Metal Gear Solid Phantom Pain

[cmdrdredd]

The reviews for this game are overwhelmingly positive with a 95/100 on meta critic. Looks to be an incredible game. I think Kojima nailed this one.

From gamespot

There has never been a game in the series with such depth to its gameplay, or so much volume in content. The best elements from the past games are here, and the new open-world gameplay adds more to love on top. When it comes to storytelling, there has never been a Metal Gear game that's so consistent in tone, daring in subject matter, and so captivating in presentation. The Phantom Pain may be a contender for one of the best action games ever made, but is undoubtedly the best Metal Gear game there is.

 

[purbeast0]

part 4 was so god awful i haven't even paid one iota of attention to this game. is this supposed to be a cgi fest like part 4 was with a little bit of gameplay thrown in every now and then, or is this supposed to be an actual game you play instead of watching?

 

[cmdrdredd]

It's open world now with objectives on the map to complete. The prologue ground zeroes has a few cutscenes but honestly there was quite a bit of gameplay in there too with lots of unlocks and hidden objectives.

 

[Artorias]

part 4 was so god awful i haven't even paid one iota of attention to this game. is this supposed to be a cgi fest like part 4 was with a little bit of gameplay thrown in every now and then, or is this supposed to be an actual game you play instead of watching?

I hear that its the opposite of 4 in that the gameplay now is much more prominent, that's not to say there are no lengthy cut scenes but they are spaced out more and gameplay is the priority.

You should play the prologue "MGS5 Ground Zeros", its a "demo" that you can beat in 2-5 hours but that's what MGSPP is based on, the gameplay is thoroughly satisfying and is sets up the story for the main game.

 

[Anteaus]

part 4 was so god awful i haven't even paid one iota of attention to this game. is this supposed to be a cgi fest like part 4 was with a little bit of gameplay thrown in every now and then, or is this supposed to be an actual game you play instead of watching?

It's a love hate thing. Generally speaking, if you didn't like what you received in MGS4, you aren't likely to enjoy MGS5 in spite of the new open world elements. This isn't a question of the overall quality of the game, but of the style itself. Metal gear Solid fans have sort of come to expect over the top plots and overlong plodding story based cutscenes. These are the epitome of story based gaming. MGS4 was basically a really long movie with sections where we guide the main character through linear levels.

The only real tangible gameplay difference between MGS4 and MGS5 will likely be the open world gameplay and base building. I'd expect the rest to fit the same formula that has been in place in every MGS game to date. I'd check out some of the lets play videos on youtube. It should give you a good idea about whether you want to try it or not.

 

[KentState]

The question for me is which platform. I have a $25 Vita consolation prize credit, XB1 seems interesting since I can stream it but PC will have the best overall graphics.

 

[cmdrdredd]

The question for me is which platform. I have a $25 Vita consolation prize credit, XB1 seems interesting since I can stream it but PC will have the best overall graphics.

I'd do PC myself.

 

[Lil Frier]

Glad it's getting good reviews. Never played a MGS game before, so not planning to pick this one up, especially since there are so many games I want at the end of this year. Too bad Konami's run by a bunch of crazy people.

 

[smackababy]

I am waiting before I get this one. If it is a good stealth game, I might pick it up.

 

[mmntech]

part 4 was so god awful i haven't even paid one iota of attention to this game. is this supposed to be a cgi fest like part 4 was with a little bit of gameplay thrown in every now and then, or is this supposed to be an actual game you play instead of watching?

I remember how much MGS4 was hyped and how many perfect review scores it got. I bought it day one. First Metal Gear game I had ever played. Got about a quarter way through then confined it to my shelf of forgotten games. Still haven't beaten it. I found it very tedious, and the half hour long mandatory cutscenes between levels certainly didn't help. Story was painfully cheesy too. Really soured me off stealth games.

I guess fans of the series will enjoy MGS5 Definitely looks good from the trailers. It's also the last true Metal Gear game in the series. I'm sure Konami will make more, but who really wants to play MGS6: The Phantom Pachinko Machine. ^_^

 

[artemicion]

part 4 was so god awful i haven't even paid one iota of attention to this game. is this supposed to be a cgi fest like part 4 was with a little bit of gameplay thrown in every now and then, or is this supposed to be an actual game you play instead of watching?

Reviews seem to indicate that contrary to prior Metal Gear games, this one actually has much less story. This intrigues me because I found the story in every Metal Gear game (aside from the first MGS) was absolute, intolerable, drivel.

I was highly skeptical of Phantom Pain ever since Booby McBooberson the Bikini Sniper was revealed as an actual, serious, main character in the game. But the reviews and the base building gameplay have me intrigued enough to maybe buy it with a GCU discount and flip it on Craigslist in a month for a cheap rental.

 

[Anteaus]

Review scores of Metal Gear Solid games tend to be better than the games themselves deserve so take that for what it is. This has been true for pretty much every MGS game release. Not saying they aren't good to great games....just that they are not the masterpieces that the reviews would have you believe.

The thing is, to a reviewer the overall enjoyment of a game can often obscure its weaknesses. I felt that Mass Effect was 10 out of 10 to me when I completed it, but objectively the game was at 6-7 out of 10 at best. It's all subjective.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Review scores of Metal Gear Solid games tend to be better than the games themselves deserve so take that for what it is. This has been true for pretty much every MGS game release. Not saying they aren't good to great games....just that they are not the masterpieces that the reviews would have you believe.

The thing is, to a reviewer the overall enjoyment of a game can often obscure its weaknesses. I felt that Mass Effect was 10 out of 10 to me when I completed it, but objectively the game was at 6-7 out of 10 at best. It's all subjective.

