Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015)

Replaying this game in 2025 is a very different experience.

Back in 2015 I was younger and didn't care much about the messages this game tries to convey, I was there just for the gameplay.

Although Russia already invaded Ukraine in February 2014, it was mostly localized in 2 regions and didn't have a big impact on the entire country, unlike 2022 and onward. Replaying it now, I'm amazed how I shrugged off so much dark stuff in MGS5 back then. But now I understand why I was reluctant about replaying Ground Zeroes now, where they "reward" you for completing a mission with a tape recording or torture. And then in Phantom Pain you encounter Russian soldiers in Afghanistan, with more tapes describing war crimes, followed by child soldiers in Africa.

finished chapter one and i'm gonna call that done for all intents.

overall, i think chapter one is a pretty tight game. something that's quite funny to me however is the tension between the boss encounters and the typical missions. there's always this sort of lumbering motion that snake has combined with a sort of more elegantly moving, yet extremely well telegraphed, boss, and the whole of it i suspect is designed primarily to heighten the tension of snake reloading or snake trying to find cover to hide or whatever. it's such a specific vibe, similar to the way that seeing a stamina bar refill a little too slowly in a souls game mid-battle can be.

finally, it's hard to not see the parallels here structurally between 45 minute tv series and the way that mgs v is set up. each mission is roughly, with replay, about 45 minutes to an hour. the game even pulls the same "when we return" shtick that nier: automata does, except i think from just having done the first chapter two mission, i'm inclined to think that nier pulled off this trick a lot better than mgs v does.

does kojima love tv? it's like he's whacking everyone over the head saying how much he loves tv. hard not to see his thinking about how this game's narrative is structured influenced heavily by prestige action shows of the mid to late 00s like BSG, 24, and Lost. the bsg connection being in my mind cemented by the ham fisted use of Quiet the story goes all over the place, it's just incredibly vibey, and the driving momentum in the game narratively isn't reaching a satisfying resolution as much as it's a "what is going to happen next episode?!" the way small mechanics like base building and FOBs are setup have a nice payoff. i was not feeling the base building in peacewalker, but i liked it here because it felt like it could be fairly handsoff until you really cared to invest time into it.

i'll repeat here that i think playing this game in that 'mission a night' way is probably exactly the way that this game works best. there is a bunch of structural repetition in the game, but the mission structures are a bit diverse and they all have slightly different challenges to the point where it's fun to imagine going back to them and some of them even have very satisfying setups and stage some really great moments. it's incredible seeing how each episode's design is sometimes very really cleverly designed and rewards experimentation and the switch of locale between afghanistan to central africa also does a good job of varying the environment without changing all too much.

really enjoyed my time here, i alternated between playing on my phone with a backbone and hopping on to play on the tv probably about a third of the missions. will probably get me to revisit other mgs titles again.

this isn’t specific to mgsv but it’s something that comes up here and in hitman which is that it’s not often super clear how you’re supposed to Play the game. this can be a good thing because it allows for lots of gameplay styles but i think this is the sort of game where a physical manual would have actually revealed a lot of the nuance of the kinds of gameplay strategies that are possible without spoiling the actual moment when you pull off something you didn’t think the game would allow you to try.

also i think narratively coming into this game knowing roughly the outline of what happens makes me appreciate the way the story is both absolutely bonkers but is always self consistent in the way it chooses to reveal things to you. probably the most interesting thing for me is the question about how much agency snake has, he meets kaz or huey and there’s this really weird tension between how that moment goes down and how you think it would go down given the events of peacewalker or ground zeroes. i’m really intrigued by the choice that was made to keep snake operate “on rails” both narratively and as some missions tighten up, there’s a sense that you’re operating like a mercenary and despite ostensibly running mother base you feel like you’re really just taking orders from ocelot and going back for a shower. whatever power you have always feels tenuous despite the massive power you command.

still having fun!

agree with the takes that quiet has not aged well as fan service, but the structure of the game still holds up as a one and a half episodes a night game in the same way i’d watch a tv show. i think any more than that id start to burn out on the mechanics but at this pace it sort of rattles around my head until i can play again.

