Metal Gear Solid V: The end of a legendary saga

Ever since Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was announced, fans have been waiting to get their hands on it. The game is the final major release of a series that has lasted for 28 years and has created a cult like following. The game designer of the series Hideo Kojima, who helped shape the game and the industry to what it is today also left the publisher after this game. The fans were expecting nothing short of extraordinary and that is exactly what they got.

Story
Metal Gear Solid V is the fourth Metal Gear Solid game in chronological order, with Snake Eater, Peace Walker and Ground Zeroes coming before it. The game takes place nine years after Ground Zeroes, when Big Boss, one of the central characters of Metal Gear series awakes from a nine year coma after the events of Ground Zeroes. The story begins with Big Boss being helped by Revolver Ocelot and a stranger as he escapes from the hospital and makes his way to Afghanistan. After locating and rescuing Kazuhira Miller, Big Boss, Ocelot and Miller build Diamond Dogs.
This time around, Metal Gear focuses on the gameplay and open world and does not put as much focus on the iconic long cutscenes, which made the series what it is. There are cutscenes, but just not as many as I would have hoped for.

Gameplay
Built around the open world style, MGS V gives you a lot of freedom in the way that you infiltrate enemy bases and build Diamond Dogs. The gameplay is a mix of main missions, side missions also known as side ops, building up your mother base, deploying your forces on missions that can improve your gear and mother base. The game gives you a lot of freedom to play as you like in the open world, you can bring down enemy bases with brute force, unleashing massive firepower upon them until base is nothing but dust or take a stealthy approach which is the one the game encourages.
The game is filled with options when it comes to stealthy gameplay, from infiltrating camps to taking out the guards, there’s always a quiet option. You only need to take out the enemies that are necessary. This doesn’t mean that you cannot kill everybody, you can slowly take out the entire base with the help of some of your buddies using the buddy system. You get to choose between Quite, D-dog, D-horse and D-walker. These buddies can be useful for a range of different reasons - taking out targets, simplifying infiltrations and completing objectives.

Music and Sound
Metal Gear Solid V is set in the ‘80’s and has some great music from that era. If you hear something you like, you can even go look for the tape from which it is playing and take it back with you. This allows you to play it later. The game’s soundtrack has made such an impact that if you type “The Man Who Sold The World” into YouTube, you get the MGS V soundtrack and Midge Ure’s relatively little-known version that shows up on the top of the results, even before Bowie’s original or Nirvana’s Unplugged version.
The sound also affects gameplay in interesting ways, a tropical rain storm will dampen sound for both you and your enemies while sandstorms make it more difficult for your and your enemy to spot each other. The music and sound both feel really apt and go with the gameplay, really well.

Conclusion
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is an absolute treat for any gamer. The game packs amazing stealth gameplay and an amazing open world that gives the game tremendous replay value. The story is great, although I would have enjoyed more of Kojima’s famous cutscenes. The characters are amazing and the music is stellar. Metal Gear Solid V is an amazing game which boasts of core gameplay that will serve as an inspiration for generations to come.