Metal Gear Acid 2
Insert clever reference to an acid trip here.
Published: April 13, 2006
The core gameplay hasn't changed much; you'll still use cards to heal, lower cost so your turn comes sooner, attack, equip items or plant traps (many of which are new and extremely handy when they work in boss fights), or opt to use them to move around instead. Your deck starts off small (30 cards, which is the minimum you can have at any time), but it grows, and the 500+ cards available mix in characters from previous games (and these have special attacks or boosts that are invaluable) so there's quite a bit of variety. You can even attack with a CQC move introduced in MGS3, though it expends 6 cost and is largely useless for all but finishing an opponent off.
The points you earn each mission based on your performance can be applied to cards to give them a boost. This either drops the cost to use them (check out the review of the first game to learn the general flow of the game, since it's the same and reading is fun!) or makes them more potent. You can also buy cards -- either individually at exorbitant prices or as part of a three-pack of randomly-chosen cards -- but this really only comes into play later in the game when you've unlocked more sets. Most levels have a few packs scattered around in out-of-the-way places, so early on, you can just poke around for them.
Also added are linkage cards, which piggyback off of other actions you take if they're in your hand at a given time. Usually this means you'll have to have a more advanced weapon equipped (and this is still a little odd, since it often requires double-equipping something, but it's far less common than in the first game), but it'll reward you handsomely with more damage, status effects and so on. Using linkage cards properly is the key to winning boss fights, and it adds another layer of strategy to an already deep game without bogging it down too much.
I'm not sure if it's familiarity with the system, better card assignment, or just better cards in general, but with the ability to climb ladders, drop into a crouch and lean up against walls (you can do both, and then knock if you'd like to alert an enemy) without it using up a turn, it just feels like you have more options. It feels much more like a chess game, then, as you study enemy movement (you can see their vision cones with a simple overhead view accessed from the card select screen), carefully use the cards that are dealt to you, and balance cost usage for more points at the end of a mission.
Whatever the reason, it just felt easier to slip into the story, get attached to the characters (even if Snake is more or less a pawn most of the time), and enjoy the developments. That, and it was fun to ogle Snake's new female companion, Venus, who seems stuck in the same forgotten memory boat as Snake in delicious three-deeeee via the gimmicky Solid Eye peripheral that wraps around the front of the PSP. Though it game in very handy indeed for watching the short clips from MGS3 and Japanese girls, it was too hard to see the edges of the screen during text conversations.
