Going into E3 this year we all knew to eagerly anticipate new details on Metal Gear Solid 4, and the new 15-minute trailer Konami presented for it certainly blew all onlookers away. However, the announcement of Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the PSP was equally as awe-inspiring. Ever since the PSP was announced, MGS fans have been begging for the full-on stealth-action experience that the series has provided on the consoles, and even though Metal Gear Acid and Metal Gear Acid 2 have both been stellar productions, they still haven't been the true MGS PSP game we all crave. Now with Portable Ops, our wishes are coming true, as Kojima and his crew are bringing the franchise to the PSP in all its glory, complete with an all-new chapter in the MGS saga, mind-blowing production values and full online play.

In quite a surprising revelation, MGS: Portable Ops will actually pick up following the events of the last PS2 game, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Bringing the series to 1970, Portable Ops is set six years after the events that transpired in Snake Eater, at which point Snake (AKA Big Boss) has been falsely charged with treason for starting a revolt in South America. In all actuality, the FOX unit is responsible for inciting the uproar and so Big Boss sets out to hunt down and eliminate them, in order to clear his name. Further story details, in typical MGS fashion, haven't been fully announced; however, we can tell you that Portable Ops will fill in the long lost story gap between MGS3 and the original Metal Gear game, promising to fill in more about characters like Major Zero and Para-Medic, as well as revealing Big Boss's establishment of Outer Heaven.

New story and structure aside, Portable Ops will play very much like the PS2 outings, most closely resembling the recently released MGS3: Subsistence. Like Subsistence, Portable Ops will utilize a 3D third-person camera system to provide the best viewing angles when sneaking and shooting through environments, and, as usual, a first person perspective for aiming will also be available. The game will also feature the close-quarters combat moves introduced in Snake Eater, as well as all of the staple MGS weapons, items and mechanics that fans are accustomed to. Something new that is being added to play into Big Boss's creation of FOXHOUND is a recruiting system, through which players will be able to recruit and build a squadron of soldiers to back Snake up on his mission. Players will be able to command and even take control of other characters, but details of exactly how this system will work are currently unavailable - we do know, however, that it will factor heavily into the game's multiplayer aspect.

That's right folks, MGS: Portable Ops will once again bring multiplayer to the series, this time taking advantage of the PSP's Ad Hoc and Infrastructure capabilities for local and online skirmishes. Online play will come equipped with the modes that were introduced in Subsistence, as far as we can tell you at this point in time, along with new maps and refined gameplay. Players will use their created squadrons from the single-player campaign when engaging in online warfare, in addition to being able to recruit and trade new members with other online players. Supposedly, players will be able to unlock new characters by logging into special Wi-Fi hotspots, although how this will actually work remains a mystery. Another new feature being added to the multiplayer is the 'White Flag' system, which will present players with a moral choice upon dying: either remain loyal to your team without being able to respawn or surrender to the enemy and respawn to join their ranks, thusly betraying your former squad mates!

As amazing as the story basis and gameplay sound, Portable Ops really stands out due to its unbelievably impressive graphics that, so far, put every other PSP game to shame. Somehow, Kojima Productions has managed to get this game to look nearly as good as Snake Eater, and that game is one of the PS2's crowning graphical achievements. From the footage we've seen, the character models don't appear to have lost any noticeable detail in the downsizing, so Snake looks as good as ever in his latest portable endeavor - he's even wearing some cool new stealthy duds. Texturing and level geometry seem to have been simplified ever so slightly, but as good as this game is looking, I don't think anyone will mind. In typical MGS fashion, cinematic cutscenes will tell the game's storyline, but unlike the Acid games, Portable Ops will have all the voice acting those games left out. Also of note are the game's comic book-stylized sequences, which, as shown in the trailer, are absolutely spectacular in motion. These comic-like sequences come to life thanks to the impeccable artwork of illustrator Ashley Wood, who also just so happens to have worked on the PSP's Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel as well (a review for which is forthcoming - so check back to the PSP review page regularly!)

Featuring an all-new single-player campaign, an epic storyline that will finally fill in important blanks in the franchise's lore, online multiplayer action, a new recruiting system, through-the-roof technical and artistic production values and the core stealth-action gameplay that the series has made its living on, there's really nothing more you could ask of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Clearly it's already well on its way to becoming the PSP's best game yet, and barring some unforeseen catastrophe there's no reason to think that it won't deliver the goods, just like every MGS title has in the past. Portable Ops is currently slated for a release this winter, but official availability details are yet to be announced. We'll continue to keep you updated on its progress though, so stay tuned.

Previewed by Matt Litten for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).