Metal Gear Survive, the recently announced title by Konami, is about four unlikely individuals that team up and survive. The gameplay trailer shows the ending to Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, in the midst of an invasion of Big Boss’ ocean plant raided by insurgents. While Big Boss takes off in his helicopter to pursue his journey in the succeeding The Phantom Pain, a wormhole appears and swallows all rubble, weapons, structures and people along with it.
Konami showcased Survive at Gamescom 2016, which excited many players, yet disappointed others. The cooperative stealth shooter gives players stealth-like opportunities for roaming the parallel universe wasteland filled with headless zombies. What may seem like the formula for a successful game featuring our friends of the undead, Survive fails to boost its brand as a Metal Gear game.
To see the trailer for yourself, watch the video below:
Build it, and they MIGHT come.
Metal Gear Survive is the latest installation in Konami’s Metal Gear series, which surfaced after the messy divorce between longtime director and visionary leader, Hideo Kojima, and Konami. The division created a paradigm shift in Konami’s strategic approach by continuing to create more Gear content without Kojima at the helm. Unfortunately, without Kojima, the Metal Gear franchise will continue to diminish in quality. In the 2015 release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, fans already questioned the integrity of the leadership team. For example, the seemingly unfinished plot line disappointed fans, and the online multiplayer PVP mode lacked continuous gameplay. Due to schedule delays, Metal Gear Online was out October 6th, 2015 for PS4 and Xbox One, while PC players waited until January 2016.
In all of it’s flaws, Metal Gear Solid V was just short of a masterpiece. Games that are typically directed by Kojima have an overall positive track record. To see IGN’s perfect 10/10 review of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, click here. However, the public feud between Konami and Kojima led to much pessimism in the gaming community. Once Kojima officially left the firm, Konami announced plans to continue utilizing the Metal Gear brand. While Konami was delisted from the stock exchange and lost their visionary leader, fans are left with a strange ultimatum: to keep playing or not to keep playing. Seems like this not your typical Cinderella success story.
New, yet strangely familiar.
Survive maintains the key elements from MGSV and reintroduces features from previous Metal Gear games. For example, the cooperative, non-competitive gameplay is similar to the PSP predecessor, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Execution of enemy zombie insurgents is similar fashion players assassinated their opponents in Metal Gear Rising. One feature I particularly enjoyed, however, was the introduction of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater‘s healing system; a system that encourages players to heal themselves with limited resources and staying out of harm’s way. So, what may seem innovative to new players may seem redundant to legacy ones.
Flaws aside, the game shows tremendous gameplay potential. The Metal Gear series lacked cooperative gameplay and seems to shine on this stage. The cooperation between two or more players can lead to very exciting tactics in completing missions. Amid the serious overtone of the game, Metal Gear always managed to secure some form of satire. Squads abuse wormholes and summon anything into battle without any effort. This includes barricades, raw materials, and the most ridiculous, sheep. Players will also be surprised by the crafted weapons in the Survive arsenal. Snake wannabes can now utilize spears, slingshots, and bow and arrows to make for an overall pleasant zombie-cutting experience.
The bottom line: just from the trailer alone, it’s tough to judge the future of successful gameplay. Similarly, titles like No Man’s Sky, the much-hyped space exploration game by Hello Games, excited players in the community but failed to deliver any long-lasting gameplay experience. Survive may be in the same position; while not branded as an independent game it truly has the DLC feel, and should be taken seriously as such.