still feel like a modern version where climbing is more developed than “can you spy a single crack in the occasional rock” would amp up the fun.

sort of like most souls games, i feel like i just dip into most kojima games for about ten hours and then sort of peace out, but also, like souls games, i can't stop thinking about them either.

with mgs v, i played through a bunch of peacwalker until my ps3 gave up the ghost and then i finally downloaded and finished ground zeroes and then mgs v which i played for about five hours and then put down for some reason.

in between then i revisited mgs, mgs 2, and death stranding and it's hard not to return to mgs v now after all this time and "understand" or "get" kojima as an auteur who, beyond tone and aesthetic, also thinks about gameplay rhythm in a very specific way that is (as scores of others have observed) unique to him and what makes his games so compelling even in spite of their flaws. it's this sort of contrast in mgs v and death stranding: the quiet meditative planning, the sort of long journeys in the empty biomes, the moments of high[y tense action when a stealth section goes south, the just ridiculously absurd product placement that peppers cutscenes. this tempo is just addictive once you roll with it and i don't know of many games that willingly exploit that as part of the actual mission or narrative structure. is the story bonkers and telenovela-esque? yes. do i care? no.

it's nearly impossible for me to not walk through early afghanistan missions and see the echoes in the largely desolate areas in death stranding, a kind of nearly featureless landscape that has enough detail and differentiation that you begin to understand how to read the landscape and how to scope out locations. in my mind these yield "obvious" approaches but i'm always stuck how there are always a few other ways to approach a mission that open up to you once you understand a base, understand the rhythm of the troops, or just have a better sense of how people navigate a base. every mission i complete i immediately want to restart and try in a new way once i complete it even when i don't care what 'score' i got for it.

i think people describe dragon quest games as bedtime games and for me, that's what mgs v has become: a game that i cane play for about an hour right before bed, either retrying a mission, starting a new one, or just going for some other optional part of a mission i played a while ago. only at 8% completion right now, but i can easily see coming back and forth to this game. like other mgs games, it's hard not to imagine what this game could be like if snake could climb everywhere, or had botw/totk style climbing/stamina mechanics. i don't think the game needs to change much, but it's hard not to imagine what a tiny quality of life remaster of this game would look like.

After playing this game you will fill the phantom pain. Unfortunately it's inevitable, but throw it, this modern art piece shows its greatness.

In its basic form it's a stealth game with story elements places in between. From the mechanical point of view, it's a great game. Every thing about it fill polished and carefully planned.

The more interesting and fabulous part lies in the story of it and the philosophical questions its ask throw it. Topics such as redemption, individual consciousness and phantom pain are nicely given to you, but not always upfront.

OPEN-WORLD STEALTH-ACTION - After the destruction of MSF, Venom Snake seeks to hunt down the man responsible for it all.

PROS:

++ Perfect stealth-action gameplay that gives players unparalleled freedom. Even with all the qualms and problems I had with the game's story and structure, I still think this game is AMAZING. And it's because of one thing: they PERFECTED stealth-action gameplay. Stealth and stealth-action are not the same. In stealth games, I don't expect to engage in combat so I don't expect anything from the combat system, but in stealth-action, I expect both the stealth and combat mechanics to be viable. And in MGSV, both aspects have been perfected. This is BY FAR the best and most exhaustive stealth-action game I've ever played. There are a TON of weapons, tools, and gadgets at your disposal which honestly makes the game infinitely replayable and always fresh. You have the absolute FREEDOM to tackle most situations in whatever way you like. You can go full-stealth, or you can go full-Rambo, or you can be a hybrid of both, or whatever else! The more you play around, and the more you experiment with different approaches, the more you'll realize how INCREDIBLE the gameplay is. It may not be a good Metal Gear Solid game, but it IS an amazing stealth-action game. I can go on and on about the gameplay, but for the sake of time, I'll leave it at this. If the other MGS games had the gameplay of 5, they would all be better than 5. But because 5 is the only entry with this level of gameplay, it safely rises above the rest for me.

++ Gorgeous landscapes. Both the desert landscape of Afghanistan, and the jungles of Africa were a visual treat.

