DISCLAIMER: Everything written in this impression piece is my honest opinion. I was not incentivized in any way, shape or form to only express positive impressions. My opinion has been formed on my own after seven hours with a near to final build of the game.





Character Creation and Customization





You start the game off by creating your character. Creating a character works pretty much identically to the Avatar Creation in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The only difference is that in Metal Gear Online, you have the choice to create a female soldier. You are given three character slots and must choose what class that specific character will be (you are given three character slots so ideally you could have one of each class). Once you have adjusted your newly made soldier’s features and chosen their class, you can name the character. Please note however, that this name isn’t what shows up during matches. This name is presumably to help you differenciate between your three characters and their roles.

After you’re done tweaking your character to your liking, you are taken out to the free roam area where you can begin customizing your loadouts. You have four loadout slots for each character that you can edit and another four that are considered “standard” loadouts which cannot be edited. Your gear, weapons, and skills can be changed and assigned to a loadout.

Loadouts

Loadouts have ranks based on mobility. Anything you decide to bring with you and equip your character or their weapons with has weight to it. Some weapons weigh more than others and you can further weigh them down if you decide to equip them with attachments. Similarly, secondary weapons such as pistols also have weight to them and can be weighed down even more by attachements. Lastly, any other support weapons you decide to bring also have a bit of weight to them. Your mobility ranking is shown next to your loadout’s name and it is assigned a letter grade. The best mobility rank (S) is exclusive to the lightest class, the Infiltrator.







My opinion: I did not go into MGO3 expecting to like the loadout system but I was pleasantly surprised with how well it works. Everyone running around with M4s in MGO2 got pretty boring to see and hear as the years passed. The loadout system allows you access to the weapons and items you feel you’re the best with at all items. No more skipping out on certain things at the beginning of the round to hoard as much DP as possible. Now you have everything you need right from the beginning. Loadouts truly do make it feel like this is YOUR character.

Another aspect I appreciate is the weight system. Being able to run quickly to avoid fire is very important, especially as an Infiltrator. But at the same time, you don’t want to run around armed with only a pistol. The weight system is a great way to give the player choice. Either you weigh yourself down by arming yourself with more weapons, or you give up some weapons to be more manuverable and quicker. This all plays into finding your own style and using the tools the game gives you to flesh it out as much as possible.





Gear

Gear is for aesthetics only and does not contribute to your mobility ranking. There are quite a few choices for each individual gear slot. Each piece of gear costs Gear Points or “GP” which players accumulate by playing matches. Changing the colors of these pieces of gear also costs GP but I did notice some of the cooler looking options such as gold coloring or Zebra Stripe patterns cost Motherbase Coins. You can buy and assign gear for your head, vests and overall gear for your body, and accessories like sunglasses for your face. Keep in mind that every class has gear that is exclusive to them. I never once during the event ran into a player with the same exact gear as myself. There are a lot of options for customizing your loadout. Not only can your gear’s color be changed but also every weapon as well. Just like in single player, a gun can be completely customized to your liking.







My opinion: There are a fair amount of options in terms of head pieces, bodywear and accessories. Where the customization really shines is in the ability to change gear’s color. There are a plethora of colors to choose from for each individual piece. There are also however, certain colors or patterns that require Motherbase Coins to purchase so microtransactions are present. But thankfully gear is strictly for aesthetics only. Having a certain color or piece of gear does not make your character stronger in any way shape or form. There is definitely a lot of choice for customizing your character just the way you want them to look.

Skills

Skills make a return to Metal Gear Online in a way similar to how they were implemented in MGO2. Every skill has three levels (Levels 1, 2, and 3). Each level improves on that certain skill in a unique way. Also, there are certain skills that are exclusive to certain classes. For example, Stealth Camo Level 1 (a skill exclusive to the Infiltrator class) adds the Stealth Camo item to your inventory. The second level makes the battery recharge on the Stealth Camo faster and the cloaking effect longer. The downside to using higher levels of each skill is that every ascending level of a certain skill takes up more slots. Stealth Camo Level 3 takes up three out of the four slots you are given, leaving only one slot for another level one skill. Finding your own playstyle and skills to match that certain playstyle will be crucial to your success online. If you have a team or clan that plans to be competitive, finding the right balance between classes and their loadouts while also coordinating the strengths and weaknesses of each of your players will be key to winning over other teams. I cannot wait to see what teams come up with.





My opinion: I am really glad the developers decided to keep skills relatively similar to how they worked before. I always found the way MGO has taken on skills to be the best way out there. Again, this is another tool the game gives you to help mold your playstyle. As I mentioned above, I cannot wait to see what teams come up with and the metagame evolves when teams learn how to counter certain strategies.





