Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

 PC
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2905 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,071 out of 2905
  2. Mixed: 461 out of 2905
  3. Negative: 373 out of 2905

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  1. Amerika
    Sep 19, 2015
    7
    Well, it's a good game - but not more. This is my first MGS, but I've known about the series for a long time, and I've heard that all the games are very, very good. There are a lot of good points: optimization, decent stealth, good (with some unexplained and plain stupid parts) story. And a big minus - it's surprisingly repetitive:
    1. "Good luck, boss".
    2. Put everyone to sleep (some    Well, it's a good game - but not more. This is my first MGS, but I've known about the series for a long time, and I've heard that all the games are very, very good. There are a lot of good points: optimization, decent stealth, good (with some unexplained and plain stupid parts) story. And a big minus - it's surprisingly repetitive:
    1. "Good luck, boss".
    2. Put everyone to sleep (some variety included)
    3. Fulton everyone
    4. Mission complete.

    Of course, there is a good amount of variety, bot core parts don't change a bit. And you'll have to replay the story missions again. They will be more difficult: remember that there are no difficulty "sliders" and no quicksaves.

    Sandbox, base building, online (fob part): it's bad because it consists of 10% chopper, 25% fulton, 15% boring objectives, 40% boring terrain, 10% gameplay. Grinding soldiers for motherbase feels like mmo.

    In the end I want to say that if we'd excluded repetative parts it would've been very short game. 7/10 is the maximum for this Hideo Kojima game.    … Expand
  2. BoredZero
    Sep 19, 2015
    9
    Fans of the Metal Gear Solid series might find themselves a little put off by the pacing and the way the game plays - unless you've played Peacewalker. This game is, effectively a sequel to Peacewalker, putting the base building concepts from a PSP handheld title into the big leagues - and is also darker than MGS's 1-4.

    If you've never played Peacewalker, it'll take you some time to get    Fans of the Metal Gear Solid series might find themselves a little put off by the pacing and the way the game plays - unless you've played Peacewalker. This game is, effectively a sequel to Peacewalker, putting the base building concepts from a PSP handheld title into the big leagues - and is also darker than MGS's 1-4.

    If you've never played Peacewalker, it'll take you some time to get used to it since the story takes a while to gain traction.

    Oh, and that water pistol? Don't bother shooting the Man on Fire with it, it doesn't do anything.    … Expand
  3. Masterhummel
    Sep 18, 2015
    8
    MGSV:TPP is a pretty good game. The thing that keeps it from being stellar is the very same thing that makes it so good, the huge amount of polish. It's clear where Kojimas Team had to cut corners and it's visible in the story as well as the gameplay. A lot of the missions aren't very thought-trough or feature downright average design.

    Nonenthenless, with all its little errors and    MGSV:TPP is a pretty good game. The thing that keeps it from being stellar is the very same thing that makes it so good, the huge amount of polish. It's clear where Kojimas Team had to cut corners and it's visible in the story as well as the gameplay. A lot of the missions aren't very thought-trough or feature downright average design.

    Nonenthenless, with all its little errors and nitpicks, Metal Gear Solid V in its sum is still a lot of fun.    … Expand
  4. 0235
    Sep 18, 2015
    7
    first off. i just cant give this game any higher than a 7. a game that fails to have a function save feature and will almost always throw you right back the the very start of hour+ long missions due to a tiny slip up, or poor planning from the start is not fun at all.
    Aside from that, the game is regularly boring, completely hollow, and a façade for what should have been a linear game.    first off. i just cant give this game any higher than a 7. a game that fails to have a function save feature and will almost always throw you right back the the very start of hour+ long missions due to a tiny slip up, or poor planning from the start is not fun at all.
    Aside from that, the game is regularly boring, completely hollow, and a façade for what should have been a linear game. mother base is but a tech tree you can walk around and get people to salute you, nothing more nothing less.
    the world just isn't real enough. they promised all sorts of different tactics, but nothing. there is no benefit to daytime attacks, AI can instantly report your location to every surrounding soldier, even if you shoot them before the radio reaches their mouth.
    the start was fantastic, then suddenly you are dumped into two boring maps with little going on. think farcry 2, and you will have pretty much nailed every element of MGSV: TPP, except MGS has more dart guns.    … Expand
  5. Wegnas
    Sep 18, 2015
    7
    Easily the best stealth game I've ever played, amazing gameplay. That being said, MGSV has the weakest storyline in the series. There are a lot of plotholes and inconsistencies. Story is not coherent at all. Storline seems rushed and narrative is the worst of them all. There were parts which made me stop playing for a while. Skull Face is the worst antagonist in the series, can't even callEasily the best stealth game I've ever played, amazing gameplay. That being said, MGSV has the weakest storyline in the series. There are a lot of plotholes and inconsistencies. Story is not coherent at all. Storline seems rushed and narrative is the worst of them all. There were parts which made me stop playing for a while. Skull Face is the worst antagonist in the series, can't even call him an antagonist he is more like a simple, generic and dull villian. Story starts interesting but it goes from interesting to boring very quickly and ending didn't satisfied me.

