyst that forces Snake to create a team capable of taking down the patriots, and stopping Liquid Ocelot?

With MGS4 still in development for another year, the story of an old Snake single handedly silencing an entire army of mechs and soldiers seeming ridiculous, and little to none of the new allegiance system revealed, it seems more than likely that MPO may be more than a Snake Eater sequel. It might actually be the canary in the coal mine, telling Kojima Productions what will and won’t work in the biggest project the studio has ever undertaken. With the expenses that MGS4 likely has incurred throughout development, some secretive focus testing might be the best way to cut their losses.