Once you get hold of the Fulton Recovery Device you will be able to extract enemy soldiers to your offshore Mother Base facility, earn GMP and develop your own weapons, tools and items.ĭeveloping Mother Base is a pivotal gameplay element of The Phantom Pain. Yes, it borrows a lot of elements from that game but adds a ton of its own feature set which makes it an experience like none other. It’s unfair to state that The Phantom Pain is a consolized version of Peace Walker. "Once you start pouring hours into the game you will come across blueprints, more specialists and even animals which can then be utilized to form your own zoo!" They will try to frag you out, carry out mortar attacks, call support from neighboring bases and Gunships to kill Snake. Once you raise the alarm, enemies will search within a radius known as the last known location.
Of course, you can totally ditch the stealth approach and go in all guns blazing but honestly that won’t get you anywhere as initially you won’t have the necessary equipment to take on enemy soldiers.Įnemy AI is a step above anything I have yet to witness in a video game with multiple and longer stages of inspection and search processes. Once that is done, the player can carefully infiltrate the enemy’s base and complete their mission. Reconnaissance plays a big role in the stealth mechanics as players needs to find a vantage point and use the binoculars to mark targets and important locations. Players will need to travel a lot, either on foot or by riding the D-Horse and once you have reached your destination, you need to recon the area ahead. This is a new type of Metal Gear game that puts gameplay above everything else the game has to offer.
Settling into this vast open world will take some time, especially for hardcore Metal Gear fans. After you are done with the Prologue, the player is thrown straight into the open world of Afghanistan with only your binoculars, low end weaponry and your trusty horse as your main support. It also serves as a cleverly disguised tutorial of sorts, helping the player understand the remarkably simple controls that the game has to offer. Unlike previous Metal Gear games where the opening was devoid of any player interactivity, The Phantom Pain’s prologue makes the player feel a part of the ongoing action. The Phantom Pain begins with the player awakening in a hospital which is preceded by some of the most intense cinematic openings I have ever played in a Metal Gear game. "The Phantom Pain begins with the player awakening in a hospital which is preceded by some of the most intense cinematic openings I have ever played in a Metal Gear game." The feeling of the player suddenly coming across a patrol or a Gunship hovering on top of you…this feeling of immersion is so high that you will totally forget about the deserted lands of Afghanistan and Africa, the game’s primary locations. The Phantom Pain’s map is massive in scope and scale and although it’s barren and devoid of any activity, the sense of tension is always there. The game is easily hundreds of times bigger than the lone Camp Omega that Big Boss infiltrated to extract Chico and Paz. What you possibly experienced in Ground Zeroes is just a fraction of what The Phantom Pain offers.
A Metal Gear Solid game set in an open world…how will it work for a series that has primarily focused on a tight level design as the protagonist makes his way across narrow corridors and levels?īut then Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes happened and all my concerns about the concept of free infiltration were resolved. When The Phantom Pain was first announced back in 2012, I had a sense of skepticism about it. Simply put, it’s the greatest stealth action video game ever made, a culmination of everything that Kojima learned and perfected ever since Konami released the first Metal Gear back in 1987. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is the game that Hideo Kojima always wanted to develop.