The free Metal Gear Survive beta is now online for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, allowing players to catch a glimpse of what the survival adventure game will offer when it launches on Feb. 20.
Konami also announced that Metal Gear Survive will offer microtransactions. It remains to be seen whether this will doom the game, which has already been heavily criticized for being very different compared to the other titles in the Metal Gear franchise.
'Metal Gear Survive' Open Beta Now Online
The Metal Gear Survive beta, free to all PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players, will run until Jan. 22. The open beta will require players to work together in defending a Wormhole Digger from waves of zombie-like creatures.
An official PlayStation blog post provided a few tips for the Metal Gear Survive beta, including to spend time inside the Staging Area, which is the place where the team meets before launching the mission; to gather as much resources as they can at the start of the missions and between waves of enemies; and to work together to put up the best defense possible.
The gameplay of Metal Gear Survive is mostly lifted from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, so the core mechanics are sound. Every round offers players new supplies to build more kinds of weapons and traps, leading to complex bases and powerful defenses to repel the incoming hordes.
Criticisms Against 'Metal Gear Survive'
Metal Gear Survive, however, does not feel like Metal Gear. The action offered in its open beta is great, but the game lacks the originality and storytelling that made past Metal Gear titles memorable.
The Metal Gear Survive reveal trailer received mass dislikes in August 2016, particularly because players saw that it had nothing to do with the franchise. Hideo Kojima, the creator of the Metal Gear series but already left Konami, was also unimpressed, questioning what zombies have to do with the franchise.
The Metal Gear Survive gameplay trailer, released a month later, did not fare any better. The video only proved that Konami is trying to squeeze value out of the Metal Gear brand with Metal Gear Survive.
Already with the odds stacked against it, Konami then recently revealed that Metal Gear Survive will need a constant internet connection, even for single-player mode. The company continues by adding that the game will feature microtransactions, on which players can spend real money to improve their in-game performance.
Microtransactions have become known as a scourge in the video game industry, and their presence in Metal Gear Survive will not help the game at all.
