080
arrange Sam’s cargo for optimal distribution
is a welcome one, though you still make the call
on what to offload into vehicles or your hovering
floating carrier, if you choose to take those at all.METAL FEAR
Speaking of guns, they’re a real weakness in
Death Stranding’s own cargo loadout. For a lot
of the game they’re not really the point, but
you are occasionally thrown into sections where
fighting rather than running away makes the
most sense. It’s not that using guns and other
more explosive solutions is hard, but quite the
opposite (we played on Normal mode). You can
easily snipe enemies from across vast distances
with assault rifles, and fell large enemies simply
by hurling grenade after grenade in their faces.
Combat situations will be littered with weapons
to pick up off the ground, or ghosts of other
players who will toss them to you – taking
away the necessity to carry what you need for
these moments. You can’t help but compare
these aspects to Hideo Kojima’s legacy of MetalGear games, and compared to
the armoury in MGSV, Sam’s
weapons feel like they come
out of a toybox.
Continuing the Metal Gear
comparison (which you can’t
untangle Death Stranding
from – in many ways the open
world, movement, and the
way you adjust your loadout
feels like a natural evolution
from MGSV), the characters
don’t quite stack up. While
every big name here acts the
pants out of their roles and
then some (the performances
of Mads Mikkelsen and other
famous actors are captured so
perfectly it hurts the brain to
think about them), and there
are fantastic visuals both in
and out of cutscenes, there’s
not actually a lot to them.
Interaction is limited almost
exclusively to cutscenes
between delivery missions.
While ‘interviews’ extending
the lore of the game do exist
for particular characters, they’re
limited to a reading experience.Unlike in MGS, you never
get the true sense of having
a support team checking in
with you as you go, and you
don’t feel very close to them.
As much as we love what we
do see of the people around
Sam (the morbid yet lovable
Deadman is a highlight, as is
Troy Baker’s intense scenery-
chewing as the villainous
Higgs), it results in too many
character moments that
don’t feel earned – ironically
disconnected. The famous cast
is impressive, but we can’t
help but feel it limited the
possibility of interactions – a
hallmark of Metal Gear that’s
always been great.
But arguably it’s not the
weapons, nor the famous cast,
which are the stars of Death
Stranding. No. It’s you, and all
the other players. Simply put,
if you don’t play this game
online, you’re going to miss a
huge portion of what makes it
special (though NPC characters
will leave a few structures“THE FAMOUS ACTORS ARE
CAPTURED SO PERFECTLY
IT HURTS THE BRAIN.”
Right Mads
Mikkelsen
spreads some
Christmas
cheer. Expect to
see plenty of his
famous face.Left Sam is
joined by a
strong support
team. Fragile’s
one of the
best (and
most helpful).