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Metal Gear Online

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Metal Gear Online
Developer(s)Kojima Productions
Publisher(s)Konami
SeriesMetal Gear
Platform(s)PlayStation 3
ReleaseJune 12 2008
Genre(s)Stealth-based game, Action[1]
Mode(s)Multiplayer online
For the original incarnation of Metal Gear Online, see [[:Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence]].

Metal Gear Online is a PlayStation 3 exclusive online multiplayer spinoff of the Metal Gear series produced by Konami. The "starter pack" of MGO is bundled with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, with expansion packs to follow. The name Metal Gear Online is common with previous online components for Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.

Gameplay

MGO features up to 16-player online battles. A feature unique to MGO is the SOP system, a network created by nanomachines embedded in the character's bodies, allowing team members to share battlefield information. Characters linked through SOP can see each other's position, even behind walls, and are informed of any team mates speaking, getting stunned, "occupied" with magazines or dying. Snake's position is also revealed on the radar whenever an SOP linked team member discovers his location.

"Drebin Points" is an optional rule for some of the online modes. Players gain Drebin points for actions such as kills and headshots, and can redeem them for advanced equipment, weapons or ammunition at their team's base or at respawn.

Another optional rule is "Headshots only". Under this rule, kills that aren't achieved through headshots cost the player their life.

Several rankings, presented as "animal ranks", can be awarded to the player based on his statistics. For instance, players adept at using the Scanner skill (colloquially known as 'stinging') will receive the Bee rank, while players who are masterful with the stun knife or sniper rifle will earn the Jaws (ie. shark) or Chimera ranks, respectively.

An in-game camera can be used to take photographs within the battlefield. Up to 100 photos can be stored in memory, then color edited and stored as JPEG images on the PS3's hard disk or uploaded to the MGO Community support page.

CQC in-game action

Skills

MGO allows characters to equip skills, filling up to 4 skill slots. Skills can be leveled up through use while equipped. Higher level skills can take up more than 1 skill slot, limiting the total number of skills one can equip. Skills range from the self explanatory, like Handgun+, SMG+ and Assault Rifle+ that decrease reload time and recoil, to CQC+ which allows advanced CQC actions, or Scanner, which allows the character to hack an enemy team member's SOP network by injecting him with a scanning plug.

Modes of play

The gameplay modes featured in Metal Gear Online are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture Mission, Rescue Mission, Base Mission, Sneaking Mission and Team Sneaking Mission.

Deathmatch pits players against each other. The winner is the player with most enemy kills, either when a set amount of kills occur or when time runs out. Team Deathmatch follows the same rules, but groups players into two teams that share their member's kill count.

Capture Mission is analogous to Capture the Flag of other online games, with teams racing to capture and hold within their goal area assigned targets, KEROTAN or GA-KO, for a cumulative period of 30 seconds. This timer is reset when both teams have their targets in their goal area.

Rescue Mission is similar to Capture Mission, but here, only one target, GA-KO, exists. One team defends GA-KO within their base and the other team seeks to bring it to their goal area. There is no respawing in this mode, so the team that kills all the enemy team's members automatically wins.

Base Mission is structured around capturing and defending small areas scattered across the map. A team wins by seizing all the bases, or by having captured more bases than the enemy team when time runs out.

Sneaking Mission follows the rules of Team Deathmatch, but also introduces Snake, and with 11 or more players participating, Metal Gear Mk. II. The player controlling Snake wins if he acquires three dog tags from other players within the time limit. Each team can also claim victory by killing Snake a set amount of times, or by having scored more opposing team kills when time runs out.

Team Sneaking Mission demands from the sneaking team (equipped with stealth camo) to bring KEROTAN and / or GA-KO to their goal area, while the other team defends the items. A team also claims victory by stunning at the same time or killing all enemy team members.

