So here we are, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The game has currently been released for 28 days (released 01.09.51 here in the UK), and as of today I have 173 hours logged, and speaking as someone who has devoted his last month to collecting, killing, driving, stealthing and telling D-Horse to defecate, I can truly say that this game deserves every little bit of praise that it’s been given.
This is going to be a review on the mechanics, the story (without major spoilers) and the overall feel of the game itself, now without further ado, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
The initial scene of the game is the aftermath of MGSV:Ground Zeroes, which if you hadn’t played prior to ‘The Phantom Pain’, was no big deal as they covered all bases and perfectly reminisced about the previous events. The first bit of game-play does drag on quite a while, but even though movement is limited and slow the dialogue perfectly delves into the deeper monologue of ‘Ishmael’ and his superb combat skills and knowledge.
The story that is presented to the player is easily accessible and can be picked up and adored by anyone who picks up the controller for the first time, although, a mild experience in the ‘basics’ of MGS games is recommended. It’s simple to digest and doesn’t drop a hugely complicated narrative immediately. It’s exactly like jumping onto a moving train, it gives you a steady run up and allows you to jump into the classic MGS story.
Onto mechanics, there are so many little features that it would be seriously testing for me to include them all into this post. I shall name a few that truly stand out for me; at one point in the game you unlock buddies. It is a mechanic which allows you to take on comrade out into the field with you for additional assistance, one of those buddies are called ‘Quiet’ who is a female sniper, who hums along to her own catchy tune while she maliciously picks off insurgents for you. A mechanic that you can use with Quiet with you is called ‘Shoot This’, you can chuck a throwable item into the air and ‘Quiet’ will proceed to snipe it out of the air towards a group of enemies or a pre-decided location.
OK, now were moving onto the penultimate point of the game, the overall feel of the game. This game feels like it was made for the gun toting, knife wielding, light footed individuals that MGS usually appeals to, however its easy to pickup story, the simple control scheme and the appealing visuals mean that this game will reach a much wider audience than the original MGS fans, which has been reflected in its amazing cast pulls, getting ’24’ lead actor, Kiefer Sunderland to voice Snake is testament to the massive way the gaming industry has evolved in the last few years.
In conclusion I believe that this game will go down in the history books as one of the greatest games ever to grace our planet, and will hopefully make a new generation of game creators that will one day contribute to this mass populated community. 10/10