Metal Gear Online was miserable, and no one in their right mind is sad to see it go today. Okay, maybe that’s a tad harsh, but it wasn’t at all well-received. I can’t even believe it took Konami all this time to finally pull the plug. And this is coming from me, a diehard Metal Gear fan. I was so excited for MGO, and while it did have some brilliantly designed gameplay mechanics, it was nigh unplayable at first.

Do you even remember Metal Gear Online? Japan was the only country to see a standalone launch of the game, whereas other nations saw it bundled with 2008’s Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The online third-person multiplayer shooter supported 16 players throughout traditional game modes like Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture Mission (which was essentially capture the flag), and many more unique modes tailored to suit the game’s stealth-action gameplay.

It wasn’t all about shooting stuff. You actually had objectives.

But Metal Gear Online’s direction wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t even the best. In fact, it wasn’t even good. While the core concept was very appealing to both Metal Gear fans and multiplayer junkies alike, the game was bogged down by some downright disappointing issues.

First off, actually being able to log-in and play was a hassle. Using just your PlayStation Network ID would be too simple for Konami; you needed to launch the game while connected to PSN and then connect to the game servers with your Konami ID. If memory serves me correctly, I actually remember a third login credential called Game ID. Anyway, that was the first nail in the coffin for MGO.

Second, as soon as you were done with all that hassle of actually getting to a menu – and don’t even talk to me about how convoluted those menus were – you’d finally be able to get into a game and start having fun, right? Wrong.

Metal Gear Online had a terrible launch. Players were initially greeted with severe lag until Konami was actually able to step in there and start fixing things, and that didn’t happen for a while.

It was a sad tale of some smart, original ideas not being fully fleshed out due to extremely poor network issues and design. Remember: these were still the early days of the PlayStation 3 and this console generation. Japanese developers didn’t have a grasp on online multiplayer like they do today.

Anyway, if I sound too “down” on Metal Gear Online, it’s not because I’m a hater. I genuinely love the Metal Gear franchise, and I only have such bitter memories of the game because of how much I was actually looking forward to it. Metal Gear Solid 4 was superb. Metal Gear Online, though, not so much.

Don’t believe me? Then don’t take my word for it. Here are a few comments from yesterday’s thread (started by Blacksite) in our forum community – where some of the most hardcore PlayStation fans live. Trust me, they know what they’re talking about.

“Not sad to see it go. I spent maybe 1 hour or 2 in total play time when it was new, either it was too laggy with players seemingly warping or I got disconnected/timed out for 1 reason or another couple that with the backwards 2 ID and password login system ends up beign 1 big waste of time thats is overly complicated.” – keefy

“I should be sad to see it go but I barely played this online. I also had lots of laggy matches. The thing that irratated me the most here, and I don’t think I’m alone, is the Konami ID sign-up process. I must have lost my password three times because of that stupid system. The updates were a pain in the ass too.” – DreDayDetox

“Back when MGS4 first came out it was almost unplayable for me. I tried it again like 2 years ago and had a lot of fun, but the learning curve was pretty steep. I ultimately didn’t get into because I didn’t know anyone who played it. Has tons of potential. Next time they do something like this they need to learn their lesson and ditch the whole Konami ID thing.” – Shibby

See? I told you it was messed up. But it’s not all bad: community member bigCman123 has quite fond memories of playing MGO.

“MGO was my favorite multiplayer game by far. I played it all the time, and bought all the dlc. I was in many clans, added a bunch of PSN friends, etc. For a long time it was all I played. Sadly glitchers and hackers took over and people left."

"It’s a shame that it’s getting shut down, I really hope we’ll be getting another MGO game in next few years. Hell I’d even buy a stand alone MGO game (well as long as it’s how I think it should be). Really I want to see some coop missions, survival type modes, more sneaking, etc.”

In this day and age, it’s normal to see this kind of stuff happen. If no one is still playing, why should publishers waste money keeping these servers running? I say to hell with Metal Gear Online. So long as Konami learnt its lesson and won’t release a multiplayer game that spotty again, then we’re all happy, right?

Let us know if you’ll be missing Metal Gear Online in the comments section below.