++ Solid characterization. Though I'm not the biggest fan of the story, I loved the characterization that Venom Snake, Revolver Ocelot, Kaz Miller, and Huey Emmerich received.

++ Fascinating prologue. Even though the prologue was slow, it was interesting and was a great way to start the game.

++ Episode 43. One of the most heart-breaking and gut-wrenching moments in gaming for me. If the entire game had more moments like this, I would easily give this game a 10/10. But unfortunately, this was one of the only moments the game emotionally hooked me.

++ Improved base building & management. Seeing the Mother Base visually grow and expand felt incredibly satisfying. It truly felt like you were growing as an organization.

++ The Buddy system. Any game that allows me to have my own pet dog (wolf) jumps to the top of my list. But Quiet and D-Walker were also great buddies to have. And D-Horse was always reliable.

CONS:

-- Worst MGS story. The story was spread out too thinly, the plot felt unfocused, the main antagonist (Skull-Face) was uninteresting and boring, and some characters had so much potential but nothing was done with them.

-- Needlessly slow mission loop. Players always had to return to the ACC (helicopter), pick a mission, and then deploy. This whole process took 30-45 seconds each time and it quickly adds up. I just wanted to get right into the action and not have to watch a cinematic of the helicopter leaving/landing.

-- Main Ops lacked variety and memorability. I wish more love was given to the Main Ops (story missions). Obviously, there were some standouts, but a majority of them just felt like more extensive Side Ops. I would have preferred less story missions in exchange for each being more carefully and uniquely crafted.

-- Unable to swap between buddies seamlessly. I loved the Buddy System, but it would have been better if switching between them was quick and seamless.

-- Audio Tapes. They replaced the CODEC calls with Audio Tapes and it just isn't the same. CODEC calls are significantly better to listen to than Tapes. And even though the dialogue in these tapes were good, I think too much of the story was placed in them rather than cutscenes.

-- Quiet and Eli. Both characters had great potential, but it was squandered. Quiet's provocative outfit was unnecessary and her character arc wasn't done well. And Eli (young Liquid Snake) just disappears when I feel he should've been a greater focus in the narrative.

-- Forgettable boss fights. Sahelanthropus was too easy for a final boss, Quiet was not as fun as The End or Crying Wolf, Man on Fire was too easy, and the Skull Soldiers were too tanky.

-- Poor timing on the plot twist. The big reveal should have been done much earlier, rather than being revealed at the very last cutscene. I think it would have made a greater impact. (We weren't playing AS Big Boss, but as a BODY DOUBLE that was psychologically convinced that he was the real Big Boss.)

One of the more fascinating little Metal Gear-y details in this game was a special cutscene that’s never been legitimately unlocked, which is triggered by all player-owned nuclear devices on a given platform being disarmed. (There was this whole multiplayer aspect, yeah pretty weird but cool.)

People tried for a while to make it happen but couldn’t get it. Well, as it turns out, the cutscene is impossible to ever trigger legitimately, because Konami never fixed an issue where banned accounts’ nuclear arms were counting toward the total even though they could no longer be disarmed. Nice.

I loved the gameplay of this game and it could have totally worked without the Metal Gear Solid brand. To me it felt like a great action based game with the Metal Gear Solid name slapped over the top of it. It just did not feel like an MGS game. The fact the story did not play out like a typical MGS game, cutscenes could be several missions apart making keeping me engaged with the story hard. I don't like how Ocelot looks and sounds different in every MGS game. The fact they got Kiefer Sutherland to replace David Hayter as Big Boss but he barely speaks anyway.

What i'm still frustrated to hell about is much this game overstayed it's welcome, yeah make it a long game with all the extras for those who want to stay late at the party but I got really frustrated when it gave the "End of Chapter 1" cutscene after 30+ hours in. To get the "True" ending and to complete Chapter 2 you need to repeat missions on a higher difficulty including the slow as hell first mission. This felt like the game was only going to let the player experience the whole game if they proved themselves worthy of it which I think is a massive insult for gamers like me who like to experience the game and not have to master it.

3/5

Played on PS5.

