Metal Gear Survive
Stealth franchise takes odd turn into zombie survival
A METAL GEAR GAME without Hideo Kojima at the helm, and a lurch away from stealth toward horror and survival mechanics, this curio turns out to have some shining moments, and some absolute bungles, too.
Set before The Phantom Pain, Survive sees Mother Base soldiers sucked through a wormhole into an open-world “hell” dimension populated by a few animals, but mainly dust and zombies. There are smashed vehicle remains, piles of rubble, an AI that looks like a trashcan, the outposts of fellow survivors, and other debris from which to ferret out useful items. But to get to them, you need to brave the dust cloud.
Head in unprotected, and it saps your health, so crafting an air tank should be high up on your priority list. And finding something in the gloom is only half the battle—you need to get back to your base without getting lost and expiring from thirst, running out of air and dying from fog inhalation, or being mauled to death by the Wanderers, human bodies with their heads replaced by a red crystal. You gather Materials to build up your base and craft new gear, which lets you go in search of more Materials, and so on.
We’re used to the plots of MetalGear games being a bit mad, but Survive takes it to extremes. It’s only related to the main series because Konami says it is. It means we have long cutscenes and tedious Codec conversations, but also a recognizable aesthetic powered by a robust engine. It adds to the sense that this is a game made cheaply, a spin-off designed to turn a profit.
On which note: microtransactions. You gain Materials and Kuban Energy (for crafting) by playing the game, while SV coins cost real money (although you get 30 for logging in each day—the game requires a permanent online connection). A slot for a second save file will set you back 1,000 SV coins. But can you buy 1,000 coins? No—they come in packs of 1,150 for $10, leaving you with a useless 150 coins over. Of course, you can get 10 lots of 100 for $9.90, but this seems poor value. An extra weapon slot is 500 coins, but the closest you can buy is 550. It’s a system designed to leave you with spare coins, tempting you to buy more to get some use out of them, and its place in a game that costs $40 is questionable.
When actually playing the game, rather than spending money, it feels slow, and is unendingly gray and brown, the red glow of the Wanderers’ crystal heads warns of their approach, while other lights in the murk allow you to navigate. You can play singleplayer with three bots making up the rest of your team, or in co-op, and when it’s at its best—holding off waves of Wanderers as a team gathered around a resource—it’s a wild and eccentric ride. Unfortunately, there’s a lot that drags it down.