Metal Gear Solid V - The Phantom Pain
If we're going to talk about MGS, I think I have to talk about where I sit in terms of the series. I ... LOVE ... METAL GEAR! I actually missed the craze that was Metal Gear Solid, instead starting with Sons Of Liberty, but with the amount of references to the previous 3 games, I went back and played MGS.
Now, if you go back and play those games now after having gotten used to modern games, at times they feel unplayable - the camera is awful, the controls are backwards (this is actually true as they have the original standard Japanese layout for the buttons, which is switched for the rest of the world normally), the menus are clunky and your character generally handles horribly. Even at the time, the gameplay wasn't all that great but for one saving grace - the boss fights. But I digress ...
I think what we have in the case of the MGS series is a creator ahead of his time - Hideo Kojima has always been ambitious in his attempts to bring the ideas of the franchise to life. He is credited with bringing the Stealth genre into being, changing the way we think about gaming from all-out action to doing pretty much everything we can (including hiding in a cardboard box) to actively avoid it. This statement is even more paradoxical when you realise you do all this despite playing as the either the greatest solider ever, or his clone, or someone being moulded into becoming a copy of the clone of the greatest soldier ever - confused yet? Welcome to Metal Gear.
Kojima has always tried to push boundaries, introduce innovative new ways to solve problems and make players think outside the box of "run-and-gun" gaming. From changing controller ports to fool a telepath to being able to trick and engross guards with girly magazines, these are features that take someone with a let's just say different world view to come up with.
The core gameplay of Metal Gear has always been one of claustrophobia - tightly packed, linear levels with just enough hiding spots to sneak through without being detected. Even in later editions, such as MGS3, where the world was opened up more, all routes lead to the same end which gave the games a tight focus and the ability to tell a story. And boy, did it do that. One of the main complaints from a lot of people was that the games felt more like interactive movies than actual video games. But here is where I think those people have missed the point.
If you want a game with OTT action that you can lose yourself in and don't have to think about too much, buy an FPS or GTA. Metal Gear is about the journey that our characters go through. When you play through GTA-San Andreas, do you really care about Big Smoke? And yet, when I played MGS for the time, I found myself caring about Sniper Wolf after her final battle, wanted to know if Otacon was OK whilst I was sneaking around, was wondering just what Ocelot's motivations really were. And that's where this franchise was brilliant - it made you think and it kept you on your toes.
Now, I could go into all the finite details about why MGS is the best game and yet why MGS4 is my favourite, but that's not the point here. I am going to state right now that I think Metal Gear Solid V - The Phantom Pain is probably the best game of the year. However, I also think that it is towards the bottom of the league in terms of Metal Gear games and hears why ... the story is weak. Now, I'm not going to give away any spoilers (or at least I will try not to) but some things need to be said.
So taking MGS open-world was a big step and a risky departure from the tested formula. And whilst from a gameplay point of view it is amazing, I don't think that it helps with the rich and convoluted lore that has been established over 8 previous games. The ability to tackle missions in different orders is quite cool, allowing you to develop weapons to tackle problems that you can't solve without them, but it doesn't help drive the story. In fact, my biggest criticism of the game would be the LACK of cut-scenes or having to go back to the Mother Base randomly just to trigger one in order to progress - this, from a franchise that has been slated in the past for it's overly drawn out cut-scenes and story sections.
When GTA5 came out, Kojima stated something along the lines of it leaving him in a state of awe but it also made him sad because it was just so good, so big. I think what happened after that was 2 years of development to try and make Gran Theft Gear Solid. Don't get me wrong, the freedom that you have to try and take on missions anyway you want is awesome but it just doesn't feel like Metal Gear. If you were spotted in previous games, you had 2 choices - run or die - because the game would send more and more enemies after you, and you were on your own against an entire army. But now, even if you get spotted, there's no real urgency to get out of dodge because you have massive offensive capabilities. Although the game still wants you to play stealth, it does not punish you for not doing it that like other games did.
Metal Gear Solid 1-4 had a huge "anti-war" message and actually rewarded players for NOT killing. In fact, you could only get the best rank of "Big Boss" by completing the game without taking a single life. The difficulty lay not with the bad camera or clunky controls but in learning guard patterns and finding ways around having to spare a random soldier's existence. MGSV seems to have sacrificed this and the plot for a more guns-blazing style to win over a new generation that apparently have no patience. The best rankings are gained not by careful, methodical stealth play but by pure speed and damn the rest of the game mechanics.
And therein lies the main problem - the story. It just seems unfinished. So far I have put nearly 100 hours into the game, and yet I yearned for the usual 2-6 hours play through of the past. I think Kojima was infected with the "extra content" bug that has wormed it's way into all AAA games these days - if you re-hash a setting with a slightly different objective or get the player to collect some stupid random items hidden all over, it will make them feel like the game is HUGE. I'm sorry, but all these things do is make me NOT want to get them all. I bought the game because I wanted to know what made Big Boss go from where Peace Walker ended to how he came to be commander of FoxHound at the same time as operating Outer Heaven in Metal Gear. While the game does, kind of answer this, it's almost feels like a tacked on after thought. The ending is just so abrupt and left me thinking WTF that I have to go online to try and make sense of it. In trying to retcon his ideas, I think Kojima just said "Ah, f**k it, this will do" and gave up trying to make the story fit.
And I think that takes me back to an earlier point - I have come to care about these characters, I've read and learnt about their stories and this was the missing piece between the Big Boss story and that of Solid Snake. But the problem is, it doesn't really answer much. It's just an excuse to play as Big Boss running around the various maps. There is no real progression of the overall story that we don't already know (bar some massive spoilers that in true MGS/Kojima fashion make very little sense). If you know the lore of MGS, this game tries had to not contradict itself but in my eyes just makes things messier in a series that is known for not making that much sense to begin with.
In summary, I would say - BUY IT! You will enjoy the game and find yourself engrossed and replaying missions to get better rankings and better staff for Mother Base. But if you love Metal Gear, don't read too much into it.
