Metal Gear Survive

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Metal Gear Survive
The words "Will Not" are omitted in the title. Don't let it fool you.
Genre(s): Action-adventure Survival Rating(s): ESRB: M Platform(s): Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One Release Date: NA: February 20, 2018 JP: February 21, 2018 EU/AU: February 22, 2018 Engine: Fox Engine Developer(s): Konami Digital Entertainment Publisher(s): Konami Country: Japan Series: Metal Gear Predecessor: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Metal Gear Survive is a 2018 spin-off of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain developed and published by Konami.

Gameplay

The game is a third-person action "stealth" game where you have to defend an area from zombies.

Why It Won't Survive

1. The game is a cash grab on both survival horror, Gacha crafting games, and the Metal Gear franchise, lacking the quirkiness that the franchise is well known for and the survival horror elements don't mesh at all with the stealth mechanics.
2. Many assets are recycled from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The open world itself is not only recycled from Phantom Pain, but it is also quite empty as well.
3. Constant internet connection is required, even in single-player mode, or else the game will be unplayable. On top of that, it uses an outdated Peer-to-Peer connection, which is inexcusable for late 2010s standards.
4. The story feels a bit rushed, especially since it is mostly told through flat exposition on a Codec-style screen with static character portraits.
   • Some of the writing is laughable, such as the nurse thinking she can cure the zombies... who are all missing their heads.
5. The big bad monster Lord of Dust looks like a giant metallic turd with Mr. Potato Head's arms or Red from NES Godzilla Creepypasta when he ate LSD and marijuana.
6. One of the final plot points is that the said monster can't be defeated because, for some stupid reason, it does not know how to die, so it needs someone to go and tell it. Yes, death apparently works like Santa Claus in this universe and only comes along if you believe in it.
7. You don't even get to the "survive" part until after you sit through interesting, but boring cutscenes for the unrelated story.
8. The buildings and equipment don't work properly.
9. The combat boils down to just putting up a fence and stabbing the zombies through the fence with little to no variety.
10. The multiplayer is an obvious afterthought and its waiting area is empty and dull.
11. Lack of enemy variety. Adding insult to injury is that it is one of the most overused enemy types in gaming: zombies.
12. The AI for the zombies is very dumb; whenever the zombies see a fence they start attacking it nonstop completely oblivious to the fact that they could just walk around the fence. In fact, even if a zombie somehow gets to the other side of the fence it'll occasionally ignore the player and keep attacking the fence.
13. The graphics, despite including lens flare, are outdated for 2018 standards and would fit better on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 despite running on their Fox Engine, which is unacceptable since this is basically a mod of Metal Gear Solid V.
    • To add insult to injury, related with above, both Metal Gear Solid V games were cross-gen (PS3 and Xbox 360 alongside PS4, Xbox One, and PC), yet Metal Gear Survive looks and runs worse than both Metal Gear Solid V games. Let that sink in.
    • The game looks and runs better on the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X, but it's still mediocre.
14. Even the game's cover is generic (the series is well known for its minimalist styles in game covers).
15. Heavy amount of microtransactions and loot boxes. Even basic game functions like extra money for weapon load-outs, storage, and even extra save slots are locked behind microtransactions/paywall.
16. Horrible Xbox One port, which has mediocre performance and graphics that look like one of the system's launch titles.
17. The player character's thirst and hunger bar depletes quickly, forcing you to constantly hunt for food and water which is tedious and annoying.
18. For some reason, crouching costs stamina.
19. The drone reminding you of your objectives is very annoying and repeats the same line over and over again.
20. You can't drink water immediately after getting it. Instead, you have to go through several missions just to purify it and make it drinkable.
21. It almost killed the Metal Gear franchise entirely until Konami finally announced a new entry in the series, Metal Gear Delta: Snake Eater (an enhanced remake of 2004's Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater) during the PlayStation Showcase along with the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 compilation on May 24, 2023.

Solid Qualities

1. The controls in this game are decent.
2. The main concept is very cool, but poor execution.
3. Thankfully this game is not canon to the official continuity of the Metal Gear series, so the lore of the series is safe (at least as of now).
4. It has Melee weapons which are a very cool feature that was not present in the previous game.
5. The character customization system is decent.
6. The Co-op mode is very fun.

Reception

Metal Gear Survive received a largely negative response from Metal Gear fans following its announcement, in part due to the controversies surrounding Kojima's departure from Konami. The announcement trailer for this game tried too hard to be epic but failed at it. Complaints focused on the game's genre and theme (being branded as "generic" as it revolved around fighting zombie-like enemies through co-op and multiplayer), recycled assets from Metal Gear Solid V, microtransactions, constant internet connection requirements and the departure from the general feel of previous Metal Gear games. The game's beta and other previews drew mixed responses from critics. Upon release, the game received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, but was heavily panned by gamers (especially fans of the franchise).

Konami very conveniently "forgot" to activate servers until launch day so review copies were unusable. This prevented early reviews that could potentially inform early buyers about the sheer amount of micro-transaction abuse mentioned above.

Angry Joe gave the game a 2/10 and his Epic Fail seal for being a chore to play and bait-and-switching players. He said it would have been maybe a 3 for "some fun tension-filled bits on the base defense parts, which is kind of always fun no matter what game it is" but it drops to a 2 for the "insulting business practices this company has been pulling."

On GameFAQs, the game has scores of 1.39/5 for the Microsoft Windows version, 2.42/5 for the PlayStation 4 version, and 2.24/5 for the Xbox One version.

The game has been reported to have sold terribly, which most gamers are seeing as a victory given that Survive was an obvious cash grab and a sign of how low Konami's reputation has dropped.

Trivia

• After naming your character, there's a cutscene showing their name on a clipboard with a list of mercenaries. It's a clever Easter egg, likely from a rogue Konami employee, praising Hideo Kojima and insulting some of Survive's key staff:
  • The first name on the list is "Vengeful Mosquito" (likely the employee self-inserting as a MGSV mercenary)
  • The second and third soldiers have surnames starting with M and G (Metal Gear), both are listed as K.I.A. (killed in action).
  • The first letters of the surnames of the 4th to the 14th (excluding the 7th) soldier spells out "KJPFOREVER" (Kojima Productions Forever).
  • The last two soldiers, both marked A.W.O.L. (absent without official leave), are named Bastard Yota and Cunning Yuji (director Yota Tsutsumizaki and producer Yuji Korekado, both Metal Gear veterans who stayed on with Konami after Kojima was fired).

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