*Disclaimer: You will not find any spoilers in this review. I have purposely withheld them, tip-toeing around any possible specific mission details. With that said, ease your mind, read thoroughly and enjoy. Also, please note, that I’m still playing the hell out of this game, but the basic structure is there and understood. It’s a giant game, folks.
After so many years of waiting and watching, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has finally arrived to current generation and PC systems. Was it everything it was built up to be? Was it more of the same from Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid past? Yes and yes. Kojima’s group, and Konami, has put together one helluva package in this latest edition of Big Boss’ adventures. The stakes are bigger (story), the options are greater and the room for non-linear gameplay is vast. Without further delay, let’s dig into it.
The first thing you’ll notice when you boot up the game is that you have no clue where the hell the story might be going, but you know that you’re headed towards something special. The game starts where Ground Zeroes left off, Big Boss wakes up after spending nine years in a coma and must build his beautiful empire back up that Cypher has destroyed. Before doing that, you are treated to an interesting and intense prologue of Boss making his way out of a hospital. The entire sequence is scary, weird and will make you think you’re tripping hard on some bad drugs (never done that, just assuming). Once you’ve made it through, Big Boss, with the help of a few other important players in the Metal Gear universe, begins to rebuild his army and carefully plans ways (via missions) to take down Cypher from the outside/in, and its mysterious leader Skull Face.
Story aside, the main gameplay is in the same vein as Ground Zeroes. The movement and control of Big Boss is easier than previous versions of MGS and just feels more refined. There are going to be less times where you feel like you should be running one way, but end up running another. More importantly, there are less moments of panic during intense fire fights where you usually could have went one direction, but accidentally went another. When I reviewed MGS 3/4 years ago, the controls were an extra fight. That has always been the case since Metal Gear’s move to 3D back in the 90s. Anyway, the controls have gotten incredibly smoother since GZ and it continues seamlessly into The Phantom Pain. In short, you’ll fight less with the controls and enjoy the game far more. That is always a plus (take notes, Capcom. Resident Evil still needs work).
Staying with controls, the mapped out PlayStation 4 controller is brilliantly done. The use of the touchpad is probably the best I’ve seen so far for the PS4. You click the bottom-right corner of the touchpad to activate your missions/map/home base, which is incredibly useful when you’re trying to progress in the game. You click the upper-left touchpad on the controller to activate your typical options menu. Your poor touchpad, which is probably still very ‘clicky’, is going to get a workout and a half with this game. It deserves it because it’s a lazy button that never gets used.
Anyway, the missions/map/home base options are nicely done. Through this menu, you can choose missions, side ops, troop deployment, helicopter pick up, supply drops, weapons drops, base development, troop development, weapons development and a bevy of other options. The most useful options of the bunch lie within the supply/weapon drops. The supply drops allow you to drop off ammo at any selected point of the map you might be residing on. Be careful, though, don’t be a dumbass like me, who several times misread the map, and ended up dropping ammo in an unreachable area (like the top of a mountain that is inaccessible). The fact that you can do that is hilarious. The fact that I did that was incredibly sad, as I needed more ammo to get me out of a particular jam. Anyway, the ammo drop allows you to replenish suppressors that are worn, and ammo (duh), which is huge when you’re trying to put everyone to sleep with the tranquilizer gun. Of course, each ammo drop is not free. You have to pay for it (low cost) through money earned via missions. After one or two missions, you won’t feel that cost whatsoever, but it is there.
