Please Drop Acid

Metal Gear Ac!d (PSP; $39.99; Rated M for Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence; konomi.com/gs)

(two stars)

I held out hope for the first “Metal Gear” game to appear on the PSP, even after it was announced it would be a card-battle game. Even though “Metal Gear” has clearly secured itself as one of the foremost greatest stealth action series of all time, I thought that completing stealth missions based on strategic use of a digital deck of cards would add a great new twist on an established genre.

Instead, “Ac!d” proves to be complicated, frustrating, and very, very slow.

Though Solid Snake returns as the mullet-laden protagonist and brings with him some familiar faces from past “Metal Gears,” not even his charisma or the bizarre bosses we’ve come to love to defeat can overcome the akwardness of the gameplay.

Because each move or action requires the use of cards, the completion of each stealth mission relies on the luck of the draw more than the way the cards are played. Although hundreds of cards can be unlocked, and decks can be customized, players still run the risk of not drawing the critical card needed to complete a mission at the right time. This causes extra time spent exposed and open for an enemy to be alerted to your presence and call for backup before attacking. And if you don’t happen to have a good combat card in your hand when soldiers descend on you… Well as Kenny Rogers says, know when to fold ‘em.

For a “Metal Gear” diehard or a card-battle enthusiast, you have picked this up already. For the rest of you: know when to run.