    Even though gameplay is great, story is the worst in the series. Since I value story more than gameplay MGSV is slightly disappointing to me.    … Expand
  6. georgio
    Sep 18, 2015
    7
    Now to preface the whole review - I have never played any MGS game. I just saw stellar reviews and bought the game on impulse. I do not regret the buy, but I have to say that my expectations definitely were not met. Also to note - I have around 25 hours clocked in the game, so I cannot really comment on late-game stuff. But I think I can still reasonably evaluate the game experience

    +    Now to preface the whole review - I have never played any MGS game. I just saw stellar reviews and bought the game on impulse. I do not regret the buy, but I have to say that my expectations definitely were not met. Also to note - I have around 25 hours clocked in the game, so I cannot really comment on late-game stuff. But I think I can still reasonably evaluate the game experience

    + Graphics, scenery and everything is top notch.
    + Combat system and movement is a little bit clunky, but it is not terrible
    + The story I actually do not mind that much. There are some weird things going on, but I get the gist of it. You were once glorious private army leader who fell hard due to some powerful enemies, you are now trying to rebuild and have your vengeance along the way. All in all I think the starting story sequence in the hospital was well done and a really well done
    + Base management is a plus. It fits with the whole rebuilding theme and I like it. I think it is done as well as it could given it is a console port

    Now unfortunately we get to the first and big minus: sandbox mode. At least for me it is very repetitive and boring. Sneak into the guard post/base/village, put everyone to sleep by tranquilizer/takedowns, chute everybody and everything out and rinse/repeat. I am not that far into the game and I cleared all the villages/guard posts several times over. I know where the guards are, I know the layout of everything by heart. Now you get something new every now and then (blow up some tanks and such), but it is not enough.

    Now I have to say that I am a little bit spoiled by having over 100 hours of Witcher 3 played. But the comparisons are not misplaced. While witcher lacks basebuilding concept, it gets everything else right. The world is large but also alive. You get separate story-lines that do not feel repetitive. You get a change in scenery (caves, open world, city streets even water) - in MGS it is same old.

    I am in a state where I still thing MGS is a good game but I now play it in bursts - log in, do one or two missions for hour or so, get fed up with doing same stuff, log out and go play other games. The game is not compelling for me, it lacks the element where you are curious what is over there or where this quest leads.

    If there is any comparison, I would say MGS V feels like FPS version of "Mount and Blade", only without Mods that freshen the game up and with less compelling combat (at least for me).

    PS:

    - Also a minor point, what the hell is this business with the crate? I can totally eat floating girl-ghost appearing from nowhere and hurling large boulders around with her mind. I can enjoy indestructible guy set on fire going around and killing everyone or packs of some cyber soldiers pursuing me in Afghanistan. I can even eat sending T-72s on a parachute to stratosphere while listening to Phil Collings from my walkman. But I refuse to go around in hidden in a crate lunging attacks on unsuspecting russian soldiers. It totally breaks my suspension of disbelief (fortunatelly I don't have to use it).    … Expand
  7. BEELZEBUB4
    Sep 18, 2015
    10
    This game is truly a AAA title. I'm to lazy to write a big review and argue with mgs haters, but imo, this game is a 9.8/10. Addictive, smart, rewarding and interesting. For me, it is the best game I've played since Psychonauts.
  8. Wood117
    Sep 18, 2015
    0
    let me begin by saying that this game is definitely not a zero, however i feel that in my emotional state i can't forgive it. I have now lost my save games twice after putting in god knows how many hours and this is not related to the quiet bug at all as i have not even reached the point in either play through where i can use her yet, and Konami seems to not even be acknowledging thatlet me begin by saying that this game is definitely not a zero, however i feel that in my emotional state i can't forgive it. I have now lost my save games twice after putting in god knows how many hours and this is not related to the quiet bug at all as i have not even reached the point in either play through where i can use her yet, and Konami seems to not even be acknowledging that there is a far bigger issue regarding save games. I am giving this game a zero as a wake up call to all game developers out there to not release unfinished, untested and broken games because quite frankly i have had a gut fool. Im sure that this one review is not going to make any difference amongst the near universal praise that this game has been recieving which i find unbelievable. if i was being honest the game is 7 out of 10 for me as the main structure of the game is extremely repetitive and honestly it feels empty and divoid of any richness if that makes any sense. I also have to point out the controls which are just bad, why on earth do i have two different sprint buttons for on foot and on hoarse? it dosent make any sense and I'm not even going to go into the cover system which again, is just broken and seems to have a mind of it's own. And lastly for a metal gear game the story is very lacking and poorly told. Rant over!… Expand
  9. Ashura84
    Sep 17, 2015
    10
    I can say without a doubt that MGSV is the GOTY,maybe fallout4 can beat it.
    They missions are fun and well designed.Open world gameplay fit well with MGS style.
    The cutscenes are epic as **** the characters are deep and interesting.Troy baker done a damn voice job again,Mother base let you keep your own crew to develop weapon or go on missions.The enemy AI is pretty smart.They know how    I can say without a doubt that MGSV is the GOTY,maybe fallout4 can beat it.
    They missions are fun and well designed.Open world gameplay fit well with MGS style.
    The cutscenes are epic as **** the characters are deep and interesting.Troy baker done a damn voice job again,Mother base let you keep your own crew to develop weapon or go on missions.The enemy AI is pretty smart.They know how to find you and eliminate you.There is so much fun messing around in the battlefield and mother base.The whole game is just addictive that will makes you don't want to leave you computer for weeks.
    Still exploring the game,but in my scale this game is already the best game I played this year,even better than Witcher3(I cannot believe).    … Expand
  10. ketchupwfries
    Sep 17, 2015
    5
    +Decent graphics and well optimized for PC.
    - PC controls are alright but menus have no mouse support.
    - Repetitive beyond belief. Some missions have you returning back to the same base/camp multiple times which gets old real quick. - The map looks large but you soon realize you're restricted to travelling on roads only with extremely little room for exploring. - Environments are empty    +Decent graphics and well optimized for PC.
    - PC controls are alright but menus have no mouse support.
    - Repetitive beyond belief. Some missions have you returning back to the same base/camp multiple times which gets old real quick.
    - The map looks large but you soon realize you're restricted to travelling on roads only with extremely little room for exploring.
    - Environments are empty and completely lifeless. Guards, guards, and more guards, all dressed and behave the same way.

