Metal Gear Online Related content
-
DigitalFoundry- Metal Gear Online Analysis
-
Latest Metal Gear Online screenshots
- Review Metal Gear Online [160]
PreviousMetal Gear Online First Impressions
PlayStation 3 First Impressions by Rob Fahey
Page 1 of 3.
Page 2 
Metal Gear is a name that comes with baggage. Think of Metal Gear, and you think of Solid Snake, of Revolver Ocelot, Big Boss, Raiden, Otacon and a host of other improbably named characters down through the past ten years. You think of the excitement around Metal Gear Solid, the hype around MGS2, perhaps the satisfaction of MGS3's return to form. You think of Hideo Kojima's complex, philosophy-laden storylines and self-indulgent cut-scenes, and his constant claims that the next MGS will be his last - and the next, and the next. Metal Gear's baggage has piled up to the point where this is a videogaming institution, upon which many gamers have strong views. Whether it's a love of the series' great characters, a hatred for the dodgy pacing and interminable codec dialogue sequences, or a simple case of old-fashioned platform fanboyism, it's not hard to find those who profess either to love or to hate Metal Gear.
What's often forgotten - buried, to stretch this metaphor a little further on our creaking introductory rack, under the weight of all this baggage - is that Metal Gear boasts fundamental, solid game mechanics. Sure, sometimes it forgets to let you play for a bit too long, but ten years of development have honed MGS' basic elements of sneaking, shooting and hand-to-hand combat.
Snake Free Zone
That's what Metal Gear Online is, then. It's Metal Gear Solid stripped down to its bare essentials, shorn of its characters, its cut-scenes and its cinematic ambitions. Divested of the storytelling elements that have provoked so much love and so much hate from gamers, Metal Gear Online instead offers up stealth and combat in their purest form - no cut-scenes, no missions, just 16 players waging online battles. Admittedly, this isn't the first time that Metal Gear Solid has sported an online component. MGS3's second incarnation, Subsistence, and the PSP's first proper MGS title, Portable Ops, both allowed players to take the game online, and both implemented it pretty well. However, neither console is noted for its online play, and it's fair to argue that Metal Gear Online on the PS3 represents the first really high-profile effort to bring the series online.
The game's conceit is that it's a VR training device - which gives it an excuse for nice digital effects when players spawn, as well as 3D indicators in parts of the maps.
Although it's being described as a standalone title, we're not actually sure how MGO is going to end up in our hands. An announcement at TGS last year revealed a plan to bundle a "starter pack" for the game with MGS4, with players then expanding it through content packs purchased on the PlayStation Store. There's some suggestion that the "starter" game will also be available as a download, putting this into the same league as the likes of Warhawk at the forefront of Sony's ambitious digital distribution plans.
However it arrives in the end, Metal Gear Online is shaping up to be a high profile part of the whole MGS4 circus when it finally rolls into town. Taking its cues from the game's own tale of near-future warfare and battling private military companies (PMCs), it's a great looking multiplayer shooter with realistic weapons and equipment - not to mention the weight of ten years of evolution, polish, grit and humour behind it.
It's a third-person shooter, with up to 16 players filling out maps that range in size from about the scale of three or four decent-sized (albeit bombed-out) houses up to the expanse of a large abandoned factory and warehouse complex. Each character is customised, both visually (clothes, accessories and facial appearance) and in terms of abilities, which are set by the player as Skills and subsequently enhanced by an experience system as you play.
Are you excited about Metal Gear Online on PlayStation 3?
View Eurogamer readers most anticipated games
Related Games
Metal Gear Online
Latest Features
Latest Videos
DigitalFoundry- Metal Gear Online Analysis [2] 25 June, 2009
Metal Gear Online - Scene expansion [0] 27 February, 2009
Latest News
-
More goodies for Metal Gear Online [5]
-
Konami adds bikinis to MGO [25]
-
E3: Kojima announces Metal Gear Arcade [6]
-
Free MGO content in May for all players [9]
-
MGO SCENE expansion dated, priced [21]
Latest Screenshots
6 March, 2009 [1]
Want to comment on this article? Log in, or register!
Comments: 1-30 of 30 in total
|
3william56
20/02/08 @ 07:28
0
Someone point Konami at the Orange Box, and free it might be.