In terms of weapon development/deployment/drop, you have some choices to make when it comes to mission approach. Anytime during a mission, you can switch weapons by activating a weapon drop through the supply drop menu. The weapon drop will replace a current weapon you’re sporting with another. The time it takes to order the weapon, get the supply drop and equip it is somewhere around 30-40 seconds. I’m telling you this because you probably need to be careful on how you approach a mission before you start one. At the beginning of each mission you have a chance to change up your weapons to match the mission. For example, if you’re on a mission that requires you to blow up a vehicle, you probably want to equip a rocket launcher/RPG, and not the sniper gun. If you forget what you’re doing, select a mission and decide halfway through it that you needed something more powerful, you have to do a weapons drop. I like the ‘pay attention to what you’re doing’ factor the game includes. You really have to be conscious of what you’re getting into and what it’s going to ask of you. In the past, I usually just winged it as the story unfolded. That’s possible here, but if you play smarter, then the experience will probably be smoother. Or not. I don’t know how you folks play.
Moving on to technical fun, this same options menu also allows you to develop weapons through picking up resources during missions (you’ll find resources around enemy camps. They are in cases — grab them all), which lead to weapons, buddy items and eventual development of your home base. You’ll want to make it a habit of picking everything up that you can, even plants (they allow you to create healing chemicals and other items of use).
On the weapons development side, you have to obtain an R&D staff in the game to begin researching new weapons. How do you do such a thing? Ah, this is the fun part of the game. This is the portion of the game where you sit back and decide who is going to get the balloon or not. Using the Fulton extraction method (a giant balloon), you can attach it to fallen enemies, animals and/or vehicles/containers to whisk them away to your home base. The side effect of this process is that you obtain development crews and troops by extracting fallen enemies or prisoners of war. The extracted folks are graded A-E (A being the best, E being the worst) and are specifically suited in some areas more than others. Once you get enough of these folks in R&D, they can begin to develop weapons and upgrades to current weapons/items for you. Choosing who you extract is made easier through binoculars that can read the grades of enemies, and development is made easier by choosing the best individuals for the job. Anyway, that was a long bit of info to tell you that weapons development is done through enemy extraction, which leads to better equipment.
Once you extract folks, you can move them around to different teams and play off their intellectual, sometimes brutal strengths. Put the best people in the best places to achieve the best possible results. Sometimes that means you have a group of lunkheads that belong in battle to go and take out people in side missions. This is a very interesting piece to the Metal Gear Solid V puzzle and one that actually is quite fun once you start getting into it. Playing the ‘what can go to sleep and what can I send to home base’ game is part of the charm of Metal Gear Solid V. I have spent too much time playing that game in this game.
Outside of weapon development, and people extraction, there is also a portion of the game focused on developing more pieces to your home base puzzle. This means you can actually construct more pieces and complexes for your home base, which are alive and kicking while you’re on missions. For example, during one of the missions, I received word that a fight had broken out at home base, which sent people to the medical complex I had built. The fight was led by low-grade people I extracted (see how it matters?). If I had not built the medical facility, it would have meant worse things. Don’t ignore this portion of the game, as it does add some amusing element of intrigue and pride of ownership. Currently, I have a large empire that consists of five-six extra complexes, each connected to my main complex through a series of bridges. It’s like a MGS SimCity.
Development aside, what about other elements of gameplay? The missions are broken into small opuses created by teams of different designers. You will quickly learn this, as each mission ends with the credits of those involved. If you didn’t realize this was a Kojima driven game, you will by the time you get to mission six. It’s interesting that it was designed this way, and it also breaks the story up into tiny bits, which kinda hurts the illusion of this world. It would be like if you went to see a movie and each act ended with credits (act 1-3, a standard design for most films). I didn’t like the credits at first and I still think they’re a tad bit obnoxious now. No other MGS game has done this and I’m not sure what the motivation was to do this now, but it’s there and you’ll want to ignore it the best way you can. Petty complaint? Yeah, but nonetheless a small bit of disruption. I like my stories continuous and I want credits at the end, not throughout.
Anyway, the missions, minus the credits, are nicely done. They’re evenly spaced out , so one doesn’t feel as overwhelming in comparison to another. The longest mission I have experienced so far has taken me an hour and half to get through on normal (no chicken hat), but I blame most of that time on my cautious behavior in the game.
