The Metal Gear franchise has a few spin-off games under its belt, many of which are worth playing for fans of the series.
There were games that did stealth before Metal Gear and games that stuck to stealth after Metal Gear. Yet without Hideo Kojima’s seminal sneak ‘em up series, the gaming landscape would be less special. Its sneaking gameplay, weird plots, meta fourth wall breaking, and more made it a unique experience.
This didn’t just apply to the main series though. Metal Gear produced a range of spin-offs and side games that tweak the gameplay in their own way. They’re a mix of alternate timelines, non-canon events, possible epilogues, and some that are just pure gameplay. Out of the wide options, these are the best of Metal Gear’s spin-off games. 7 Metal Gear Online
Developer: Konami Digital Entertainment.
Platforms: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC.
Release: September 2015.
The Metal Gear series has had some form of Metal Gear Online since Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, which did away with the story in favor of players operating in teams to out-sneak their rivals. Like Grand Theft Auto Online, they’ve taken on a life of their own, even after their servers have been shut down. MGO 1 & 2 live on through emulation and fan servers, complete with updates made by the community.
Still, they’re low on the list because they require the main games on top of all that finagling to play today. The only version still officially running as of this writing is MGS5’s MGO, which still offers plenty of fun outside Konami’s FOB mode money mill. It even allows people to play as Ocelot and Quiet, complete with their own quirks like dual-wielding pistols and invisibility, which can really turn the tide in their favor if used right. 6 Metal Gear Acid
The PSP is an underrated handheld with some solid official titles, and strong enough to handle unofficial ones through hacking and emulators. Even so, Metal Gear fans must’ve been surprised when its launch title, Metal Gear Acid, wasn’t strictly a stealth game like the later entry MGS: Portable Ops. Instead, it was a turn-based trading card game.
The player’s deck controls all their actions.
