MGSV: The Phantom Pain Review - A Game Divided (Part 1)
Phantom pain is a medical condition where a patient can feel the sensation of pain that comes from a body part that's no longer there. This terms also ironically sums up the entirety of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, a game divided.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is video game auteur Hideo Kojima's latest entry to the Metal Gear saga, and given how things are in Konami nowadays, it is possible this game will be the final entry of the series. So, just how good this game is? As a long time fan of the series, I think it is safe to say that a lot is riding on this one game, which happened to be the swansong to a 28 years old video game series. Kojima can't possibly let the series goes out in a whimper, right?
Thankfully, it doesn't. But...
Here's the bad news. This game is supposed to be the missing link that connects Big Boss' story to the Solid Snake Saga, hence completing the story of the entire series. In many way, it is, however it also left a lot to be desired. Fans who are used to Kojima's arbitrarily long cutscene will find no such things here, in fact a lot of the cutscenes has already been shown in one way or another in the trailers. What we are left with, is cassette tapes, a lot of cassette tapes for exposition.
Maybe this is a reaction to the criticism leveled against MGS4's overly long cutscene, but I never think of the long cutscenes as a weakness of this series. It may be long, but it is enjoyable to watch (for me anyway), and a recent replaying of MGS4 make me realized that I enjoyed watching those cutscene a hell of a lot more than I enjoyed listening to the tapes.
Speaking of MGS4 or basically any other game in the series, this game definitely feels stretched out. In the previous games, every moment is vital. There are no filler content that artificially lengthen the game. And if you skip all the cutscenes, the entire game may last only a few hours or less. This made replaying the campaign possible. And in the case of this series, where the player is given so much gameplay freedom, replaying the campaign in New Game Plus Mode is actually very fun.
In The Phantom Pain however, it took me almost 60 hours to get to the real ending. Granted, many of those hours are me experimenting different ways to deal with enemy guards and restarting from checkpoint over and over again to achieve perfect stealth. But still, this is way too long, and it makes replaying the campaign way too time consuming for the average gamer. You have to question the wisdom of Kojima here because some of the episodes are really pointless, it almost seems like their only purpose is to make the game longer, nothing more. For example, check out Episode 9. And don't get me started on the Side Ops, because a majority of those 157 mission are repetitive and it is only good for staff recruiting and not much else.
Then you have FOB Mission, which has "micro-transaction" (read: stay away from this mode) in it. In this mode, you get to build your first FOB (Forward Operating Base) for free, and if you want to built subsequent FOBs, you had to pay to unlock new waters using real money. Each water cost between 1000MB Coins to 1200MB Coins.
You can see what a blatant money grab this is on Konami's part. Just look at the MB Coins pack that are for sell on PSN. Considering on average 1000MB Coins are required to unlock each new water, the price of each water is roughly RM36.
Of course, you can also get MB Coins in the game, but that would be too time consuming, and probably not worth your effort. In a recent update, Konami also let you buy insurance for your FOB using real money, so your item will be compensated to you when someone else stole it. Seriously, is there a stronger / more repulsive reason for you to stay away from this mode?
Reading until here, you must think this game is one of the worst entries of the series, right? Strangely, no. Far from it. Despite all these flaws, this is possibly one of the most addicting game ever. Period. I would like to explain here, but this is long enough for one post before I bore you to sleep, so stay tuned, and I will talk about the good things in this game on part 2.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is video game auteur Hideo Kojima's latest entry to the Metal Gear saga, and given how things are in Konami nowadays, it is possible this game will be the final entry of the series. So, just how good this game is? As a long time fan of the series, I think it is safe to say that a lot is riding on this one game, which happened to be the swansong to a 28 years old video game series. Kojima can't possibly let the series goes out in a whimper, right?
Thankfully, it doesn't. But...
Here's the bad news. This game is supposed to be the missing link that connects Big Boss' story to the Solid Snake Saga, hence completing the story of the entire series. In many way, it is, however it also left a lot to be desired. Fans who are used to Kojima's arbitrarily long cutscene will find no such things here, in fact a lot of the cutscenes has already been shown in one way or another in the trailers. What we are left with, is cassette tapes, a lot of cassette tapes for exposition.
Maybe this is a reaction to the criticism leveled against MGS4's overly long cutscene, but I never think of the long cutscenes as a weakness of this series. It may be long, but it is enjoyable to watch (for me anyway), and a recent replaying of MGS4 make me realized that I enjoyed watching those cutscene a hell of a lot more than I enjoyed listening to the tapes.
Speaking of MGS4 or basically any other game in the series, this game definitely feels stretched out. In the previous games, every moment is vital. There are no filler content that artificially lengthen the game. And if you skip all the cutscenes, the entire game may last only a few hours or less. This made replaying the campaign possible. And in the case of this series, where the player is given so much gameplay freedom, replaying the campaign in New Game Plus Mode is actually very fun.
In The Phantom Pain however, it took me almost 60 hours to get to the real ending. Granted, many of those hours are me experimenting different ways to deal with enemy guards and restarting from checkpoint over and over again to achieve perfect stealth. But still, this is way too long, and it makes replaying the campaign way too time consuming for the average gamer. You have to question the wisdom of Kojima here because some of the episodes are really pointless, it almost seems like their only purpose is to make the game longer, nothing more. For example, check out Episode 9. And don't get me started on the Side Ops, because a majority of those 157 mission are repetitive and it is only good for staff recruiting and not much else.
Then you have FOB Mission, which has "micro-transaction" (read: stay away from this mode) in it. In this mode, you get to build your first FOB (Forward Operating Base) for free, and if you want to built subsequent FOBs, you had to pay to unlock new waters using real money. Each water cost between 1000MB Coins to 1200MB Coins.
Of course, you can also get MB Coins in the game, but that would be too time consuming, and probably not worth your effort. In a recent update, Konami also let you buy insurance for your FOB using real money, so your item will be compensated to you when someone else stole it. Seriously, is there a stronger / more repulsive reason for you to stay away from this mode?
Reading until here, you must think this game is one of the worst entries of the series, right? Strangely, no. Far from it. Despite all these flaws, this is possibly one of the most addicting game ever. Period. I would like to explain here, but this is long enough for one post before I bore you to sleep, so stay tuned, and I will talk about the good things in this game on part 2.
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