Metal Gear Survive

Metal Gear Survive is not for everyone. This is better approached as an open-world survival-horror game where building weapons from scratch, clawing at animals for food while drinking dirty water found in the world defines what it takes to survive. Including the Metal Gear name increases the external pressures around this game, as it is different to what fans of the franchise may expect. Aside from the aggravating always-online infrastructure of the game, Metal Gear Survive is a pretty good outing for those looking for a reason to battle zombies in an extremely vulnerable state. While the story is pretty meh, it is the exploration factor and sense of discovery and accomplishment, as well as feeding those hunger and thirst meters that showcase the fun and enjoyment of this experience.

The concept of Metal Gear Survive works, but some annoying mechanics and the soullessness diminish the fun.

Metal Gear Survive is a powerful survival experience which is sadly being hindered by sneaky microtransactions. But the game has proven that the gameplay and story of Metal Gear might be able to survive without the help of Kojima.

Survive rather than a full-featured Metal Gear reminds of a fanfiction, which wants to honour the series. Unfortunately, it gets repetitive very quickly and certainly does not take the right example from its predecessors. [Issue#284]

The concept is solid, even if the characters can't deliver the tale appropriately. The sneaking and quick item construction elements slightly make up for a weak combat system that makes killing Wanderers a chore. The base-building and crafting is fine, but the other survival elements are overdone to the point of tedium. It isn't a great survival game, and it's not something that Metal Gear fans would flock to, making it a title that can be best described as niche.

Because it’s trying so hard to be a Metal Gear game, and falling so short, Metal Gear Survive is the wrong kind of off-kilter. Sometimes a Kojima game without Kojima just isn’t a Kojima game. Sometimes it’s just a snack to tide me over.

An interesting and somewhat entertaining spinoff of the legendary brand, yet it loses points for its austerity of the world and enemies; slow pace and repetitiveness. A weaker story, forgettable characters and a fee for extra save slots also don´t help. Above average verdict is only for its precisely engineered survival mechanics and a coop gameplay.

The single player, oddly, is the best part of Metal Gear Survive. I say “oddly” because it’s billed as a co-op game primarily. But the online multiplayer is just sort of “Horde Mode”, and we’ve all done that again and again for a decade now.

Has flickers of brilliance, but the painfully slow and gruelling survival simulation routinely snuffs them out.

All of the issues that I’ve outlined with Metal Gear Survive essentially boil down to one thing: the vast majority of the game feels boring. It takes quite a long time for certain aspects of the game to stop feeling tedious, and its very easy to feel discouraged from playing altogether as it takes so long for the game to feel like its actually going somewhere. If you can be bothered to sit through hours of hunting, completing repetitive missions and accumulating skill points at a painfully slow rate, you’ll eventually feel comfortable enough to focus on the crazy story. If exploration and survival is your cup of tea, this one may be for you. If not, this is not worth your time.

It’s hard to find time for heroics in a busy schedule of sleeping, foraging, finding water, walking back and forth to base camp or vomiting in the bushes due to food poisoning. [Issue#227, p.64]

Metal Gear Survive’s underlying concept is not bad and the game has a couple of good moments, but I can’t recommend it to anyone. It’s best to steer clear of it. [04/2018, p.54]

After Phantom Pain was released and the split between publisher Konami and series creator Hideo Kojima became public, some folks lamented that we'd never see another game on Konami's Fox Engine ever again. Be careful what you wish for, I guess.

Metal Gear Survive is a bold and brave move for Konami. BUT, It's just not fun. If you like Metal Gear series, you should probably stay away from this game.