I'm a little less kind to the story than I was when I made this 2 and a half hour long review but I still mostly stand by it.
(For the record, my MGSV and MPO reviews are the only ones I still stand by. I don't stand by any of my other MGS reviews on that page anymore. That's why I'm re-reviewing the other games, because my current reviews for each one are trash.)
If you don't have two plus hours to kill, here's a long short:
MGSV is still genuinely my favorite game of all time. I've put nearly a thousand collective hours into it because I adored nearly everything about its gameplay. I thought the missions were insanely fun to experiment with and most of them accommodated whatever playstyle I went with. I loved the level design of each outpost, since they all gave you multiple entry points to each area of interest for the missions. I know a lot of people prefer the more classic corridor sneaking and while I definitely see the appeal with games like MGS1 and 2, I've honestly always preferred the more open air level design that came with every game after 2. I like having options to my approach paths, especially in more objective-focused games like MGSV, since it gives me that satisfying "reach the area of interest covertly, carry out objective, exfiltrate undetected" approach that I love. The best way I can sum it up is one of my favorite parts of MGS3 is the optional cabin area where you get the machine gun. MGSV's missions basically feel like that.
Plus, the way the game feels to play also gives me some of the most gratifying third person shooter combat of any stealth action game I've ever played. Enemies were incredibly fun to fight and sneak around since they have self preservation, are more liberal with their grenades and have a lot of weapons variety. And while I was extremely disappointed by the lack of boss variety, I still loved all five boss types that the game had.
MGS has always been about the gameplay first and foremost for me. I'm someone who clicks with how each MGS game plays and quite enjoys them. Phantom Pain was just about everything I wanted it to be and more in that area. I wasn't let down by the story, but rather, by the way the story and its epilogue were both resolved. Up until mission 30, I actually really liked the plot because I thought it was clever how all game long, you piece together all these little puzzle pieces and thought the way they all came together for Skull Face's master plan was really cool. But I hated how Skull Face was completely wasted and while I don't care about mission 51 at all (because Eli never should've been in the game to begin with) and like the concept of the true ending, I thought the execution left a lot to be desired.
Honestly, elements of every MGS game will disappoint in some form or another, but taken for what they are, I do genuinely love all of these games. I love some more than others, but I'd never call any an outright disappointment, especially given the state of games today where I'm just increasingly less interested in what AAA devs are putting out these days, barring some exceptions here and there. I was ultimately glad that Kojima's final foray in the world of MGS was such a gameplay rich experience. And if there's any reason for Metal Gear to continue, it's for more fun and outlandish sneaky shooty gameplay.
(For the record, my MGSV and MPO reviews are the only ones I still stand by. I don't stand by any of my other MGS reviews on that page anymore. That's why I'm re-reviewing the other games, because my current reviews for each one are trash.)
If you don't have two plus hours to kill, here's a long short:
MGSV is still genuinely my favorite game of all time. I've put nearly a thousand collective hours into it because I adored nearly everything about its gameplay. I thought the missions were insanely fun to experiment with and most of them accommodated whatever playstyle I went with. I loved the level design of each outpost, since they all gave you multiple entry points to each area of interest for the missions. I know a lot of people prefer the more classic corridor sneaking and while I definitely see the appeal with games like MGS1 and 2, I've honestly always preferred the more open air level design that came with every game after 2. I like having options to my approach paths, especially in more objective-focused games like MGSV, since it gives me that satisfying "reach the area of interest covertly, carry out objective, exfiltrate undetected" approach that I love. The best way I can sum it up is one of my favorite parts of MGS3 is the optional cabin area where you get the machine gun. MGSV's missions basically feel like that.
Plus, the way the game feels to play also gives me some of the most gratifying third person shooter combat of any stealth action game I've ever played. Enemies were incredibly fun to fight and sneak around since they have self preservation, are more liberal with their grenades and have a lot of weapons variety. And while I was extremely disappointed by the lack of boss variety, I still loved all five boss types that the game had.
MGS has always been about the gameplay first and foremost for me. I'm someone who clicks with how each MGS game plays and quite enjoys them. Phantom Pain was just about everything I wanted it to be and more in that area. I wasn't let down by the story, but rather, by the way the story and its epilogue were both resolved. Up until mission 30, I actually really liked the plot because I thought it was clever how all game long, you piece together all these little puzzle pieces and thought the way they all came together for Skull Face's master plan was really cool. But I hated how Skull Face was completely wasted and while I don't care about mission 51 at all (because Eli never should've been in the game to begin with) and like the concept of the true ending, I thought the execution left a lot to be desired.
Honestly, elements of every MGS game will disappoint in some form or another, but taken for what they are, I do genuinely love all of these games. I love some more than others, but I'd never call any an outright disappointment, especially given the state of games today where I'm just increasingly less interested in what AAA devs are putting out these days, barring some exceptions here and there. I was ultimately glad that Kojima's final foray in the world of MGS was such a gameplay rich experience. And if there's any reason for Metal Gear to continue, it's for more fun and outlandish sneaky shooty gameplay.
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