Metal Gear Acid 2 Prerelease Update

Last month, we took a look at the story and arena modes in Metal Gear Acid 2, and then in short order we dug into the just-released Japanese import. At a recent Konami press event, director Shinta Nojiri gave a presentation on the game that tipped us off to a few new elements that we hadn't heard about before.

Nojiri demonstrated one of Acid 2's new features, called linkage cards, during his presentation. Essentially, certain linkage-enabled cards can be used at once to set up a sort of combo attack, whereby the effects of both cards will happen in the same turn and will enhance each other. We didn't get any specific examples of how this will work, but with more than 500 cards reportedly available in the game, there ought to be some solid variety in the available linkage.

Speaking of variety, there's also the new arena mode, which will let you take on some of the most notorious bosses from past Metal Gear games in Acid's card-battlin' format. Nojiri decided to go whole-hog today by just laying out the entire lineup of the arena mode, which will include Liquid Snake, Revolver Ocelot (presumably the old one), Fortune, Vamp, the Boss, and the End. From what we've seen of Acid 2's arena mode, this meaty cast of characters ought to provide quite a significant challenge.

Finally, Nojiri clued us in that some new content will be added for the American release of the game in the form of a number of Metal Gear Solid 4-specific cards that you can use during battle. We managed to catch the solid eye system, (Snake's futuristic techno-monocle) the slightly aged, grizzled Otakon from the upcoming game, as one of the cards. Of course, the functionality of these new cards is open to speculation until the game actually comes out, but it'll be nice for diehard fans to get a glimpse of some of the characters and equipment that you'll find in the hotly anticipated PS3 game.

For more on Metal Gear Acid 2, refer to our extensive previous coverage of the game, and stay tuned for our full review when the game ships in late March.