With the tension mounting in anticipation of next year's Metal Gear Solid 4, it's good to see that Kojima Productions isn't leaving gamers without their Solid Snake fix. Building off the success of last December's well-crafted MGS Portable Ops comes Portable Ops Plus. The game went gold last week and we received a playable copy to get a taste of Snake's latest adventure.

Much like Konami has done in the past with Substance and Subsistence, Plus builds upon its original property. Though unlike those games, Plus is more of an expansion pack than a retooled version of the game. There are single player missions, but these fall behind the multiplayer component. Multiplayer was present and very good in Portable Ops, but Plus seeks to up the ante. This time, players will work their way through various re-playable missions in order to recruit new members to their party, pick up items and weapons and hone their skills for wireless skirmishes. There is a story, and familiar characters will pop up via radio to offer advice, but based on our initial playtime, it seems that the plot takes a back seat to the action.

The control scheme works well, given the PSP's limitations, but just as with most Metal Gear Solid games, it will probably take some time to get used to it, especially considering the more frantic style of play that the online modes (deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture, shooting range, etc.) require. In addition, its presentation remains largely the same as its predecessor. Our initial play revealed a host of new environments, although many still feel quite similar to each other, as well as new characters, specifically the likes of Raiden and Snake, as seen in MGS4. Nevertheless, Portable Ops is one of the better-looking games on Sony's handheld, and Plus looks equally appealing.

Portable Ops Plus is still several weeks away from release. With that being said, it has not been easy finding multiplayer matches, so we will need a lot more time before we can pass judgment on how well it holds up. However, we have every hope that this stand-alone expansion will build upon the success of the original, and considering players will be able to import their previous save files into Plus, we know that there will be a lot of fierce competition out there that will intensify its multiplayer matches. Check back onto GameDaily in the coming weeks for a full review.