Metal Gear Solid V was probably one of the most ambitious projects that Hideo Kojima has ever worked on, and unfortunately the last chapter of the saga directed by him. A work that has seen at the time converge all the ideas that the brilliant Japanese artist has given birth to and refined over the years, and which did not concern only aspects related to an innovative gameplay for the series, but every moment of the game, where the imprint of the talented Japanese designer made itself felt through quotes, costumes, phrases and visual elements, which confirmed it among the other the great cinematographic and literary culture. Today, thanks to Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience, fans can enjoy the complete work in un'edizione speciale che include Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain e Metal Gear Online, online multiplayer component of which you can read the details at this address, plus a selection of DLC released in the past for each of the games, and 15 € of currency for the Mother Base. All for € 39,90 on consoles and € 29,99 on Steam for PC.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience is the definitive edition of the game by Hideo Kojima
Mission Impossible
The collection opens with Ground Zeroes, set in 1975, which sees Big Boss attempting to infiltrate a US naval base near Cuba, which houses a prison facility, Camp Omega, which according to information held by the intelligence of his group, the Militaires Sans Frontières, operates outside the control of international law. There are held captive Paz, the spy we saw in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, and Chico who, in an attempt to save the girl he is in love with, was also captured. And it is precisely to free both of them and prevent them from revealing valuable information about his organization, as well as to steal Paz's knowledge about Cipher, that Big Boss decides to embark on a solo mission.
The short adventure - just over an hour - consists of a "campaign" set inside the prison camp, at night and in pouring rain, with a series of optional objectives to be achieved and other surrounding elements related to the earning trophies or collecting particular items, plus some extra missions that unlock. In any case, what was released as a stand-alone product at the time, turns out to be fun and well structured, and can be a way for newbies to practice, learn the new game mechanics (which we will talk about more ahead) and prepare for the main adventure of The Phantom Pain. Set nine years after Ground Zeroes, the title tells of the destruction of the old Mother Base, the creation of the mercenary organization called Diamond Dogs by Miller, Ocelot and Venom Snake, which is based in the Seychelles sea, and the need for the protagonist. to leave for Afghanistan - a full-bodied initial setting, but not the only one - for an urgent mission from which an engaging and fascinating story will then begin, net of a few moments of tiredness. A story that is given out in small doses, and that often gets confused in the sea of connection activities seasoned with missions often in photocopies, but also told with the usual skill by Hideo Kojima and his staff, with a cinematographic direction and framing cuts that enhance the most dramatic phases or twists, with such visual power as to inevitably hit the player, not leaving him indifferent to the events that he finds himself living on the screen. From the point of view of gameplay The Phantom Pain is in some ways a bigger, more complete and "massive" version of Ground Zeroes: The game world is open, large and with more things to do. Here, too, the gamer is free to decide what to do, whether to face the main objective immediately, or spend time around the map looking for useful, secret objects, or to weaken the enemy lines of communication and therefore prevent them from request air or ground support from their allies in case Snake is discovered.
Free infiltration roaming
If you want, you can also go back to the base, which at certain times, among other things, is mandatory for narrative needs: the communication and interaction between Snake and the Mother Base takes place through iDroid, a sort of hyper-technological computer through which you access the missions. , to the request for equipment in the field or to the upgrading of the base itself. The Mother Base is among other things expandable over time thanks to a series of fully explorable platforms - full of goodies and mini activities of various kinds - and fundamental departments to access new weapons, gadgets and customizations.
Anyway, back to the real adventure, the sandbox nature of the gameplay and the ability to face missions with a certain freedom do not mean the total abandonment of the old mechanics of the series, nor be an incentive to carry out carnage, but simply to make available to the player a greater number of possibilities to evade the surveillance of the enemies or to deal with any situation. Snake is a reactive soldier, trained for all kinds of battles, although he works best when operating in the shadows. In these cases it is able to run bent down, to crawl to the ground quickly, to cling to ledges and to hide behind shelters, to disarm or kill a sentry in an instant through extremely dynamic Close Quarter Combats, to leave no trace behind. of oneself and of driving vehicles. It can also count on a very respectable paraphernalia, which can prove useful especially if Big Boss is discovered and the only option left is to put your hand to the weapons. In these situations, the action takes place instead according to the trappings of the main third-person shooters, with the enemies who almost always perform particularly effective guerrilla actions. This is why it is better to avoid being discovered and reasoned, planning every move. The general approach is free, therefore, but the playability tends to reward strategy, the ability to act in the shadows rather than the assault on the sword. which would more easily lead to premature death, enticing the user to make the most of the game's stealth elements. Hidden in the shadows, holding their breath, as the soldiers scour the area in search of that intruder who killed their fellow soldier, the feeling of being in a real war zone is convincingly returned. Also thanks to the discrete behavioral routines of the enemies, who sometimes sin in the lack of reaction to certain noises or in the fact that they quickly lose interest in controlling a certain area, perhaps due to a choice desired by Kojima to offer the player a hybrid approach, in half. between realism and fun, abandoning all ambitions of complete simulation. But also of a respectable technical and artistic system thanks also here to the hand of Hideo Kojima and the skilful use of the Fox Engine. Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience is not a remake, and therefore offers the same technical sector as the original, with a resolution of 1080p and 60 frames per second, an excellent level design enhanced by an effective lighting system and the day / night cycle, a good image cleaning and characters well characterized both from the point of view of polygonal and aesthetic modeling. Of course, now as then, the quality of some textures that leave something to be desired does not go unnoticed, but as in the original, these do not affect the overall quality of the image too much. As for the audio part, excellent dubbing in English (with Spanish subtitles), and the soundtrack, which offers a large number of songs from the '70s and' 80s or unreleased.
Comment
Tested version PlayStation 4 Digital Delivery Steam, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store Price 39.99 € / 29.99 € Resources4Gaming.com8.8
Readers (36)8.8
Your voteMetal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience is the ideal collection for all fans of the series, as it includes a mammoth and valid title of its kind, with all the most important DLCs released for each of the three elements present (Ground Zeroes, The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Online). The overall judgment on Metal Gear Solid V, as a whole, obviously remains the same as when we reviewed it at the time: a beautiful game but with a fluctuating quality, especially in the second part. Totally positive, however, the evaluation that we generally attribute to the edition, which we consider rich, complete and at a price that is not excessive given the current times.
PRO
- The definitive version of Metal Gear Solid V
- A free, addictive gameplay with a myriad of things to do
- Artistic system of excellent workmanship: direction, technique and sound work perfectly
- Engaging and in some places surprising story ...
- ... but with fluctuating quality in the second part due to the wrong design choices that undermine the balance and progression of the plot
- Several side missions seem to have been made in photocopy
