Sly dogs

Metal Gear Survive is a strange game in and of itself, but the context surrounding Metal Gear as a whole makes it even stranger. We're st?uck in this messy transitional period between the Kojima-led games of old and whatever direction Konami eventually settles on for the f?uture of the series.

For now, though, we have Survive. Attentive fans have noticed something peculiar in the game's opening moments. During an early cutscene, you're shown a list of co??de-named soldiers alongside your own custom-named character and, as laid out by Michael Yurko on Twitter, there's?? a hidden message.

Just take th?e first letter from each of the the underlined words and put '?em all together.

Am I the only one who saw “KoJima Productions FOREVER?” using the first letter of the highlighted code names? @HEITAIs #MetalGearSurvive #MGSurvive pic.twitter.com/NrYGVmwm8J

— Michael Yurko (@NourishedPsyche) February 24, 2018

The end result? "KJP Forev??er." Or, Kojima Productions forever.

It's worth noting that these specifically-named characters are the wandering Mother Base soldiers from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. So while the "KJP forever" Easter egg is a holdover, to some extent, the folks working on Survive went to the trouble of listin??g the names in?? the correct order.

Another fun one: the AWOL soldiers at the bottom of the list are named Bastard Yota and Cunning Yuji. That's surely a nod to Metal Gear Survive director Yota Tsutsumizaki and produc??er Yuji ?Korekado.

Michael Yurko [Twitter]

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Starting next month

I'm done with Metal Gear Survive's campaign and at this point I'm basically waiting for matchmaking sessions to actually fill, but Konami says that more content is on the way -- which could spur more people into action after ?they've finished the campaign in turn.

Starting next month Ko?nami is adding post-launch content, which includes the new mission type "Rescue." As expected you'll need to brave the enemy and rescue NPCs, and all of this will be happening in tandem with new modifiers for challenges that alter the way you approach each mission.

I really hope other sweeping changes are in the pipeline, ?like the complete eradication of mic?rotransactions and some other tweaks to the tedious survival formula.

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A tale of two games

I've been playing Metal Gear Survive this past week, and when you take away the (mortal) sins of always-online and microtransactions, which is no small feat, I'm conflicted. I see what the team was going for, it just comes up short and tries to shove way too many mechanics into one bursting pipeline on top of an attempt to tell a clandestine Metal Gear story.

I appreciate the complexity; I really do. But ?when much of it is either useless or pointless, it adds up.

Metal Gear Survive (PC, PS4 [reviewed], Xbox One)
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Released: February 20, 2018
MSRP: $39.99

Metal Gear Survive has s?o much busywork and I can't understand why the team felt the need to cram in everything they did. You have meters on top of meters on top of meters, and most of them don't matter outside of hunger. If you waltz into a dust bowl you need oxygen -- which can be quickly replenished at a whim with the game's main currency. That's easy. If you re??quire water, you can just use one of the many dirty H20 sources scattered about the game (or the pond right near your base) and clean it with a campfire upgrade not too long after the story's start.

But food, especially early on in the game, is much tougher to come by. Typically you'll get "side missions" for food sources on your map and they'll end up being a few scant deer or sheep, which is enough to load you up for 15 minutes or so. Very frequently I'd find myself questing out in the wilderness, wanting to press on were it not for my hunger meter dropping. If I didn't acqu?iesce by heading back to base I'd suffer a slow death, erasing all progress since my last save.

I'm used to roguelikes and survival games, but those are often designed with pacing in mind, not packed with survival elements for the sake of it. Is Survive also an adventure game with bits of exploration? Absolutely. Some of its zones are quite complex and worth checking out, but much of the main map you traverse to get to those locations is so barren and lifeless that it doesn't actually facilitate any of its concepts or push the player along in any meaningful fashion. If it had chosen to be a hardcore unforgiving survival game I would have enjoyed it so much more but a??s-is the hunger and thirst meters were a mistake and could have been consolidated.

Another big gripe -- why does everything need to be crafted? Using a weapon with ammo is a chore, as you'll need to manually craft ammo to replenish it. Getting the materials isn't so bad, especially mid or late-game, but it's tedious to have to grab every single pot and pan when you're just trying to enjoy a story beat or a shootout. So many tricks could have been used by the developers to reach this end, like automatically replenishing your clip when visiting the base or having enemies drop ammo occasionally (which wouldn't break theme in the already very arcadey co-op missions). And farms? As it turns out, mixing Metal Gear and The Martian a?nd waiting an i?nordinate amount of time for a potato farm to be harvested isn't very fun!

