Nearly a decade after its release, Metal Gear Solid V is a frustrating game to talk about. I ended up loving it but calling it a fucking MESS of a game would be an understatement. Everything from the gameplay to the story has issues and really stands as a testament to how unfinished it is.

Gameplay wise and Phantom Pain is the best in the series no questions asked. Featuring every improvement from MGS4 with the things taken away from Peace Walker gives the absolute best movement in the franchise, alongside a great sandbox approach that gives you so many options when approaching missions. That's not to say that MGSV is easy, as the difficulty has also kept pace with the most unforgiving alert times in the series and guards being able to switch things up (like using NVG or being more armored). Alongside that is the expanded Mother Base system, giving you lots of options in comparison to Peace Walker that further heightens what you can do. As for wholly unique things the Buddy System rules, with each companion being really fun to utilize (though Quiet is objectively the best as she can mark and take down enemies pretty quickly). The mission based structure returns from Peace Walker and feels so much better, with the multitudinous of optional things in each giving V some of the strongest replay ability in the series. On a more minor note the soundtrack is also pretty varied, with lots of great original tracks (Sins Of The Father) and good licensed stuff that fits the setting well.

Before talking about the BIG issues with MGSV I'd like to discuss some of its cracks. While the open approach to missions is fantastic the open world itself is very....dull. The amount of things to do in both sections essentially boils down to either taking out outposts (which is useless because the missions restart things) or doing the hundreds of side ops (that quickly become repetitive and repeat themselves). It wouldn't be so bad but so much time is spent in the open world that eventually I just used the helicopter travel to make navigating through it easier. The Mother Base system is great but all the TIMERS that are involved makes the experience feel like a mobile game at times, with the game even including micros transactions because Konami hates you as a player. The biggest gameplay sin however would have to be how lacking the game is with boss fights, as only around FOUR exist in the entire game. In a series with some of the best boss fights ever, its incredibly disappointing that this entry didn't continue this trend.

*STORY SPOILERS*

Perhaps the most infamous thing about MGSV would be its utterly abysmal story, and I don't disagree with this statement as Phantom Pain has one of the worst narratives I've seen in an open world game. Before tearing into it though I do have some nice things to say. While it is sad that David Hayter got the boot I did like Kiefer Sutherlands potrayal as Venom, with his deeper voice working well with the tone Phantom Pain was going for. In fact most of MGSVs performances are fantastic, with the later tapes having some great moments that outshine most of what is seen in game (the truth tapes are some of my favorites). While the tone never gets to the true dark and depressing atmosphere that GZ promised it does come close, with sections like the Prologue and especially Mission 43 being pretty brutal.

Thats about it for positives though as after that you're left with a game that SCREAMS unfinished. The pacing is some of the worst I've seen, with tons of missions that amount to crumbs of story happening. The Afghanistan section is really bad with this, as only three important things actually happen in the 13 missions (getting Kaz back, meeting Skullface and rescuing Huey). Africa is a bit better in this regard but you're still going to be left wanting at the end of Chapter 1. Skullface is the absolute worst villian in all of the MGS games, being basically non-existent for most of the game until finally dying in the first real mission he shows up in (it is a pretty brutal end off). While the tapes do flesh him out (the ones with him talking to Code Talker are pretty fucked up) he still lacks so much of what made the other villains so memorable and the attempts to make him important just come off as utterly forced (he was part of the MGS3 team I guess). It doesn't get much better with everyone else, as characters like the Man On Fire and Third Child are also pretty underutilized before being thrown away in the second chapter (Man On Fire gets finished off in a FUCKING SIDE OP). Eli has the most potential but ends up being the worst, with him being another shameless bit of fanservice who is also the biggest victim of the game unfinished state, as his entire arc just ends with no real conclusion (except the cut mission 51 which is still pretty whatever). Chapter 2 all around is just a mess, with story events happening after doing random shit without much focus (this includes actual good scenes like the Quarantine and Huey trial). The ending in particular is really strange, as it gets no real fanfare and requires playing through the prologue except its now a different mission (except not really WHY KOJIMA). As for what I think its certainly an interesting ending that plugs up a plothole of MG1 but nonetheless doesn't add much to the bigger picture of the Metal Gear Universe.

*STORY SPOILERS END*

Despite everything I can't deny that MGSV is a fun game to play and one that I would still recommend despite its blemishes. While the story is still bad the gameplay never got tiring and I can see myself coming back to fuck around and complete side content. It's undeniably one of the weaker Metal Gear games, but still a blast from beginning to end.

8/10