Great gameplay. Probably the pinnacle of stealth action gameplay design and mechanics. The Big Boss is a cool character to play as. Mission design is not very interesting, and gets samey rather quick. The open world is boring and not worth exploring. The story is utter nonsense in premise, delivery and writing. I would love for this game's gameplay to be attached to a better story, with more varied and curated mission design.

This is definitely a great evolution to the stealth action that MGS is focused on. I dig the concept of the base building combined with the missions. The stealth is pretty good and I like that interrogating and capturing guys is a risk/reward situation.

However, the game is very slow (it is a Kojima game, so that tracks). I have completed 10 missions and haven’t got any big new skills or weapons to make gameplay interesting. This game is also very dated in that the open world is INCREDIBLY EMPTY. There is nothing but military outposts, which gets dull after a while.

Heard great things about the companions you can run missions with but haven’t unlocked them yet. Ran into a game breaking bug that will require me to redo a long mission that I had 99% completed. Not really looking forward to that so may end up shelving.

Completed Chapter 1 only. Haven't played any other MG games.

The core mission engine is great - visuals and audio are fantastic, enemy AI is pretty good overall, weapon and equipment options are extensive and impactful on play. ​Missions can be very tense indeed.

Unfortunately, for me, the game became old fast. Missions were pretty repetitive, often using the same locations for widely different missions . There was no real sense of an "open world" - the base/mission transition was in many ways similar to XCOM2 and mountains were used extensively to channel the player's movement in the world.

Having not played previous MG games, the story was pretty meaningless to me and I felt that the big boss battle at the end of Chapter 1 was a mistake given that the game is about honing your stealth combat skills and equipment rather than fighting bosses. A more challenging and immersive stealth mission would have been better as a finale to Chapter 1.

Base management I pretty much ignored to no real detriment and I felt that the weapon/equipment trees were to big to be enjoyable. I settled on some choices early on, upgraded when possible and that was it. Once I had a suppressed sniper rifle missions became, in general, pretty trivial.

I can see the greatness in this game, for sure, but it was just too limited for me.

Edit: Also the gratuitous fan-service of Quiet posing in the ACC was ridiculous and embarrassing.

3.5/5

The apparent, definitive end of the Metal Gear saga (no, Survive doesn't count), MGSV fall squarely in the middle of the timeline and tells a story that, for the first time in series history, feels sort of... nonessential. It does answer one big question that closes the loop on a plot hole from the original game and absolutely features some outstanding dramatic moments that have stuck with me long after completing the (lengthy) campaign, but it's just not quite the same level of gripping storytelling found in MGS 1-4. Maybe it's due to the fact that we know where the story is going already or that the storied feuds with Konami lead to a serious case of senioritis, but Kojima treats the story as almost an incomplete after-though, more content to just explore raw, juicy gameplay mechanics. And in that department, MGSV is a goddamn home-run.

Easily one of the most complex, well made stealth games of all time, MGSV features mechanics that make you wish you could replay the entire series over again in the Fox Engine. There's just so much freedom to how you approach situations and everything feels tight, responsive and intuitive. As opposed to previous MGS games where big set-piece moments were relegated to cutscenes and semi-interactive cinematics, The Phantom Pain has the technical prowess to pull these things off in real time, leading to some truly awe-inspiring moments.

It's a game I definitely have gripes with. The end is a weird trailing question mark that doesn't really know how to wrap up properly. Mother base is a vast hub that really doesn't serve enough of a purpose gameplay-wise. I miss David Hayter's performance as Snake. You can tell that the wheels of inspiration are starting to fall off of Metal Gear. It's a frustrating and brilliant game from a frustrating and brilliant auteur and I'm glad that Kojima is now free to work on other projects. But even though MGSV may be imperfect, it's a masterpiece in its own right, managing to both capture the magic of the previous classic games and chart its own path into the stealth-action genre that none have managed to match since. It's a final farewell to an amazing series that changed video games forever.

The open world of Metal Gear Solid V is rivaled only by the cities of the Grand Theft Auto series. This is open-world done right. Better than Far Cry. Better than Skyrim. As a fan of the series, I could not have been more pleased with this installment. I've played 111 hours so far and feel like there is still more fun to be had.

