- Note: This review will contain major spoilers for MGSV. -
The first console MGS since 2008 came along with some massive changes to the formula. How do these stack up, and is it another great Metal Gear game?
Gameplay
--------
Metal Gear has always been known for it's trademark stealth action gameplay with an accompanying complex control scheme. This time around the player is given many different tools to approach missions in any way desired and with a simplified control scheme. Sneak in without being detected, or cause havoc with your support helicopter to overpower the enemy - the choice is yours.
For the purist, the great stealth gameplay remains with some tweaks. Reflex mode now allows mistakes to be corrected when Snake is spotted and is a nice addition to the series. As for the gunplay, it is a very solid experience allowing the player to use the wide array of weapons effectively. I didn't experiment too much with over the top firepower but I imagine it would have been fun to go in as loud as possible. There is lots of freedom and choice for all types of gamers to approach situations with their own plan. The new buddy system helps with this, with 4 unique buddies with their own traits to help Snake on his missions.
There are many different types of weapons to try out but unfortunately, gone is the ever-expanding weapons list replaced with two primary weapons and a side arm. In my view, this was a drawback in that there are many weapons which will never be used. I saw no reason to take a shotgun with me when setting out to complete 2-3 main missions and multiple side missions - it is in general a useless weapon class, especially for the stealth gamer, with almost no interior sections of the game. An extra primary weapon slot would have allowed more experimentation with tactics.
Mother base is a nice addition and I enjoyed leveling up throughout the game - there is a great sense of progression and improvement. The only downside to this is I feel that I had experienced a lot of it with Peacewalker. It is a good mechanic though which added a lot to the gameplay.
A big negative I noticed while playing for about 60 hours altogether, was the amount of travel time required - whether you are waiting for a helicopter to land, riding your horse 3km or waiting for your helicopter to pick you up there is a lot of dead time between actual content that seriously hampers the enjoyment of long gameplay sessions. After playing for an hour, you will look back and think "What have I actual been doing?" and will scratch your head when you see you've only completed two side missions in that time. Also, the checkpoint system can let the player down at times, where the punishment for dying involves starting a mission from the very beginning.
Story
-----
Possibly the most important part of any MGS game is the story, unfortunately The Phantom Pain fails to deliver any where near the quality expected for an MGS game.
I have to mention the loss of David Hayter as Snake - this was not necessarily a terrible decision if it was done due to Solid Snake appearing in future games alongside Big Boss, but the replacement has to be given the chance to display his quality. Keifer did not have this chance as he says almost nothing the entire game. Ultimately, a massive waste of resources.
This is the issue with MGSV, there is no dialogue. The characters just say words, and often no one will even respond or engage in actual conversation. Miller barks orders at Big Boss, and Big Boss will say nothing in return. This is most obvious when you are captured by Skull Face and sit in the back of transport while he spews words into the ether. Big Boss is clearly not interested and has no viewpoint on the matter, otherwise he would have said something. This weakens Skull Face as a villain in that he has no one to play off of.
The decision to make Big Boss a silent protagonist to allow the player to project onto him was terrible. To suggest that the story twist is why Big Boss was not his old self does not make sense in that Venom Snake would still express his viewpoints. The game massively suffers for this choice. There are glimpses of potential when Keifer does speak, which ultimately just makes it more annoying that it is lacking throughout!
A big problem with the story was the amount of repetition and redundant missions. For those with the game, look at the mission list and take note of the missions which actually progress story - there are very few. After the introductory two missions it is not until maybe mission 11 until we are actually given an important story mission. Missions 3 -10 could be played in any order or replaced by any other mission and it would do nothing for the story. After mission 12, again we have to wait until mission 16, then mission 18, then every other mission and so on. There are a lot of missions which have no relevance to the story and as I played through them, I did not care who I was tailing, or eliminating or why I had to take those armored vehicles out. The player is not given enough reason to care about these missions in context with the story. Chapter 2 therefore becomes a joke in that it is exact copies of some of the Chapter 1 missions made slightly harder. Imagine having to play a mission you didn't care about the first time round a second time, this is not good game design and it is clear Kojima had given up fighting Konami by this point and the rush to release had begun. Considering a major part of the game was just left hanging and it's conclusion was cut from final release, for me the score must suffer greatly for this.
I feel like these game mechanics with epic character development, a tight story and more linear gameplay would have been fantastic. The trend towards open world being somehow better has seriously damaged the potential of MGSV. The best sections were the constrained sections e.g. Boss Battles, introduction sequence, story segments, Mission 43 - as soon as it opened up the direction and drive was lost.
This game appears to be Peacewalker with a poorer story, and for that reason only deserves a 7 out of 10 to me. Good game, but the worst Metal Gear of the entire series.
Whether it's showcasing damage realistically or simulating fractures and conditions, these games are worth checking out.
The Metal Gear series has sold 60.2 million copies, as of September 2023.
Too bad it was a lazy release. They could've updated the visuals and everything. Missed opportunity.
...and yet, they couldn't give more respect and effort into the collection.
What a terrible company.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is another rollercoaster of a game in the Metal Gear Solid series. Here's what to expect and why you need to experience it.
Yea I don’t get why they’re allowing old reviews to be posted here. Someone did one on Soul Reaver and I got so excited thinking there was some stealth release of an HD Remaster, but no… it’s just someone who had a slow day posted an old review…
I liked the game but for me it felt somehow like a military simulator rather than a proper MGS.. i got bored of that
The author was in a coma for 9 years and didn't get to play the game when it released.
Amazing how bad this game looks already. We keep acting like this gen doesn't feel like an update but I think we're starting to see it.
Looks better than Starfield, Cyberpunk and most recent games out. Still fine.
The gameplay was great. It was the tacked on open world and repetitive missions that messed the game up.
The game started really strong in that hospital, but after a couple of hours I wondered if it was even an mgs game I was playing.
The hospital section was the only bit that felt like a MGS game.
MGS4 was the ending for me. I totally ignore the fact 5 exists. It didn't need to exist tbh
Great review, very fair imo. Its also nice to see somebody mention how odd most of the cutscenes were with characters just rambling for minutes.
What EXACTLY was "unfinished"?
I'll also add. MGS 1,2,3,4 & PW were story focused. GZ & TPP are gameplay focused [from a devs perspective]
That was obviously deliberate. For example. Star Wars ep.1 never explained how Anakins mom got pregnant. It just happened with no explanation. Is that unfinished too?
"There was meant to be a mission 51 which dealt with this but it was cut from the final release"
Imagine if they left that scene in. We STILL don't know what happens to Liquid. [shows statue of liberty and Liquid says "Not yet. It's not over yet"]
Again. What EXACTLY was "unfinished" that wasn't deliberate?
IF it was the directors intent to be "unfinished", how is that a negative? It either works or it doesn't. You never explain how it doesn't work though. *Ofcourse you can talk about execution without spoilers.
SEEMS like you had questions that never got answers that wasn't supposed to answers in the first place, A.K.A. the tv show 'Lost' *Not new for a Kojima game.
http://www.gamesradar.com/1...
MGS4. Remember this game's bizarre intro, in which you can flip back and forth between various surreal and ridiculous TV channels? Like Snake voice actor David Hayter appearing on a talk show as himself? Or some lady cooking breakfast with slithering snakes and buzzing flies?
Well, that's not even the weirdest part. Pay attention to the channel numbers the next time you play: 15, 16, 23, 42 and 48. Now split 48 in half, move it to the front of the sequence and – voila – you have Lost's six famous digits.