When you're not fighting the true enemy -- menus -- progression can be really enjoyable. The feeling of getting ??each major unlock during the campaign is a rush, even when you're dealing with the aforementioned muddled systems like the air tank. Unlocking something as simple as a new class skill is an accomplishment, and although bosses are few and far between, battling it out with them and the usual hordes of foes is a blast. The beautiful FOX Engine is the whipped cream on top.

In case you were curious, the game flow is mostly through completing solo story missions through two sandbox maps, earning upgrades along the way. If you want you can hop online for co-op, which typically involves protecting a mining machine and fending off enemies in a horde mode fashion. I've played quite a bit online since launch, though each m??atch typically take a long time to fire?? up. I'm not sure if it's the matchmaking portion or the playerbase, but sitting at three out of four players for ten minutes then having someone leave and start the whole process over is commonplace. Both modes are completely entwined, a concept I like in theory -- but it quickly leads to players trying to blitz the myriad starting items for their own base.

The online component was more than playable, but Konami's adherence to always-online would occasionally shut me down completely. Initially it was just a worry that it could happen and then it became a reality, as I lost progress -- something that's pretty unbelievable for a game that's mostly single-player and just happens to be connected to an online infrastructure. The in-game premium coin currencies are also completely uncalled for, as the "daily login" currency bonuses are small and the asks are astronomical -- I'm talking $10 boosts and $10 character slots. Bomberman ??Switch was Konami's last major game and that had no microtransactions and tons of free content. What happened?

This whole affair has made me realize that perhaps these sort of premium minigames should be relegated to bonuses in major releases with real campaigns. Capcom tried to do the same thing with Resident Evil's Mercenaries and crashed and burned with their standalone 3DS release. Metal Gear Survive should have been a free-to-play game just like Grasshopper's Let it Die or an actual Metal Gear release. It doesn't accomplish either aim.

_{[This r??eview is based o?n a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Technically the first for PC

How can you survive without playing Metal Gear Survive? Isn't the wait killing you? Aren't you being played like a fiddle while waiting? While that last question doesn't make sense, neither does the existence of Metal Gear without its creator, but that isn't stopping Konami from finishing and releasing Metal Gear Survive this month.

To give people another chance to experience the title before launch, a second beta is on the cards for next week. Runnin?g from February 16 - 18, players on PS4, Xbox One and even PC will be able to experience the game. Players who have the first beta downloaded on their consoles?? won't need to redownload anything.

Since this is the ??same beta, you can expect to pass the time with a mediocre zombie game that is a bit too complicated for its own good. I actually streamed the first beta for Destructoid's Twitch channel with my super hardcore Kojima loving friend and we both just shrugged. It is an okay experience that has a lot of polish thanks to?? the Fox Engine.

It can be fun, in spurts, but it has basically nothing to do with Metal Gear. I understand wanting to take a series in a new direction, but why not just start a new IP? Th??at is just my opinion based on around two hours of playtime, so why not give it a shot and see if you feel differently?

2nd “METAL GEAR SURVIVE BETA” Coming to PS4, Xbox One?, and Steam on February 16, 2018! [Konami]

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It'll show up in your supply box

Konami is giving Metal Gear Survive beta players a few accessories for the full version, including a bandana, Fox Hound name plate, and Metal Gear Rex headpiece. That was already known, but there are a few other new bonuses lined up specifically for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain players.

Along with the almighty eyepatch, Phantom Pain players who use their same account to play Survive will score a Metal Gear Ray head and nameplates ?themed around Diamond Dogs ??and MGO3.

Here's how it all looks:

Metal Gear Survive is two weeks out. As much as I think it'll be a fun hangout-with-friends game, I doubt I'll be able to tear myself from Monster Hunter World anytime soon. Eyepatch or no eyepatch.

Get Special Items from Metal Gea??r Solid V: The Phantom Pain [Konami]

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Fitting, really

We're in the midst of the Metal Gear Survive beta. How's it going so far?

While I haven't had time to play just yet?, I have to admit, I like what I'm seeing of the wave-based co-op survival title strictly in a dumb-fun-with-friends sort of way. This game probably shouldn't exist, but it does, and there's seemingly some joy to be had if you can take it for what it is. (Assuming the inherent always-online requirement and microtransactions don't sour the whole thing.)

As Ray puts it, Metal Gear Survive is "like Dead Rising on that Fox Engine crack."

Also, quick aside: I'll be amazed if Konami doesn't eventually add a battle royale mode or explore that in a separate spin-off. Metal Gear Solid V's mechanics and?? gun?play would lend themselves so well.

