While I did feel like it was more along the lines of “something a bit extra” attached to the game rather than a primary reason to purchase it, the Metal Gear Online portion of Metal Gear Solid IV: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) saw me sink dozens of hours into it during its lifetime. As someone who is not particularly stellar at either first or third person shooters, I found MGO to be surprisingly approachable, with its greater emphasis on stealth and strategic gameplay resonating well with my personal play style. But after being active for several years, Konami pulled the plug on the service as of June 2012. From there, time went on, and memories of Metal Gear Online faded.
Although missing from the game’s initial release (With exception of its character creation tool which is written into the single player campaign), the launch of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has seen a new Metal Gear Online service created. Featuring a mixture of features both new and old from its previous iteration along with visuals that can somewhat match the designs and locales present in MGSV, MGO is once again a good service to put a few hours into and test the abilities you have obtained and honed whilst playing MGSV:PP.
All this being said, MGO is still overshadowed by the much meatier MGSV single player campaign. This is because at launch, they have limited the game to just three battle mission types, three classes and a handful of stages. In a way it reminds me of the online multiplayer modes introduced in Assassin’s Creed II: Brotherhood – which were fun to play through, but unlike some other games with online play, were not (in my opinion) the core feature you would purchase a game for.
The three classes present in Metal Gear Online are considerably different from one another through different loadouts and capabilities, with each being marketed towards different play styles. First you have the ‘Scout’ class which are skilled at long-range combat and offering support, which when coupled with average movement speed and strength makes it a different choice for beginners. The second class is the ‘Enforcer’, which specialises in powerful weapons while having greater strength, although sacrifices movement speed in return. This is considered the class for intermediate players. Finally there is my personal favourite, the ‘Infiltrator’ class, which sacrifices strength for greater stealth and close quarters combat. I personally recommend choosing whichever class sounds the most interesting to you, as in my experience they were all pretty easy to pick up with practice. Each character you create can obtain experience points through gameplay, and increase their level for new weapons and abilities.
The main mission modes in Metal Gear Solid Online are all team-based, and offer considerably different means to achieve success – even if none are particularly revolutionary. The first mode is Bounty Hunter, where teams are given a number of tickets, and must navigate the map and take down enemies to reduce the number of tickets held by the opposing team to zero. By killing an enemy player, they will lose one ticket. However as a means to achieve an epic comeback, fultoning an enemy will subtract tickets based on their bounty value. This is the mode I would consider to be the closest to a traditional shooter multiplayer option, and when you have teams of somewhat equal skill can be incredibly intense.
Taking full advantage of MGSV’s stealth systems, the ‘Cloak and Dagger’ mode was my personal favourite. It involves two teams taking turns as attackers and defenders, with the goal of either protecting or stealing two data discs located on the map. With attackers equipped with camouflage (Which drops for a few seconds when a team member is spotted by the defending team) and only non-lethal weapons, they must steal one data disc from the opposing team and take it to their evacuation zone. Equipped with lethal weapons, the defenders must identify and defeat all opposing players or survive until the countdown ends. With each game taking only a few minutes to complete, this is a short yet sweet mode that can offer some memorable matches should you have the right opposition. There were times where I had to creatively knock off a whole group of defenders who were surrounding a data disc, and others were I could swoop in and take it with no resistance. As stealth is at the forefront of this mode, I think this would be a mode better suited to those who might not be that confident with their shooting skills.
Although not taking as much advantage of either the stealth or fultoning systems compared to the other two modes, the final mode is titled Comm Control. This mode involves a number of Comm Links spaced out around the map, with team members required to claim and hold these zones until a download gauge reaches 100%. This mode I found encourages players to be more rushed in their attacks, granted that every second wasted can place opponents one step closer to successful.
While the gameplay is solid, it is hard to ignore some elements of the game which are less than ideal or could use some improvement. One considerable issue is that there are only five maps to play on, which I found very small compared to the large open world environment that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain offers players. When you couple these with just three gameplay modes and three character classes, whats on offer could be considered slim. Here’s hoping that the game is extended with at least new maps in the future. There are also disconnect issues, such as if a host disconnects from their game, all players are ejected without experience or reward. Fortunately I didn’t really have much of an issue with this during my playthrough, although mileage may vary.
Maintaining several of the core gameplay systems/mechanics found in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Metal Gear Online has good foundations to work off, and for the most part is a satisfying online multiplayer experience that might have something to offer even those who aren’t that great at most shooter video games. But this in mind, it is fairly light on content, so here’s hoping that Konami continue to build upon the MGO experience in the coming months and years.
Metal Gear Online is available at no extra charge for those who have purchased Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 or Xbox One. A PC release is in the works as well, and is currently slated to go live in January 2016.
