Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Review - Overambitious Yet Solid

[@MariaYuri-qo8jy]

The reason you fight his old unit in this game is to explain why Big Boss founded the very unit he commands in Metal Gear 1. A unit to hunt ''Fox'', henche ''Foxhound''. That's why Campell is here. In Metal Gear 2, after Big Boss was revealed to be traitor, he is the commander of Foxhound. Well, this game tries to reason that of course he would be the second person in question to lead if he was one of the founding members. If you like it or not is up to you but that's why things are like that in Portable Ops.

[@samfire3067]

With i Am not mistaken The Campell in game IS The Father of Meryl not her uncle. To not put a hole with him knowing big Boss and never telling snake

[@priest0589]

Portable ops is my favorite is the series. I was engaged with the story and to me its Canon, I mean they asked Kojima for insight not to contradict any story bits that might come up while we was deep in 4s development. He even produced it. I also agree soild 7/10 hope it comes to consoles as a bonus for fans when vol.2 comes out.

[@KassAdya]

Thank you, Keiv. Your work is exceptional, not just as reviewer of Metal Gear titles, but as a critic of narrative media, period. The insights you bring to the table with regards to character and plot are exceptional, and there's never any bullshit or filler. Great to have you back, man.

[@uncanny-hector-1906]

I'm happy you're back. I missed your reviews so much.

[@ram10-]

Good day!

[@csabaszabo6859]

yeah this guy have to be one the best MGS youtubers out there.

[@uncanny-hector-1906]

47:14 How I feel after replaying it a few months ago? I think it's a solid handheld title brought down by the busy controls and camera. I loved the story and characters. Gene was indeed a good character and boss fight. I would love to see the return of bosses with personalities and backstories and the Chameleon system. Solid review boss. Though some of the game audio was low in certain parts or it could be my hearing idk.

[@csabaszabo6859]

now this is a solid comment.

[@MichealFelk]

Even if I disagree with you on the story of Metal Gear games, you’re one of the best reviewers to cover them 👍

[@solidbhatt]

Oh shit he posted, i was watching you mgsv video for a year man

[@GuyOnAChair]

You beat me to it. 😅 It's a little hard to tell but I will say I wish you swapped to the camera aim option as opposed to the default player aim one and turned off the auto adjust function; especially on emulator. It makes a world of difference. (I understand why you kept the original FPS though) Storywise I feel like it could benefit from a total reimagining. What wrecks Gene and Snake is that at worst it could be seen that "original the character do not steal" gave him all his ideas, which hurts Portable Ops from rectifying Snake as John Question like he was in Snake Eater. Gene would be perfect if it weren't for the Pyschic brother secret prodigy element that cheapens him and prior story. You take the same character, and remove that one element and he really is more impressive person and perfect antagonist. On canon, Portable Ops was canon, keyword *was*.

[@vicwaters87]

So glad to see you back, mate! And what a great review this was to come back to! I quite liked Portable Ops myself. Its controls were less intuitive than other games but I got used to it pretty early on. Combat was a lot of fun, which is why I loved the multiplayer for this and Plus when it came out a year later. Mission progression was archaic but I would just cycle days until the mission reports came in. TBH it was a few extra steps but not a dealbreaker for me. I also loved the boss fights in this game too. I agree that I wish Cunningham's fight was like Python or Null's fights but I actually liked that it was different too. Because like you said, Cunningham has a lot of attacks so it doesn't feel boring or repetitive. I actually liked his fight more than RAXA's fight in fact. I mostly agree with you about the story. I wish Python and Null were in the game more and like the way Snake was presented. I don't think it's better than Snake Eater though because Snake's younger and at the start of his journey then. It makes sense his outlook wouldn't be solidified. Plus he isn't jaded yet. His interactions with the villains may have been weaker but I actually loved his interactions with Major Zero, Paramedic, SIGINT and EVA. So to me, that makes up for his weaker interactions with the antagonists. I didn't consider the angle from Cunningham as a combat vet. That was a very interesting point! But I don't necessarily agree that Cunningham was less interesting because of his fixation with the Legacy. He was a persistent threat. First time he shows up, he's stomping on Snake's Les Enfente Terrible maker. Next time he encounters Snake, he's beating on him and capturing again. The third time he shows up, he's gunning down Snake's men one by one in front of him until he gets answers. And then the final encounter is their fight. He's behind on the facts but what keeps him interesting is that he's a threat every time he shows up and inflicts pain on Snake in one way or another. Portable Ops was the first PSP game I remember being obsessed with. It got me through my early college years along with the Metal Gear Ac!d games that I ended up playing after MPO. And Peace Walker saw me through to the end of my college years. So it was nice hearing your perspective and I think you gave it a fair outlook. I think I liked it more but I still really enjoyed your take as I tend to. Cheers!

