So after holding out for years I finally decided to give in and play the Metal Gear Solid franchise. All the games are available to play on the PS3 but Portable Ops and the Acid games. Now I don't really want to get into Acid but I was wondering how important Portable Ops is to the overall story. I have a PSP so I could play it. Is it worth getting? Or does the story not matter that much in the grand scheme of things? The HD collection will cover all the games post Metal Gear Solid and I bought the PSOne Classics version of that game and am playing through it right now. So what say you guys? Do I play Portable Ops? Or should I stick with the games I can play on PS3? I guess my final option would be to wait and get it on a Vita if I ever get one. All thoughts appreciated.

I'd play it any way because it's a good game but it isn't really that important in the grand scheme of things if you are only going for story (This is mgs after all) but again it is a fun game good if you just want more mgs 3

Not really, it was given one line mention in peace walker (which is very essential). That said I'm told its a fun game.

I kind of liked it, but the story beats can pretty much be summed up in a sentence, and it's really not essential. The default control scheme is pretty brutal, but you can reconfigure it to mostly follow the Peace Walker controls.

Not really.

As a Metal Gear fan that started in 1998 with Solid, bought up the back library and played them to death, and from that point played them all... I'd say you can live without Portable Ops. It's a good game with BAD controls. That really killed the enjoyment of it for me. I think there MIGHT be a demo of it available on PSN?

It's not hugely essential on the surface but does feature a lot of series-wide storyline intricacies, it may be something you come back to later if you become invested in the franchise's story and characters.

@Aleryn said:

As a Metal Gear fan that started in 1998 with Solid, bought up the back library and played them to death, and from that point played them all... I'd say you can live without Portable Ops. It's a good game with BAD controls. That really killed the enjoyment of it for me. I think there MIGHT be a demo of it available on PSN?

There isn't but isn't its control scheme inspired by metal gear solid three, because thats the control scheme I ended up using for peace walker and I found it pretty good.

Maybe look up the cut-scenes online. The game itself isn't that great (at least compared to Peace Walker, which is a must play), but the story is all right.

IT'snot Essential, but if you're into the story and characters it's a cool game. You should check it out for that reason, but if you're quickly running through the games to catch up on the story it isn't really necessary.

It's got a fantastic story with absolute terrible controls that WILL make your hands cramp. It's not important but the story is interesting.

It's a pretty crappy game that covers a part of the history that's inessential. Some interesting tid-bits in there if you dig, but probably not worth the time.

Read up the story/watch the cut-scenes on YouTube and you'll be fine.

What about Peace Walker?

From what I can remember, Portable Ops doesn't have a whole lot of story, but if you have a PSP/PSV, why not play it? I thought it was pretty good... only stopped because my PSP stopped working, and I wasn't getting another one.

@Sanj: Peace Walker is essential. The game was called "Metal Gear Solid 5", and there is marketing material that said so. It's a pretty good story too, if Metal Gear stories is your thing.

I really like Portable Ops, but kind of like what everyone else said, it's not necessary. It's nice context for Peace Walker, but that's about it.

@Sanj said:

What about Peace Walker?

Peace Walker is definitely worth it.

Portable Ops doesn't really feel that essential. It references other games, but no other games reference Portable Ops, at least not that I remember. It felt like an experimental side story that got pushed into the background when Kojima finally got time to devote all his time and resources into a proper portable MGS game.Gameplay-wise, I didn't much care for it. I didn't like the level structure or the fact that you could only have 2 items and 2 weapons on your person. If you don't feel like playing Portable Ops, then I would say you are missing out on very little.

I read the detailed story on the MG wikia thing and got everything I needed.

Next to reading the story I think the animated cutscenes are also worth watching.

Also I really enjoyed playing the game, so I wouldn't just skip it of you like the series.

Hhmm seems most people are saying bad controls and not very important story so I think I will skip it. Thanks everyone! Appreciate the help!

No. But it is fun once you get the hang of the janky controls and get over the graphic novel style cutscenes. Other MGS games barely make references to it and the story leaves a bit to be desired. But the Frank Jaeger (Null/Gray Fox/Cyborg Ninja) bit is kind of cool if you liked the Ninja character in MGS1.

There's a youtube upload that's 1:42 long that I just watched. After reading and seeing that, coupled with my memories of it being kinda clunky, it's skippable.

Definitely not essential...but get Peace Walker.

I'd say you should play it. While it isn't constantly referenced, it helps make the character arc of the games surrounding MGS3 feel a little more fluid. It has some good moments in it for sure, and it's obviously the predecessor to Peace Walker in both theme and gameplay. It's not the best in the series, but I'd at the very least watch the cutscenes online.

The story was kinda considered a throw away by some people but I never got why, probably due to the focus on multiplayer for this game. But this game is the first introduction to Colonel Campbell when he was still a young soldier and a young Gray Fox when he was still a teen.