If we could expect a banal story serving only as a pretext to justify the use of the name Metal Gear, Konami had the presence of mind not to neglect this aspect. In Metal Gear Survive, you play as a former Big Boss Mother Base soldier who, after escaping a dimensional wormhole, must travel to a parallel world called Dite in order to investigate the spread of a virus that turns humans into zombies. The goal ? Gather as much information as possible on the infection and return alive to Earth. If the scenario above all allows Konami to use the assets of Metal Gear Solid 5, it still has the merit of entertaining us throughout the single-player campaign. Some twists skillfully revive the interest of the title, and if we are far from the level of writing of Metal Gear, the script is no less interesting. Of course, we should not expect a masterpiece of narration, but the story is above all there to allow the game to insist on one point in particular: survival.
As much to say it immediately, Metal Gear Survive is far from being the disaster which one could expect. If the title has nothing to do with a classic Metal Gear, it nevertheless has some advantages that will satisfy players who love survival games.
Sent to a parallel world ravaged by a deadly infection, you will have to manage all the aspects necessary for your survival, starting with hunger and thirst. These lands being abandoned, you will have no choice but to look for water and food. Indeed, a bit like Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, hunting will be the main way to obtain resources to keep hunger and thirst bars above zero. When these decrease, your health and stamina are greatly impacted, and although it is possible to regain strength by stopping for a few moments, your gauges will not be able to fully regenerate. Worse still, when they drop completely, your character can die at any time.
"KJP FOREVER"
As you will have understood, the search for consumables is essential throughout your adventure. To do this, you will have access to many recipes that will allow you to create more or less nutritious food, provided you find animals and water points in the game area (something that is not easy at first ). If this aspect plunges the player directly into the survival aspect of the title, we can only rail against the speed at which the gauges decrease. These melt like snow in the sun, and even if you are well prepared, a mission can quickly undermine your stamina and your health. Quite honestly, the first hours of play are more tedious than anything else because of these water and food needs, and can discourage more than one.
Fortunately, you can count on building your own base to manage your needs more easily. More concretely, after a few hours of play, you are able to develop plots of land through which it is possible to easily recover food, while containers will be used to collect rainwater. In addition, the base also allows you to build many workbenches to craft weapons, gadgets, or even medicines. On this point, the Konami teams have not been idle and we are entitled to a plethora of objects to manufacture. Craft enthusiasts will be in heaven, even if it must be admitted that the multiplication of menus can make everything indigestible. Fortunately, you will have tons and tons of tutorials at your disposal that will explain everything to you step by step.
Worse still, if you want to create another character, you will have to pay a little less than 10 euros. A very frustrating point that gives the impression that Konami takes us for cash cows.
A more than welcome help when you know that you can recruit civilians who have been teleported to this world by accident. Indeed, during your journey, you will come across other characters who are unable to defend themselves against the threat. It will therefore be a question of bringing them back to your camp in order to treat them, but above all, to call on them to take care of your base. After a certain point, your HQ becomes more or less autonomous, which leads you to manage the survival of your team in a completely different way. Water and food needs (but also disease) affect your entire team, and we must constantly ensure the well-being of these individuals. An interesting orientation which makes it possible to intelligently renew the survival mechanics of the title.
While survival plays a primary role in the game, other threats also exist. As we mentioned earlier, your mission will ask you to explore Dite in order to find information on the epidemic and escape. Regularly, you will have to leave your camp in order to open excavation points which allow you to recover energy to return to Earth, as well as teleportation points. The latter also play a major role in your progress, since they will allow you to move instantly from point A to point B. A detail that is not so trivial, because you will have to constantly monitor your vital functions during of your travels.
