Metal Gear Online Preview
For the past year, Metal Gear Online has been a confusing product. When details first leaked out about MGO, it was unclear whether the game would be a stand-alone product or just a multiplayer component for the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot. Rumors began to brew throughout the gaming community that MGO would be an MMO set in the Metal Gear Solid universe, which excited some fans but angered others. As rumors flew about, Konami jumped in to set the record straight and clear up some of the confusion by revealing that MGO would indeed launch on its own as a non-MMO product. Then, in an odd move, a short time later Konami went back on record and changed its story. The final word was that MGO would be the official multiplayer component of Metal Gear Solid 4 instead of a stand-alone game.
In late 2007, Konami surprised the Japanese gaming community with an opportunity to take part in a very short beta test of MGO, which went by quickly and without much press. Whether gamers and the press were bound by non-disclosure agreements or simply limited by language barriers is unknown; very few details emerged and MGO stayed off the radar of the gaming community. In early 2008, Konami sparked up interest again by announcing that a non-Japanese beta test for MGO would open in the United States and select European nations, with the United States' codes going out with pre-order boxes for Metal Gear Solid 4. Set to launch in mid April, gamers across the world scrambled to get their pre-order boxes and beta test codes, although many found themselves hitting brick walls as supplies were very limited and had exhausted quickly.
Unfortunately, the announced launch day of the beta came and went, and Konami announced that their servers simply couldn't handle the registration and patching load. Controversy began popping up at gaming sites everywhere about the botched launch, and debates began about the lengthy Konami ID, Game ID and Player ID registration requirements of the game. Instead of having one universal ID to link to your in-game characters such as the official Sony PlayStation Network ID, MGO requires players to actually sign up for two separate accounts with separate password requirements. Once this is done, players then have to actually create and name player characters that they wish to use online.
The beta for Metal Gear Online, the multiplayer component for Metal Gear Solid 4, finally went live last week.
Many Xbox 360 fanboys jumped on the registration methods and used it as an opportunity to flaunt the benefits of Xbox Live, but dedicated Metal Gear fans remained true to the PlayStation 3 and put up with the hassles in order to get registered and ready. After nearly a two-week delay, Konami finally launched the live beta MGO servers this week after putting out an updated beta build. The launch was initially flaky with frequent disconnects during character creation and gameplay, but Konami has finally stabilized the launch to the point that games could actually be connected to and played. And let me say, this isn't your typical shooter.
One of the first things you'll notice as you begin to get into MGO is the character customization screen, which is pretty robust for a tactical shooter. A somewhat limited number of heads are available at this time, but a whole slew of clothing accessories and types can be used to really add personality to your character. Helmets, headsets, even belts and boots are all customizable, even down to their specific color. Once the look of your character has been set up, you are then able to customize the voice heard by others. One of four voice types must be selected, and then the pitch itself can be tweaked to both high and low levels. The final step in character creations involved skill selection.
Each unique skill acts a little bit like the perks seen in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. For example, on the combat side, Assault Rifle Mastery works to reduce recoil and reload times when using all Assault Rifles, while Close Quarters Combat Mastery helps turn your character into a close combat guru that can pull off lethal choke and stun moves. There are also tactical skills as well, such as Fast Move, which increases the move speed of your character, and Target Alert, which lets you know when someone has locked on to you with Auto Aim and has inflicted damage.
Currently there are 16 skills in the game, each of which can be leveled up. Knife Mastery, which is a maximized skill, allows someone executing a close-quarters grab move to slash their victim's throat, but only at the rank of three. Leveling up skills takes time though, and the game will only allow a player to combine a total value of four skill points with his or her character's loadout. For example, if a player possesses a level-three Assault Rifle Mastery skill and a level- three Zoom Up skill, the player must restrict the level of his or her skills so that they add up to no more than a total of four skill points. This can result in a decision to set two skills to two points each, or a three-to-one ratio spread over two skills, or even four level-one skills.
What's the point? Well, as skills level up, their impact on gameplay becomes quite apparent, especially when comparing a skill like an Assault Rifle Mastery at level three with the same skill at level zero. The restriction to four points, at least in the beta build, is to prevent super-character builds that have three points in four separate skills. I can only imagine that such a character would truly dominate in online matches with lesser ranked players.
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