Metal Gear Solid V the Phantom Pain Review
As information technology was in the start, so shall it be in the end.
The Metallic Gear series has always delivered circuitous plots, with unexpected twists and revelations altering your perception of people and events you thought you understood. Though Metallic Gear Solid V: The Phantom Hurting continues this tradition, the majority of its plot focuses on the events at hand. Fans of the series will detect their diligence rewarded in ways that newcomers can't begin to imagine, only such loyalty and cognition isn't a prerequisite. Superlative-notch cinematography and voice interim echo--and at times exceed--contemporary standards for film and TV, carrying extraordinary characters into the realm of believability. Though y'all volition cross a few elements in the globe that illicit a chuckle, there'due south very little humour in The Phantom Pain's story; the dark themes and subject area thing like disenfranchised youth being forced into gainsay call for a serious tone, after all. The gravity of the game's encounters leaves you on the border of your seat, with a racing pulse.
As Big Boss, the leader of a private military group The Diamond Dogs, you lot become behind enemy lines to carry out recon and assassination contracts, as well equally infiltrate the hideouts of your enemies. These include world powers and military leaders, many of whom work in the shadows. The Phantom Hurting mixes historical events from the 1980s with a pinch of James Bond villainy and an exciting dollop of sci-fi dressing. There are times when it feels grounded in reality, simply there are likewise just as many moments when it goes off the deep-end to peachy effect. Incommunicable technology and super-homo abilities back-trail almost every beat of the story. These oddities surprise you and instill wonder in the crazy, mixed-up world that you're meant to salvage.
Metal Gear Solid V: Footing Zeroes gave the states a taste of the series' new mechanics, which feel as excellent now as they did then, but the freedom of option in Footing Zeroes pales in comparison to the possibilities that await yous in The Phantom Pain. Instead of roaming around a small base equally in Ground Zeroes, you have the freedom to explore entire countrysides. You crawl, walk, and sprint to and fro, and each action feels spot on thanks to responsive controls that shed the strong nature that plagued some of the before games in the series. You can even larn to climb up cliff faces, instilling a refreshing sense of verticality. You don't e'er take to sneak, and in some cases, you must attack head-on. Both types of scenarios instill a nerve-wracking sense of tension that either gives manner to crushing defeat, or a resounding sense of victory.
You also take the opportunity to react on the fly in numerous ways when spotted by an enemy. The game's Reflex systems gives you a momentary advantage as time slows down, allowing you to pinpoint the perfect head shot. If you're quick enough, you can dive out of your enemy's sightline, curlicue onto your back, and fire from the footing, all before alerting others in the vicinity. If you desire something really challenging, this can exist disabled at any time. The Phantom Hurting encourages yous to be active, but you have more than enough tools to tip the scales in your favor. If you call up all is lost, you tin also call in an airstrike, though information technology's only suitable for some missions and will limit your ranking at the stop of the mission, and thus the rewards y'all receive.
One mission in item put all of my skills and tools to utilise, and stands out equally a perfect example of how playing The Phantom Pain is such an engrossing and varied experience. While searching for a secret weapon developed by the United states government, I had to infiltrate a serial of caves in the Afghan countryside. The problem: there's a heavily guarded expanse in front of the caves. Fifty-fifty worse: the caves are like a maze that's near impossible to navigate logically. In order to acquire the weapon, I had to sneak through the shadows, creep upward to soldiers and incapacitate them 1 by i, without alerting guards near the mouth of the cave. They held a prisoner who knew where the weapon was subconscious. Throwing empty bullet cartridges to distract them, I choked out the guard in the rear, and then followed adapt to his friend in the front. The prisoner spoke the local natural language, but because I had previously captured an interpreter who was listening over my radio, I was able to sympathise his instructions. I then searched the caves, inch by inch, taking out threats until I found the weapon. Afterwards, I charged out, hoping for freedom, but I was confronted by never-before-seen enemies that couldn't be taken down with conventional weaponry. I was initially ordered not to use the weapon by the person who gave me the contract, but I had no pick just to smash my fashion out while I ran to freedom. It was an exhilarating mission that I won't before long forget every bit it took every ounce of skill I had to move in undetected, and and so it bombarded me with a full-on action sequence that fueled a massive rush of adrenaline. Thankfully, there are plenty like it to go effectually.