    Fun for a few hours if you like stealth, then gets boring real fast.    … Expand
  11. 21grams
    Sep 17, 2015
    8
    I'm giving it weak 8 and it seems like overrated game, I mean by critics - 9.5/10 or more, seriously? So:

    The good: - very good optimization, runs like hell even on toasters while having decent graphics, nothing amazing, but it's really okay for this kind of game. - mind blowing amount of weapons, tools and other stuff to play around. - fairly decent enemy AI - good and challenging    I'm giving it weak 8 and it seems like overrated game, I mean by critics - 9.5/10 or more, seriously? So:

    The good:
    - very good optimization, runs like hell even on toasters while having decent graphics, nothing amazing, but it's really okay for this kind of game.
    - mind blowing amount of weapons, tools and other stuff to play around.
    - fairly decent enemy AI
    - good and challenging stealth mechanics
    - some nice humor here and there, some seriously shocking moments as well

    The bad:
    - open world here is a joke, empty and absolutely not utilized - base, few outposts here ant there and nothing in between.
    - environment reuse - you do main mission in certain base/outpost, then you do like 5 side ops in the same base. This is dreadful design in open world game
    - starting points are ridiculous, you land like 1000+ meters away from your destination, just to run that distance in completely empty world. It's so pointless.
    - some serious cliches in the plot where you think "wtf snake..? (or I should say wtf Kojima?!?)
    - game goes downhill in its second half (first half is way more solid).
    - ridiculous mission rankings, where most important thing is mission time, which conflicts with your interest of expanding the base (grinding materials)
    - online FOB's suck because too much cheaters with unlimited resources (like 500k of each material) and wtf microtransactions..

    Conlusion: it's still a decent game and best stealth game in a long time, but at the same time it's far far away from a masterpiece (critics must have been drunk, or did the reviews based on like 5 missions). If this wins GOTY, that just proves how absurd gaming market has became. Also, F*** Konami    … Expand
  12. Nomus
    Sep 17, 2015
    7
    It's an okay game in small bursts.

    I'm doing roughly one mission a night, maybe a side-op if the game hasn't bored me already.

    I think we just overhyped the living **** out of it for ourselves.

    GZ and the trailers just looked so promising.

    The open-world premise got me thinking we'd have several Camp Omegas to explore, but we got tiny boring based and Far Cry outposts instead.
  13. Dismortan
    Sep 16, 2015
    10
    I really like this game. Great combat, game play, missions aren’t boring. Graphically it's better than most and the gameplay is pretty good

    Kojima productions Masterpiece. A must play for any gamer out there. Regardless if you have played a Metal Gear before. Don't deprive yourself of this fantastic game. 10/10
  14. saulot
    Sep 15, 2015
    9
    A great PC port. Still has some small issues like showing controller when you go to control info screen or mouse support in menus. The game may get the tiniest bit repetitive but will changes often enough to dispel this. However small issues aside this was a EXTREMELY polished game day one(almost a novelty this day to most game producers). A triumph of voice acting and story telling asA great PC port. Still has some small issues like showing controller when you go to control info screen or mouse support in menus. The game may get the tiniest bit repetitive but will changes often enough to dispel this. However small issues aside this was a EXTREMELY polished game day one(almost a novelty this day to most game producers). A triumph of voice acting and story telling as well. Just an overall pleasure to play.… Expand
  15. TenchuuKhan
    Sep 15, 2015
    7
    Simply unfinished and unpolished game. What saves it is that it's super fun to play.
    I'd recommend the game to anyone but there's simply things that are so criminally bad and awkward in this game that one should know before purchasing it.
    Now, to begin with, what are you in for? Before you can do anything you are in for a ~90 minutes intro mission with various cutscenes and not much    Simply unfinished and unpolished game. What saves it is that it's super fun to play.
    I'd recommend the game to anyone but there's simply things that are so criminally bad and awkward in this game that one should know before purchasing it.

    Now, to begin with, what are you in for?
    Before you can do anything you are in for a ~90 minutes intro mission with various cutscenes and not much fun in terms of gameplay. Afterwards the real game starts.
    Basically you have an open world with various main and side missions that tell you to infiltrate some base, however you'd like to do that then, finish an objective, and get out again.
    In order to get in and out you can call in a heli that can pick you up and drop you off at various locations around the target - which is pretty atmospheric, even after doing it a hundred times.

    On top of that you have the opportunity to upgrade your mother base and compete with others online. You hire soldiers that defend your base, and you can attack other bases. Never tried that though.