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Because co-op is so important!

Color me surprised, but this latest trailer for Metal Gear Survive actually looks neat. Instead of just making a carbon copy of Phantom Pain and throwing zombies in, Survive leans more into its title and has you scavenging for food and weapons to prepare yourself for zombies. I won't deny that the enemy design looks lame as hell, but I could see Survive being a solid enough time.

As for single-player gameplay, there looks to be a strong influence from tower defense games going on. I'm a sucker for anything that lets me actually customize my base and Survive certainly has that. Hopefully all of the microtransaction nonsense from Phantom Pain isn't included, ??because it would be in poor taste to limit stronger defenses to people with big wallets.

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PC has to sit this one out

Hideo Kojima isn't involved with Metal Gear Survive, and that has people skeptical as hell about whether it'll be any good at all. That's the narrative around this game: Can Metal Gear survive now that it's sans Kojima, or will Metal Gear Survive resemble the spiritless zombi??es that inhabit its story campaign?

Time's ticking down to its release, as February 20 isn't far away. There's an earlier opportunity to play Metal Gear Survive, th?ough. Konami's holding an open beta January 18-21 so that people can test its cooperative horde mode. Participating in the beta grants p??layers "an in-game bonus" for those who purchase the full game.

Not everyone has the opportunit??y to go hands-on, though. Konami's restricting this beta to consoles. Only PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players get a shot. The PC crowd is shut out, left to wonder for another month if this is some?thing they might like.

For what it's worth, we tried this part of Metal Gear Survive at E3 this year. We weren't exactly enthused with what we saw. Steven called it "lifeless" and likened it to [if] someone ran The Phantom Pain through the clunky, grind-heavy Let it Die." But hey, different strokes and all that. Maybe you???'ll like what you see.

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Snake, you've gone offline. Snake...SNAKE?!!!

In what is becoming a sadly common trend, Konami has updated their official website to inform users that for the spin-off, "an internet connection is required." While co-op would obviously make sense as being online only, why would the single-player campaign nec?essitate such a requirement?

The recently released Gran Turismo Sport did the same thing and it makes little sense. When a game is focused entirely on multiplayer or couldn't exist without internet connectivity (like an MMO or even some arena shooters), then it becomes easier to swallow, but how does Metal Gear Survive necessitate such a stipulation?

My only answer would be that Konami wants to shove microtransactions in everyone's faces, much like they did to Metal Gear Solid V. At least that game still provided an offline option; Survive isn't getting that kind of luxury. I?? can't think of any other reason.

So if you weren't interested in Survive for its co-op action, you better pray that your internet does??n't go out or that you don't live on a military base. Welcome to the future, my friends!

METAL GEAR SURVIVE - Products Page [Konami]

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You know, someone else at Konami once needed more time

The Kojima-less team making Metal Gear Survive needs a bit more ti?me to finish up the game so Konami is delaying the P??C, Xbox One, and PS4 release until "early 2018."

This is probably for the best. I just played the multiplayer component of Metal Gear Survive at E3 and outside of my general qualms with what's shaping up to be a grindy shooting gallery, there was something slightly low rent and off to how it felt, despite running in the same engine as Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain. And despite the? initial planned 2017 release window, Konami still isn't even ready to talk about the single-player.

Stick that bun back in the oven.

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Like a phantom pain, something important is missing

Konami's attempt, in its post-Hideo Kojima future, to squeeze a little more blood out of everything the Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain team built is frustrating. It's not necessarily bad, but it does feel uncanny, just a little bit wrong, and a little more janky and stiff than its beautifully tuned predecessor. You couldn't tell from the pre-demo presenta?tion that talked about how proud Konami was to, "bri??ng the survival genre into this brand."

Nobody asked for a Metal Gear Solid survival game with co-op, and my initial fear that this was Horde mode pad??ded out with stealth isn't even sufficient because I did stealth for about 30 seconds in a 30-minute demo.

To run it back, Metal Gear Survive is a "survival action" game set after Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. A wormhole opened up, swallowing the surviving Militaires Sans Frontières soldiers and sending them to an alternate reality that looks like a mangled version of The Phantom Pain. It does have a single-player campaign, notably not directed by Kojima, but Konami isn't talking much about the single-player and only had us try out the multiplayer. At the end of a success?ful run, a wormhole opens up and drops a bunch of cardboard boxes filled with loot, which is used for your single-player campaign. The goal is ??to "scavenge for resources, craft items, and ultimately find your way back home."

