Will Metal Gear Survive?

The Metal Gear franchise reaches its 30th anniversary this year, having provided fans with some of the most innovative and iconic gaming moments. Finding popularity after releasing Metal Gear Solid on the PlayStation back in 1998, gamers were impressed with the reliance on stealth based tactics, as opposed to the run n’ gun style made famous in the likes of Doom and other shooters of that era. The intricate plot and diverse characters made us fall in love with the idea of a dystopian future created by the threat of nuclear war – so several sequels and spin-offs were released over the course of the next two decades.

Here we are in 2017, with the last entry in the Metal Gear Solid series proving to be one of the most anticipated and well-received games of this age. Although the game’s mastermind, Hideo Kojima, found himself in the middle of a dispute with Konami studios, leading to his eventual dismissal during the game’s production, The Phantom Pain released nonetheless. Because of this, gamers realised that a significant portion of the narrative had been left out; the plot came to an anti-climactic finale sooner than some expected.

Even though there are several points in the story where you could put the controller down and accept your canon ending, there’s no clearly defined end-game, as several strands of the story are left untouched. For example (spoilers here, but hey, it was released in 2015), Eli – the child that would become known as Liquid Snake – escapes from Boss’ FOB with Sahelanthropus and seemingly vanishes without a trace. Naturally, fans of the series were slightly perturbed when there was no mission that allows Boss to chase down Eli and instigate the blood feud between him and one of his sons.

Nevertheless, Metal Gear Solid V continues to be one of the best selling products from this generation and a solid entry into the series. What with Kojima now separated from Konami and thus the rights to the Metal Gear franchise, where does this leave the series? Well, I’ll tell you. It leaves a zombie shooter.

Named Metal Gear Survive, it is set to take place between the events of Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain, just after the original Mother Base is attacked by XOF. Admittedly, this is a good point for a new story to be created, as the details of what exactly happened during that time are hazy at best – many Bothans died to bring us all those tapes involving Zero and Ocelot. But instead on focusing on perhaps Ocelot’s story during this period, instead we’re following some of the remaining Mother Base grunts as they’re transported through a wormhole in space, sent to another dimension to fight a horde of zombies. Yep.

Very little has been revealed so far, aside from that it is primarily a team-based, open-world shooter. Presumably, Survive will be taking what made the world of Phantom Pain seem so vast and adapt the whole resource scavenging/hostage rescuing into a full campaign. So essentially, all those side-ops we did with Boss, but with zombies.

Base building is going to be a the primary goal of the campaign, with players using their FOB to craft weapons, medicines and other survival necessities. Admittedly, this is pretty interesting and if done well could manage to keep the game from being a total disaster. According to previews, one of the most fun aspects of the game so far is the wide range of weapons and gear available to the player. Crafting such things as Gekko walkers and railguns is going to keep the zombie massacring satisfying while maintaining the theme of a Metal Gear game.

May there be hope for this game? Attempting to be positive about what we’ve seen so far, the screenshots do look pretty for a zombie-shooter. Almost like they’ve been taking inspiration from the likes of Resident Evil and The Evil Within, some of the undead look potentially challenging and threatening enough to create the atmosphere of a survival horror. Considering the details released so far, I think Konami would like to push this as part of the Metal Gear canon, so I doubt we’ll see Boss (or Venom) making an appearance in the story, but the beauty of a game based on open-world freedom and no strict ties to a specific story is that they can pump out tons of DLC skins and other such nonsense to give players a little more reason to believe they’re playing a Metal Gear game. Perhaps even throw in a few extra characters like Raiden or Vamp? In all honesty, I just want to be running about as Vulcan Raven, mowing down zombies with his chaingun.

Despite some gleaming rays of hope, Hideo Kojima is doing his best to distance himself from this production – publicly stating that this game has absolutely nothing to do with him. In fact, he goes as far to say that the Metal Gear franchise is focused on the themes of “political fiction and espionage”, not wormholes and undead nanomachine soldiers. I for one am extremely disappointed that Konami chose to sell out one of the most intriguing and innovative franchises to something so simple and mindless. What made Metal Gear famous was the choice to adapt to opponents using stealth rather than big guns and explosions; I can’t see how hiding away inside a cardboard box is going to have the same effect on zombies as it would have on genome soldiers. By drifting away from the majority of gameplay mechanics, the overall story of Snake, Boss and co, I don’t see this ever making it anywhere near the same status as the rest of the franchise.

Will I be buying Metal Gear Survive? Probably. Because I’m a sucker for all things Metal Gear. Will I enjoy Metal Gear Survive? Probably not. In fact, I sadly see this spelling the end for what has been a decorated cornerstone of modern gaming.

The fact that Konami are choosing this to be their first attempt at doing something with the Metal Gear franchise, rather than pumping out some Phantom Pain DLC to fill in a few of the holes left behind by Kojima’s departure, shows that they’re truly out of touch with what the franchise deserves. The trend with Metal Gear fans is that we’re willing to exercise patience before getting hands on our latest fill of tactical espionage, so why wouldn’t Konami put their funds into creating more of what made the series so popular? Survive seems to be a desperate attempt to create an original, Konami-licensed adaptation of the bleak Metal Gear universe, one purely made to extort a little more money out of a disillusioned fanbase which probably won’t take much more after this.

So what are your thoughts on Metal Gear Survive so far? With the few details released, there’s not nearly enough to truly determine whether or not this game is going to bomb upon release. Pessimism aside, I am intrigued for the future of Metal Gear, whether this is going to be the direction they choose to take the series in henceforth, or whether we’ll see a return to Boss and Snake in the coming future. Let us know what you think in the comments below.