Metal Gear Survive

Metal Gear Survive….hmmmm, where do I start?  How about back in 1988 when the original Metal Gear was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System.  I was just turning 7 years old and my uncle bought me the game for my birthday.  The game was a little over my head but I tried my best to play it and ultimately I recall seeing my uncle who was a gamer at the time beat the game.  From then fast forward to 1998 with the release of Metal Gear Solid, and thus began my love for the Metal Gear series.  From that point forward Metal Gear became a must buy for me with every release.  For the most part as far as the big console releases go I have done so.

In my opinion it has one of the best story lines in video game history.  The Metal Gear universe and the mythology that play into real life event and fantasy have become movie like in nature.  With the releases coming out of chronological order they have pulled off almost anything they have wanted like starting something in one game, explaining it in another and it’s always been done so well.  With the story telling it’s almost like Pulp Fiction being created in a different genre and platform all together.  The characters from the antagonists to the protagonists, the environments, even the vocabulary have become so memorable over the years and all at the head of this universe is Hideo Kojima.

Kojima has established himself as one of the greats in the video game industry one of the legends.  Kojima never failed me with this series, except for the fact that MGS V was open world, but I asked myself as I’m sure many other people have, what happens when Kojima is done?  Well the day has come where the Metal Gear series is continuing without Kojima’s involvement.

Metal Gear Survive currently has a trailer out with no solid release date other than 2017.  The game is basically zombie survival game set in the Metal Gear universe, which to me is utterly ridiculous for Metal Gear.  Since I wasn’t too thrilled over MGS V being open world and heard Kojima was done when I heard about MG Survive I was really disappointed.  I get it, Zombies are the “thing” right now but to shovel Metal Gear into that just seems like a move for Konami to cash in on the trend.  Kojima himself has come out and called out the game by stating that the Metal Gear games are about political fiction and espionage, where do zombies fit into that?

So far the internet is ripping apart the game trailer and rightfully so.  I fear that Konami is about to tear down one of the most beloved franchises in video game history.  The fact that the franchise has been around for 30 years now means the formula worked.  Now since Kojima has left, the Metal Gear franchise will become a shell of what it once was and what I grew to love.