    Now, if that sounds fun to you, and it is, here's the problems:
    Controls:
    The controls are basically good, the problem is more the reaction your controls have in the gameworld.
    For instance, if you push forward against a wall, like only 30% of the time he actually attaches to the wall. It doesn't work with all walls either. Some do, some don't... some sometimes do.

    The other issue is with climbing terrain. I'm not talking Skyrim laziness level: I'm trying to climb High Hrothgar from the Northeast in a straight line. I'm talking: there's a 20% angle upwards, you can't go... sometimes you can though. Also sometimes you can hit E to climb up a wall, sometimes you can't.

    Missions:
    If you thought Skyrim was lazy in terms of recycling locations you better fasten your seatbelt because this game brings a whole new quality to this.
    To begin with, yes - locations are recycled and used for various missions and side missions. No problem.

    But, even missions themselves are recycled. To be perfect, pretty much everything in the second chapter is doing chapter 1 missions (same cutscenes btw.) on ridiculously hard. Like: you can't get detected or, we just make that really hard bossfight a tick harder to make the game longer. Where we are at it...

    Bossfights:
    This is the number one atrocity in MGS5 Phantom Pain. I've never seen anything like it. The last MGS I played was the first MGS on the PSX. And those bossfights were hard, but original and had some tactic to them.

    Here though the tactic looks like this:
    Skulls: 4 guys jumping around that take ~30 Bazooka shots each that will grant you hours and hours of frustration. (On Extreme (Mission 42) - one mistake, you're dead... which sets you back around 30 minutes if you almost just made it)
    Quiet: That one was fun actually, basically it was a sniper duel in a valley. Even on Extreme I enjoyed it.
    Sniper Skulls: That one was okayish, basically you fight against 4 weaker versions of Quiet. Still not fun. Just aim at them, let them shoot, dock, then aim - take your shot. They'll run, and after a few seconds they go back to their old position. Rinse and repeat.
    Sahelanthropus: Yea, basically shoot your bazooka in his chest for 20 minutes... towards the end a single shot from him instakills you though.
    Eli: Since you're also in Africa there ought to be child soldiers... with a white kid commander that is a boss.... basically he jumps around, attacks you, quicktime... then he runs away again. Chase after him, rinse and repeat. Oh and hit him with your tranqus in between. (For whatever reason kids are almost immune to tranqus and take 3 headshots (regular kid soldiers, not this one))

    Story:
    The story is badly implemented into the game. The fact that there is a chapter 2 and that it sends you back to story missions from chapter 1 on hard should be proof enough for that.
    Still, whenever the story progresses, it's interesting.

    Quiet - yes she deserves her own section:
    Basically she's a a really likeable, but underdeveloped and hypersexualized character that deserved more. It feels more like after the sniper battle you tamed her.
    Having done her whole storyline it feels like this character was written this way solely for the purpose of trolling Anita Sarkeesian.

    Quiet is still a great buddy and I wished they did more with her.

    Small positive stuff:
    Soundtrack is great 80's music and you can collect tapes you can then listen to on your walkman.
    Extracting persons and animals is a fun, comical feature.
    AI will adapt to your tactics - in my case they now all wear helmets and there's heavy units all over the place.
    Game is 100% worth replaying and you can always just replay single missions.
    You find a stray pup at some point that then gets bigger and trained and he can accompany you at missions.

    Bottom line - buy it, play it - it's great. But oh so flawed.    … Expand
  16. casualgamer11
    Sep 15, 2015
    2
    While gameplay is finely polished for the most part there are some massive flaws: particularly the open world nature . The environment is essentially lifeless and bland between outposts and the details within the buildings are sparse and lacking. Despite being open world the map (Afghanistan in particular) is very linear and allows only a very restricted travel route along roads (oftenWhile gameplay is finely polished for the most part there are some massive flaws: particularly the open world nature . The environment is essentially lifeless and bland between outposts and the details within the buildings are sparse and lacking. Despite being open world the map (Afghanistan in particular) is very linear and allows only a very restricted travel route along roads (often winding) from one place to the next which often takes forever even by horse.

    The main missions are for the most part repetitive and stale and revisit the same areas over and over (the side missions are absolutely tedious because of this).

    The story is unfinished (given kojima konami split earlier), uneven, jarring, filled with plot holes and can appear mind boggling and laughable at times. The characters are unappealing and poorly developed. You'll scratch your head many times trying to understand a plot twist or wacky unprovoked character behaviour...

    You'd hope dlc would fix this but it wont given ongoing developer publisher relations and its too widespread and major a problem anyway. A great shame; certainly one of the wackiest and most non sensical games I've ever played (even compared to past mgs).

    I've stopped midway through chapter 2 now and have done with the game, its that rubbish; try witcher 3 (100 x better than this) or mad max (unrecognised hit) instead or hold your breath till fallout 4 because this game will leave you frustrated....

    I don't recommend this and I struggle to understand how this has been getting perfect scores (no game is perfect even at the best of times)    … Expand
  17. DanielCorfour
    Sep 14, 2015
    7
    Pros:
    -Best and most polished gameplay I've seen in a long time.
    -100+ hours worth of (mostly) worthwhile content. -Great Chapter I, story is mostly nice. -Excellent, meticulously crafted cut-scenes, even if the cinematographer at times tried too hard to make greatness and ended up botching some scenes. -Amazing graphics, great environments, and surprisingly good level design for an    Pros:
    -Best and most polished gameplay I've seen in a long time.
    -100+ hours worth of (mostly) worthwhile content.
    -Great Chapter I, story is mostly nice.
    -Excellent, meticulously crafted cut-scenes, even if the cinematographer at times tried too hard to make greatness and ended up botching some scenes.
    -Amazing graphics, great environments, and surprisingly good level design for an open-world game.