Your tools, though optional, are so varied and interesting that you lot'll want to explore them out of marvel, if not necessity. Y'all take a prosthetic arm, for example, that can be configured in multiple means. Consider the Sonar upgrade, which allows you to punch the ground, sending out a shockwave that pinpoints nearby enemies for a short period of time. You besides accept numerous weapons to choose from, which have slight variations that make subtle merely important differences. If you prefer low recoil in your machine gun, there's an option for that, but you may desire to consider the grenade launcher attachment, considering you lot never know when a tank might coil into boxing.
Your mission in The Phantom Pain is twofold: build a military forcefulness costless from the whims of bigoted world powers, and destroy those who wish to have advantage of fractured global politics for their own selfish ideals. There are numerous sub-plots within, and during your long and extensive journey, you face topics rarely seen in gaming: torture, child soldiers, and the human cost of nuclear proliferation. The Phantom Pain depicts such bailiwick-matter head-on but presents them with unveiled brutality, reminding you that any order nosotros know today came at the cost of someone else's freedom and happiness.
The Phantom Pain'south story missions are enthralling, and carry you forward at an even pace for virtually of the game, but over 100 side-operations besides vie for your attention. In that location's so much to exercise that I often wondered if I'd ever consummate it all, but at the same time, I was pleased to know that the open-world ever had more for me to do beyond the principal story missions. It'due south a game that lavishes in tugging your attention in multiple directions, but as you lot mull over which prescribed missions to undertake, you more often than not find emergent scenarios that serve equally the tertiary pillar of The Phantom Pain'southward open up-world gameplay experience. Both Africa and Afghanistan are replete with pocket-sized military outposts, massive compounds, and threats from nature--all opportunities for action and advantage. An outpost may comprise a vehicle worth stealing, or a soldier that will provide useful information if you can quietly detain and interrogate him.
Success in The Phantom Pain isn't just measured by getting from point A to point B, or by defeating a notorious bad guy. Remember, you're trying to build a private army. While disarming enemy troops to join your ranks would require good coercion in the real world, in The Phantom Pain, y'all simply adhere a balloon to your new friend's waist, and they float into the arms of an awaiting chopper. Information technology'due south a ridiculous concept, but 1 that is satisfying because information technology feeds into Big Boss's goal of expansion and provides the player with more resources and, thus, tools and options to work with. Of course, dead soldiers aren't good to anybody, so you're motivated to tread carefully--and quietly-- to incapacitate your enemies without raising alarm in order to capture your casualty alive. Moving undetected has forever been a colonnade of the Metal Gear series, but it feels far more tense in the wild, open up-world of The Phantom Pain, where a hungry coyote tin upset your mission simply as easily as an unseen enemy. Unlike previous Metal Gear games, many of which placed players in enclosed spaces, a threat can come from miles away and appear next to you lot when you lot least expect it. Cypher is confined, and no place is safe.
All of your difficult piece of work capturing soldiers, in addition to resources, wildlife, and vehicles, pays off back at Mother Base of operations, your offshore sanctum. Hither, soldiers you've captured can be assigned to different research fields. Information technology's important to organize them properly considering soldiers excel in different pursuits, and their skills allow y'all to unlock new weapons and applied science for you lot and Mother Base. As you add soldiers to different research factions, their ability points add upwardly, and you lot earn new levels of proficiency in those fields. In one case your team hits certain levels, and you possess the right amount of materials that you source from the field, you and then earn the right to develop new equipment. There are dozens of items and pieces of equipment to unlock, and y'all may spend upward of 100 hours searching for pinnacle-notch recruits and gathering resources while infiltrating enemy bases if you hope to unlock them all, merely you can also narrow your focus to items that accommodate your item play style if y'all prefer to sneak--rather than smash--your mode behind enemy lines. Ultimately, y'all could also play with the blank minimum, just your job is easier and more varied when you carry new technology and abilities into battle. The bigger the base, the more than soldiers you lot can support, and the faster you can move development forward, so it'due south a relief that the resource recovery system is integrated so seamlessly into The Phantom Pain. At one point, you can even send troops out on missions to fulfill contracts and gather resources, allowing you to focus on the more important tasks at mitt.
Y'all lookout Female parent Base expand over the course of the game, from a single platform to a drove of platforms, connected by bridges that take over a minute to cantankerous past machine. At that place are some minor activities to appoint in while on base, but being there feels like home, costless from the threats that surround you during missions. Staring out over the ocean gives you a moment of solace from the horrible events that environs you on the battleground, and yous go a like feeling when riding into battle, seated on the edge of a chopper. With the camera behind Big Dominate, creating a potent silhouette against the outside earth, you experience something yous're rarely afforded in video games, self reflection.
