Gone is the familiar real-time combat and, in its place, is this card based system. Each card in your hand is a weapon, or an action, or some sort of ability. These are dealt to the player in a turned-based system, granting additional cards each round. When each card is used, it is discarded from your hand and will only be put back into your deck once you've exhausted all cards available to you.

Now, this may sound like something that is very much NOT Metal Gear and while this gameplay is something different, there is still that distinctive Metal Gear feel to this game. Solid Snake, the hero of the series, is called out of retirement to break into a military installation in a remote country to gather information on "Pythagoras". It is unknown exactly what this is, only that a hijacker who has control of a fleet of passenger jets wants to gain control of it or all the plans will be destroyed.

The game is divided into a mission structure, with plot being forwarded before, after and during each machine by means of dialogue from your associates and adversaries. Sadly, this is all done via the written word and not the great voice acting fans of the series on the consoles have come to expect.

It wouldn't be Metal Gear without some plot twists and some big government agencies getting involved, and, unfortunately like most Metal Gear games that I've played, it also gets needlessly complex. There were many times during the game I would lose track of who was who and what organization did what or what each acronym stood for.

Thankfully, the gameplay is great! I was very skeptical of this card system, turn based game, but found myself unable to pull myself away once I got the hang of it. You are able to customize your deck as you acquire more and more cards, either by purchasing them with points earned for successful mission completion or by acquiring them in the missions themselves, and can create very diverse strategies based on this customization.

You have the option of the traditional stealth based system, or you can opt to load up on guns and explosives and just kill everything in sight. All of these cards feature many familiar characters and items from the Metal Gear series, which help to remind fans of the series that, despite all these cards, this is still Metal Gear.

The graphics will also help remind fans that this is Metal Gear, as Solid Snake looks just like he always did-complete with stealth suit, head band and bandana. The levels themselves are quite small, with the larger ones divided into multiple areas, but each looks just like you're playing Metal Gear Solid 2, only without the annoying Raiden getting in the way. My only complaint is that, in certain instances, you couldn't read necessary information on doors. Fans of the series will remember that often you need to find special key-cards to open certain doors and that numbers or letters on these doors correspond to the proper key. These numbers were difficult to make out as there is no "zoom" option and you are always at a fixed camera height as you view the area from above. Other times, it was difficult to see if an enemy was in your line-of-sight - useful in order to hit them with a sniper rifle from a safe distance - because the screen area was just too small. These are minor complains, and the presentation of the game was very well done.

Sound was one of the weaker aspects of the game, however. The music seemed very repetitive and indistinct throughout the game. It felt like something I'd see more in a previous generation hand-held game, rather then what the PSP is capable of. I wish the dialogue was spoken, since the Metal Gear series has always presented itself as being very cinematic and subtitles just don't do this justice. I assume this was done to save on space, with the UMD discs that the PSP use being smaller in capacity then your console system DVD games.

I really enjoyed this game. As I said earlier, I was nervous about the card-based system, but it ended up creating some really fun gameplay. Fans of the series will be right at home in the settings and atmosphere, and those who avoided the series due to not having the skill, will be able to enjoy the more cerebral approach and strategy that the turn-based card system offers. This is the best game I have played so far for the PSP system, and I can't wait to get my hands on "Metal Gear Acid 2".