    Cons:
    -Missing a lot of story. Lots of plot holes, unfinished stuff. Half of chapter 2 and the entire chapter 3 missing from the game.
    -The story, even without the cuts, is often times contradictory and nonsensical. For a game that's supposed to explain the Big Boss's fall from grace, it does nothing of the sorts. Instead of acting as a bridge between Metal Gear and Peace Walker, it acts as the bomb that blew up the hypothetical bridge: it creates more plot holes than it solves... actually it doesn't solve any, it just creates new ones.
    -Some important story points are told trough audio logs. It's jarring. A cutscene would've been better.
    -Motherbase is gigantic and completely empty. Outside of some cutscenes, there's nothing going on there. There are only 2 indoors locations, and only one of them has anything interesting going on.
    -You build an awesome tank, and do nothing with it. Yeah, there was supposed to be something there, but it got cut from the game, like so many other things.
    -Controls are wonky at best. Shootings' fine, great even, but free-running, climbing, stances, cover are all horrible. Often times Snake gets up, instead of crawling, he goes out of cover, instead of moving a bit to the side. etc. There's also no mouse support in menus, which is a pain, and for some reason or the other, the button prompts are some time for the controller and some time for KBM. Oh and every single action in the game is bound to the "e" button. So a lot of times you'll struggle to get the guy to do what you want him to do.

    All in all, the game has a lot of problems. I could sit here all day listing them. But the short version of it all? I've had a tone of fun with it. It's dumb, and you'll get angry when you finish it, but the journey there might just be worth it.    … Expand
  18. lapiscoco
    Sep 14, 2015
    10
    Very long game-play and a lot to explore. It is a console port with some drawbacks from that, but overall the game is well polished. You slowly begin to connect the dots and the story-line is mesmerizing once you start to dig a little into the whole series. If you have a thirst for sniper warfare, this is an absolute hit. You can adjust your play-style in the settings menu if you are aVery long game-play and a lot to explore. It is a console port with some drawbacks from that, but overall the game is well polished. You slowly begin to connect the dots and the story-line is mesmerizing once you start to dig a little into the whole series. If you have a thirst for sniper warfare, this is an absolute hit. You can adjust your play-style in the settings menu if you are a serious FPS player or just want to enjoy more of the story and exploration. Auto-aim is by default "ON"... The graphics are not what a high-end PC player would call brilliance, but it is most of the time enough to satisfy. You can play day/night of each mission as you wish. This is actually my first Metal Gear game, so I did some digging to complete my story, it is fascinating to see a good game franchise first created in 1987 come this far!… Expand
  19. Cloud981
    Sep 14, 2015
    10
    + Emergent gameplay is so fun you could play for hours non stop
    + Great graphics,especially lightning
    + Controls are flawless when playing with XBox controller + Extremely well optimised + Content After dozens of hours of gameplay this game still surprises me from time to time and i'm not near of discovering all hidden stuff,like let's say mother base management,man i didn't even    + Emergent gameplay is so fun you could play for hours non stop
    + Great graphics,especially lightning
    + Controls are flawless when playing with XBox controller
    + Extremely well optimised
    + Content

    After dozens of hours of gameplay this game still surprises me from time to time and i'm not near of discovering all hidden stuff,like let's say mother base management,man i didn't even look on anything else,imagine my joy when i then discovered gunsmith and started to customize weapons. I would give only a minor flaws to story and pacing,but it's not the reason for score downgrade,after all this is one of the best games ever made and truly candidate for GOTY.    … Expand
  20. apoe
    Sep 13, 2015
    8
    Good:

    Amazing voice acting. Satisfying shooting mechanics that greatly rewards careful aiming and headshots. Enemies do not feel dumb, and will do things like check your last known position or try to smoke you out with mortar fire. Enemies do not feel like they can see you through walls. Stealth is reliable, but you can also viably play 'rambo mode' if you have good aim.    Good:

    Amazing voice acting.

    Satisfying shooting mechanics that greatly rewards careful aiming and headshots.

    Enemies do not feel dumb, and will do things like check your last known position or try to smoke you out with mortar fire. Enemies do not feel like they can see you through walls.

    Stealth is reliable, but you can also viably play 'rambo mode' if you have good aim.

    Probably has the best intro section to a game I've ever seen.

    Runs at solid 60 fps (never dips) on max settings at 1920x1080 with a GTX 970. No mouse acceleration or smoothing, so aiming with the mouse feels good.

    Bad:

    Finished the game, and the story feels weak compared to previous games. Some characters, like the main antagonist (who you'd think would be really important), have very little character development. The most interesting character in the game, Quiet, hardly gets any focus.

    A lot of the missions feel repetitive. Many of them are "kill this target at this outpost" or "rescue these prisoners at this outpost" with a few lines of story dialogue added in. Since it's an open world game, there's lots of filler content in between actual plot.

    Many things feel needlessly inconvenient. For example, your helicopter will take off right as you land on Motherbase, so you end up needing to call it back 20 seconds later when you want to leave Motherbase. Why doesn't the helicopter just stay landed until I want to leave?

