Metal Gear Survive Keeps On Keepin’ On… But Should It?
At this year’s E3, more was revealed about Metal Gear: Survive. Many fans of the franchise approach this title with trepidation and biased cynicism. Would they be right to do so? After Kojima, the mastermind behind all things (except this) Metal Gear has been absent from Survive’s development. As a result, watching footage of Survive will make any Metal Gear fan feel slightly uncomfortable. Kojima’s defined influence is blatantly absent in a game that lends heavily from his previous successes in both gameplay and graphics. Indeed, the Fox Engine is back. So, if anything, at least Survive looks good.
Metal Gear: Survive Is Just…. Bonkers
Metal Gear: Survive pits players as surviving members of Mother Base and… wait for it. These soldiers have been transported to a different world through a wormhole (just y’know because). They must then fight and survive in a world filled with crystalline zombies and… Well, that’s it. Sure, Kojima is known for playing about with the paranormal. But he always made it that little bit more awesome by tying it into reality. As a result, the premise of this game reminds us constantly that Kojima’s influence is nowhere to be found.
Defending generators, you and your team must build fortifications. While the below trailer doesn’t exactly go into details about how to collect resources to do so, it is evident that we are given time on a big open map. This is preferable to just being loaded into base areas time and again. Yet, when we see fences and barricades being built by players, we can’t help thinking of the bigger kid already on the block. Fortnite — a game already more successful in reception post release than Survive is before it’s even arrived on the shelves.
While perhaps that is reflected in the difference in price between the two (Konami have announced Survive will sell at half typical asking price), it can’t help that just about every Konami related video on YouTube has someone in the comment thread going “f*** Konami”. They’ve burned some bridges with their consumer base and unlike our Mother Base soldiers here, perhaps Konami won’t survive the bad press when it comes to making a profit on this “minus-Kojima” title.
Will This Game Survive In The Eyes Of Its Audience?
So far Survive looks like it could be a fairly passable game, sure. Yet there is just a little something that worries us. The controls will be identical to those of Metal Gear Solid V. To start with, you may think “OK great, I can just pick this up and get going”. Which is true. But, will the originally stealth oriented move set be suitable for zombie wave survival? This potential issue has perhaps already been foreshadowed by Metal Gear V’s online competitive play. While the groundwork was there, the lobbies soon died out as the frenetic play often found in competitive online play was not accommodated all that well by V’s stealth focused control scheme. There’s a strong chance that lack of flexibility to go wild and react appropriately to snap decisions will feel all the more absent when facing off against hordes of zombies.
Metal Gear Survive feels a little like a mod somebody made on their PC… Which isn’t a good feel because then we’ll think it should be free. The premise is so “out there” compared to typical Metal Gear. So much so that the only similarities it shares with Kojima’s baby is the name and the way your character handles. Yet, despite all this, there is room for an addictive base building wave survival format here. Yet, Fortnite has already overshadowed Survive, boasting what looks like more features at this time. With a vast majority of Metal Gear fans openly stating that they want nothing to do with Survive, staying loyal to Kojima, who will end up buying this game? Some may say Konami are profiteering off of Kojima’s past works. But if there aren’t enough people to care about this game, that may not end up being true.
This piece is from the All Things Playstation blog. For everything else in news and reviews, head over to allthingsplaystation.com