Speaking of cautious, the missions are incredibly flexible when it comes to decision making. The areas are generally vast and open when it comes to causing trouble. You can strategize and plan your attack/stealth in various ways. It helps that you’ll find plenty of cover here and there, so even if you do alert everyone in the mission of your presence, you have options to choose from when trying to situate yourself into safety. Feeling out what works and what doesn’t helps a lot in MGS V. I know that MGS 4 had this same sort of feel to it, but not quite as large as The Phantom Pain.
Now having said that, there are also some missions where the game purposely limits your elbow room. For example, there was a boss fight that had me running away in attempts to avoiding combat (I was clearly outmatched), the sequence was limiting because if I went past a certain point, I would be considered ‘leaving the mission’, which ends the mission immediately. I had some reservations about that abrupt ending to the mission, mainly because it didn’t give me enough warning before it ended things. Regardless, given the intensity and purpose of that specific mission, the limited borders made sense.
Outside of the main, story-driven missions, there are side ops available. These are side quests that are awarded to you as you progress through the regular missions. I have friends that have played more of these than the story missions. These missions include saving folks, obtaining translators (yeah, you can get those folks) and various other little things that are quick-hitters, but add to the overall experience. I will say that once in awhile some side ops will crop up that are part of future story missions. It’s a cute little crossover.
Shifting gears a bit, let’s talk about those big, nasty enemies you will run into during missions.
The enemy artificial intelligence is absolutely outstanding in MGS V. It does what it should do when you’ve got a stealthy character like Big Boss making his rounds through a war-esque scenario. If you tip your hand in stealth, the enemies come down on you and those bastards call in back up to come help take you out. There will be times where they will actively search for you because they know you’re still around. The enemies act and move with suspiciousness when alerted of your presence. They will do their best to make sure you’re dead as a doornail. They also will look like complete and utter morons when you sneak out of one alerted position area into the next, as they continue firing where they believe you to be. It’s amusing and impressive to watch in motion, as are the bosses which are clearly a cut above the peons. In short, Kojima and crew put together some intelligent enemies for you to fight, so don’t underestimate them.
As you’re fighting off the enemies in the game, Kojima has provided you some help along the way. Up to this point in my experience, I have a horse, dog and a ‘once-an-enemy’ character (won’t name). You can choose whichever character/animal you would like to take with you on missions. The horse is good for quick getaways. The dog is great for seeking out enemies, prisoners and other things. The character is great for the extra firepower. Each has its own value to the game, all enhance the Metal Gear Solid experience; none hurt it. They’re fun options to have when you’re wanting to spice up your strategy a bit.
The only thing that could possibly rival the gameplay of Metal Gear Solid V are the visuals included in the package. As I stated above, the areas/environments are spectacularly huge and nothing short of gorgeous. Active wildlife, expansive fields/mountains/land, everything is big, moving and alive — there’s so much to take in visually with this game. The lighting, shadows and textures are at the top of their game. Proper movement of the sun and the bleakness of the dark are perfectly embedded in the title. You will see instantly how very much ‘current gen’ this title is from the first time it hands over the reins. It is visually stunning.
Included with the visuals is the acting. While most people really wanted David Hayter to return in one fashion or another, Keifer Sutherland does a top-notch job with Big Boss. He owns the character and brings the acting. You could see that in parts of Ground Zeroes, but you see it in full force with Metal Gear Solid V. He does a spectacular job, as does his supporting actors. People who complained over Sutherland coming in to bring some Hollywood style to the role, they should be ignored.
So, is this game fun? This game is the very definition of quintessential fun. It brings all the things that made Metal Gear Solid great with the original release, expands upon the world further than MGS 4 and makes you wish that Kojima and Konami could work things out to keep the series going. It’s a great reminder of how good things can get with the Metal Gear universe. Worth every damn dime, folks. Fallout 4, Battlefront and a few others have a lot of ground to make up to overtake this masterful opus for game of the year (sorry, Batman, you were great, though).
Anyway, onto the summary.
