Metal gear Survive overlaps with the ending from Metal Gear Solid V, the initial intro shows the events that link the games together as your character ends up being pulled through a wormhole into the wasteland of an alternate world called Dite. You must survive and find a way back home through the wormhole that brought you here with the help of other survivors who are trapped with you.
Graphicly the game does look quite bland at first look but as the game progresses you do get some nice visuals in various areas that you explore, this includes the haze within the dust cloud or luminous blood on walls in abandoned ruins to name but a few. Even though the world is a wasteland you still get plenty of vegetation and structures scattered around so not to make the world to sparse, but sometimes it just doesn’t look as detailed in areas such as the water effects which are average at best.
If you have played any metal gear game before there are certain sounds that can be identified that provide that nostalgic factor and even though this is a completely different game you still get the infamous alert sound when enemies spot you, which makes you run away to hide or attack head on. While some creatures have a groan or a scream, some of the characters that you come across are voiced over with the usual stereotyping as you would expect from a game such as this. As for the other aspects of the in game sounds are the weapons which are very accurate with the creak of your bow as you pull it back to fire an arrow, to the hacking sounds your rusty machete makes when it strikes a foe or solid surface.
Before starting you must create an avatar, this is your character that you will use in all aspects of the game from solo play to co-op. Once completed your avatar setup it is incorporated into the story from the start of the game from the first polished cut-scene which is reminiscent of what you would expect in a Metal Gear game, this builds your character as the game progresses as you interact with other survivors that have been stranded. From this point the game style changes from what you have experienced in previous games and puts more focus onto survival.
Metal Gear Survive centres around your base camp from here you can craft weapons & ammo, gadgets, building materials and food to help on your missions, but in order to craft these items you will need to scavenge and hunt for the materials. For me this is essential in order to survive and is helped by resources re-spawning over time but this can be very time consuming and distracts you from the main quest and any other objectives that you must carry out.
With the time consuming scavenging aside, there is plenty in the way of customisation, this includes fortification of your base camp and building better equipment to craft better weapons, clothes and gadgets. This will help you progress further into the game at help you survive longer. This includes a perk system that helps you increase your health, stamina and learn more advanced moves to defeat the wanderers and any other enemies that you come across.
These skills can only be acquired by scavenging for KUB which is a crystal like substance that builds your characters skills and powers plus the gear you wear. This material can be found scattered around but the Wanderers which are people that have been affected and transformed into these zombie like monsters are a great way to build up your levels.
As you progress through the game you will unlock co-op play this allows you to join in with 3 other online players in a scavenger mission which is a wave based game mode where you must work together to defend or attack a location as waves of enemies are let loose to hunt you down, when defending you can fortify with weapon placement or barricades to help keep them out. On completion you are rewarded with supplies which can help you in the campaign.
As the game progresses you will encounter NPC’s that will join in your mission to help with base camp operations, this can be from base defence to farming, these characters provide input into the storyline and how the game unfolds from one mission to the next.
Metal Gear Survive has a huge world to explore and as you have to watch your hunger and thirst levels, in can be tough to go long distances without dying which does happen a lot in the early stages of the game. Wormhole teleporters are the key to move over large distances without using up too much of your food, these teleporters are essential but in order to activate them you must be prepared to defend them as soon as you activate the device as it will attract all nearby wanderers and creatures to the location. There is a time limit that varies from one transporter to the next, if it is a couple of minutes you will have to set traps of block pathways to slow down enemies, if done properly you may never need to engage any creatures at all before it activates.
Finally i would like to mention the big bosses you will encounter in the game, and believe me some of these bosses are big, so much that you look like your are the size of an ant against them, these fights can be challenging and require you to be at a certain level before even attempting to take them on.
Overall the game is well polished with an immersive gameplay experience if you stick with it, but this is all about divide and conquer as you must use skill, tactics and strategy to get you through as you will be tested at every turn.
SUMMARY
Metal Gear Survive for me was one of those games that looks like it was all polish and no substance, and playing it for five minutes i thought this game is bad, but the game opens up when you learn more skills and learn to craft the right tools and supplies for you to survive from one mission to the next.
The game is difficult to get into with a tough learning curve but if you spend time on this, the world is vast and with the help of Wormhole teleporters really opens up this game allowing for more exploration and more resources to acquire and help you survive the threats out to kill you.