SHUT UP AND DON'T TAKE MY MONEY
Especially since a large part of the playing area is covered by a sea of Ashes, a kind of fog made up of fine particles which prevents you from breathing properly and seeing in the distance. Because of this mist, we spend a good part of our time looking for the point where we have to go to achieve an objective. Indeed, the area is not mapped, and you will have to advance blind most of the time. It is therefore important to unlock as many teleportation points as possible in order to simplify your travels as much as possible. In addition to the daunting side induced by this task, the Sea of Ashes mainly spoils the visual aspect of the game. With an opaque fog that allows you to see only a few meters away, the scenery is much duller.
To unlock these extraction and teleportation points, you will have to go through the combat box. Each activation of a point launches a sequence in which waves of zombies are linked together for an allotted time. To repel the enemy hordes, you can of course rely on your gadgets, but you will also have to use your weapons to defend yourself. If the first enemy waves are quite simple to manage, very quickly, you have to be ingenious to get rid of these watches without finding yourself cornered. The fights become intense and require you to be on constant alert to spot everything that is happening around you. A certain tension then sets in during these confrontations, and you will have to skillfully manage your resources so as not to arrive like a flower in front of the enemy. Only small downside, you will tirelessly chain the same missions. If the scenario advances and expands as the game progresses, the missions are always the same, despite the appearance of new monsters.
To top it off, the matchmaking is also flawed since very often you will find yourself with players who do not have the same level as you at all. Suddenly, if you play with players much stronger than you, your character will play more of an extra role than anything else.
Thus, most of the time, you will have to repel enemies to open access to an excavation or teleportation point, save humans lost on Dite, or recover memory cards that contain important information on the infection. Of course, as you progress, you can get much nicer weapons and traps, but that's not enough to make the missions more interesting. Also, solo progression can be extremely slow if you don't alternate between solo and multi regularly.
Indeed, in Metal Gear Survive, the two modes are intimately linked. When playing online, you'll need to use the same character as in singleplayer, which means your gear will be the same whether you're playing alone or with other players. If it is better to wait to cross a few levels in solo, in order to equip yourself correctly, the multiplayer remains the best way to acquire objects and consumables easily. Thus, by regularly alternating between solo and multiplayer, you will be able to obtain objects that you have not yet found in the game, which will allow you, for example, to craft new traps and more powerful weapons. If, in fact, this is very practical for players who like to play mainly in multi, fans of pure and hard solo may be disappointed. The balance between the rewards of the multiplayer and the solo picks up, so much so that the progress of the player is drastically slowed down when the latter plays alone permanently.
"THE GOOD IDEAS WILL SURVIVE"
What's more, just to demotivate fans of single-player games even more, Metal Gear Survive's multiplayer offers the bare minimum to players. Basically, we are offered to redo missions similar to those in the single player mode with other players. If the different terrain configurations make it possible to make the clashes quite varied, after a few hours of play, it seems to be going in circles. To top it off, the matchmaking is also flawed since very often you will find yourself with players who do not have the same level as you at all. Suddenly, if you play with players much stronger than you, your character will play more of an extra role than anything else. In itself, this makes it possible to obtain rewards quite easily, the first levels of difficulty being within everyone's reach, but you end up getting bored very quickly. On the other hand, it is clear that the content is there. The level of difficulty of online missions increases as you complete levels and very quickly the online challenge is felt. Teamwork is essential, as is cohesion since the slightest mistake can lead to the death of your allies.
Finally, how not to mention the game's microtransactions. Despite its fairly substantial solo adventure, Metal Gear Survive relies above all on its multiplayer aspect. As a result, players can buy temporary boosts that allow you to more easily recover Kuban energy (which allows you to level up your character). If this practice takes on its full meaning online, we remain skeptical about the use of this process during a solo game. Of course, we can easily do without these boosts, but if we put the multiplayer aside, the player's progress becomes very slow. Worse still, if you want to create another character, you will have to pay a little less than 10 euros. A very frustrating point that gives the impression that Konami takes us for cash cows. Admittedly, the game comes with an imposing content, despite its low price of thirty euros, but it's frustrating to have to take out the credit card to take advantage of simple save slots.
