First of all, it must be said that Metal Gear Survive is tragically underrated. It will continue to be because the studio didn’t observe EA’s handling of Battlefront II. The micro-transactions in MGS have ruined the launch of the game and it will never recover from the bad press it received.
With that said and looking past the shortcomings due to corporate greed, the game is actually great. It’s reasonably priced at $40, which Konami tries to use as a way to draw you in before stabbing you with micros. That price actually gets you a almost a full game: a campaign with story mode and online capabilities. There’s no Metal Gear Online multiplayer like MGS:V, but players can head out on salvage missions with others and fight through hordes of the undead with their friends.
The campaign is a solid story. Players’ custom avatars find themselves in another dimension, where zombie-like undead humans named Wanderers scour the earth looking for Kuban Energy to keep them going. Kuban Energy is the center of the game, serving as the energy source for all creatures. It’s also the currency used to advance your character. Later, players find out a colossal creature, lazily named the Lord of Dust, controls all beings in this dimension and wants to make its way to ours. The only time you’re reminded of the $40 price tag in the game is when you notice all dialogue related to the story takes place in a mundane drop down menu between major missions.
The game is at its core, Konami’s crossover of the MGS universe into the survival genre. Survival games require a lot of multi-tasking, attention to detail, and grinding. It’s time and labor intensive, but rewarding for those who know what to expect. Not all common aspects of survival are in MGS. Players do have to worry about food and water consistently, as well as providing food and water for your entire camp. You don’t have to keep up with the weather and body temperature like some of the more survival-heavy games. Hunting and gathering missions can be a slight nuisance, but won’t ruin your experience. If you’re familiar with the genre, you know this part of the game gets much easier as the character progresses; but in the beginning, it’s a real buzzkill to have to worry about finding a random animal when you would rather be advancing the storyline.
Missions pop up in your map and you’ll be tasked with things like gathering resources or responding to distress signals. The distress signals are new people to bring back to camp, which means you can put them to work. The system of base building is surprisingly unlike MGS:V and the character traits of members in your camp is a lot less detailed. Job tasks correlate directly to stat boosts for your avatar and not much else. You won’t come home after a long mission to see new buildings or technology being developed.
The graphics and gameplay engine are pretty much a carryover from MGS:V, which isn’t a bad thing. MGS:V was nearly perfect in my eyes. Survive is far from perfect, but the base of the game is still intact. The name of the game is stealthy warfare. Wanderers can hear you coming if you’re making too much noise, so you have to examine each situation and plan your strategy accordingly. As far as replay value, it’s got a lot of potential; but for now, I can’t see myself continuing after I beat it right now.
You can’t talk about this game without discussing the way micro-transactions are a blatant money grab that take advantage of gamers. For one, players are only allowed to have one character-build and save state. That means if you buy this game, you have to shell out $10 extra to share it with someone else in your home. That’s not a full gaming experience and that’s not the way to treat your fans. You won’t find yourself firewalled from a lot of features initially, and the entire story line is playable without interruption. It just has to be acknowledged that the industry is taking a dark and greedy turn. Konami should be ashamed, and has definitely felt the wrath of fans with a poor buyer turnout.
Even with the micro issues brought on by themselves, Metal Gear Survive is a fun game and an even better value at just $40. It’s getting a lot more flack than it deserves as fans are rightfully pissed about Hideo Kojima’s rough departure from Konami and his bastardized baby being turned into another zombie game. That’s a real shallow way to look at the game though, and deserves more respect that it’s getting. That’s why I’m giving Metal Gear Survive a 7. It’s not a full game, but the story mode is rewarding and underrated. The gameplay is solid and players will get a lot of hours out of it for the price.
