Metal Gear Survive Review

                      Metal Gear Survive Review

                        

The Metal Gear series was under a big question after the departure of its creator, Hideo Kojima, Konami, in 2015. Much was talked about what would be the future of the franchise, one of the most iconic in the history of videogames, since one of his main brands was always the personal touch of Kojima. The first sign of the new directions arrived the following year with the announcement of Metal Gear Survive, game focused on survival and clearly returned to the cooperative multiplayer. 

We jump to the present then. Metal Gear Survive was released and you can check down how the game was, the first from MGS V: The Phantom Pain.

Does Survive have what it takes to honor the lineage of Big Boss and Solid Snake?

Let's start with the plot. As seen from the first trailer, the game takes place in an alternate future in which a mysterious wormhole emerges on Mother Base during the XOF soldiers attack - the final scene of Ground Zeroes. Our character, a captain, was there in the incident, but was not swallowed by the hole at that time. Six months after the fact, the captain is sent by another wormhole with the mission of finding research data of a group that did not return and rescue possible survivors.

Do not expect incredible turns or gigantic surprises as we have become accustomed to seeing in the franchise. Metal Gear Survive remains on a more traditional and safe path. Missing an enveloping plot or characters with whom we are interested, something common when we talk about franchise games. Most of the passages that advance in the plot do not contribute any memorable impact - they only touch the ship.

This misery is reflected in the mission structure of the campaign. Almost all are summarized to go to a point on the map, collect materials and return to the base, which ends up becoming something very repetitive after a while. This lack of variation is also felt on the map, which is a large desert with several facilities. As a rule, everything is in some small deserted base or buried in the depths of some steel structure.

Living and surviving

Well, as the name presents it, Survive is about survival and in that matter things become more interesting. Managing the resources of the base and the character itself are one of the main qualities of the title. While we are on the battlefield doing missions and collecting resources, we must manage our health in several ways. Our character has levels of hunger, thirst and oxygen that must be constantly monitored. As we explore an unknown map, consider the resources to go and return to the base becomes very important.

The moments where I had to stop with my objective to hunt an animal or even return to the base to prepare myself better were not uncommon. If the levels of some of these attributes go down, the effects are felt quickly, like the tired character or the screen itself becoming blurred. These points were well worked and help in the immersion of the game.

There is also a disease / injury system that resembles Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Whether due to the ingestion of spoiled food or battle wounds we can suffer with several problems such as sprains, bruises, poisonings, poisonings, etc. At this time, we have to go to the menu and use the right remedy to heal ourselves.

As regards the controls in the moments of action, the mechanics inherited from MGS V continue to work well and the additions introduced in Survive were well placed. A large variety of items can be equipped at the same time, and the use of all these artifacts during the battle is not complicated.

Finally, I talked about the operations base, but I did not say how it works. The evolution of the mechanics of its headquarters is quite similar to the one used in the construction of the Mother Base, in Metal Gear Solid V : you must build defenses, create items, recruit characters and give them specific functions. Remember that once the campaign is over, it is possible to continue playing and develop the base of operations, since the same character is used in multiplayer , level of load and equipment.

Zombies, zombies everywhere

One of the main criticisms that Survive received after his presentation was the insertion of the famous "zombies", recurring creatures in various works all over the world.Unfortunately, the only enemies of this Metal Gear leave much to be desired, either because of the lack of variety or because of the lack of challenge they offer.

Creatures can find you by sound or vision, but by themselves they offer little danger, since they are slow and not at all intelligent. After a while playing, I noticed that in open places I could run through the zombies without anything happening to me, since they would not reach me. It was not what I expected from a world that should threaten my life at every moment.

The greatest moments of danger are those that we need to defend a specific point. The concentration of zombies can bring some problem, since they always appear in large numbers. In those moments, the use of defensive elements is important, because even slow, they are resistant and can cause a lot of damage.

Multiplayer mode

Metal Gear Surviving was sold as a multiplayer experience and that would be the main attraction of the game. At first, the game brings only one way: a group of four people must defend a wormhole generator while waves of enemies try to destroy the object. The mode itself is very fun and the parallel mission system is interesting: special objects fall at distant points on the map, it is up to the group to decide if it is worth leaving the base for the bonus offered.

Konami has already confirmed that a new mode will be implemented in March, but without giving many details. For a title thinking about multiplayer , I think that having brought more content online since the launch would be more appropriate, especially a mode focused on the survival factor.

Speaking of online, the game requires a full-time connection to play, even in the single-player campaign.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that Survive does not use loot boxes , but that does not stop giving patinated in this matter. The game only releases the creation of a character by default, being that for others you have to pay an equivalent value of almost 10 dollars for each additional character. Or buy the slot or you have to delete your current save file if you want to create a new one.

The war has changed

The end result of Metal Gear Survive is a mix of good ideas and questionable decisions.The bases of survival mechanics, the development and construction of the base and even the multiplayer mode are interesting. On the other hand, the repetitive campaign, a weak and easy to forget plot and a level design that lets you think, with few variations of scenarios and enemies, make this title a warm game.

It is clear that having the name "Metal Gear" attracts a lot of attention, but it is clear that Survive little is related to the other games in the series. There is nothing in its characteristics that connect it to the established universe of the franchise.

Maybe, if he decided to risk more and carry a completely new IP , Konami could get better impressions and avoid heavy comparisons. But I do not think everything is lost. If the multiplayer in the future is well developed, I see some space for Metal Gear Survive to find its place under the Sun, because mechanically it has its virtues and the cooperative mode can be fun. Otherwise, it will be just another soldier forgotten in the war.