[@chaoszonenate]

I love your reviews man. They're so good. I own Portable Ops and I've tried to play it a few times but I just couldn't get a handle on the controls. Which is a shame but I ended up watching a playthrough of it and reading up instead. I think it has some really great elements and story wise is super solid. You'll see people debating how Big Boss 'went evil' constantly, but I've always appreciated that the shift was gradual and fairly subtle. The games don't spell his shift in opinion out for the player, but if you look at what he says, what he does, the evidence is right there. I've also heard a lot of people agree about Gene being a great villain, and the perfect foil to Big Boss. Something I definitely agree with. There's elements of Gene's ideology later on in Big Boss' own Outer Heaven as well.

[@Sweet_Rosie607]

THE LEGEND IS BACK!!!!

[@jimmyrolls37]

Portable ops should have had the overhead camera style of mgs1 and mgs2, before mgs3 subsistence brought the 3d camera

[@FarazP]

NEW VIDEO! LET'S GOOOO

[@salvatration3704]

You speak in redundant, bait-y ways sometimes, like "I both loved it and hated it." This is typically a writing tool used by people who don't have interesting ideas, or if they do, they're incapable of putting them into words. You don't suffer from that at all, your ideas and examinations are very well thought out and articulated nicely. I think you'd have a cleaner script if you removed parts like that, it gives the impression of uncertainty in opinion when you really do have solid and fresh arguments. This and the MGS5 video are great, keep it up!

[@ImInGoodNick]

Yo he's back!

[@Vladysluv]

If you were playing on emulator why didn't you just map the d-pad to the right analog stick. If you crack up the camera sensitivity a little it feels almost like subsistence

[@uncanny-hector-1906]

It's a band-aid solution but it works.

[@kurryball]

god ive missed you departed

[@kurryball]

ADHD thoughts while watching: i hope they rerelease this in a future collection with better controls truck. fun fact: Jonathan's VA is the same as Kaz as far as canonicy is concerned, Kaz did mention San Herorbrine at the beginning of PW, so something HAD to have canonically happened. Even though I've seen many people say "it was a throw away line to overwrite Portable Ops" welp too bad SOMETHING happened for Kaz to say that in universe, and this is all we've got to go off of, maybe every detail ain't canon, but overall yeee. THOUGH in a dream world, if there was a game that like, retelling of this but with Kaz instead of Roy and with a story like you mentioned where we actually see the split between Zero and Biggie in game rather than it being told. truck. im pretty sure if you had a PSTV you could play this game with a PS3 controller, not sure if you could use the 2nd analog stick or not, but i wana try it some day ROY IS A POTENTIAL WAT HOLY SHIT TIME TO HIT THE METAL GEAR WIKI WAT DID I MISS if i had a dollar for every time a portable MGS game was called "the missing link" id have 2 dollars truck. DUCK!

[@samuelantoniocastillomeza5034]

So glad you are back and talking of Portable Ops! I hope the game is included in Vol. 2 of the MC. Game looks like a huge On Site Procurement mission for both the great and dull.

[@cloudycolacorp]

I love the ashley wood art in this game, in the absence of yoji shinkawa, they should try and have him as art director in whatever new ones they make

[@fieldkaiju]

im so happy you're back I love you so much

[@MariaYuri-qo8jy]

Kept us waiting, huh!

[@silvrIsley]

You're back! I love the way you narrate and write!

[@az1m8290]

i hope i get to see your review for snake eater when its remastered

[@morsecode980]

I never understood why this game had a free camera on a system with only one analog stick. If it just used a fixed camera, the controls would probably be a lot better. I hope this game gets a remake that makes it 100% canon and properly bridges the gap between MGS3/Δ and Peace Walker.

[@devilinblack637]

🐐Is back people

[@quinnman89]

I could never get into this one, played it after peace Walker. The tutorials and opening levels were way too clunky and boring compared to the beautiful polish found in PW. Maybe I'll give it a second chance someday

[@Azazel5021]

he is back

[@michop21]

The goat is back!

[@justinmercado1185]

Portable ops is canon to me. However it’s Kaz not Campbell who is with snake

[@reality_is_sin]

saying this game was written or at least written snake better than MGS is absolutely insane

[@vicwaters87]

He said the way Snake was written and the dialogue was better than MGS3. He didn't say the game overall was better.

[@zeroskaterz92]

The dilemma of Big Boss in this game was done way better than it ever did with Peace Walker, Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain.

[@enoyna1001]

Harsh review, but I guess the games deserved it.

[@Crazybanana-gw7in]

Meow :3

[@imalittletoxicjustalittle]

okay if you couldn't even figure out on the PSP emulator you can map the camera to your other anolog then i get why you dont understand most of metal gear's story lmao ;D im just kidding i do disagree with your story analysis of the games and you get many things wrong in it but your vids are great and its clear you focus on the gameplay and know things there i didn't at all im just letting you know this can be done