Maps

The "starter pack" of Metal Gear Online includes 5 maps. These are Ambush Alley, Blood Bath, Gronznyj Grad, Midtown Maelstrom, and Urban Ultimatum[2]. Urban Ultimatum was featured in the original MGO under the name "City Under Siege". Kojima Productions is currently developing and testing new maps to be released in the future. Some areas seen in screen shots and videos include Eastern Europe[3][4][5] from MGS4 and the Gronznyj Grad sewers from MGS3 [6][7].

Clans

MGO supports the formation of clans, ie mutually exclusive groups of players that share an emblem. The character who creates a clan is its leader, must be at least level 3, and have played at least 20 hours online. The clan leader chooses the emblem, can post notices and invite members to games. The maximum amount of clan members is 64.

Characters

In MGO's Sneaking missions, players have control over Old Snake and Metal Gear Mk. II.

The newly announced "gene" expansion is set to feature both Meryl Silverburgh and Johnny (AKIBA) as playable characters. [8]

In 2006, series director Hideo Kojima announced plans to make Raiden, in his cyborg form, a playable character in MGO. This was not included in the beta or starter pack of the game. However, the manual for Metal Gear Solid 4 states "Expansion packs featuring new stages and characters are on the way" with silhouettes of many of the series' major characters in the background.

Beta testing

An online beta test was first released in Japan from August 20, 2007 to September 3, 2007. The beta was only open to 3,000 players.[9]

A new beta test was announced from April 21, 2008 to May 6, 2008 for Europe,[10][11] and North America.[12] Initially there were some problems with missing serial key numbers,[13] however high levels of server traffic forced Konami to delay the start of the beta. The new testing period started on April 25, 2008 and ended on May 11, 2008. The beta test was not available in Germany due to age restrictions.[14]

Region and age locking

Metal Gear Online is region locked, meaning that players must be in the same video game publication territory to play together. Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page). As a result, players in Australia can only play against other Australians and European players, possibly resulting in lag. To overcome such issues, it's common practice to title matches according to the country of desired participants.

Konami requires the minimum age of a player, as judged by their Playstation Network account, be at least 18 years. This is above the age requirement for MGS4 of CERO and ESRB (at 17 and up), or OFLC and BBFC (at 15 and up), while matching the PEGI rating of 18 and above. Players who fit the above specified criteria for their region can call Sony Customer Services and ask for this further restriction to be removed.

Expansions

The first expansion pack for Metal Gear Online, titled "Gene Expansion", has been officially announced[15] and is scheduled to be released on July 17th 2008 at a cost of €9.99 (about $15.88).[16] Gene Expansion features three new maps, two new playable characters (Meryl and Johnny), each with their own special abilities, a new game mode called "Survival" and a new reward system. The reward system will award players points for playing the new game mode which they can exchange for items to customise their character in the new Reward Shop. Players will also be able to create female characters.

References

  1. ^ "Metal Gear Online Page". GamePro. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  2. ^ http://www.konami.jp/mgo/en/hd/game/stage.html
  3. ^ http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/261/942282_20070919_screen003.jpg
  4. ^ http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2008/049/942282_20080219_screen016.jpg
  5. ^ http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2008/049/942282_20080219_screen003.jpg
  6. ^ http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/262/942282_20070920_screen016.jpg
  7. ^ http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/262/942282_20070920_screen015.jpg
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ Metal Gear Online
  10. ^ "Metal Gear Online beta sneaking to Europe April 17". 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  11. ^ "METAL GEAR ONLINE TEASER SITE - ENGLISH U.K". www.konami.jp. 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  12. ^ "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots FAQ". 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  13. ^ Haynes, Jeff (April 16, 2008). "Some MGO Beta Keys Invalid?".
  14. ^ http://www.konami.jp/mgo/de/index.html Template:De icon
  15. ^ "Metal Gear Online "Gene Expansion"".
  16. ^ "Metal Gear Online Gene Expansion priced and dated for Europe".
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