I hope the long range conventional battles are reigned in (or at least, there's an option to restrict weapon classes) in favour of stealth assasination. There's more than enough standard chaotic machine gun and rocket launcher deathmatching around, with Warhawk, COD and Team Fortress (and the inevitable dozen others which will land in the meantime) doing it more than well enough. What there isn't is an online stealth/assasination game. MGS mechanics, with just a knife or other sneak weapon, where the skill is in getting close to the victim without being seen, would be a real breath of fresh air in the online deathmatch field, and would make MGSO stand out from the crowd. I really don't like the sound of the developing skills though. Will put those of us that don't want to devote thousands of hours to the game, or n00bs coming late to the party at too much of a disadvantage. It's hard enough enjoying an online game when you're not as practiced as the hardcore fans or are new to it (WarHawk's getting a bit that way now), without them getting equipment and skill advantages as well. Ninty have shown that (one of) the keys to success nowadays is accessability. I hope Konami were listening, and are not tempted to jsut serve the hardcore crowd. |
|
JediMasterMalik
20/02/08 @ 09:05
0
This sounds pretty great, purely from a MP perpective (as opposed to an MGS one). If the character customisation can allow for a lot of variety in online pay, provided it's baalnced well, it would be excellent. Sniper versus CQC experts could be classic, I just hope that kind of differentiation is possible.
|
|
0
From what I can make out this is a separate game for a very good reason in the game play bares no resemblance to the main MGS games, but more gives you a chance to partake in the gun battles you'll going on around you in MGS4.
As for reference to Orange box, firstly MGS4 is BIG and has alot more voice acting etc then HL2 plus epis, even if the game isn't as long the content on orange box there is alot more direction and acting which is costly. Secondly HL2 and epi1 are old and already sold in their millions so Value could afford to practically give them away. As long as MGO and other spin offs of it's kind of other francises are a sensible price then that seems fair enough. Orange box was the bargin of the year but don't go expecting other companies to follow suit. And don't forget that comparisons can only truely be drawn if half the box content has been previously released at full price. |
|
0
Sounds like good business sense to me to include a "free" online mode with the MGS4 box, but with just a few areas built in. Basically just enough to whet every ones apetite for more after having played through the single player campaign.
Then, about a month after release, start putting out reasonably priced DLC packages, containing more maps, more weapons, mrore gametypes et cetera. Maybe even a campaign mode and so on. Such a franchise can strech out for years and net as much money as the original release + keep the franchise alive. Seeing as the single player campaign is not really uitable for such mini-expansions (unlike Oblivion, in which it worked bacause the game is pretty much a free form experience allowing the player to access content whenever he or she feels like it), added multiplayer stuff seems the best choise for expensions to MGS. Trying to fit in another 30 hours of gameplay in a DLC addon just don't make sense for MGS4. PSN already did somwhat similar stuff (DLC strategy) with Motorstorm and Warhawk, so I'm betting this is the route they'll go with this. This all sounds very nice - possibly the first real killer app (in addition to MGS4 itself, of course) for the PS3. |
|
tonynibbles
20/02/08 @ 09:42
0
Aw man, can't wait!
Loved MGS3 online and the PSP version was pretty slick too. This will kick ass! |
|
Carbon_Altered
20/02/08 @ 16:12
0
"Each weapon class is heavily specialised - shotguns for close-up work, assault rifles at longer range, sniper rifles purely for the patient camper "
So like every other online shooter ever then? |
|
0
2UP: "I want to be Snake"
1UP: "No, I'M Snake! I'm the Host! You have to be Otacon!" 2UP: "Otacon? WTF? He's no good for stealthing it up! I want to be Snaaaaake!" 3UP: "I've already bagged Meryl, I'm gonna stare at her ass!" 2UP: "I want to be Solidus... he is sort of Snake anyway" 1UP: /kicks 2UP from server. |
|
0
Sounds like it's crying out for a Halo-esque custom game system... that would allow people to make it as stealthy/not as they like. It'd be cool to have a mode where half the players on each team are only allowed tranquilliser weapons, and the rest only melee - or different loadouts for different teams.
|
|
0
"As for reference to Orange box, firstly MGS4 is BIG and has alot more voice acting etc then HL2 plus epis, even if the game isn't as long the content on orange box there is alot more direction and acting which is costly."
Yeah, HL2 man. Cheap production. MGS4 may be BIG (as in, all caps, man!), however, it's obvious that HL2 plus episodes is BIG as well. It's obvious that The Orange Box is a happy exception to normal game value. MGS4 will probably be perfectly fine value, no need to drag down HL2 to prove that MGS4 is 'better' or 'bigger'. |
|
StealthSquirrel
11/04/08 @ 21:29
0
In response to Carlo (and the article in general) is no, the stealth is definitely there. Hiding in boxes, CQC kills, even early footage of MGO in action witnessed some stealth sneaks to apprehend opposing members.
I was disappointed to see a lack of mention of the Link system which offers a comprehensive update on your team's status, right down to their exact location-- not on a HUD, but rather through walls, buildings, anything so you know their position-- something that Meryl's Rat Patrol squad has stated so eloquently in the trailers. Compound that with voice chat and onscreen text, and you've got this makings of something truly special. This will offer a true team effort never seen before in squad-based online combat. The better you stay connected to your team, the better your chances for overall victory. Try and be a lone wolf on your team without "re-connecting" after respawning from being killed, and you'll find yourself possibly killing one of your own teammates accidentally as well, or worse, surrounded without any idea if backup's in the area to call out to. There's no shame in getting help. Kind of increases your odds for survival too. |
Comments: 1-30 of 30 in total
Want to comment on this article? Log in, or register!