Some may find the gameplay a bit repetitive. Personally, I don't think I'll ever get tired of sneaking up on baddies and snappin' their necks, or setting off alarms at a distance just to watch everyone scramble around like ants in a kicked mound.

Master. Piece.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain presents one of the greatest instances of stealth-based gameplays. AI responses are very well-developed. Difficulty is not set a priori, but the game responds to the player’s most employed strategies. In this regard, although repetitive, this game is a masterpiece.

However, even though the story addresses social issues such as the harms imperialism and globalization cause to minorities, it does not hesitate in representing women's bodies simply as objects of men's desire. One may argue that the game offers an explanation for this poor representation choice, but that is just an attempt to hide the real reasons behind. Also, in some scenes, black children are portrayed as being completely submissive to a white child. There is no historical background whatsoever to support those kinds of depiction. The motivation is plain simple, although few are willing to address it.

Kojima is a great video game designer. But the time is ripe for us to demand a health attitude towards minorities. Video games are art, and as such, convey ideas and emotions. Therefore, game’s content must always be questioned and reviewed. Just then will we be able to achieve a respectful and inclusive gaming community.

Completed 71%. The only other Metal Gear game I have played is MGS3, so I have a bit of an unusual perspective for this game. I played this game for free on xbox live games for gold right after Ground Zeroes, and the game dragged on for a very long time. I am glad that it is over, but will also miss it. I followed the tutorials and used the basic starting gear, going pretty much full in on the stealth; scouting, marking, crawling around, hold ups, watching patrols and doing precise timing. Sometimes I use the tranq pistol, sometimes I used a silenced head shot, but rarely did I leave enemies alive to wake up later; I either fultoned them, killed them outright or beat stunned/unconscious enemies until they woke up and then slit their throats. I later got a sniper rifle and had fun with that; it especially came in handy with a suppressor. I used the horse and a jeep to get around and put emphasis on doing side ops first. Eventually I got a Russian APC with rocket launchers and that completely changed the game for me. Never mind sneaking around, I just killed everyone with the cannon. I lost it during the first battle against the giant Metal Gear for some reason even though I was not driving it. I think I had to look online to find out I could repeat side ops to get more, so I did that. I ended up losing a few more APCs for mysterious reasons. They were not destroyed, I guess the game just failed to auto extract them?

I tried to use one to defeat Quiet but it did not work very well; she was just too fast and I should have marked her. She could whittle down the APC over time so it was not like god mode. I ended up checking online the best way to win, and bombed her with knockout gas. Nice and easy. I used Quiet as my buddy for the rest of the game until she left. I hated the boss fights. The Skulls were a huge pain in the ass to fight; I ended up letting Quiet do most of the work while I ran around like mad trying to use bullets, grenades and air strikes to defeat them. Quiet beat 3 of the Skull snipers before going down herself, leaving me to fight the last in a one on one sniper rifle duel. I had a soviet tank by then and tried using it against the snipers, but it did not work so well. The man on fire fight was very annoying and took a few tries to figure out what to do. I tried to ram him into a pool of water with a jeep, but that kept failing. I finally got him by going into the pool and throwing grenades behind him until he fell in face first. I liked the tank better than the APC and later IFV. It was more maneuverable, the explosive shells could kill infantry from further away and it was pretty good against other armor. The only problem is the tank sucks against gunships, so I sometimes had to switch vehicles. It was pretty ridiculous how easy it was to sneak around in a tank and kill everyone without ever being spotted. The final boss fight against the Metal Gear was very hard and for some reason I kept having trouble with Snake wanting to reload the RPG instead of sprinting; I won mostly using the basic RPG, support chopper and a few air strikes. I then thought the game was over and that it was a fitting place to end. Nope chapter 2 started.