I disagree and think MGS is one of the best Action Games series ever. Story and all.

 

[Anteaus]

I disagree and think MGS is one of the best Action Games series ever. Story and all.

Fair enough. I respect your opinion but disagree. My biggest criticisms with the series in general are mainly about controls and pacing. I've only completed 2 & 4. I quit 1 & 3 for different reasons. To each our own I guess.

 

[smackababy]

Fair enough. I respect your opinion but disagree. My biggest criticisms with the series in general are mainly about controls and pacing. I've only completed 2 & 4. I quit 1 & 3 for different reasons. To each our own I guess.

Well, 1 and 3 are easily the best in the [SOLID] series. A big issue is MGS was an extension of the genre created for the original Metal Gear games on MX2 (and then NES), which was a stealth game. The first was an excellent example and had a fairly decent story. The 2nd just was terrible, and you weren't Solid Snake anyway, it might as well not be a MGS game. 3 was the "prologue" and shown you why Big Boss was such a BA. The 4th might as well have been an action game. The stealth aspects could be completely ignored. Now, they still could be used (and there is a trophy to not be discovered once), but you could just run and gun the whole game which is dumb. The story wasn't terrible, but it certainly wasn't great.

I just hope they go back to the stealth stuff.

 

[purbeast0]

Reviews seem to indicate that contrary to prior Metal Gear games, this one actually has much less story. This intrigues me because I found the story in every Metal Gear game (aside from the first MGS) was absolute, intolerable, drivel.

I was highly skeptical of Phantom Pain ever since Booby McBooberson the Bikini Sniper was revealed as an actual, serious, main character in the game. But the reviews and the base building gameplay have me intrigued enough to maybe buy it with a GCU discount and flip it on Craigslist in a month for a cheap rental.

I agree, the only one I liked was part 1 myself. part 2 was a big wtf but was cool cause it was on ps2 for the first time. was so bad i didn't want to play part 3 although i hear it's good. and i got mgs4 cause it was $30 release week and first one on ps3, but wish i didnt get it.

 

[Sulaco]

I found the story in every Metal Gear game (aside from the first MGS) was absolute, intolerable, drivel..

This. How succinctly put.

 

[cmdrdredd]

The story in MGS is polarizing. Either you like it or you don't. I do quite a bit and understand what's going on but it does require your full attention or you will miss something and you'll forever be missing that piece of information that kind of ties something together later. Some people just don't like that, but there's tons of MGS fans.

 

[smackababy]

The story in MGS is polarizing. Either you like it or you don't. I do quite a bit and understand what's going on but it does require your full attention or you will miss something and you'll forever be missing that piece of information that kind of ties something together later. Some people just don't like that, but there's tons of MGS fans.

I don't know if it is the story itself that is so polarizing or the storytelling methods themselves. But that is true, it seems to be a love / hate type of thing for a large portion of people.

I think the story has certainly regressed from what it was early in the series. I know Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 were pretty good (didn't play Snake's Revenge, but Hideo didn't know about it when it was being made, so I can't comment on how good it was). MGS carried that story forward in a very good way, even if the twists (Fox Die, etc) weren't the best, but not terrible. They really dropped the ball with the series going forward in time though. Snake Eater was decent, but it was merely the story of Big Boss and not Solid Snake. Now, this game is continuing Big Boss's story, so it might not be terrible, but I don't know.

 

[thehotsung8701A]

Played Ground Zeroes didn't like it so lost interest in Phantom pain.

 

[finbarqs]

yeah just finished an hour of it, but wow. I'm literally blown away by the graphics (art direction). I seriously at times thought I was traveling through a real place.. Some shots look almost photo-real!

 

[Sulaco]

The story in MGS is polarizing. Either you like it or you don't. I do quite a bit and understand what's going on but it does require your full attention or you will miss something and you'll forever be missing that piece of information that kind of ties something together later. Some people just don't like that, but there's tons of MGS fans.

No. It's not that.

It's just the story and characters themselves are just...not good. I could go on at length about specifics (and have in the past), but everyone will like what they like and that's fine by me.
But it's not because they can't keep up with the writing. If only that was it.

 

[cmdrdredd]

No. It's not that.



It's just the story and characters themselves are just...not good. I could go on at length about specifics (and have in the past), but everyone will like what they like and that's fine by me.

But it's not because they can't keep up with the writing. If only that was it.

A lot of the arguments I hear are about how nothing makes sense. Which is why I always bring that up. Things do make sense but there are always little details that can be missed in the storytelling. I happen to think Kojima is a fantastic story writer for these games. Just something about it I can't really pinpoint for you. I never had an issue with the story in these games and always felt it was good.

 

[artemicion]

A lot of the arguments I hear are about how nothing makes sense. Which is why I always bring that up. Things do make sense but there are always little details that can be missed in the storytelling. I happen to think Kojima is a fantastic story writer for these games. Just something about it I can't really pinpoint for you. I never had an issue with the story in these games and always felt it was good.

Yeah, we've had this argument in the forums before. We're all morons and our opinion re: MGS is flawed because our puny brains are incapable of comprehending the glorious divine revelation that is MGS. Everyone is stupid except you.

There, I summarized our debate. Let's move on. Again.

 

[thehotsung8701A]

No. It's not that.

It's just the story and characters themselves are just...not good. I could go on at length about specifics (and have in the past), but everyone will like what they like and that's fine by me.
But it's not because they can't keep up with the writing. If only that was it.

What do you think of Splinter Cell games? I wish they made another game like Chaos Theory.