3 Takeaways From the Metal Gear Survive Beta

The Combat Is Still Good

Takeaways From the Metal Gear Survive Beta

Metal Gear Survive’s combat system is basically the same one we got in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, so it’s no surprise that the gameplay feels good. Shooting is still fun, even if the melee attacks can feel a tad stiff. Still, Survive actually adds on to the combat system with new melee weapons like the spear and axe. This allows for a bit more depth to the system as you can essentially poke at zombies by crafting a fence to keep them out.

Metal Gear Survive does feature a stamina system that drains quickly when you’re sprinting, so you’ll have to keep an eye on that while moving around on the battlefield. However, as fun as the combat is, some of the controls feel a bit unintuitive, such as having to hold L1 and pressing another button to use an item.

The UI Is Pretty Atrocious

Takeaways From the Metal Gear Survive Beta

Before going out on a mission, Metal Gear Survive puts players in a mission prep area where you get to organize your equipment before setting off. It all looks very clean and clinical, but the user interface is a complete mess. It’s a minor complaint, but forcing players to run over to a circular area to do simple things like checking the mission list or leveling up is annoying and unnecessary. To go on a mission, you’d have to enter a circle, press and hold a button, then choose a mission from the list. After that, you’ll then have to go to another circle to start the mission proper. It’s tedious, and the whole thing could be more streamlined.

Even sorting through your items and equipment is a mess; it’s not entirely clear which categories your weapons fall under. For instance, an assault rifle can be equipped to replace my axe, but for whatever reason, it can’t be equipped in any of my gun slots. As mentioned previously, using items requires way too many button presses. But when you want to throw a molotov cocktail or grenade, your character does it immediately after you release the bumper button, even though there’s a button prompt onscreen to let you know you can throw it under or overhand. It feels inconsistent with the way you use other items and that, too, is annoying.

‘Easy’ Missions are Almost Impossible Alone

Takeaways From the Metal Gear Survive Beta

One of the more surprising things I learned about Metal Gear Survive while playing through the beta was that the Easy missions were extremely tough when played alone. Sure, this is meant to be a co-op game, but even the regular wave one zombies took tons of bullets to take down, and they could do a lot of damage to you in return.

What’s even more surprising is the jump in level recommendation between Easy and Normal missions. The Easy mission had a recommended level of 10, while the Normal one had a recommended level of 20. That’s a pretty big jump, though this might not necessarily be the case in the final game itself. Still, I certainly hope players won’t be forced to grind the same levels to play the next one.

We also got a glimpse at some of the loot and materials players can get for completing missions. These are used to craft equipment and weapons to help make things easier. But with the recent reveal that Metal Gear Survive will feature microtransactions, here’s hoping that the mission level jumps aren’t meant to encourage players to spend money on materials for better items just so they can keep up with the challenge. Because, y’know, that wouldn’t be great.