Once on land, deep thoughts take a backseat equally you charge into battle. Yous oft demand to cover large tracts of land to become to your objective, and while running on foot is surprisingly enjoyable, with the sound of swishing fabric and pounding footsteps lending credence to your virtual trek, y'all eventually earn the correct to call in a ship, be information technology a horse, a truck, or even a pocket-sized robotic Walker, which is equally charming and expressive as R2-D2 from Star Wars. The Walker and your horse are known as Buddies, and for the majority of missions, you lot can have one with you. Buddies aren't limited to transportation assistants, either. If you play your cards right, you tin also take a canis familiaris into boxing that will sniff out and distract enemies. Later on, you have the option to larn a human companion, who ultimately becomes the most useful sidekick of the bunch thanks to their unrivaled sneakiness. Metal Gear has always been about fighting solo, merely one of the reasons The Phantom Pain excels is because it bucks that trend. The new open world and the Buddy system add welcome layers of depth that ultimately gear up The Phantom Pain'south gameplay apart from other games in the series.
Information technology's difficult to split up The Phantom Hurting from its legacy, because the story hither precedes the very first game in the series, 1987'due south Metallic Gear. Metal Gear games never come in sequence, either, so while this is a pseudo prequel to the original game, it's also the missing affiliate in the middle of the entire timeline. Nosotros know what's come earlier, and we know what happens later on, but the middle, where Large Boss undergoes an important transformation, has been a mystery until now. Though The Phantom Pain'southward story is impressive plenty to enjoy on its own, when linked to other games in the series its importance is elevated for fans who have followed the journey for the concluding three decades. It delivers on its promise, revealing how Big Boss came to exist the man many people know him to be, only the path is i nobody could have seen coming. Getting to this role of the story takes fourth dimension, and requires patience. In the lead up to the finale, yous demand to spend an hour or two replaying older missions on a higher difficulty setting in order to unlock the final story missions. This is the merely aspect of The Phantom Pain that feels off. The gameplay is near impeccable, and the story and characters are captivating, making for an experience that'south unlike whatever other game I've played, but this part of the Phantom Pain felt mundane.
Fortunately, that moment is fleeting. The Phantom Pain's final strokes cast deep, dark shadows over the world. Woe and despair fill up your centre, simply you lot can't look away and you must act. Your actions don't align with your desires, but your hands are tied. For anyone just joining the tale of Big Boss with The Phantom Hurting, the conclusion of these events will leave you with plenty to think about. The matter you tried the hardest to fight ultimately proved to be in consequence the whole time, and the relationships you made and fought for along the way are impacted equally a result, including your human relationship with your identity every bit a military leader. Everything is questionable, and nothing is as it seems. For fans of the series, the ultimate payoff is one that answers questions, only likewise one that raises unforeseen implications.
Afterwards dozens of hours sneaking in the clay, choking out enemies in silence, and bantering with madmen who wish to cleanse the earth, The Phantom Hurting delivers an impactful finale befitting the journey that preceded information technology. Information technology punches yous in the gut and tears open up your middle. The high-quotient cutscenes, filled with breathtaking shots and rousing speeches, tease y'all along the way. Your fight in the vast, cute, and unsafe open up world gives you a sense of purpose. The story is dished out in morsels, and so you'll accept to work for the full meal, but it's hard to phone call it "piece of work" when controlling Large Boss feels so good, with then many possibilities at your fingertips.
Every fan of Metal Gear has their favorite game in the serial. For some, it's the unique gameplay quirks, memorable set pieces, or specific plot points that dictate their admiration for one game over another. When defining the best Metal Gear game, things go trickier, but with The Phantom Pain, that problem is finally resolved. There has never been a game in the series with such depth to its gameplay, or so much volume in content. The best elements from the past games are here, and the new open up-world gameplay adds more to love on top. When it comes to storytelling, there has never been a Metal Gear game that'south and so consistent in tone, daring in subject thing, and then captivating in presentation. The Phantom Pain may exist a contender for i of the best action games always made, but is undoubtedly the all-time Metal Gear game there is.
Editors note: This story volition be updated on September i with a video review composed of never-earlier-seen footage. We will too update the review with analysis of the game's online components at a later date.
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Source: https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/metal-gear-solid-v-the-phantom-pain-review/1900-6416224/
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