I really did not like having to repeat missions, especially the more difficult versions. Total Stealth was pretty much a joke with a tank though I still had to restart a few times. Subsistence was actually quite fun. The Extreme boss fights were not. The Skulls were even worse and it was even more of a frustrating mess of running around like mad trying not to be one shotted while Quiet did most of the work. I lost Quiet from her mission before the Extreme sniper battle and just drove past them in the tank. Screw that fight. My first attempt on the Extreme final boss got him to 50% health and it took several attempts to finally win. By this time I had replaced Quiet with D Walker and used the anti tank missiles for the boss combined with still the basic RPG, the pistol grenade launcher and the 7.2mm assault rifle. Never got a chance to risk any airstrikes. Shortly after getting that very first APC I had stopped going for side ops and only did them if they were near a main mission. After beating all missions I went and methodically completed every side op, which was very tedious. I had the most fun getting into tank vs tank battles as I drove circles around them. Honestly I would rather play an armoured combat vehicle simulator than a stealth game. It was at this point that I stopped using the old soviet tanks and switched to the magloader; it was totally not fair that the enemy magloader one shotted my soviet tank when the stats list the soviet as having better defense. It took an absurd amount of shots to defeat enemy armor too. As much fun as that was, most of the time I would crawl in, snipe the enemy snipers, fulton the armor, then call the support chopper to shoot down the enemy gunship. That was simply the most effective. Sometimes I used D Walker with a gatling gun to shoot down gunships, but it found it to be a bit iffy. I did not bother to do the shooting range side ops at mother base. Last thing I did was the side quest with Paz. I found out I can get Quiet back by repeating her original recruitment mission several times but I won’t bother.

I absolutely loved the cutscenes, cinematography, and core gameplay. What I did not like was how much of my time the game wasted with the helicopter getting on and off, driving around the same areas over and over to go to same places, and all the menu management at Mother Base. I gave up trying to manage the recruits to ensure an optimal distribution. At one point near the end I reached max capacity and had to fire a ton of people. I am missing multiple specialists but have no idea if I have them and they are not properly assigned; in particular the missile guidance guy so I can unlock the better rocket launchers and the damage resistance bionic arm. I kept sending guys out on combat missions and stuck to the relatively easy ones that give money and resources. I also fulton looted everything that was not nailed down and have a ridiculous stock of emplaced weapons and vehicles. My plan was to sell them at a profit, but the combat missions kept me rich. Never got invaded and never invaded anyone. Never tried Metal Gear Online and probably never will.

I did not care about optional mission objectives and ended up with: 1 S, 16 A, 23 B, 7 C, 1 D.

My PF rating is CC. Mother Base is maxed out and the free FOB is about 40% complete. I am not even close to having enough stupid premium currency to buy another FOB.

Hip weapon: Basic MRS 4 carbine at 5* customized with 40 round mag, sniper rifle stock, suppressor, red dot sight, 2X scope, flashlight, laser sight and foregrip.

Back weapon: M2000 sniper rifle at 5*, not customized. Bolt action, suppressed and one shot kill to the torso.

Side weapon: Tranq pistol at 4* with suppressor and customized with laser sight.

I certainly researched other weapons but rarely changed my set up. I used the sneaking suit, all the passive bionic arm upgrades, but never bothered with the secondary arm weapons. I took a full compliment of lethal and non lethal explosives and mines, but cut back on them for just doing side ops at the end to save money. Snake seems to be permanently drenched in blood as the showers seem not to help anymore. I would never want to start a new file and do the grind again, but I can see playing the main story missions again in the future. I don't care about S ratings.

8.0/10

Spoilers.

The story, the characters, the big reveal at the end - all completely inconsequential to the series. This is Kojima’s 3rd attempt at telling us the story of Big Boss. The ending of MGS3 explained why Big Boss turned to being a mercenary - his own country sacrificed his mentor - the Boss - under the guise of stopping a nuclear threat while the real reason was way less noble. Now he will only fight for himself, for what he believes in. Enter Outer Heaven, the country of mercenaries.

But before that there was Peace Walker, the Motherbase, Chico, Paz, singing robots, etc. Done. Now, finally enter Outer Heav... Wait, no, we have one more to go. Motherbase is destroyed so Snake has to build a new one and have his revenge.

So this was pretty disappointing, but this time gameplay is the main focus and that’s very good.