In Survive, you're playing as a custom-built character, but we had four prebaked ones to choose from for the co-op demo. I went with a shaved-head woman who came equipped with an assault rifle, bow and arrow, and electric baton. One thing I'd find out quickly: melee weapons are a huge part of Survive, because I ran out of amm?o during the first of three enemy waves (this was specifically truncated f??or E3).

All four teammates start out in a blank, white room with infinite ammo and friendly-fire off (shooting your friends during the real thing will hurt them). It basically plays like Phantom Pain, but without the robust CQC, at least for the time being. If you'r??e meleeing, you're  meant to be doing it with giant polearms an??d the like. The main difference is that there are defense mechanisms (fences, guard towers, fire traps, etc.) mapped to L1 and R1 that you'll want to place in the world when you enter the defense stage.

Once we all had a handle on what we were doing, we stood in a circle ?and started the mission. The first objective was to "infiltrate" the only significant structure nearby and set up a generator, which we'd then have to protect for three rounds. Infiltration, at least in this demo, took the form of shooting two zombified enemies with my bow (and retrieving the arrows -- ammo is scarce); I'm not sure what my team was up to, but after that we were already in. White arrows lined the ground of t??he facility showing where enemy waves were going to be funneled toward us, so we threw up traps and fences there, making a point to save some for subsequent rounds.

A "side-mission" popped up between waves one and two, which required me to leave our fortified position to a spot where two more mutants were hanging around. I clubbed them to death and found something I interacted with, which spawned an ammo box back at our base. Aside from the ammo squeeze and typical tower defense punctuated by new enemy types, Survive has things like stamina restriction, hunger and thirsts, and a bunch of numbers-based stuff that didn't seem t??o impac?t this condensed demo.

We hung around all three waves, S-ranked it, and I ended up the top-scoring member of our team, but the whole thing felt lifeless, even with two Walker Gears stomping around in the last round. It's like someone ran The Phantom Pain through the clunky, grind-heavy Let it Die. And it just makes me want to play the former instead. Or Metal Gear Online. Maybe the full game will do some interesting things, but this tas??te doesn't have me optimistic. 

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Where do zombies fit in...?

An extended demo for Metal Gear Survive was shown at the Tokyo Game Show this past weekend. In addition to looking boring as all hell, the game drew the attention of Metal Gear series creator??, Hideo Kojima. His response wasn't exa??ctly enthusiastic.

In an interview posted on IGN, Kojima was asked if the idea for Survive had come from him. He responded, "That's nothing to do with me." Yoji Shinkawa, a former designer on the Metal Gear series also added, "If I ha??d worked on that game, it would have mechs in it."

Confusingly, Kojima then stated, "The Metal Gear games are about political fiction and espionage. Where do zombies fit in with that?” I can see where he is coming from, but Metal Gear Solid V had zombies in it, so what is the difference?

Either way, at least I'm not alone in my apathy for Survive. For all intents and purposes, it could end up pretty great, but I don't see that happening. That 15-minute video has a lot of re-purposed assets from The Phantom Pain and that always drives me insane.

Kojima Calls Out Metal Gear Survive's Zombies [IGN]

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Livestreaming in 15 minutes

Konami is debuting Metal Gear Survive gameplay at the 2016 Tokyo Game Show after announcing the Metal Gear Solid V scrap recycling job at gamescom last month.

The four-player multiplayer game is set in an alternate universe following the events of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and won't be full-price. It plays like The Phantom Pain in terms of mechanics, but "deepened by new survival elements," which kind of feels like a nice way to say "we're padding out a Horde mode, with stealth," but, uh, ??yeah.

Anyways, gameplay?? premiere! September 17, 4:15PM JST, 12:15AM PDT. That's in 15 minutes, if I managed simple arit?hmetic. 

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Better than Pachislot?

There's another Metal Gear game on the way, and it of course won't feature the talents of Hideo Kojima. No, Konami is developing a "co-op stealth game" with "familiar Metal Gear themes,"?????????????????????????? set for a 2017 relea??se on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

The gist is that it seems like canon, following the story of the soldiers left at Mother Base after it was attacked at the end of Ground Zeroes -- who then get sucked through a wormhole into an alternate dimension filled with zombies. I see people making fun of this premise already, but c'mon, Vamp ran up walls and floated on water. The series has arguably been wackier for years.

But while the premise is par for the course, the rest sounds...ugh. This is essentially the Umbrella Corps or the Metroid Federation Force of Metal Gear -- but likely with the intent of selling microtransactions like "Liquid Sna?ke"?? skins and "Raiden" weapons.

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