E3 2017 - Metal Gear: Survive Hands On

Before we get into the gameplay and why this game is surprisingly good, let's take a quick trip down memory lane and bring those of you who aren't in the Konami/Kojima loop up to speed and why Metal Gear: Survive has drawn quite a bit of attention and wonder since its announcement back in August of 2016.  In 2015 shortly before the release of the highly anticipated "final chapter to the series", Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, the long-time partnership between legendary Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima and its publisher Konami severed ties acrimoniously, with fallout still continuing to this day. While to anyone not familiar with the series or Kojima might not think this is a big deal, to fans it meant absolute uncertainty for the series future now that Hideo and his Kojima Studios were not going to be involved in any way whatsoever.

Fortunately for this series that's, not the case

Metal Gear: Survive plays as well as the games before it and definitely lives up to its series standard. The controls feel natural and work surprisingly well when fending off hoards and enhanced monsters.  The base building mechanics seemed a bit daunting at first but after a few seconds (literally) I was fortifying our encampment with a variety of fences, bombs, and traps and cooperating with my 4 person squad without needing chat. The game mode we played was a straightforward tower defense hoard mode with the occasional side op to collect better gear and resources for crafting. The crafting mechanic is streamlined and intuitive enough to where you don't need to worry too much about making more ammo or traps. My only problem here was that I had to look at the model gun I was using, find its round size, then craft that specific round. Unfortunately, I thought of this after wasting tons of resources making ammo for a gun I didn't have on me. While that could have just been me, a game that requires the players to make split second decisions could use a bit more hand holding in the crafting department.

Metal Gear Survive will feature single and co-op play with a heavy focus on exploration and base development via collecting resources and loot from downed enemies and side objectives.  While this seems weird for a "Metal Gear" title, the game itself has a surprising amount of charm to it and I found myself quickly forgetting about how worried I was for the future of my favorite franchise of all time.

Metal Gear Survive doesn't look like its going to revolutionize or tarnish the legacy series creator Hideo Kojima envisioned, but instead, take the series in an interesting new direction.  Hopefully, we see some cardboard boxes in the near future.

Metal Gear: Survive will release on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC with PS4 Pro & Xbox One X enhancements sometime in early 2018.

If you want to know more about this and other announcements happening at E3 then be sure to check out our E3 2017 Coverage Hub.