Genre: Turn-based Strategy
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami

A quick glance at Metal Gear Acid leads one to an even quicker conclusion-- the PSP is nearly capable of PS2-caliber graphics! Only a smidgen less detailed than Metal Gear Solid 2, Metal Gear Acid certainly looks the part of a 3d Metal Gear game, complete with fantastic lighting, detailed player models, and the Metal Gear character art style that we've all come to enjoy.

Even dating back to the MSX Metal Gear titles, the series has featured fantastic audio. Metal Gear Acid follows this trend, as the soundtrack is tense, well composed, atmospheric, and just about everything else you can imagine coming from a Metal Gear game. And while character dialogue is not spoken in this game, the sound effects are mostly taken from the other Metal Gear games, and really provide character.

Metal Gear Acid plays exactly like the Metal Gear Solid titles, with one exception: you construct and manage a deck between missions, and control your characters (Snake and Teliko in this case) during a mission by playing a card from your hand. The enemies also have decks and play by the same rules. The level design is excellent, although the storytelling and pacing of the game can be a bit sluggish at times.

Imagine mating Pathway to Glory and Magic the Gathering, and you get a pretty good idea of what Metal Gear Acid is like. I really, really had fun with this game, and as soon as I completed it, I had to play through it again straight away, it is very fun and addicting. In fact, I enjoyed Metal Gear Acid as much if not more than Metal Gear Solid 2, and if Acid's sequel can introduce more cards and deeper strategy, as well as kick up the pacing a bit, it has the potential to be a triple-A title. Truly a genre-bender!