Metal Gear Ac!d

In the dark days before computer games, people were reduced to playing with physical things; bits of LEGO, maybe a boardgame like Monopoly or that old favourite of long journeys, a pack of playing cards. The good thing about cards is the range of games you can use them for - from soltaire and snap to pontoon or if you are feeling intelligent, poker. A pack of cards contains games for everyone. Still that hardly explains why Konami thought it would be a good idea to combine cards with its first release of the famous stealthy Metal Gear series on PSP.

As anyone who's played the Metal Gear Solid games knows, the trick is to move carefully around, avoiding cameras and guards, hiding in cardboard boxes and only using your weapons when it's totally necessary. It's as tense an experience as you could wish to have.

To some extent, this is the sort of thing you'll still get up to in Metal Gear Ac!d. Once again you play as that old warhorse, Solid Snake, out to stop a group of bad guys getting the sort of weapon that will let them take over the world. In this case, the year is 2016 and the terrorists have hijacked a plane containing the man who's likely to be the next US president. What they want is a project called Pythagoras, which has been developed in a laboratory on isolated island. This is where the action happens for Snake and his backup crew of Roger and the psychic Alice, who continually offer advice using the codec communication system.

So far so good, but it doesn't take long before the card-based gameplay creates problems. Basically, how it works is at the start of each level Snake gets a selection of cards. Some of these you use to move, some are weapon cards while others include health or special moves such as evasion, which help you dodge if you're being attacked by guards. Where it gets more complex is whenever you use a card, it has a cost associated with it.

Usually, you get to use two cards per turn and when it's over your cost will be the total of the two cards you used. Your cost will then fall one unit at a time until it's zero when it will be your turn again. Of course, during this period, any other characters on screen will also be able to use their cards when their cost level reaches zero. And it's this idea of trying to use your cards in such a way that you get another turn before any enemies - either to escape from them or dispose of them - that's the key behind Metal Gear Ac!d.

As the games goes on, you'll get more cards to use (there's over 200 to collect if you're that way inclined). In particular you get cards to add to weapons that make them more accurate, there are the usual sniper rifles and missiles, as well as cost reduction cards. The plot gets complex too - be warned there are some very strange character in terms of murdering voodoo dolls so it's not a game for the kids. But the main problem is playing as Solid Snake equipped with cards just isn't much fun. You have to think a lot about what cards to use, or whether you should use this card now or save it for later. In that way, the cardplay becomes a restriction on what you can do in the game rather than opening up exciting new possibilities. The turn-based way the game works is pretty tedious after a while as well .

Even things like the graphics and controls aren't as crisp as we've come to expect from the Metal Gear series. Of course, if you're a fan of everything Solid Snake, this will be a challenge like no other. There's plenty of game - at least 15 hours - while most of the cards are based on characters and weapons from the PlayStation games so it becomes as much a virtual collection of memories as a game. There's also a hardcore multiplayer option in which you play in a virtual reality environment. But for most of us, out to have a good time on our PSPs, Metal Gear Ac!d is just too complicated and slow to be really enjoyable.