    An option to manually save would have been nice, sometimes you forget when the last autosave happens so you are scared to exit the game and lose progress.

    Usage requirements are annoying and kind of ridiculous. For example, lvl 3 helicopter costs ~16 times more money to call down than the lvl1 helicopter, even though they do the same thing.

    No anti-cheat on FOB multiplayer and everything is client side, so there are godmode hacks and 1shot kill hacks. From what people have said, you are forced to build FOB if you are connected online after mission 22, so even if you want to play single player only, it will constantly get invaded. There is a 'disconnect' option in the game menu which puts you offline, but every time you start the game you are automatically logged in and synced with the server, so the FOB damages ends up affecting your single player game anyway. The solution to skip this part of the game is to block the game with your firewall.

    60 fps is great, but since it is capped at 60 fps, if you have a high refresh rate monitor you won't be able to utilize it fully. No mouse control in menus or iDroid. There's no audio options, so you can't mute the game music or make the dialog louder. And even with no controller plugged in, I still get controller prompts.    … Expand
  21. suneater
    Sep 13, 2015
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Full review too large for Metacritic. Visit my Steam profile at /id/verticalcleave for more, including a breakdown of the pros and cons of MGS5.

    For a game that was supposed to bridge the gap between the original Metal Gear games and the MGS series's later titles, there is very little storytelling or character development here. The only character with real growth is Huey, who is a piece of trash that you (and everyone in the game) grows to hate. Sure, Huey might be the best written character in the series, but it doesn't excuse how everyone else is fueled by revenge and has their arc concluded with revenge. There are also few cutscenes, with most of the meat of the story being told through Codec calls- *ahem* -I mean, cassette tapes. The game also takes a sharp turn from GZ's tone, with Skull Face going from being a creepy, mysterious horror one step ahead of you to being a caricature of a bond villain (who exposes his whole scheme to you during an awkwardly long caravan ride to his "real" base). The worst part is a lot of the story is repeated; you seem to be expected to listen to all of the cassette tapes to get the full story (imagine how bad previous games would've been if you were expected to pay attention to every non-critical Codec call!) and yet the conversations on them are often repeated or paraphrased during the main game! The game also fails to conclude all of its threads appropriately; most notoriously, a cut Mission 51 has shown up on Youtube which concludes a cliffhanger that happens in the middle of Chapter 2. The fact that such an important mission was left undone makes me think that this game was unfinished and rushed out the door, despite being in development for a supposed 5 years.

    There is a lot that could be nitpicked about this game but the biggest issue I have with it is the story. The MGS games have always been known for their story, with lengthy cutscenes and frequent Codec calls crafting a believable parallel world to ours. Snake (despite being voiced by Jack Bauer) is almost a silent protagonist in 5, who doesn't respond to radio communications (the replacement for Codec calls) or even talk to non Diamond Dog characters outside of Mother Base. Even during the ridiculous caravan ride with Skull Face he doesn't say a word during Skull Face's exposition. Snake had some ridiculous writing in the past (often repeating lines and adding a question mark on the end to comical effect) but it makes no sense for him to play the mute during key story points. I understand that Kojima wanted players to insert themselves as Snake this time around... But isn't that what players have always done in this series? People wanted to play as Big Boss and watch his descent into madness as advertised, not play as a silent body double. This might've been an attempt to reproduce the twist that Kojima created with Raiden in MGS2; however, that twist was acceptable because it happened near the beginning of the game. This game's twist just seems like a big "screw you" to the fans. All of this is on top of Kojima's obnoxious handwavium of choice, VOCAL CHORD PARASITES, which have effectively replaced MGS4's nanomachines as being the cause and effect for everything supernatural that happens.

    MGS5 could've been a good game had it ended with Chapter 1, could've been a great game with better writing, and could've been an amazing game with more series staples (more & better bosses, more (!) cutscenes, more character development). Things might change in the future; Konami might just be holding out on later chapters to milk the player base for DLC money (MB coins are already disgustingly distorting the singleplayer experience). As it currently stands, I'm going to get everything I can out of this game because its money already spent and its decently playable. However, because of all the glaring issues previously mentioned, plus broken online components such as MGO3 being delayed to January 2016 while consoles get it Oct. 6th and FOBs being invadable while offline, I cannot recommend this game to anyone. Both MGR and even the "paid demo" Ground Zeroes were honestly better Metal Gear Solid games than this embarrassing train wreck of game.    … Expand
  22. Edvaldo_Sbrissa
    Sep 13, 2015
    10
    MGSV:TPP is a great game, there's nno doubt about that. Its is perfect for those who wants to begin the serie, I mean, to be used to the gameplay itself. Furthermore it's such a pretty graphic with also a good audio effect. So it deserves 10 and probably it will be GOTY.
  23. Biggjake93
    Sep 12, 2015
    10
    I have waited for this game expecting trash do to the change of voice actors and the whole Konami debacle. However by the blessing of Big Boss this game ROCKED. Even with some bugs this game did not fail to wow me by it's no stop action to the absolutely amazing graphics. It's honestly a shame that this will be Kojima' s last Metal Gear, hopefully with the success of this game the futureI have waited for this game expecting trash do to the change of voice actors and the whole Konami debacle. However by the blessing of Big Boss this game ROCKED. Even with some bugs this game did not fail to wow me by it's no stop action to the absolutely amazing graphics. It's honestly a shame that this will be Kojima' s last Metal Gear, hopefully with the success of this game the future will not be so bleak for us MGS fans.… Expand
  24. Plissken23
    Sep 12, 2015
    10
    Masterpiece!! PERIOD!! its the best Metal Gear Solid according playbility and graphics, story maybe is not the best, but stills being a solid game candidate for GOTY
  25. Bishi
    Sep 12, 2015
    6
    +Reasonably fun at first once you are in the open world
    +Plays similarly to Far Cry
    +The character visuals (faces etc) are generally well done -MASSIVELY overhyped for what has actually been delivered. To sum this up in one phrase would be 'Far Cry Lite' -Fulton is entertaining at first but overused as hell -Awful selection of songs for the tape walkman -Cover system is so bad it    +Reasonably fun at first once you are in the open world
    +Plays similarly to Far Cry
    +The character visuals (faces etc) are generally well done

