It was back in 1998 when I got my hands on this enigmatic title called Metal Gear Solid. 17 years later, after an unnerving wait, Hideo Kojima has churned out what will be, reluctantly, the latest Metal Gear Solid. But let's take it easy.
For the few who still don't know what we're talking about, and ended up on this page by chance, Metal Gear Solid it catapults us into a world where war rules the world, and private armies sell out to the highest bidder, filling the battlefields. It is quite complex to explain the plot, so I will only emphasize the salient points:
- The protagonists of the game will be Snake (set in the past) e Solid Snake (set in the present)
- The titles will thus be divided into those of Snake (Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Metal Gear Solid: Peacewalker, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain) and those of Solid Snake (Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots).
- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain connects the dots between the end of Snake's story and the beginning of Solid Snake's: connect MGS: Peacewalker to the first Metal Gear.
These titles therefore do not follow the chronological order of history, but have an exit order that jumps between past and present.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain it will be (almost certainly), the last Metal Gear, at least directed by Kojima, as between the creator and Konami there has been a break in all kinds of relationships. This is why reviewing such a game is difficult.
West vs East
The saga is placed in the videogame market in a quite particular way, since its creator, Kojima, is of Japanese origins, but he loves the Western world out of all proportion, especially the film world. This love of hers is felt in the game, especially in the script. Metal Gear Solid is the result of the encounter of an oriental mind inspired by the west. It would not be what it is now without this base.
I'm counting on you, Snake!
Turning to the technical details, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain starts from a sort of prologue (Ground Zeroes) released in 2014. You immediately notice how the game, starting from the first chapters, has evolved: initially a stealth based exclusively on history and mainly linear, now it has become an Open-World, where you will choose the approach you want to use in the missions. You can rest assured: free roaming has not in the least affected the narrative, however it has slightly modified the excited dynamics of the story (in short, fragmenting an event with 10 secondary missions tends to ease the tension). You can still not make them and follow the story, but without them you will find yourself not having the right equipment for the missions, and you will enroll very few soldiers for your MB.
To better analyze everything, it is possible to divide the gameplay into macro-sectors, each characteristic:
- Primary Missions: will be the missions of the story, they will allow you to continue in the plot and will be very elaborate;
- Motherbase: your base, where you can enlist soldiers from your missions through the Fulton system (a balloon to attach to the helpless soldier or objects, which will then be picked up and sent to MB, with a success rate influenced by things like weather and nearby enemies These soldiers will work for the Diamond Dogs, private military group of Snake and his lieutenant Kaz, and you can place them in a branch of development that is useful to you (weapons creation, espionage, defense of Motherbase). Once created, you can have any weapon or object on the game map sent to you via a helicopter;
- Secondary Missions: mainly target elimination, infiltration and prisoner recovery, they will allow you to increase your military ranks, to recover useful materials for the creation and above all to take the credits, necessary for everything in the game;
- FOB: base that you can create and that real players can attack. Basically, the PvP of the game.
Explained in this way it is easy, but playing you will notice how the whole world of videogames is completely connected: attacking and being discovered in one base will also affect the soldiers of the other bases since they will be in radio link. But you could throw down the radio to deny him this possibility. Always if you can understand what they say, since they will speak languages that are foreign to you and the only way you will have to understand them is to recruit an interpreter.
In the game they will also help / hinder the day / night cycles (which you can modify using the Phantom Cigar, an object that allows you to speed up the passage of time) and atmospheric changes such as sandstorms and rains.
You can therefore understand how these contents enrich the game, leading it to last from 70 to 100 hours (including side missions), being one of the most complete gameplay of the generation.
Solid Eye
Graphically speaking, although the game has also been released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and usually this causes damage on a technical level, however Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain manages to maintain an impeccable graphic rendering, with 60fps on Next-Gen and PC. The only slight flaw, some shadows are not quite perfect, but you can get over it.
The sound, inspired by the old titles, evokes in mind the atmosphere of the saga, accompanied by songs like The Man Who Sold the World di David Bowie. Snake's army name is also called Diamond Dogs, like Bowie's album. In Metal Gear the songs have always had a particular relevance, positioned in the game both for melody and for meaning, and this manages to transport you inside the events.
Our best to leave the world
Speaking of the online mode, the one at least present now, is based on PvP in FOB (Forward Operating Base, of the bases you can create as detachments of the Mother Base). It will be up to you to be quick and good at knowing every little crevice or shortcut to catch the enemy unprepared; or you have upgraded your FOB enough to withstand an onslaught.
Another mode, actually a real separate game, will be Metal Gear Online 3, included in The Phantom Pain, which will debut on October 6th and we will promptly be there to review it for you.
Farewell, Snake. Farewell Kojima.
Taking off objective clothes for a moment, we are saluting a title that made the history of the video game. A video game that will no longer be released, or if it does, will not be managed by Kojima, father and creator of Metal Gear, as the rights are held by Konami.
On the other hand, if Kojima chooses to make a new game, it may well be a masterpiece, but it will never be Metal Gear, it will not tell the story of Snake.
The only solution, not impossible but unlikely, is a future reconciliation between Kojima e Konami, but for now, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ends a saga. The end of Metal Gear Solid: A Hideo Kojima Game.
