Metal Gear Survive | Konami
METAL GEAR SURVIVE HANDS-ON IMPRESSIONS
Does Konami's New Metal Gear Spin-Off have what it takes to survive?
Felipe Parada
The time has come upon us to get our hands on a game shrouded in controversy. I know for a fact that many people downloaded this game just to see how bad it is and I would be lying if I didn't admit that that was my reasoning too. This impression is going to be formatted a bit differently due to the fact that I wanted to make sure that I played the beta in its entirety so I am able to give a very detailed impression of my experience with Metal Gear Survive. But enough stalling, let's get right into it then.
We'll start with how the game is presented. Metal Gear Survive does it's job of reminding us that it is still linked to the Metal Gear franchise. The menus, weapons and little nuances feel like they were pulled straight from previous Metal Gear titles. But on the other hand, it does introduce new features that try to make this game all its own. The new lobby menus give a refreshing take on what it is to ready up while trying to fence in your teammates. It also gives you the ability to change your gear, test out weapons and quickly craft items before you head out on your survival mission.
From her we move on to Graphics which are kind of a hit and miss. The FOX Engine still does an amazing job rendering characters, items, weapons and lighting but the game looks a little flat in regards to contrast. We understand that the game has a mist that we have to navigate through but that leaves the game looking muddy and unpolished. This is very uncharacteristic of a Metal Gear game that always looks to push the systems graphics to its limits. From texture pop-ins, poor draw distances and a weird pixelated haze when light shines through buildings; Metal Gear Solid can be unpleasing to look at I'm sometimes. But one thing we can be for sure is that we can't base it on graphics alone.
The Sound is exactly what's to be expected from a Metal Gear game. The pings, plums and alert noises are all present and provide a serviceable experience. The weapons all provide a good sounding pop to them and scoring a headshot with the now and arrow never gets old. As of right now I don't see much of the sounds changing since its just re-used assets from Metal Gear Solid 5.
The new player lobby had an interesting aestetic to it.
Metal Gear Survive | Konami
The gameplay, on the other hand, is where the game holds up and possibly has the most potential if Konami does it right. I first would like to mention the menus and boy are there a lot of menus. Considering the fact that the game is always online, having cumbersome menus might lead to some frustrating moments where every moment is crucial to survival. Maybe it will change in the future but Konami might need to rethink the menu setup.
But when you are not in the menus you are presented with an enjoyable co-op survival experience. It's not fun but its not torturous by any measure. It's this experience that makes the previous all the previous negative comments acceptable to a certain extent. The game is straight forward in getting you to understand that crafting is key. The more materials you loot the better off you'll be. This is going to lead to many grinding sessions where is going to be a luck of the draw in regards to certain weapon blueprints. If you are ok with grindfest games than this game is right up your alley.
Even though I had low expectations from the start I did have a very small expectation of some sort of grind loop and that's exactly what Metal Gear Survive gave me. The game has a very basic game loop: You craft, you kill and you loot, that's pretty much it. There's nothing in-depth about it other than some resource management. Yet there is something oddly satisfying about going around and destroying a horde of zombies while you reap the rewards.
This is what I was expecting out of this game and that's exactly what I got. So does this make it a bad game? No it doesn't but others feel that this game shouldn't be given a chance because of Konamis history. It does some things right and it certainly has a lot of major faults but I thoroughly enjoyed teaming up with friends to protect an area from hordes of enemies. I believe that is what's most important, the fact that you can just play a game because it was enjoyable despite all its faults. If Konami focuses on the enjoyable experience and a steady stream of content then the new Metal Gear just might be able to survive.
Oscar Portillo
Upon hearing about metal gear survival I immediately disregarded the game as a cash grab and a slap in the face to Hideo Kojima. I mean how can the franchise move on without Kojima? After watching the trailers and playing the beta. I can say that the metal gear franchise can move forward but maybe a better question is, should it?
I will be honest and say I wasn't really excited for the metal gear survival beta, but more curious. What will this game look like, what will it play like, what will it feel like? Right away booting up the beta your hit with the familiar fox engine logo, and then you are into the main screen. The hub for the online is interesting, you get dropped into a white area looks like a military lab. And you can interact with your resources or upgrade weapons and craft materials. I will say this the developers hit it out of the park as far as survive feeling like and playing like a metal gear game. From the sound effects to the menus, I knew right away R2 was for CQC.
The main objective that was being shown off in the beta is 2-4 players have to defend a point, horde style. I have been playing video games since I was about nine years old maybe sooner and I am 36 years old right now. And I will say the menu system in this game is one of the worst I have ever had to go through. Everything is hidden within a sub menu, to do one action takes 2-3 steps. Survive has a steep learning curve that will test someones patience. This brings me to the combat, while I see some nice ideas here. It just feels the combat from two generations ago. Remember I mentioned R2 for close quarters combat, that is going back to metal gear solid from the Playstation 1. It feels familiar but it feels old as well. I hope that if this franchise moves forward Konami reconsiders its combat mechanics. Quickly I will say the enemies were also really boring but that might be because it's a beta and I am going to assume there are tougher and smarter enemies in the retail release.
But it is not all bad as far as survive goes. While the trailers and the title would lead you to believe this is a survival horror game, this is more about micromanaging resources and your health. In this aspect the game really shines, The player needs to scourer the environment for any type of material and bring it back to the base so you can craft ammo,barricades, health and so on. I like that almost anything can be used for crafting. I liked that you can injure specific body parts instead of just losing ones health. The weapons all feel good with a good crunch when you are shooting. But again the mechanics in my opinion get in the way. We know there will be a single player aspect but Konami did not show any of that in the beta. I would have liked to see a little bit about the campaign. Also to note I logged about 6-7 hours and the connectivity was strong, I only experienced any kind of lag once or twice.
I was ready to hate on this game but I won't. There is fun to be had here but it seems the game does everything it can for you not to see that. I need to ask as well, who is this game for? Its not a stealth game, but its not a full on survival horror. And this goes back to my question should metal gear even continue. I fear what happens if survive bombs. For the sake of the metal gear name I hope it finds its audience.
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