    -MASSIVELY overhyped for what has actually been delivered. To sum this up in one phrase would be 'Far Cry Lite'
    -Fulton is entertaining at first but overused as hell
    -Awful selection of songs for the tape walkman
    -Cover system is so bad it may as well not exist
    -Guns feel far too similar, little differentiating them
    -Voiceovers are annoying as hell 'he's coming too? EVERY time you use a Fulton'
    -Crappy textures even at max settings
    -Game looks very last gen. Not terrible but I have no idea why people are excited by these visuals.
    -Boring as hell prologue. Lasts about an hour in which time nothing happens. You should skip this.
    -Once you have the basics down the missions all become very repetitive and very easy
    -The whole mother-base part of the game feels bolted on and uninteresting
    -Quiet might as well be naked, camera likes to focus on her **** What year is this?
    -60 FPS lock, unacceptable in 2015. Can be bypassed with some hacking but can affect physics apparently
    -The two zones in the game Afghanistan and Africa are really boring to look at, very limited palletes and no interesting landmarks etc    … Expand
  26. Slevin310
    Sep 12, 2015
    9
    (The actual game 9/10 but the PC version is a 7.5/10 due to graphic downgrades and wonky controls)
    28 years of Metal Gear... 28 years of Hideo Kojima. All that has come to close as Kojima has left Konami. He leaves his us, his fans, with Metal Gear Solid 5 The Phantom Pain. Regardless of our thoughts on the game, we should at least respect the work this man has put into his games. He    (The actual game 9/10 but the PC version is a 7.5/10 due to graphic downgrades and wonky controls)
    28 years of Metal Gear... 28 years of Hideo Kojima. All that has come to close as Kojima has left Konami. He leaves his us, his fans, with Metal Gear Solid 5 The Phantom Pain. Regardless of our thoughts on the game, we should at least respect the work this man has put into his games. He treats Metal Gear as his pride and joy. The effort is seen in the extensive stories and innovation that comes with Metal Gear games. Even today when games seem to enjoy rehashing items, textures, designs and mechanics, Phantom Pain introduces new ideas not seen in games before.

    Lets start off with the bad things. The open world aspects and your main base (Mother Base) seem to lack consistency. There's not much to do at Mother Base and the open world doesn't have much other than enemy bases. Side Missions can become repetitive and the story is not quite on par with the previous Metal Gear games. Snake barely talks and there's not as many cutscenes. This may not bother other players but fans of the Metal Gear franchise will definitely notice those differences. I also notice the PC version has very wonky controls... it's not at all like PS4. Even using a gamepad doesn't fix it. The controls just feel slow and delayed. Or they'll do something you didn't mean to.

    The gameplay is flawlessly created to provide you with nonstop entertainment. The stealth and enemy placement can be difficult, but to me that's a good thing. The game is challenging and requires you to use some tactical plans in order to get to your objectives. If you enjoy running down corridors shooting mindlessly at enemies, this isn't your game. If you expect to just crouch down in a shadow and expect enemies not to see you in other stealth games... this is not the game for you. You must be very careful around enemies.

    Enemies have been programmed with sufficient AI. They're smart during combat, observant during stealth and they'll mix up their path every so often. Luckily you have a massive list of different items, weapons, tools and support options to handle them. You have to develop your base in order to create better gear. Collecting resources and recruiting team members is vital to your progress. You have the option of being a blood thirsty killer or an honorable soldier who only resorts to killing as a last ditch effort. There are multiple ways to take down enemies without killing. Unlike other games this would usually be done with stealthfully choking out enemies or tranq darts, which can be kind of boring when you have so many badass guns. In Phantom Pain you can upgrade a lot of your favorite weapons to shoot rubber bullets that will stun enemies and still provide you the fun shoot outs.

    The open world is set in the deserts of Afghanistan, you get around by horse or vehicles. It almost feels like a western but with futuristic qualities. You can go it alone or have a support unit help out with missions. Could either be a specialist soldier or D-Dog (Wolf). Online features base fighting, you can assault online player's bases to steal their resources and players can also assault your base. You'll need to upgrade your bases defense and make sure your army is well equipped. Assaulting player's bases is a lot of fun, easily my favorite thing about this game.