Ascension

The last feature that is accessible in the customization menu is the “Ascension” option. This allows your character to basically level all over again from level 1 in order to reach a higher rank. This is only possible to do once you have reached a certain level in your previous rank. Due to us being higher level already at the event, I wasn’t able to see this in action.





Gameplay

As expected, gameplay in Metal Gear Online 3 is taken directly from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Meaning your skill in aiming, CQC, diving out of harm’s way and your overall familiarity with MGSV’s mechanics will transfer over to MGO seemlessly. Camera speed can be adjusted just like in single player (5 is default, I set mine to 8 since that’s what I play with in single player) and Auto Aim Correction can be disabled from the options menu as well.



Gunplay

A lot of people are worried about Auto Aim Correction making aiming too easy, but at least in my experience, the opposite was true. Despite what you might have seen in the Tokyo Game Show footage, headshots are still the best way to either eliminate or stun your enemy. When you have the Auto Aim option on, it always locks on to the enemy player’s chest area. Meaning it will take you that extra second or two to adjust the camera to the player’s head. That’s not to say the game is strictly headshot oriented (you can still kill pretty efficiently by just aiming at the body with certain weapons) but I can foresee that the better players will be the ones who can headshot consistenly more times than not with Auto Aim Correction disabled.







My opinion: I honestly turned off Auto Aim immediately after playing with it once. In my honest opinion, it does more harm than good if you’re trying to be a serious competitive player. Just like in single player, turning off Reflex Mode and Auto Aim helps you become a better player overall. I think that a couple of times when I was in a firefight, having AA turned off actually helped me win. Since the other person has to move their reticle toward my head after AA locks on to me, I have the advantage of aiming straight to their head and as a result, inflicting more damage on the upper body or a headshot. This is something that you will have to try yourself and see if you like. Also, killing does take a while when shooting at the body. In the TGS footage it might have seemed like it was two shots to the body and you’re down, but it’s simply not true. Especially when using anything that not an assault rifle. SMGs take forever to kill when firing at the body.

CQC

Another concern most have is the CQC grab’s lag, range and it seemingly being overpowered. Unfortunately, I was told that nothing can really be done about the lag that occurs at times when you attempt to CQC chokehold someone. It will never be exactly how it is in single player for obvious reasons. The range however is something I was worried about before actually getting to play the game. I can now safely say that I have no concerns after actually getting to play the game myself and seeing it in action. There was never a moment when I was grabbed that seemed ridiculous. Never once was I pulled from what seemed like halfway across the screen. Everytime I was either slammed or choked, I saw the person when they were very close to me and I already knew it was too late to retaliate. As for the strength of CQC in MGO3, I never saw it as overpowered. In MGO2, CQC slamming someone meant an automatic stun 99% of the time because of the CQC slam to stun knife combo the community invented. This is just eliminating that second step. It is also possible to escape the CQC chokehold if the person holding you doesn’t have any of the CQC+ skills equipped.







My opinion: I honestly think the CQC is fine how it is. But do keep in mind that we did play locally so it may be a problem when playing online with people not in your area. The range is a big problem for a lot of people but once you play the game you don’t notice it at all. I have seen the videos complaining about how bad it is in FOB, but they usually only show CQC being performed on someone not moving. It does look pretty ridiculous when you’re grabbed from that far away, but I can only speak from what I saw at the event. Never once was I CQC choked or slammed from what seemed to be a ridiculous range. I’m not saying it has never occured to anyone or that it won’t happen to you. I just never experienced it personally.







Marking

Marking enemies is a new feature to Metal Gear Online. I wasn’t sure how useful or balanced marking would be, but now I can’t imagine playing without it. You can mark enemies in a multitude of ways. Looking at them through binoculars, pressing in the right stick to zoom in the camera, through scopes and sights, interrogating enemies during a CQC grab and by using Enemy Locators, a returning item to MGO. The way this is balanced is by making marking based on line-of-sight. Meaning you can unmark yourself using various methods. Equipping your box, passing off the mark to a decoy and just remaining out of sight for a while all stop the mark placed on you. When you are marked however, the enemy team can see your body pulsing an orange glow behind walls or other obstacles. You also have an orange triangle above your head similar to the ones found in single player once you’ve marked an enemy soldier. This information is shared with your teammates, making marking incredibly important to coordinating with your team.





My opinion: A great addition in my opinion. Lots of people were afraid that being marked the whole match would be overpowered, and I agree with that sentiment. You’ll be happy to know that there are just as many ways to unmark yourself once you’ve been marked as there are ways to mark someone. Marking makes teamwork a must and it’s a great way to makes those who maybe aren’t the best at gunplay or CQC to feel like they’re still contributing to the team.

