| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| PlayStation 4 | 9.80 |
| Overall | 9.80 |
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Once in awhile a landmark game comes around which sets a new standard for a genre. The Metal Gear series has been the most popular stealth game but it always had the stigma of not having great gameplay in certain areas like controls. Games like Splinter Cell and even Far Cry had more pure stealth elements which many pointed at as being a better example of a stealth game. MGSV changes that narrative, a new gameplay standard has been set that all stealth games must now try to match. Without question MGSV is a landmark title for the genre and has some of the most fun gameplay I have ever played. What sets MGSV apart from any other stealth game is how open the game is to improvisation and strategy. In a huge departure from past MGS games this title is open world and it is used in a way to create unique experiences. This is a game all about infiltration, you get an assignment and it is completely up to the player to decide how to complete your objective. Preparation involves choosing your equipment, choosing your buddy, choosing the time of day and infiltration point. Each of these can alter how one approaches any given mission and it is what sets MGSV apart from any other game. The way all the game systems work together to create this incredible flexible emergent gameplay playground is remarkable and has kept me playing for 120 hours and counting. It all begins with the fast responsive controls which finally puts MGS on equal footing with any third person action game, taking what worked in MGS4 and expanding on it. Movement and gunplay are fluid enough for this game to be played like a full on shooter, though it's way too difficult for that. The stealth options are vast and also very easy to use, luring guards and snatching them from corners, or using them as shields has never been easier. No matter the action it simply works well with no need for finger gymnastics. The other side of the gameplay equation is how the world reacts to and interacts with the player; I feel that is where MGSV really sets itself apart from any other game. Messing with enemies in a MGS game has always been a joy, now put that same quirky style into a giant open ended stealth playground with perfect controls and now you have something that is magical. This is a game where failing at stealth can be as if not more enjoyable than succeeding. Once the alarms go off and all hell breaks loose crazy almost movie like scenarios could randomly breakout. I have been a part of a raid on a building where I was held up in a room while enemies would come in from all sides while I rushed to lay traps to cover my blind sides. I have chased a tank on a horse right into the middle of a military compound where I ended up in a firefight with 20+ enemies. I have gotten into impromptu sniper battles with enemy scouts that so happen to be protecting the base I am infiltrating. I've fought a helicopter with just a bunch of grenades and quiet aiding me in what felt like a scripted boss battle that wasn't. Even though chaos is a total blast the stealth is the biggest focus of the game, far more than any past MGS game. There are elements borrowed from other series, like marking of enemies in Far Cry. There is a slow motion mode called reflex that activates when spotted for the first time allowing the player to neutralize the target before raising an alarm. Even those these elements are not new to the genre they fit perfectly into this open world construct and feel almost necessary to successfully infiltrate a base. There are simply too many eyes and sight lines to properly navigate without some guide. These bases are OPEN, some open from every direction meaning there are eyes on nearly every part of the base, all in different distances and elevations. Even with everybody marked it is still difficult to get through undetected as enemies will sometimes turn unexpectedly or Boss will accidentally make a small noise that makes one guard suspicious which could then lead to a series of events where a tank is shooting a missile at your head. What I love most about MGS is how it has always known it is a video game first. Kojima has always embraced the gamey aspects to provide the most fun for the player. The AI is good when it wants to be but they all follow MGS rules, not real life rules. MGSV is not a realistic stealth simulator, it is a game designed to make stealth fun. Guards will have eagle eyes during day light and spot you moving from a great distance, this will lead to them investigating what they saw. If you drop and stand still this same guard will not see you until he is practically on top of you. It follows rules not reality, if you move you increase the percentage of being seen, light increases the chances, noise increases the chances and guards follow these rules. Knowing the rules makes it so that every situation makes sense in the context of the game and allows for the implementation of all kinds of crazy gadgets. For instance the famous cardboard box is better than ever with all kinds of new moves but the main function still stands, a cardboard box will not raise suspicion if it's not moving. This time you can put a poster on it of a beautiful woman and enemies will come running at you allowing for a quick CQC grab. What some may claim to be uneven AI, I view as a deliberate game design choice that works to perfection. Yes a guard may not see you in the dark if you are right in front of them on the ground, but if they wear night vision now they can spot you. The guards adapt to the players strategy depending on what tactics are used. Enjoy easy headshots, well give it some time and soldiers will start wear helmets. Like to assault bases with heavy weapons, guards start to wear shields and heavy armor suits that are like walking tanks. Start to hang back and snipe enemies and the enemy bases will now have snipers of their