    Right off the bat this game throws you into an extremely intense intro. This is one game that does NOT have a slow start. Although the game does have a lot of features that will be locked off till you progress far enough into the game, this actually makes the experience better. You're constantly being given new things to try out so there's never a dull moment. The graphics and music are breath taking. The game's presentation is incredible, cinema worthy experience.

    I know the issues fans have pointed out and I understand, as a hardcore fan myself, but look at the current state of games. New games like Resident Evil 5 and 6, Silent Hill Homecoming and Downpour, Battlefield 4 and Hardline, Elder Scrolls Online, Sonic and Sim City they have all circum to the changes in the mainstream gaming industry. Features and gameplay dwindle as games slowly become less and less challenging. Entire gameplay mechanics are stripped to provide more mass appeal. In this era I can only hope games try to do their best and improve as times go on. Yet they're all taking big steps back and now all we can hope is that a game will be worth their prices. It would have been so easy to take this franchise and turn it into yet another Call of Duty clone. But Kojima cares about his games and fans. He genuinely tries to make a video game masterpiece, he wouldn't sacrifice quality for money. While it might not be MGS, Snake Eater or Peace Walker... Phantom Pan is amazing in its own way. Definitely worth buying!

    Farewell Kojima, thanks for the awesome games!    … Expand
  27. StarlifeeeRTS
    Sep 12, 2015
    2
    First and foremost I will award the game 2 points for the great performance(for the most part) of the game on consoles. However, there are still stuttering issues at times during the game, which require a hard reboot of the console to correct. This game's story has to be one of the worst I've heard in years and there's not even a satisfying conclusion to it all liked you'd expect from theFirst and foremost I will award the game 2 points for the great performance(for the most part) of the game on consoles. However, there are still stuttering issues at times during the game, which require a hard reboot of the console to correct. This game's story has to be one of the worst I've heard in years and there's not even a satisfying conclusion to it all liked you'd expect from the final Kojima Metal Gear Solid game. And this is a huge problem because it makes the game feel unfinished when you combine that with the fact that Chapter 2 is just you replaying the same missions you already played on a higher difficulty. The games gives you a decent amount of options, but the actual level design doesn't encourage you to stray from the norm and try new things unless you just spam headshots over and over because then soldiers will start wearing helmets. The open world is barebones, lifeless and dull as well as a chore to travel with mountains that exist for no other reason, but pure padding and to impede your way. On top of there is no variety in the environments that you encounter in the game apart from the prologue, which strips all control from the user and is overlong anyway. This would be okay if the environments in the game were actually interesting like with previous Metal Gear games, however MGSV's depictions of Africa and Afghanistan are as uninteresting as can be, which is absurd(especially in Africa) considering the amount of landmarks and variations it has. MGSV reminds me of a 3rd person Far Cry 4, but with better mechanics, an even worse world and even more repetitive side missions. Both games can be "fun" for a time, but you'll end up with a very bad taste in your month after a while and especially once you're done and reflect on what you've done in the game. The side ops are a joke, have no context and recycle the same areas and objectives from the main game. My advice if you must play this nonsense is to wait for a sale so you're not as disappointed in your purchase as I was.… Expand
  28. Solid_Dustin
    Sep 12, 2015
    10
    Its not the best MGS in the Storyline or Bossfights. Bud that is the best MGS in gameplay.
    The Performance on Pc is very good. I have a lot of Fun with in. I have 70 h played and 45 % see of that game.
  29. RaidXT
    Sep 12, 2015
    8
    a great game, allot of content gameplay wise.
    but pretty much half the story is missing/cut.
    the game feels incomplete and the missing scenes on the collectors disc proves that.
    still a good game if you want to do some infiltration gameplay and build/manage your motherbase.
  30. Kojimaisiahack
    Sep 12, 2015
    1
    - very bland, sparse, predictive and boring story
    - the man character could be mute for all I care
    - boring and empty open world, - game consists of grinding and balooning people until nausea - forced online - microtransactions - cut content, the game was shipped incomplete - you can't mute Kaz and Ocelot, I get it that it's an enemy gunship - Quiet is THE worst character to be in    - very bland, sparse, predictive and boring story
    - the man character could be mute for all I care
    - boring and empty open world,
    - game consists of grinding and balooning people until nausea
    - forced online
    - microtransactions
    - cut content, the game was shipped incomplete
    - you can't mute Kaz and Ocelot, I get it that it's an enemy gunship
    - Quiet is THE worst character to be in a metal gear game, instead of a consisting story, we got Kojima motion-capturing her just so he could masturbate
    - the tapes are worse than PW and very few

    The only Metal Gear game that I could not bother to finish the last story mission    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Best PC Game of 2015
14
#14 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015
24
#24 Most Shared PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. Riot Pixels
    Oct 8, 2015
    77
    Metal Gear Solid V is amazing at times, and I enjoyed playing it, but there are so many embarrassing blunders and contradictions. Rich tactical gameplay vs an almost dead world. Fun HQ management and interesting characters vs an unfinished narrative and boring side quests. In some regards, this is a huge step back from previous Metal Gear games.
    Read full review
  2. PC Gamer
    Oct 6, 2015
    93
    A generous stealth sandbox masterpiece that will delight both new and existing fans of the long-running series. [Dec 2015, p.50]
  3. PC PowerPlay
    Sep 30, 2015
    90
    It might not be the best Metal Gear Solid game ever released, but it's certainly the bravest and most interesting. [Oct 2015, p.53]
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