The war is upon us. Soon, with the coming of Christmas and the New Year, the new handhelds will be released into the gaming market and there will be no stopping with the bloodshed and wounds taken. Nintendo are armed with Samus Aran, equipped with an array of hi-tech weapons. Nokia are blessed with the nimble and elegant guns slinging of Lara Croft. The combatants for Zodiac and Gizmondo are still unknown.

All have stepped up and taken their places on the battlefield and nervous glances have been cast by all but Sony have no need to fear, for their warrior is one of Legend---he is the Legendary Solid Snake. Having fought against giant, nuclear capable machines, many combat trained enemies and having also been resurrected in a re-make of the original Twin Snakes title, Sony could not ask for a tougher or more capable soldier.

That is right; Solid Snake is back and has infiltrated his way into the new Sony PSP handheld. The year is 2016---the United States of America.

Jumbo jet flight number 326 flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet gets hijacked by those unknown. They have used the muscle relaxant Vecuronium Bromide -- a chemical that could be lethal if inhaled excessively.

Among the 517 passengers who are taken hostage in the cabin filled with Vecuronium Bromide is Senator Hach -- a man rumoured to become the next United States President.

In the meantime on Lobito Island of the Tejan Republic in southern Africa... Inside the Lobito Physics and Chemistry Laboratory compound guarded by a mysterious armed force is a man standing.

His name is Solid Snake.

The hijackers of flight 326 are making only one request -- the handing over of "Pythagoras".
The United States work on identifying the hijackers and determining what the mysterious "Pythagoras" is and soon finds out that it is the name of a project on which research is conducted on Lobito Island.

The Tejanian government is reluctant to cooperate, saying that it does not want any interference in its domestic affairs. Losing its patience, the US government sends in its Special Forces operation HRT, but the force gets attacked by the armed forces there. All communications are lost.

With all of what is going on, contents of the classified research at the Lobito Physics and Chemistry Laboratory are about to be revealed.

With things in a deadlock, the US government decides to make use of its last resort -- the already retired legendary mercenary Solid Snake. There is not much time left till the time limit. Solid Snake's new battle begins at the secret lab on the mysterious and enchanting island.

Once again, the brilliant masterminds of Metal Gear have come up with yet another amazing plot of espionage and stealth, with twists and new exciting areas and characters.

In terms of the game play itself, this time around they had tried to differ it from their previous titles and fit it in more with the style and play of the handheld system. All of the usual will be included; you will have a range of weaponry to tackle your enemies but of course you might still have to take them out in hand to hand combat. Missions throughout the game will have you involved in stealth like activities such as retrieving items, sneaking into certain locations and so on. But the additive that has been mentioned for this new title is that the player will be customisable. This will be done with the use of cards.

It is not all too clear as how the system will work. Even on the official site they have not gone into too much detail over the system, all they have basically said, is that you can customise your character to how you want them to be using cards. When you receive these cards, they are for certain attributes such as strength, health, stamina, etc. They also make the character perform moves, simple things from climbing ledges to others such as using a weapon or a certain move on the enemy. The basic gameplay of all other Metal Gear titles has changed to this to create a new way of play. So, depending on how you play the game, you can make your character exactly how you wish them to be so that you can use your own style and work your way through the game to save Senator Hach.

With each new and exciting title, the Metal Gear series has always had something new to offer and there is no difference here. They have kept up to such a reputation and Metal Gear Acid looks to be yet another successful title that will have all Metal Gear fans playing none stop and of course, bring more people to love the rush of stealth and military action. The graphics of the game are stunning for the new PSP that it is based on and it runs just as smooth as if it was on the Playstation or even a Playstation 2 title.

In the gaming industry there are games to pass the time, games that have you gripped the whole way through but then, there are legendary titles that make you want to play them over and over and over until you cannot play them anymore. Metal Gear Solid looks to be a title just like that. Make sure you have your hands on a copy when the new PSP is released, otherwise, you will very much regret not having it. TR