It's night in Afghanistan, as the soldier known as Big Boss surveys a Russian outpost from afar. Soldiers, searchlights, and machine gun emplacements pepper the settlement, making his mission to rescue a prisoner held there even more difficult. The question is: what approach should the legendary soldier take? Should he employ C4 explosives as a distraction, luring the guards away from their charge – or maybe use his trusty tranquiliser gun to put everyone to sleep? What about waiting for a sandstorm to blow through so that he can get in and out unseen?
During the opening hours of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, we went through this thought process a number of times, loving every minute as we planned and executed – with varying degrees of success – incursions against the Russian troops infesting the Afghan landscape. The addition of an open world – at least in the relatively short amount of time spent with the game so far – appears to have blown the Metal Gear Solid gameplay wide open, making any of the more expansive areas found in the previous games look like linear corridors by comparison.
After a bloody opening chock full of the trademark craziness that you'd expect from the mind of Hideo Kojima, the scene's set for a tale of revenge, as Big Boss builds up the military force he needs to exact his retribution for the tragic events of Ground Zeroes. The hours that follow, however, feel like a big deviation from what you might call the "Metal Gear Solid formula", with the story taking a back seat to the open world gameplay.
That's not to mean that there isn't any plot to absorb, with plenty of tape recordings available right from the start to help set the scene and add colour to the world. These play out like the conversations that you would've had via your codec in previous games, and it feels like a clever decision to separate these out on their own, allowing you to listen to them at your own pace, which stops them from getting in the way of you actually playing the game.
Whether this gameplay focus will run through the rest of the game remains to be seen, and who knows if it'll be to the taste of the Metal Gear faithful. That said, it's safe to assume that everyone will agree that this is the best playing title in the series yet. The controls feel precise and intuitive, and you never feel like you're fighting to pull off any of the badass moves at your disposal – whether you're choking out guards or engaged in a frenetic fire fight against a platoon of Russian Infantry.
As mentioned before, you have a lot of paths open to you as to how you can approach your early assignments, and even with your initially limited toolset – you don't even start with your trusty cardboard box – you'll spend ample time pondering how you want to complete your objective. Whatever route you decide, though, it's the personal stories that come out of your escapades that are the real delight.
In only these few hours, we've been pursued as we rode our horse in a mad dash to meet an extraction chopper, been hunted by enemy patrols in the dark as they used flares fired from a mortar to try and illuminate our hiding spot, and planted C4 all over an enemy base – completely undetected – before blowing it sky high. These are our stories, though, so when the game finally releases it'll be great to see gamers go to town working out the most insane ways of completing each mission.
With a massive area of Afghanistan to explore, the first thing that strikes you about the map is that unlike most other open worlds it isn't overrun with icons showing side activities you can try your hand at. There are no races or towers to climb – well, at least not yet – so if you want some time out from the main story missions there's an ever expanding range of side-ops to explore. These missions are much more varied than the distractions found in your normal open world game, and while some are short, others take a good hour to complete, with a number even providing a nice reward in the form of a weapon blueprint or a new recruit for your mercenary group.
The range of gear that you can take into battle starts to expand when you begin researching them back at Mother Base – your offshore base of operations. To do this you need to recruit new team members from the battlefield – by knocking them out and having them picked up by your support team – and collecting resources which act as a currency for buying any new guns or items. At any time while out in the field you can switch your team members between various work groups or kick-off research and construction projects from a handy menu system – even returning to Mother Base so that you can take a tour of your growing facility. However, this early in the game there doesn't seem to be much of reason to head home unless you fancy a time out from sneaking around a warzone.
With only four per cent completion after hours spent in the boots of Big Boss, it's safe to assume that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is going to be a lengthy experience. Fortunately, with plenty of smart design decisions and spot-on controls, the frustrations you always accepted in the past from the series are, as yet, nowhere to be found. Whether the changes to the structure of the game and the de-emphasised story pleases everyone will remain to be seen, but what is clear is that Kojima has – at least at first glance – delivered an open world game Metal Gear Solid style.
Have you got your bionic arm on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain yet? What are your impressions so far? Are you eagerly awaiting next week's official release? Sneak into the comments section below.
Comments 49
Thanks for the great write up, @AlexStinton.
feels like everyone has this game but me
@Ash_uk1 I feel the same. I REALLLLLYYY want to buy it but am resisting due to finances. Starting to struggle though as I've played MGS since I was 13...... Meanwhile people I know who normally slate MGS as a series are buying this on launch.
Very happy with it so far, started using the decoys yesterday - they are a brilliant addition.