The Walker Gears

I had my doubts on whether including the Walker mech was a good idea in terms of balancing before getting to play the game. In all honesty, there are a crazy amount of ways to either take them out of play, or eliminate the person on it. As an Infiltrator, all I had to do was pop stealth camo and stand still behind cover until the Walker passed me by and then proceed to shoot the enemy. The Walkers themselves are pretty weak and can be taken down by even regular assault rifle fire pretty quickly. You have to be careful when doing this though, because the enemy player automatically rolls off the mech once it’s about to blow and can take you out if you dont’t get them first. At one point when playing the developers, they had two Walkers running around trying to mow us down. Using teamwork we were able to distract the person on top of the walker while someone else flanked him from behind. They’re definitely dangerous when used by a good player, but not unbalanced at all.





My opinion: Not much more to add. I want to see how they are used online and how the community feels about them once more people have faced them in battle. From the matches I experienced during the event, I do not find them to be overpowered.

Special Characters

One aspect of the game I didn’t particularly care much for were the special characters. I really didn’t care for them in MGO1 or MGO2 either, so it’s not surprising to me that I didn’t enjoy playing as them this time around. That’s not to say the ideas behind them aren’t cool or that no one will like playing as them. I’m sure there are a ton of people who like the idea of playing as Ocelot bouncing bullets off walls while Snake shoots out his Rocket Arm to cause a sudden explosion against unsuspecting enemies. The thing is, I have a very specific playstyle, and playing as either of these two characters limits what I can do with my own skill. Also, if you plan to play competitively like me, more likely than not the community will agree to ban special characters in a competitive setting. Since whoever ends up being Snake or Ocelot is random, there are just too many variables to consider when trying to play competitively. Either way, I am sure a lot of people will enjoy playing as these special characters and I am glad they brought back this staple from the previous iterations.





Game Modes

Bounty Hunter

Bounty Hunter is the Team Deathmatch mode we have seen various gameplay footage of. It is your standard TDM style game with tickets (basically a number that tells you how any respawns your team has left) but with a huge twist. As you kill people, you aquire what are called Bounty Points. These points keep accumulating after each kill and once they reach a certain number they are displayed to the enemy team. Having a huge Bounty is dangerous, if the enemy team successfully stuns and fultons you, they acquire all those Bounty Points you accumulated. Those points are then converted to tickets for the opposite team giving them back respawns. It’s a great addition to the standard TDM model that makes for intense gameplay filled with unexpected twists and turns throughout a match. Having a great player on your team that is able to kill everything on sight will be dangerous if you can’t find a way to protect them or keep them from being fultoned. A way to combat high bounties is by fultoning players yourself. Successfully fultoning an enemy brings down your bounty. Keep in mind that this puts you in a dangerous poisition since fultoning an enemy puts you in the position to be fultoned yourself. Bounty Hunter is by far my favorite mode. It always led to some crazy and exciting moments. Great teamwork will definitely be required for this one.

Cloak & Dagger

Cloak & Dagger is Team Sneak’s (TSNE) return to MGO. Just like before, one team is completely cloaked in Stealth Camo and only have access to non-lethal weapons. They are tasked with collecting one of two objectives placed in two different locations on the map. The other team must eliminate the cloaked team using lethal weapons before they themselves are eliminated or before one of the two targets is placed in the objective area. If one of the cloaked players is shot, the whole cloaked team is exposed for a short while. I found that TSNE works much better in this game than in MGO2 because of the openness of the maps. In MGO2, there were only certain locations you would spawn on a map at the beginning of the round, and since the maps weren’t as big or as open as the ones found in MGO3, long time players who knew the layout of each map could just spam grenades at certain chokepoints they knew enemies would be. It made the whole thing a game of chance. If you survived the inital grenade waves, you would actually be able to have a match. If not, the game was over in seconds. The one concern I have with this mode is that if you are on the defending team (non-cloaked team) but are an Infiltrator, you can use Stealth Camo as well. During my time with the mode, I did just that with Stealth+ and Interrogation+3 and was able to expose the enemy 3 out of the 4 times I tried to. Not sure if I just got lucky, but it’s definitely something I want to mess around with more.

Comm Control

The final mode we were able to experience was called Comm Control. This is the BASE or Domination style mode in which there are three areas the attacking team must take over. The twist is that just having these areas controlled isn’t the objective. There is actually an intel file that uploads at certain speeds depending on how many areas your team has under their control. Obviously having all three controlled is ideal, but it is possible to win a match with two and even just one if your team was doing really well at the beginning. The defending team must do their best to stop the attacking team from taking over any of the areas or at least try to give up as few as possible. This mode will definitely require a ton of teamwork and practice. Crowd controlling weapons such as the fulton cannon (which traps enemies in a fulton balloon if they’re in range) and the dog plush (a snare trap that works like the pornografic magazines in MGO2) are recommended as are things like sleep grenades and stun grenades.





