I just spent an hour with the new Metal Gear Online. And like its parent game, it’s about more than just charging in, guns blazing.
Metal Gear Online, like its two predecessors of the same name, is a versus multiplayer game with the controls of Metal Gear Solid—in this case, Metal Gear Solid V.
The TGS demo of Metal Gear Online is an eight-versus-eight team death match in a camp/compound similar to the one in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. In it, I was able to choose one of several classes—from snipers to heavy weapon users—each with several loadouts. The loadouts allow for vastly different play styles. The “Assault” layout, for example, came with grenades and a powerful assault rifle. The “CQC” and “Suppressed” layouts, however, came with stealth camo and less powerful main weapons.
However, the real star of the demo wasn’t any of the loadouts, but rather the fact that the map had several gatling gun-wielding Walker Gears for you to take into battle. When using one you feel unstoppable as you mow down the other team by the score. Likewise when you manage to defeat one on foot you feel like a total badass.
What’s great about this iteration of Metal Gear Online is that kills aren’t everything. Nearly every action, from marking enemies to trapping them in a world of stuffed puppy cuteness nets you points. Because of this, it is possible to take a support role and still be rewarded on the scoreboard for being a team player.
More than that, non-leathal attacks tend to net you more points than kills—especially if you add insult to injury by Fultoning your helpless foe.
To see what Metal Gear Online is like, check out the footage below. (Sorry for the lack of sound—it was only coming out of the headphones).
Metal Gear Online will be added to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain for consoles on October 10, 2015 (and in January 2016 for PC).
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