The mechanics are stellar, the AI is fun to play with and the gunplay is satisfying. No markers and no reflex result in a game of high tension and it’s some of the best stealth gameplay out there even 5 years later.

But it’s an open world game so progression is tied to finding new recruits, collecting currency and materials to build newer and more powerful weapons and equipment. The grind is honestly the worst thing in the game, it’s mobile game tier, minus the ads and the ability to buy currency for real money. That’s the payoff for having the game be open world, even though not all open world games have that much grind.

So that’s a bummer, the story is whatever, don’t care, but! The first half of the game is magical. It all clicks, infiltrating compounds and assassinating officers, stealing intel, rescuing prisoners, it’s engaging, it’s as open ended as possible: total assault or ghosting, the game allows everything. Then later some missions are recycled but it’s no big deal. As I said the core gameplay is fun enough to replay the levels but on a higher difficulty level this time.

For my second play through I just downloaded a mod to unlock all weapons, selected the optimal loadout and enjoyed myself.

To conclude: surely more development time would result in a more narratively coherent game but this has been in development for 5 years so I understand the decision to cut the unfinished parts and release it already.

It good, not great but good.

Metal Gear Solid 5 is pot pie.

Thats a strange analogy, but let me explain. I love pot pie, its one of my favorite foods. I like the flaky crust, the hot chicken melting in your mouth mixing with the carrots and peas. I eat it a lot. But i dont eat it every week, and i dont eat it every day.

Metal gear solid 5 is feeding you pot pie every day.

This game is quite possibly the most fun game i have ever played- with no hyperbole- but its just the SAME SHIT. over and over and over and over and over... in comparison to MGS4, which couldnt shut the fuck up even if it wanted to, here Kojima folded his hands and blushing like an anime girl said "FINE! YOU DONT LIKE PLOT? THEN YOU DONT GET ANY!" This game has naught but the ribcage of an existing story, tied along on a streak by cutscenes that are admittedly fantastic- still gorgeous today (in 2020) and directed with such a fervor and passion that was completely absent in 4. There is intrigue in this game- in the story, in the characters, the gameplay for sure, and the world. Each is done exceptionally well, yet each is somehow nearly completely blown and wasted in their own ways. The story is barebones and inconclusive, unsatisfying, the characters are all boring and act like they dont want to be here besides Kazuya (what the hell did they do to Revolver??? Hes so boring now!), the gameplay is so much fun, oh my god so much fun, but mindnumingly repetetive, and the world is open, vast, and creative, but we stay in there too long and even the most fun rollercoaster in the world gets boring after a while. This is a good game stuffed into the body of a fantastic game, and i wish it was as good as it seemed.

It's taken me a few weeks after beating Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain to collect my thoughts. It's been a roller coaster, but one that has (thankfully) come to a stop. Here is how I feel about Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain: It's a pretty descent open-world stealth action game, but a poor Metal Gear game.

From a gameplay perspective we've got a good game, here. Soliton radar from previous games hasn't been invented yet, but we've gotten an upgrade from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. You need to ”sight” enemies with binoculars before entering a situation. This places a little triangle above their heads permanently and allows you to track their movement. You have “buddies” that follow you around (like a dog who spots enemies for you, or a robot that you can ride in and mow down fools) making some of the nuances of breaking in to a facility or outpost somewhat trivialized. Once you upgrade your guns and accessories those looking for a bloodbath can have some fun. I'm no good at stealth, so I call in a helicopter to mow down the enemies (it almost always gets shot down, but kills many guards) and then I go in and clean up the trash. “Sniping” guys with an RPG is fun, too.

Konami has shoehorned in yet another mobile game style “recruit followers and build a base” that we've seen in Dragon Age: Inquisition, and World of Warcraft: Warlord of Draenor among other recent games. Here it makes a little more sense, as you're building your own PMC which is something that has been established in the series, but from a gameplay perspective it's just another “collect guys, send on missions, get more stuff” mechanic. Unlike some other games, though, the Mother Base and her recruits only function in in-game time. You can't turn the game off and come back later. I'm guilty of leaving the game on while cooking dinner to progress my Mother Base missions.