Matchmaking

A big concern I do have is in relation to matchmaking. There is thankfully the option to create our own custom matches tweaked however we want them. You can adjust the mode, stage, ticket count, time of day, whether special characters are on or off, etc. There is also automatching, and this is where my concern lies. I was under the impression that auto-matching would work similarly to how it was handled in MGO2 and other games. Where it takes the queue of people waiting to be put into a certain gamemode and creates a game from there. It is my understanding that instead, auto-matching puts you in a custom match that someone else created that matches the parameters you were searching for. The problem is that if no one wants to play the way you do, you would have to make your own lobby and hope that someone else joins. Auto-matching in MGO2 was a great equalizer. If you wanted to play TSNE exclusively for the day, you could as long as you accepted playing with the official rules. If no one has the ruleset that you do, or if a certain ruleset you don’t particularly enjoy becomes the standard in custom matches (think back to people who would ban CQC Ex, Box Run 3, and Knife 3 in MGO2) then you’re kind of screwed unless you find likeminded people to play with. Either way, I’m just glad we are able to even tweak the matches again and create our own lobbies like in Free Battle. UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that Automatching does actually form a match from players searching to play a particular game mode. Please disregard my previous comment on the matter.





Community and Social Features





Parties

You can create a party in-game by adding your friends via PSN or Xbox Live and joining a match together as a team. All of you will end up on the same team and will be able to voice chat in-game. The max limit of a party is 8 players.

Clans



I know that a huge part of the community is upset at the lack of integrated clan features that we had in MGO2. I too was let down at first as well, but after talking to the developers and doing a bit of thinking, I realized that it’s not all that bad. While I will miss being able to have a clan name and emblem under my name like in MGO2, I know it is possible for us to make our own clans using external tools and websites there are available nowadays. If you think about it, some of the biggest and most popular games out there don’t have the best or even any integrated clan features at all. Yet they continue to survive even decades after their initial release because of the community. It really is up to us to make a community out of this game. We have plenty of tools thanks to the internet this time around. It may require more work this time, but it is definitely possible. MGO fansites like MGOLeague and MGOForums and even an MGO Subreddit exist and are great places to get involved with the community.

Official Games

Some of the bigger aspects of MGO2 that are not in MGO3 are the Official Games or “Survival” and “Tournament”. We have been told however, that there are plans for offline tournaments and even online leagues. There were representatives from ESL at the community day event and they seemed to be having a lot of fun. Konami also plans to support and promote leagues created by the community. As with the topic of clans, these types of things can be made possible if there is a community that truly supports it’s game. Things like integrated tournaments haven’t existed in the fighting game community for years, yet their games have HUGE tournaments every single year with thousands of contestants. The same is true for other games. I would have liked to have both modes back, don’t get me wrong, but I know it is possible to make MGO3 even bigger and more competitive than MGO2 ever was if the community supports it enough.

Text Chat

There is no text chat in MGO3 and I guess that’s a big deal for some of you. Don’t really see the big deal since if you’re a serious player mics are infinitely better than text chatting could ever be. The text chat in MGO2 was annoying more often than not. It was just used to talk trash, spam your Youtube account, or just be annoying in general. I’m honestly glad it’s gone.





Final Thoughts

What I played was not perfect. No game is. But it was extremely fun and everything in the game was made and balanced with care and respect. The developers didn’t ignore us and make a “shit game” like a lot of people like to say. They are all people like us who wanted to make a fun multiplayer component to Metal Gear Solid V, not an MGO2 HD remake. I respect them for that and love the product they ended up making. It is true that what we saw during TGS did not show the game in the best light. I guarantee that once you play the game tomorrow, you will appreciate it and see the potential it has.

Unbalances will probably be found, cheaters will emerge, and some things will probably end up needing to be tweaked, but at the end of the day we can better those things as a community. Working together with Konami and the LA team, we can all help make this game be way bigger than any previous MGO.

I know that my impressions will probably be dismissed by a big portion of the community because I wasn’t the very best MGO1 or MGO2 player or because for some stupid reason a lot of people think Konami paid me and the other attendees to give a good review. We were not put under NDA for negative opinions like so many think. Before the event even started they made sure to tell us to give our honest impressions. Of course they wanted us to like the game, but even if we didn’t it was okay to express that. All I know is that I spent the day with some awesome people, both developers and other fans, playing a very fun and addictive game. There was laughter and yelling and trash talk the whole day and I am very grateful to have been a part of it.