MGS V: The Phantom Pain
It's fairly rare these days that I can sink time into a non-MMO game over a holiday weekend and not finish it. I think I'm maybe around half-done with the story, though the game itself is saying something like 28% completion and I haven't really looked at walkthroughs to check. So far, it's been a fun ride.
The Metal Gear Solid games have largely been good games. They play particularly well. That said, they have often been hindered by small zones. This game manages to overcome that, with free-roamable regions containing multiple bases and outposts. I've actually found it pretty fun to work my way around some of those places even outside of missions, pillaging resources and personnel while taking out radio and radar installations. I can certainly see how it may get old and repetitive, but other than occasionally feeling like "now it's time to go do an actual mission," I haven't hit that wall yet.
Apart from gameplay, the MGS stories... well... I find it difficult to express just how convoluted and crazy they can get at times. I mean, MGS(1) had clones, genetically-modified soldiers, gene-specific assassinating nanotech, a cybernetic ninja, and a telepath/telekinetic character who broke the fourth wall by reading save files. Metal Gear Rex, a walking "tank" capable of launching nukes clandestinely via railgun, was pretty tame by comparison. MGS2 really solidified nanotech as the "magic" of the setting with Fortune's bullet-avoidance abilities, not that I think I've ever seen an explanation for how Vamp pulled off the crazy stuff he did. MGS3 went prequel, but still had one guy channeling electricity and another controlling hornets, some of which resided in his body.
So, in a sense, I find the batshit insanity of MGS5 to be comforting. Chronologically it takes place between 3 and 1, yet some of the tech-magic on display makes the Genome Soldiers and MG: Rex look like grade school science fair fodder. If I sit back and think about it, I'm troubled at how the characters keep talking up nukes as though that must be the enemy's ultimate plan while I'm being assaulted by some guy that looks like a frickin' fire elemental or a squad of teleporting supersoldiers. But in the middle of it, that over-the-top craziness is... pretty fun.
And that's probably the strength of the game. Being spotted is no longer game over (or run away, hide, and wait for patrols to reset), rather it's just time to change tactic. "Going loud" can be more fun than perfect stealth at times, but being able to switch tactics organically is liberating.
The Metal Gear Solid games have largely been good games. They play particularly well. That said, they have often been hindered by small zones. This game manages to overcome that, with free-roamable regions containing multiple bases and outposts. I've actually found it pretty fun to work my way around some of those places even outside of missions, pillaging resources and personnel while taking out radio and radar installations. I can certainly see how it may get old and repetitive, but other than occasionally feeling like "now it's time to go do an actual mission," I haven't hit that wall yet.
Apart from gameplay, the MGS stories... well... I find it difficult to express just how convoluted and crazy they can get at times. I mean, MGS(1) had clones, genetically-modified soldiers, gene-specific assassinating nanotech, a cybernetic ninja, and a telepath/telekinetic character who broke the fourth wall by reading save files. Metal Gear Rex, a walking "tank" capable of launching nukes clandestinely via railgun, was pretty tame by comparison. MGS2 really solidified nanotech as the "magic" of the setting with Fortune's bullet-avoidance abilities, not that I think I've ever seen an explanation for how Vamp pulled off the crazy stuff he did. MGS3 went prequel, but still had one guy channeling electricity and another controlling hornets, some of which resided in his body.
So, in a sense, I find the batshit insanity of MGS5 to be comforting. Chronologically it takes place between 3 and 1, yet some of the tech-magic on display makes the Genome Soldiers and MG: Rex look like grade school science fair fodder. If I sit back and think about it, I'm troubled at how the characters keep talking up nukes as though that must be the enemy's ultimate plan while I'm being assaulted by some guy that looks like a frickin' fire elemental or a squad of teleporting supersoldiers. But in the middle of it, that over-the-top craziness is... pretty fun.
And that's probably the strength of the game. Being spotted is no longer game over (or run away, hide, and wait for patrols to reset), rather it's just time to change tactic. "Going loud" can be more fun than perfect stealth at times, but being able to switch tactics organically is liberating.
A couple of teleporting ninja zombies and a guy who is made of fire can't keep the powers that be in check, no, to do that, you have to be able to provide nukes to third-world countries. Or something. @.@ I went through the wiki and read the plot synopsis of each game as they are presented in chronological order and, yeah, the overall arc of this series is convoluted and contrived as hell. Oh well, glad to hear you're enjoying the gameplay aspect of it at least. *Fultons off another sheep*
ReplyDeleteOne arguably maddening detail of these "prequel" games is the way they try to fill things in. Theoretically, the continuity circles back around to Big Boss running Outer Heaven and sending Solid Snake on a mission there intending him to fail (the original Metal Gear game). But Peace Walker sorta hinted in that direction. And now Phantom Pain is sort of hinting in that direction. Things could change, but none of it seems to quite be reaching that point.
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