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Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is long-awaited, but has arrived not quietly and all stealth-like, but instead has kicked the door in and demanded you show it some love. The question is… does it deserve it?
I’m about to commit sacrilege to all the MGS fans, but after finishing and loving the first Metal Gear Solid on PS one I fell out of love with the PS2 Sons of Liberty due to the endless cut scenes and back and forth codec messages. I came back to the series on PSP with Metal Gear Acid. Not the game to renew my interest. My mistake, having not done my research I didn’t take to the turn-based strategy game play.
I dabbled with Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance on PS3, but that was a different style of game with a different main protagonist. (Raiden) Looking for some much needed quality games I picked up Metal Gear Collection on PS Vita but the action felt so stiff and dated. These games didn’t manage to reignite my interest either. I don’t know, I just felt stealth games had moved on for me. I had experienced Assassins Creed 2 or even Batman Arkham Asylum in the meantime, which permitted me to choose stealth or wade in if I wanted.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Gameplay Walkthrough Part 1 – MKIceAndFire
Ok, it’s 2015 and I missed Ground Zeroes having read it had a short-lived story It just presented another reason not to return to the series at the time. That game sits in my Xbox live and PSN games collection. It was a canny decision to allow Ground Zeroes to become free to monthly subscribers on the two big consoles. It’s the prequel, after all, and can be considered a small taster of what to anticipate in The Phantom Pain.
Anyone who is a devotee of the series has already bought this they will have had it on pre-order and they are already in Hideo Heaven. I’m reviewing this as somebody who finished the first Metal Gear Solid on PS One and never reached those heights of excitement since.
Thus, as I wait in anticipation, a cut-scene greets me. 3 cut-scenes later and I’m still expecting some action. We’re not off to a great start, here.
Fortunately the back and forth codec tennis you once had to suffer has gone, replaced by tapes that you can listen to when you choose rather than forced to sit them out, even if the characters do rudely talk over them while you’re attempting to glean intel or background info while listening to them.
Ah, but when the action finally does kick off, it’s relentless while you attempt to flee a hospital you wake up in after being in a 9-year coma. In fact, the amount of action Snake sees in the first 30 minutes of the game, I’m guessing he wishes he’d remained in the coma. There are a couple of insta-deaths during the first few minutes of the game which feel cheap, but at least you can correct your mistake on the second attempt rather than it being a frustrating experience that you have you re-visiting the same scene again and again. This is good news as each death kicks in an annoying loading screen as you begin again where you left off.
Go to page 2 for more thoughts on the game.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Gameplay Walkthrough Part 2 – MKIceAndFire
I’m all about the Games and Gadgets. Rumoured to have been born with a mobile phone in his hand. (It’s not true. It was a Gameboy) You want to know more about my business? You better invest in it then hadn’t you.