With all the hype that Kojima has mustered for his final entry in the Metal Gear Solid series, fans and new comers expected nothing short of a masterpiece. Given how spectacular every game in the series has been, defining and redefining itself and the genre every single time, Kojima and The Phantom Pain have a lot to live up to.
Well, it’s finally here. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. A Hideo Kojima Game. In every sense. Picking up directly after the events of Ground Zeroes, Snake/Big Boss wakes up from a coma to realize that it’s been 9 years and there’s work to be done. Kept you waiting, huh? No shit!
Smaller outposts hold valuable resources and personnel.
Without much ado, Big Boss decides a course of action, leading him to his partner in crime, Kaz Miller, and to the formation of Diamond Dogs, a rebuilding of MSF, only bigger and more ambitious.
The game starts off in Afghanistan, which is facing major conflict between the local guerrilla warriors and the Soviets, fueled by Cipher (the organization behind the attack on Big Boss and his motherbase). I won’t spoil the story, let’s just say that it’s great and totally worth investing in. And, if you played the previous games, you’ll be greatly rewarded. If you haven’t, read our primer to catch up real quick.
Anyways. Afghanistan is a big place, and you are free to explore and take on various missions as you see fit. Favor a more stealthy approach? You can be a knife (or a choke-hold) in the dark. Go in quiet, complete the objective, and leave before the enemy realizes that half the base is empty because you had been fulton-ing folks outta there!
Afghanistan is beautiful during the night.
Or, if you have a penchant for chaos, you can totally go in guns blazing and rockets flying. Blow up guard towers. Blow up tanks. Blow up radar towers. Leave behind dead bodies leaking out blood on the sand. Good times in Afghanistan! The way this game caters to your playstyle is what makes it excellent. This is all the fun that Farcry 4 delivers, plus it has an amazing story!
The amount of variety each mission provides, the numerous ways to take on each mission, plus all the optional objectives that come with the main missions give The Phantom Pain a huge amount of replayability. The day and night cycle, and events like sandstorms and rain also add so much to the gameplay dynamics. Having a tough time extracting a prisoner? Wait for a sandstorm. Let visibility drop to zero. Turn on nightvision. Go running in. Pick up the target. Run out before the storm passes. Voila. Mission completed.
Ready for infiltration! Woof!
The gameplay improves as you acquire more tools and more buddies to take along on missions. The dog, aptly named D-Dog, is perfect for stealthy infiltration as he keeps tagging enemies for you, so that they don’t get a jump on you. Want to get things done from a distance? The sniper, Quiet, is handy for such an approach. And these are just a few examples of how exciting and varied the available the options are.
And not every moment has to be about action. The peaceful moments while travelling across the barren sands during nighttime, listening to the ambient and atmospheric music really brings out how evocative the game can be. It’s easy to just sit back and be lost in the large number of cassette tapes, which shed light upon finer plot details.
Quiet speaks from a distance. With her bullets.
As Big Boss, you are also entrusted with the development of your motherbase, which include tasks like building platforms for different departments such as Intel, Support, etc, and then assigning staff to these departments. This then leads to developing better weapons and equipment. There is a lot to do in Metal Gear Solid V, and that’s before you venture into Africa. Yes, Africa, or the Angola-Zaire border region, is the second open section you venture into. And it has its own set of missions. Africa sets a different tone from Afghanistan, since it’s filled with marshlands and thicker vegetation. Also child soldiers. Once again, without spoiling anything, lets just say that this game touches upon some harsh realities of war in ways that no other video game does.
The only complain I have in the game is how little Big Boss talks. It’s off-putting, specially during cut-scenes. Since Metal Gear Solid has always had a huge emphasis on story and narrative, this minor complain does affect the immersion.
Verdict: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a Hideo Kojima game in every aspect. A great story that neatly ties up all loose ends. Best in class stealth gameplay. Farcry 4 level chaotic gameplay. Beautiful locales. Over-the-top cutscenes. Gratuitous nudity. Excellent soundtrack. This is the best Metal Gear Solid game yet. And the top contender for Game Of The Year 2015.
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