own all over. It is a fantastic system that keeps the player honest and makes sure different tactics are used. The adaption system is tracked on the menu screen and can be halted through some combat deployments adding a layer of strategy. As I mentioned before planning how to infiltrate is a big part of the gameplay freedom, part of the reason is how all bases have their own guard schedule and routines. Infiltrate at night and a base will have less guards on patrol. Wait till the day and the base will be more active but it's easier to spot enemies. Or you can go in during a guard shift while there are gaps in the patrols. Or why not simply disrupt the patrols by creating a diversion using a well placed c4 explosion. But what if that leads the base to go into high alert and call on reinforcements from nearby outposts, that could lead to more problems. Well you can disrupt the comms between bases which stops any backup from being brought in. Or before you attack a base you can hit the outposts before hand, clean them out and now when a call goes out there is no one to come help. Weather is another dynamic system which can save your ass with a random sandstorm which greatly lowers visibility, later on you gain the ability to alter the weather yourself. These are examples of multiple gameplay systems working together, all can be influenced in some way by the player which is part of why I have never felt this level of gameplay freedom before. To add to the insane amount of options available to you, at the start of each mission one of your load out options is to choose a buddy. There are four buddies to find as you play, the first being a horse which is great to use before you have vehicles you can choose at your loadout. The wolf, DD, is your second buddy and he acts like a marking hack. DD will mark everything for you making moving around a base far easier. As you level up buddies they gain more skills and equipment for instance eventually DD could kill or stun enemies on command. The most complex and interesting buddy to use is Quiet the sniper who will not just mark enemies for you but also kill anything you want. As you unlock weapons for her she becomes ridiculously powerful, able to clear an entire outpost on her own. What I like best about quiet is how you have more control of her actions, you tell her where to scout, you tell her to shoot or not. She is excellent as a distraction as one shot from her will lure enemies from their posts to attack her allowing boss to sneak right in. The last buddy is the D-walker which is a really fun bipedal robot you get to control, great for assault missions. Even though these buddies can feel very powerful it still all works well in the context of the game. Once enemies go full armor Quiet stops being as effective for instance. They all have their uses and are fun to use and add another layer to this incredibly deep game. The way the game is structured is very different from the traditional MGS games and is more like Peace Walker. It is an open world game that has none of the usual open world tropes. You won't find a ton of mini games and random crap to do in the world, the world is mostly empty space which is there only to create space between bases and allow the outpost to base system to work. The game has various missions to complete to advance the story, these missions are chosen from a menu while on your helicopter hub. Normally you have 2-3 missions to choose from which then unlock another set. After a few missions you reach a major story mission which leads to cutscenes and advance the story. This will be jarring to the fans of a tightly wound and fast paced MGS game, now the game is filled with pure gameplay missions with little to no story. I'll talk more about the story later, the missions though come in a variety of types that take the player to the many major bases located around the world. Most of the objectives involve infiltrating a base and either extracting someone or thing or killing someone. Every mission had various bonus objectives which become revealed after completing the mission once which increases replay value. There is a scoring system which grades on how fast and stealthy you were, it is a flexible scoring system where lethal play can still lead to an s rank. The best missions are the ones with a heavy story component and good scripted moments, these feel like the MGS we know and love but there are not many of them. The more open missions though are a blast to replay because of the amount of options to finish a mission. My favorites are missions with many moving parts like trying to track and stop convoys across the map or eliminating tanks in a certain amount of time. This leads to all kinds of different approaches to any one mission, maybe you want to go in guns blazing, maybe set up a huge road block, maybe put c4 on a truck and drive it into a base while jumping out then set it off. Each mission wasn't just about the action, thinking of how to get an s rank, or how to best complete that difficult objective is a big part that I love. It also helps that the various bases around the world are incredibly designed with many ways in and paths to get around. The design of the bases puts other open world games level design to shame. Tying all the game systems together is the mother base hub and progression. Like in peace walker, Boss has a central mother base that he can grow. This base has different units to grow which leads to new perks and equipment to build, all are upgraded by fultoning soldiers out during missions. As you play missions you recruit more soldiers and earn more money and materials which allows access to better guns and new items. The flow of equipment gains is very well done with something new coming at least every hour. Growing the base can become addicting, there is always some new gadget to unlock like that new arm that can shoot a controlled rocket hand. The base serves another purpose as it goes all the game systems together. By making it