As another incentive the game also has the Solid Eye Theatre. As you go on your way collecting cards, you will actually unlock even more videos for your viewing pleasure in the theatre. The theatre makes great use of the included 3d-glasses and brings to life the video footage. Just as a note a substantial amount of the videos is of girls in bikinis. For some reason the 3D effect wasn’t as strong as I was hoping for. I mean the effect is there but it isn’t very prevalent and to make matters worse, because the image is being magnified I can see individual pixels which defeats the effect. Not sure if this is the effect of using a screen protector or not but it ruins it. Still the feature is a nice gimmick and is fun for breaks from the gameplay. As a quick note, the screen is divided in two and merged together through the glasses for the effect. Which means the movies displayed are actually 4:3 verse the 16:9 aspect ratio that the PSP offers. The game also offers up 3D gameplay for single-player as well. The switching from regular to 3D is very seamless and is done from the menu. Once you are set you can enjoy a very laxed session of MGA2 in 3D. But I wouldn’t recommend it for an extended period of time, as it tends to strain the eyes. As I tested the game with the Solid Eye at my local college campus, I immediately raised stares from my fellow peers. So I wouldn’t really recommend using the peripheral outside of your home unless you’d like to look like an ass.

Another feature new to the series is the Arena Mode. In this mode you are under the clock as you try to defeat classic flagship villains. Revolver Ocelot anyone? The mode is best for preparation for ad-hoc multiplayer but is still a fun experience. You choose to load a game save from your single-player and from there your deck is loaded. Probably best used to check and balance your own deck to see how well it will work against a foe. Still the mode could have used a little more incentive to play it, like some sort of reward.

Metal Gear Ac!d has always been touted as being separate from the others in the Metal Gear series, but it never looked the part. The original had a more realistic approach to character design and could fool someone into thinking it was a Metal Gear Solid game. Shinta Nojiri stated his desire for a more comic-book approach to the game but due to the lack of time never had the chance to go with that root. But now we are left with a sequel that had the time to be polished to his desire. The game no longer has the realistic appearance of the predecessor and now processes a comic-book style appeal that you’d see in American comics. The game now employs cel-shaded graphics with the use of over-exaggerated colors. Originally seeing the screenshots for the game I easily imagined myself becoming nauseous during gameplay but this is not the case. I actually felt that the decision was the best decision for the series and adds a whole lot to the gameplay. The character models are very well drawn out and their animations also give a wink to the original. Even when using a gun card to shoot, the blood that comes out of the enemy is very comic-like. Still the biggest complaint that faced the developers for the original was how the camera operated. In the game you still possess the ability to swivel the camera around with the analog-nub but now when going under a tunnel, the camera moves right behind snake, so you no longer have any disjointed views of the action. This is probably one of the best improvements the game could have gone through and they were really successful in pulling it off.

The game really has evolved into a completely changed beast. Every flaw in the original has been fixed in addition to improvements to the original formula. The game has gone from a very slow-paced game to a seamless game that is very quick to play and puts the original to shame. Though the game doesn’t share the strong and fitful story the original had, the story is definitely up there in terms of complexity and throws a few unexpected events at the player. All this is further boosted with the addition of the Solid Eye peripheral that brings everything to life. The only issues I have with the game is how soon it ends. Sure the game can be extended further by replaying levels with different objectives, but the storyline could have easily been extended and more arcs added. Likewise this is the game that the original director wanted to make and I can understand why he wanted to make it in this fashion.