The game is pretty easy, if you were wondering. There's no more difficulty setting (sorry, “European Hardcore” players), but in order to get the “real” ending the game forces you to play certain missions over again on a preset harder difficulty. For example, a boss fight with a troop known as “The Skulls” is done a second time (and it suuuuuuuuucks).

“Missions?” you ask? Yes, MGSV operates on a mission basis. No longer will you be traversing a few sets in a linear fashion. There are two zones in the game: Africa and Afghanistan. Each has a series of bases and facilities that you'll be deploying to via helicopter. If you want you can just touch down without a mission and explore. There are some “side-ops” that yield fun results, but very few of the 150+ are that interesting. After completing missions you'll be heading back to a base (either Mother Base, or a helicopter that serves as a base) and choosing missions that way. The missions range from “go extract this guy” to “go extract that guy.” I'm kidding, but only slightly. Much of the game has you extracting prisoners, blowing up targets, or other odd-jobs that have no direct link to the story at hand.

And here we go. You got me started. Look, I enjoyed the two-hour-long cutscenes of Metal Gear Solid 4. Metal Gear Solid games have become part game part information dump. The games bombard you with information, very little of which you are understanding. Secret societies mixed with real history mixed with fake history mixed with United States government organization names. All of it is mental overload, but Hideo Kojima's information-ejaculation style has a purpose, even if he doesn't realize it: While playing a Metal Gear Solid game you believe that the story makes sense. Upon further examination of any game in the series you'll think otherwise, but these games are great at tricking you into thinking that their huge soap opera stories have a deeper meaning. All that being said, Metal Gear Solid V does not have this. There is barely any story. Sure, people say things to you, but very little of it has any bearing on what you're doing. Gone are the codec messages, in are cassette tapes that you unlock while playing. You can listen to these at your own leisure, either at a base or during gameplay. That's not a bad idea, but there's only enough cassette tape data to fill maybe ¼ of a normal Metal Gear Solid game. Again, those codec messages constantly interrupting your game served that information bombardment purpose I mentioned earlier. They kept you in the story. They reminded you that things were happening around you. Here, you go out on a mission, you save some nameless guy, and go back to base. Kaz Miller (I guess they changed his name? It used to be Macdonald Miller, and nobody has an answer as to why it changed) will say “great job, that guy was tied to an African organization dealing with oil production.” Well, OK, but what does that have to do with anything? And I hope you weren't looking forward to some light shedding on subjects in other games. MGSV exists seemingly in a vacuum. There's all this talk of oil when you reach the African area and my first thought was”Oilix! From Metal Gear 2 on NES! They're going to set it up!” NNNNNNOPE. Oh wait, didn't Gray Fox (then Frank Jager) meet Big Boss in Africa around the same time? Apparently not, because he never shows up. The story is a shame. There's nothing there. There's a little story about vocal cord parasites that is unimaginably stupid. They explain the magic powers of the bosses from MGS3 with parasites, too.

One last gripe about the story. They treat Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker like a real entry to the series. They reference scenes and characters assuming you've played it. I sure as Hell didn't. Go ahead and read up on Peace Walker, or watch “Peace Walker The Movie” on YouTube. It'll help.

I do have to add that after the “first” ending some more missions open up and you can get another true ending. What happens in this ending is actually kind of interesting, and has come cool implications for the series. Maybe. I don't know, because it was revealed and then never expounded upon. I don't want to spoil it, but it was the only part of the whole game that I felt was distinctly “Metal Gear.” It's crazy. The twist is kind of big, implausible, and kind of fundamentally stupid but simultaneously cool. This is the foundation Metal Gear as a series is built upon. Fundamentally stupid but kind of cool.

If this game necessary for fans of the series? Sure, I guess so. It might even be more enjoyable for those who are new to the series. Without the expectations that other Metal Gear Solid games have set, perhaps Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain would have been more fulfilling.

Oh and I have nothing to say about the online gameplay or FOBs (Forward Opertating Bases). I beat the game on PS4 before the online servers were fixed. This also means I wasn't able to import my Ground Zeroes data, so I don't know what that does. I never once had a chance to go online, and I don't plan to now.