Metal Gear Online SCENE Expansion

Metal Gear Online has been very popular amongst fans of the series, with regular updates keeping the game fresh and interesting to play. Konami has released a total of three expansions so far, MEME, GENE and SCENE. The last two expansions MEME and GENE have failed to impress as the extra characters included felt uninteresting plus the novelty wore out fast.

All expansions featured trailers following its release, they all looked exciting and the thought of playing as characters like Meryl, Johnny, Liquid and Naomi in the first two expansions seemed appealing, however ended up disappointing. Despite the unexciting expansions, I decided to take the plunge and buy SCENE anyway, as playing as Raiden and Vamp seemed like a too good of an opportunity to miss out on.

To my surprise I was right to do so. Playing as Raiden and Vamp seemed surprisingly fun and tactile additionally it felt like it was actually them, not some generic character with the sword and basic extras as I had imagined. Raiden and Vamp are both armed with their own melee blades, Raiden has his traditional HF (High Frequency) blade and Vamp has his combat knife. They are also both equipped with projectiles - throwing knifes. Both move exceptionally fast.

Raiden with his HF blade has the ability to slice through bullets endlessly by the touch of a button, which renders him practically invisible against guns. You also can opt for a non-lethal option of the blade, which switches its damage to affect the psyche gauge which stuns the enemy. When enemies are firing away at you foolishly, you can close up on them and impale them or just waste them by a few quick slashes which increases your attack range to eliminate multiple enemies.

If you find yourself being fired at from a distance, you can whip out your throwing knife and plot one between their head, although make note that this isn’t accurate or powerful. If these two weapons don’t resolve your predicament, then Raiden also has the noble MK.23 by his side. Another nifty trick Raiden has is to see traps, by enabling his visor, which is extremely helpful. He also has his headspin which is seen in parts of MGS4, although not very useful.

Vamp also has a nifty array of abilities by his side, which can potentially overcome Raiden in certain circumstances. You can use Vamp’s combat knife, which has the same ability as Raiden’s, except bullet evading and a non lethal option aren’t available.

But don’t fret, as you’ve forgotten Vamp is immortal, meaning he has the ability to respawn the same place he died. His throwing knife makes up for the lack of firearm, as he can throw three knifes at one go unlike Raiden who can only shoot one.

SCENE also features three new maps, Hazard House – which Is a mansion, Ravaged Riverfront –  a clock tower map which consists of an underwater region, an underground region and a clock tower camping spot, and finally Outer Outlet – a building which features a car park and an outer region as well as the building itself. These maps were pretty cool, but I would have preferred something Metal Gear related, maybe a map from a previous metal gear game.

The SCENE expansion is definitely an unmissible expansion and I would say it’s compulsory you buy it if you own MGS4. The expansion costs £6.30, but you’ll need all the other previous expansions to buy it, I still reckon it’s worth it. All three expansions (GENE, MEME and SCENE) are purchasable at a discount for around £12.

8.5/10