Also I'm blown away by the graphics, there is certainly some pop in but you barely notice it against the glorious high-res backdrops and 60fps game play. It just lets you get on and enjoy playing the game.
Lol, what's frank 'ooh betty' Spencer doing in that jeep with snake?
It frustrates me that so many people who have rejected Metal Gear before are all over it.. Not only that but they have copies already and I don't how is this fair? Been a fan pretty much my entire life so I am way too pumped for it. I feel that if you're going to be playing this one you should check out the others too..
Good read, however it could do with some heavy edits... e.g. "First Impressions: Is Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain on PS4 the Best Game Yet?" and a simple "yes"...
I've sunk over 20 hours in already
@Cron_13 Good aint it. There I was wondering how to get past a small outpost undetected when a sandstorm rolled in and I trotted past hanging off the side of my horse. Loved it.
@kyleforrester87 yep so many good gameplay moments like that! I love how you can approach missions in so many different ways.
Excited to pick this up on Tuesday!
I wanna try the game but it seems like a game I'd suck at. Plus I've only played 2 previous metal gear games so I feel ill be lost story wise
I'm hoping my store decides to give it out a day early. I wanna play it so bad! 😩
My hardcover strategy guide just arrived from Amazon :s since when did they deliver Sunday's?
My copy arrived yesterday. The only thing I don't like about it so far is how the missions are ranked. Spend too long exploring or experimenting and you'll get a worse rank. Time does seem to be the most critical factor. You can kill everything in sight in a bloodthirsty rampage and you'll still get an S-rank as long as you complete the objective quickly.
So far every bit of gameplay has counted as being on a mission, even the linear and highly cinematic prologue. I'm guessing as it goes on you can just explore the areas in a kind of free mode, but my experience so far has kind of been tainted by clock-watching and the sense that everything I'm dong is being ranked.
Oh, I just noticed that the original MGS is now #3 on the EU PSN charts for best user ratings. I guess a lot of people are refreshing their memories (even though V is set decades before...) or just getting impatient. Hopefully it continues to climb and dethrones that Miku game.
It sounds like it's very lengthy, OPM UK played 23 hours and only had 25% completion. They didn't put a score down for there review, instead waiting for the next issue.
The answer is yes, since its on PC, this MGS will be the best looking and playing game in the entire series.
@NomNom It's set before the majority of the other games.
The storyline order is MGS3, Peace Walker, MGSV, MG1, MG2, MGS1, MGS2, MGS4. You could get the Legacy Collection for PS3 or you could just watch cutscene videos for MGS3 and PW on YouTube. That said, even if you have played all the previous games the whole opening is crazy as hell.
I feel like I'm the only one not excited for this game. I know the series is really huge but it just not for me. I'm going to be one of the few people getting Mad Max instead.
@Splat Your not, I have told everyone about this game, everyone, even the 70 year old woman who sits behind the desk at the post office - she doesn't want the game either.
As for the game, I wish my kids would go to sleep I need my fix. Gonna go back and rescue a certain someone again, I couldn't find him last time for ages and want to better my score - what's the plan Loud? Crawl? Truck? Distract? 🚬? Or Snipe? Nahh climb in through the back and Fulton hell yeah!!!
@themcnoisy - She's probably getting Mad Max too. Old ladies love them some Max.
@themcnoisy Interrogate some guards and you'll usually get told where to find someone!
@Matroska I kind of get what you mean but chasing the S rank is for the end game. As it stands I think the best way to play is to take your time and try to stealth things, then if it all goes wrong instead of loading a check point try to make the best of it with what you have. Might just be me but I can't say I'm feeling much pressure to complete the missions fast.
@Ash_uk1 I'm not too far ahead mate you will catch up in no time. I'm just gonna say its brilliant like MGS 2+3 I'm thinking about ideas all the time to get into bases.
@kyleforrester87 I killed the linguist thinking he was an enemy everyone I hold up is Russian.
@Splat haha nice one 😊
@themcnoisy ahh can you rerun the mission? :s
@Splat I almost forgot Mad Max comes out the same day...They should have post poned the release by a month and i'd have bought it lol.
@NomNom I always thought they would delay Mad Max until I finally figured out about a week ago it releases on the same day as the DVD of the new movie, so I'm guessing they were going for synergy with the advertising.
So how different is the PS3 from the PS4 version considering I don't care about sharing on YouTube or whereever? Should I wait until I get a PS4 someday or give this a whirl now? I'm not all that concerned about the graphical improvements, PS3 looks just fine to me.
