Metal Gear Solid v
Noirit Mustapha
After several years of anticipation, and almost 30 years after it first began, one of historys most popular video game franchises reached its true culmination with Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. This was billed to be creator Hideo Kojimas final magnum opus, and one of the most open-ended games ever. The series reputation did take a slight hit with Ground Zeroes, a paid-for hour-long demo of the game, the final product arrived with a huge package that satisfies in many ways. Unfortunately, it was not a complete package.
Continuing from Snake Eater and Peace Walker, MGS5 follows Big Boss once again, this time after an almost decade-long coma put him out of commission, following the demise of his army without nations. After a death-defying escape from the hospital he was at, away from an extraordinary force of nature, he slowly builds himself and his army back up again in his quest for revenge. The story is rather sparse compared to previous titles, so fans of that will definitely have issues regarding that. The gameplay is where the biggest fun is however, with Phantom Pain being the first ever open-world game in the series. Missions can be undertaken from either the main world or the base of operations hub that Boss can build up and upgrade. Everything can be done in whatever way the player wants, whether it means complete guns blazing or stealthily taking ones time. The creativity one can use, alongside the mission variety, brings an insane amount of time and replayability.
The huge downside to MGS5 lies in its endgame though. Due to a lot of controversial decisions made by publisher Konami, the game was somewhat rushed out with a lot of key story content cut from the final release. This should not deter gamers, especially fans, from trying out the game as everything else it does, it does amazingly.