a priority to Fulton soldiers alive it makes lethal play less enticing naturally. This changes the entire approach to missions where in MGS4 killing everyone was the easiest way to victory now capturing enemies is far more valuable. Mother Base is a huge living location that the player can visit at anytime. All management is still done in menus but it is nice to walk around the base and look for new cutscenes and secrets. At a certain point in the game the Forward Operating Bases system open giving the ability to create extra mother bases to increase the level of your units (first one for free, others you need to pay actual money). Yes microtransactions are attached to this system but it is very optional, you will never have to pay to enjoy the entire game. FOB also opens the invasion online mini game which allows players to invade other mother bases to steal soldiers and resources. It's fun to infiltrate heavily defended bases and occasionally battle other players. There are limited tools in the ways you can set up defenses so it's like a strategy mini game. This mode is held back by every base having the exact same layout and the home field advantage for defending players which makes it nearly impossible to infiltrate a base with a human protector. Still this mode is addicting and totally optional, overall a huge plus to an already packed game. I have purposefully skirted around a few areas of the game to keep the first part of the review all positive, I want to stress that this game has some of the greatest gameplay I have ever played. That said it's not my favorite MGS, not even close actually. This series is my second favorite behind only Zelda, but I would say MGS has been more consistent; 1,3 and 4 I have all given 10s to. Gameplay mechanics alone don't make a game great, the way the game creates moments for that gameplay is just as important, so is pacing. Where other MGS games were 10 hours of concentrated greatness, MGSV is 100 hours of meandering, slow developing greatness. Every time I play a Metal Gear game I expect a 10, a new top ten game of all time, I demand perfection. Using those standards MGSV has to be classified as a disappointment. Let's begin with the defining trait of the series, the legendary boss battles. Every game sports amazing, memorable boss battles that put nearly every other game to shame. Now if you compare open world games MGSV's bosses are by far the best in the genre but compare it to past MGS games and it may have the weakest lineup of bosses the numbered series has seen. There are only five different bosses, some are reused multiple times and one of the bosses is really just a group of hard enemies that show up multiple times. There is a sniper battle that mimics the End but falls far short of that legendary boss battle because it is way too easy to find and shoot the boss. Somehow the excellent new mechanics made the bosses worse, maybe it's because having too many options didn't allow for a more focused battle. I don't think that is the reason, I feel the focus of the game went totally on free open gameplay and every element that used to be beautifully scripted was held back. I will say that the metal gear fight was epic and a great boss battle, definitely the boss highlight but it was not enough. What also hurts is how spaced out those bosses are, this falls under the games odd structure which totally ruins the action movie adrenaline rush of past games. Missions are given out in chunks with every five or so leading to a major story mission. The majority of missions are basic objectives like extract or eliminate a target and they have loose ties to the story. Instead of a cast of interesting characters in these missions you get to "kill the squad leader" a nameless, random thug. The mission briefings fill you in on how this fits into the overall story but it's so superficial that these missions feel like random side quests. They are fun to play but they don't feel connected to an over arching story. Speaking of the story this is the worst story in a mainline MGS. Kojima has never been a great writer but each MGS game had a theme and message that still resonated after you finished. He also understood how to create silly stories of heroes and villains battling to make the game moments more exciting. I am a gameplay first player, always have been but there is no denying the impact a great story lead in can have for a gameplay segment. Most of it falls flat, it starts to feel more like a reject virus story from a Resident Evil game than a proper MGS game. Part of that are the characters which are all lifeless, humorless, and miserable. MGS4 felt like Kojima was throwing a giant party for the grand finale of the series, it had everything a fan could want. MGSV in contrast feels like a funeral, Kojima has to be purposefully making the story this way because I cannot accept that this man suddenly lost the ability to make a compelling exciting story. Regardless, even if it's some meta commentary on how Kojima feels the series has gone too long and now purposefully wants the fans to feel a phantom pain, it does not give the game's story a pass. What pisses me off most is how great the direction of the cutscenes have gotten, this is kojima's best work as director of a movie scene and in the few times there is action the story is fantastic. Those moments when it feels like a traditional MGS story the game is magical but soon after you get back to random virus talk and Ocelot being a monotone bore. That's the other completely crazy part of all this, the voice talent is ridiculous and yet the performances are flat. Keifer Sutherland has very few lines, Big Boss is very close to a silent protagonist and it does not work. When he does get to speak he is great so why limit him. The biggest mystery is extremely talented Tony Baker playing the always interesting Ocelot as a boring cowboy who has zero emotion. What character is this? That's not Ocelot. Where is the rest of the cast? Where is the funny