Highly Recommended

Best enjoyed with all Markers, Enemy Presence, and Damage Direction turned OFF

I'll try and keep this short"ish". Sorry if I completely leave out many aspects to talk about.

Well, The Phantom Pain... what can I say except this Game was Epic! As a long time Metal Gear fan, I was really pleased, and enjoyed every second of this Game. It has certainly been years for me to play a Game and have time fly by, and this offered just that.

It is the first stab at an Open World playstyle which has mixed feelings through the Community. Personally I thought it fit really well, and felt exactly like a Metal Gear Game. It comes with 2 reletively decent sized Maps, Northern Afghanastan which is full of Desert Terrain, and Central Africa [my favourite] which is lush Green Terrain with some Jungle area's.

Everything Gameplay, and Graphics wise has been greatly improved, and due to the Fox Engine it runs on, it's extremely well optimized for lower end machines. The controls were very responsive and smooth and easy to pick up. Even after going back to play Ground Zeroes again, it's easy to see that they have been greatly imrpoved from that.

If Stealth isn't really your drug, then don't worry because the Game can be played with Combat with equal rate of success, which not only gave you variety to complete the 38 Story Missions and 157 Side Ops, but it was always good to have some fun with it, whether you want to go in and kill everyone on sight with a Machine Gun, or go high in the Mountains and have some Sniper fun, or just call in a Bombardment or Air Support and watch the explosions.

It also offers Material gathering to help improve your Weapons, and also a Fulton recovery System to extract any enemy, Vehicles and Heavy Weapons to help build your army up. If you ever get tired of using Snake through Missions, or Side Ops, then no worries, just add ANY of your staff in the Combat Unit and use them on Missions. This doesn't offer any special traits, but it's still good to do from time to time [and yes, Female Characters can also be used].

The change from David Hayter, to Kiefer Sutherland from the TV hit series 24 was also great to see. Ever since 24 came out, I always saw Kiefer as a good role as Snake, and he really did hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately, his Voice acting doesn't have a major role as I would have liked which was a shame, but from what he did, was very effective and gave Big Boss more "emotion" to his voice [nothing against David Hayter].

People have claimed that The Phantom Pain offers less Cinematics then previous titles, when really it has 5 Hours of Cinematics, and 6 Hours of Cassette Tape recordings of Conversations and reletive Intel [equalling most Metal Gear Games]. However, with such a large scale Game, this is all dwarfed to be less significant. It really does depend on if you focus on the Story Missions, or if you focus on other aspects such as Side Ops, or the Management side from time to time.

Chapter 1 will have you completing 31 Story Missions, and 3 Mission Side Op. It is also the typical Story you'll see in all Metal Gear Games, and people have also stated that the villian was kind of underwhelming. Let's be honset though, I've found all villians in Metal Gear to be that. They don't always have to be someone with large Guns who offer an epic battle. It's about the depth of the plot and how it is delivered in the Game. I found it to be effective in a way it needed to be, which to me was satisfying.

To get a better feel of the Story while playing though, I'd definitely recommend listening to the Cassette Tapes as soon as you aquire them, and also play the Mission Briefing before selection, which gives a more indepth explanation than what you get once selected.

The only thing I didn't enjoy through Chapter 1, was some of the Missions were simple to do, and felt like Side Ops, such as Rescue a specific Target for one example. The majority of the Missions though were unique, and some offered some really nice settings. I really do recommend turning all of the hand holding devices OFF as mentioned at the top. It really does add a whole new level of enjoyment.

Chapter 2 however, was a huge let down. Although there are "19 Missions" left after completing Chapter 1, 12 of these Missions are just re-used Missions on Hardmode which have no connection to where the Story is currently at. They are just thrown in there to make it look more complete, leaving 7 Story Missions, and 8 Mission Side Ops.

Infact, you don't even need to complete these re-used Missions to continue the Story. All you need to do is Side Ops until you get a Radio Call to either come back to Base, or that your Mission List has been updated [usually 2 - 3 Side Ops].

This was most likely due to the falling out with Konami and Kojima, with Konami not liking how much money was being spent on the Development, and just wanted it out the door ASAP. Which is a real shame, as Kojima really did wonders for this Game, and to have the end of it rushed so badly just shows how disgusting of a Company Konami can be.

Not only was Chapter 2 rushed, but it is missing the Final Mission that wraps up the Story of Eli [who is a major Character in the Metal Gear Series]. However, if you purchase the Collectors Edition, you get to see the Concept Art, as well as the final Cinematic 30% completed.... [something that should have been given to everyone. Just Youtube it though, it's pretty Epic].

As it is though, it has left fans with a foul taste in their mouth, and really destroys what a Perfect Game The Phantom Pain "could" have been. Even with such a downside of all of this, it doesn't change the fact that The Phantom Pain is worth every cent at Full Price. Chapter 1 is fully complete. The Gameplay is rich and entertaining. The Cinematics are amazing with extremely well done Voice acting, and the replayability, or long term play is completely there.

One more thing I'd like to mention;

I do have to quickly talk about Quiet though, who is a Sniper you come across reletively early on. Let's be honest, she is purely used as a sex object who just wears a Bra and G-String... However, that's not the problem. The problem being the shots from the Cinematics are intentional to focus on various parts of her body... To me, this just made ANY scene with her cringe worthy, and was a great way to ruin a perfectly acceptable Sniper character.

Developer
Kojima Productions

Publisher
Konami Digital Entertainment

Genre
- Stealth / Action

Game Elements
- Open World
- Day Night cycle
- Weather elements
- Replay Missions
- Stealth
- Combat
- Air Support on Request
- Base Management
- Staff Management
- Material Gathering
- Weapon Tree
- Full Weapon Customization
- FOB Online Mode [Optional]
- Metal Gear Online 3 [Seperate Game]
- Cardboard Boxes
- Balloons!

Average Playthrough
- 50 Hours

Liked
- Excellent Voice Acting
- Excellent Visuals
- Excellent Cut Scenes [as always]
- Smooth and Responsive controls
- Easy UI [iDroid and during Gameplay]
- Great range of classic Music to find
- Variety to complete Missions
- Tons of Side Quests

Disliked
- Side Ops can feel repetative
- Chapter 2 feels rushed
- Final Mission not included
- Quiet displayed as a sex object