With just under a month to go until Metal Gear Online releases, we finally have some solid information about what it’s going to be like. Technically Metal Gear Online 3, MGO is a competitive based game based on the Metal Gear Solid franchise, with the previous iterations appearing in the PS2 version of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, and the second version appearing in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
Though both were shut down eventually, they remained a popular addition to the game after many had beaten the main story mode a few times. It drew in a different crowed, and was certainly unique in the multiplayer shooter world, with some of the more bizarre aspects of Metal Gear making it’s way into the Online sections.
With Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, we already have an online mode, of sorts. With FOB’s (which unlock after mission 22 of the game), you can invade other players bases and steal equipment and/or soldiers. The defending player, if online, can opt to accept an emergency mission to defend their base. This changes the infiltration of the attacking player, and the mode converts into a one-on-one scenario. Though it is heavily in favour of the defender, the attacker can still succeed and gather a lot of resources and elite soldiers, if they’re good enough. There are even aspects of this game mode that are being discovered after players have reached the end of the game, but I won’t go into spoilers here.
Coming on October 6th, however, we finally get the full Metal Gear Online mode, so let’s talk about what Konami and Kojima Productions have shared so far. You can create multiple custom characters for the game, tweak their face and select what gender you wish to play as. These characters can also be put into 3 different classes. The Infiltrator acts as a sort of classic Metal Gear class, where sneaking is the idea. You get access to things like Stealth Camouflage and are tasked with sneaking behind and around the enemy to give an advantage to your team. The Scout class, equipped with Sniper Rifles, are tasked with quickly marking enemies from a distance, and taking them out if necessary. The final class is the Enforcer, this is the tank class. With heavy armour and heavy weapons, it’s their job to be the front line and bring chaos to the Battlefield.
The first actual game mode we got a look at is Bounty Hunter. This typical deathmatch mode requires you to eliminate enemy players to reduce their tickets to zero before they do the same to you. However, there is a twist to this. As you score more kills, you start gaining Bounty Points. These points appear above an enemies head. If you extract these players with a Fulton balloon, rather than kill them, these Bounty Points are added to your ticket total, meaning you can survive in the match longer. This simple addition to a classic formula means the tide of a game can switch very quickly, and means players will have to be on their toes just in case someone manages to sneak up behind them.
In this game mode, we’re shown gameplay footage from multiple different angle sot see how games could play out. Of note are some of the gadgets used. Cardboard boxes can be left empty as traps to lure enemies into things like sleep mines. A plushie dog toy can be used to stop an enemy if they look at them (even through binoculars). The Walker Gears from the single player game also make an appearance. An important feature is a buddy system. If you salute a friend on your team, you can “buddy” with them. All information is shared between these two players, so you can see where they are aiming thanks to a blue laser sight, and see their position. This also led to a wormhole gadget being used to teleport to a buddies position. These gadgets, some new and some in the game already, mean that even a team death match can be an incredibly tactical game, where the team that out-thinks their opponents could have a huge advantage.
The final bit of information we got was Unique Characters, though it is not explained how they work exactly. These Unique Characters, such as Ocelot and Venom Snake, allow you to use special abilities. While Ocelot can duel wield revolvers and ricochet shots (Hello, Metal Gear Solid 1 reference), Snake can use his bionic arm abilities much like in the single player game.
To see all of this information (and anything we’ve missed) check out the game play below, and get ready for October 6th when the servers go live at Pacific Standard Time.
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