The Fulton Recovery System, like many things in Metal Gear, is a real, thoroughly-researched military program where things yanked into the sky by a self-inflated balloon are recovered by C-130, though it’s grossly exaggerated for fun and dramatic effect. Soldiers knocked out, rather than killed, can be floated away by balloon over to offshore derrick headquarters, Mother Base, where they’ll join the player’s growing private army. Unlike previous Metal Gears, “The Phantom Pain” is an open-world title, so players can travel to the mountains of Afghanistan or the savannas between bases and guard posts. While occasionally the difficulty spikes are out of hand. Though “The Phantom Pain” has serious, tough action-game veneer, it really just wants players to have fun.Īs in previous titles, Snake sneaks through guard outposts, crawls around and generally attempts to stay hidden, but comes equipped with high-powered weaponry when stealth almost inevitably fails.
#METAL GEAR SOLID V REVIEW PHATOM PAIN SERIES#
Players new to the series should read some summaries online before starting. While the game makes an effort to catch up new players from previous titles – fifth in the main series – it’s known for its complexity. It’s silly at times, but isn’t actively comedic. “The Phantom Pain” is almost totally earnest. Pursued from a hospital in Cyprus by a mysterious special forces unit, Snake and his crew vow revenge on creepy operative Skull Face.
Players assume the role of Punished “Venom” Snake, the “Big Boss” of a nationless paramilitary army in 1984, when he wakes from a nine-year coma horribly scarred and missing an arm. The individual segments of action and reaction – from gliding just on the edge of detection to blowing up tanks with pre-planted C4 – are just fantastic and almost tactile.
It isn’t as expansive as titles like “Grand Theft Auto” or “Skyrim,” but its world is a perfect playground for sneaking around. “The Phantom Pain” is the best open-world game of the past year, moment-to-moment. While it pushes the series to new levels of detail and scope, players are ultimately let down by an unfinished and sloppy conclusion. 1, “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” is the final game in a 25-year series by auteur writer and director Hideo Kojima, as publisher Konami shifts from video games to the more consistent world of pachinko machines. When I was 10, my parents took my copy of PlayStation’s “Metal Gear Solid” away because it was “too violent.” It’s true, and it’s also too melodramatic.