@rjejr Based on my experience with GZ on ps3 and ps4, they are the same, only difference is graphics. Which is a huge gap if you ask me. But if you really dont mind the graphics then no dramas.
@rjejr If graphics/frame rates don't concern you I would just go with the PS3 version.
I haven't seen any comparisons between the two so im not sure how different they look/play.
To be honest, I think the PS4 will get a price drop the Christmas anyway.
As much as I want MGSPP I would rather wait for Fallout 4 and just enjoy the games I already own, like The Witcher 3, Elder Scrolls Online and Batman Arkham Knight.
I also have MGS1, MGS 2, MGS 3, MGS 4 I want to work through first and most of them are on my beloved Vita.
The only game I will buy this month will be SOMA which I have been waiting for since E3 2013.
There are far too many top games due out so close together and I just hope it doesn't hurt sales to much.
I have a feeling that some of those games that don't get picked up on release will be bought pre owned which is a shame as only the stores will see that money and the devs won't see a penny.
Trouble is games these days games cost a ridiculous amout of money to make and the pre owned market may seriously effect the profits which will also effect future games being made by the developers that lose out to said markets.
Every other week studios are closing there doors because of the ever rising costs involved in making games. Maybe this is one of the resons of the rise of indies and remasters.
@NomNom heres an idea get the game. Everybody is poor at first you will learn. Im a fan of series but what i did was get on youtube the night before and watched the metal gear solid 3 movie. Do that for an insight into the story and its a good watch anyway basically all the scenes stitched together. Theres one for all the games.
Ive had 5 now since saturday. Got lucky i guess lol love it ive played 16 hours and its epic. Such good gameplay and when you learn to use all the tools at your disposal ( of which i still have soooo many to research and buy ) the game gets seriously addictive.
Somehow I've managed 30 hours on this, only done about 9 main missions and 9 side ops, easy to kill time collecting resources and sending combat groups on deployments for extra cash. The casssette tapes are a great addition too, really fill in the gap left by the lack of codec.
@kyleforrester87 Mission 6 is brilliant - its a long trek up north and the level for me turned into a mass shootout of epic proportions.
To anyone who is not getting this game - Its my game of the year so far.
But I do hope there's a small patch to stop guards going on alert for no reason occasionally. Anyone else witnessed that?
@themcnoisy Is that not down to a body being found or guard not radioing in?
I dont know just speculating.
I think Im not too far from the truth by saying that open world gameplay is what many fans have been asking for.
I cant count the times Ive thought, "if I could only get over that fence or through that building".
I love the little things about the game, like collecting the music tapes and then choosing one to play on the helicopter when you arrive at a mission or back at mother base...europe-the final countdown is blasting from my chopper at the moment
Is ground zero included in this game?
@ToOGoodOfAPlaya I literally just entered the area and they were already alerted. It was a glitch as I got mullered by a chopper and had to restart from the checkpoint. At that point the guards were fine and talking to each other.
It feels really weird saying this, but I'm passing on the game for now. Il grab it in the dead of winter most likely unless fallout has taken complete control of my life like most Bethesda games, but for some reason I'm not feeling that itch. Seems weird considering how many countless hours of my youth were spent with metal gear. I'm glad it's turning out to be something special, but that itch...it's just not there. Yet.
This game is amazing and I am having a blast playing it. Entering a base, planting C4 on all coms towers and setting them off without even being noticed. Fun times
@themcnoisy no problems like that for me, you sure it wasn't a guard waking up or something? Lol
It is a truely magical game. Hardly got far into the game so far (5%) yet I've chalked up hours and hours f just taking it all in, finding a high spot to look over a camp and just working out several routes and escape routes.
Last night I spent 75 minutes slowly luring every guard out of a biggish camp, making each one come to a portaloo, then knocking each one out and fultoning, then having a free base to run around in and blow up the comms.
Just a stunning game.
@kyleforrester87 Thanks. And to support any perceived paranoia - Godzilla on PS3 is single player only, Godzilla on PS4 has multiplayer and more monsters, so I'm waiting on that one.
I'm hoping some of the other Metal Gear games get rereleased again
@Splat Yup, I'm with you. Mad max for me too
@superstu I am about 5% in and have been playing this since Saturday as it got delivered early! I got my first S rank and now feel like replaying all the early missions earning S, before moving on to the rest of the story.
Does the Day One Edition mean that it will no longer be available once retailers have sold out their initial batch/stock?
I do hate Afghanistan environment to spend hours on it, I do prefer stages like MGS4, anyway playing it for like 3 hours and seems to be a good game.
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