support staff? Where are the oddball cast of villains? Skull Face and Eli are the only villains who speak, the rest are well... quiet. There are still some amazing story moments, they stick out more than ever because it shows how great the entire game could have been. Also most of the important story bits are relegated to cassette tapes, these have no personality and is a poor substitute for codec conversations. I have to get into the second half of the game, there is no way to properly review the game without doing so. The game is split into two chapters, chapter 1 is the majority of the game and plays out like the usual hero versus villain story. Chapter 2 is a strange epilogue that starts to explore Boss and his relationships. The story moments in chapter 2 are way better than the first chapter but it's all disjointed. Instead of a normal mission to mission progression the final chapter gives you one new mission and a bunch of older ones with a new difficulty mode. Finish the new story mission and do some outside requirements and pieces of the story unlock almost randomly. At some point a mission called "the truth" will simply appear in your level select list and that gives you the "end " of the game. There is no buildup, no final boss, it just happens. Only after the game was released did we learn why chapter 2 is so strangely structured; the game was not finished. The collector's edition includes a making of video that has footage from a cut mission that shows the cut final boss and final story segment of the game. This had to be the source behind the Kojima versus Konami conflict, Konami forced an unfinished game to be released. The ugly truth about the final Kojima MGS game is that it was never finished. There are also all sorts of things that bug me, things that I would not expect from a Kojima directed game. There is a lack of random secrets or Easter eggs out in the open world, it really is a bunch of wasted space. Side ops are a collection of 150 side missions which really boils down to like 20 different objectives done 10 times over in different locations. There is so little thought or effort put into these, why couldn't they include more score based almost VR training like objectives instead. As I mentioned before the last half of the game has you replaying old missions with new difficult modifiers, some are fun like going in with no equipment. But why is this limited to only a few missions? Why don't all missions have a hard mode, every other MGS game has hard modes. Ground Zeroes had a hard mode, in fact ground zeroes had all sorts of cool trials that are were timed and side ops that were well designed unique missions; what happened to all that? One major complaint I hear from the community is about the timers when managing the base but I played for so many hours that it never bothered me as I never had to wait, just play and things will come to you naturally. Some of you probably read those last few paragraphs and thought to yourself "this game sounds horrible! How could it ever get a high score!". This is where personal taste comes in and why I always try to clearly explain what works for me and what might not work for others. I weigh gameplay far more than story, again I stress this is one of the most fun games to play of all time. It is a landmark game for the stealth genre. It is also a disappointing Metal Gear Solid game. It can be all those things at once; I will leave it up to you to figure out how certain aspects will shape your opinion of the game. Kojima Productions created an entire new engine just for this game, the Fox Engine which is a technical marvel on the PS4. Yes technically this is a cross gen game and there are certain models and textures that clearly look last gen but most of the time the game is stunning to look at. MGSV runs at a perfect 60FPS with virtually no slow down, no glitches and once dropped into the world absolutely no load times. The performance is mind blowing in an era where games are released needing patches to run correctly. On the audio side of things you have some great tunes but nothing as memorable as past games. Like the story, the music also feels subdued. I touched on the voice acting before, when there is good content it's excellent but most of the time these voice actors have crap to read. One of my favorite things about the game are the 80s music classics that are found through the game world. It has a nice collection of 80s pop hits that you can play at any time or set as your helicopter arrival music, how glorious it is to have a helicopter fly in blaring "the final countdown" while it rains down missiles on enemies. Metal Gear Solid V will be talked about for years to come. It will be debated, dissected, praised and hated. It simultaneously serves as a huge triumph for Kojima showing that he is easily one of the greatest game creators of all time and as a big failure as he couldn't finish his final Metal Gear. What I don't think can be debated is just how incredible the gameplay is, because of that MGSV is easily the best game I have played in years. The amount of content is staggering and we have yet to even try MGO which will be released soon, I will put way over 200 hours into this game, it's value is through the roof. It is such a shame that the story and certain design choices hold it back, if the story and exciting moments were at least on par with past games in the series then in all honesty this game would be my favorite game of all time. |
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Posted by Dvader Sun, 04 Oct 2015 16:56:18
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*crickets*
A lot of the main missions didn't feel that special anyways. I was definitely disappointed with how easy it was to finish most of those bosses.
I pretty much agree. I miss the story-filled cutscenes and cool boss fights from the previous games but the rest is fantastic stuff.
So far I mostly agree with you. Haven't finished the game yet, though. Solid review.