Review: Engrossing ‘Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’ Is a Fantastic Finale

(Image: Konami)

Roughly 15 minutes have passed since I touched down near a remote Soviet outpost in the wilds of Afghanistan. In that time, I’ve cultivated herbs, stolen a Russian transport truck, shot a half-dozen soldiers with tranquilizer darts, ridden a horse, fired an antiaircraft gun, and stuffed an unconscious man into a porta-potty. That last part was just for fun.

This is Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain in all its wonderfully over-the-top glory. The Phantom Pain is the latest and, according to series creator Hideo Kojima, the last in the long-running Metal Gear Solid franchise. Kojima has made similar claims following the release of previous Metal Gear games, but considering the epic falling out between the legendary designer and series publisher Konami, he might be right.

And that’s just fine, because out of the many excellent games in the Metal Gear series, The Phantom Pain is perhaps the finest.

In true Metal Gear fashion, The Phantom Pain is equal parts stealth gameplay, political intrigue, and ham-fisted drama. If you’ve never played one of these games, you’ll want to spend a few hours perusing Wikipedia to catch up on the series’ incredibly convoluted backstory.

The Phantom Pain follows the tale of the Kiefer Sutherland-voiced mercenary Snake (aka Punished Snake, aka Venom Snake, aka Big Boss — told you it was convoluted) as he and his comrades in the private military organization Diamond Dogs seek vengeance against the shadowy government organization Cypher. You accomplish this by using a mix of stealth and action across multiple locales. Even Snake’s favorite stealth tool, the cardboard box, is here.

The story takes plenty of insane turns, but compared to other Metal Gear Solid games, there are fewer plodding, lengthy cut-scenes. The plot takes a backseat to the gameplay — and in this case, that’s a very good thing.

That’s because The Phantom Pain is the first open-world Metal Gear game. Whereas previous Metal Gears shuttled you down relatively linear paths, The Phantom Pain tosses you into large, beautiful sandboxes. You can steal an enemy jeep and drive from one part of the map to the other, exploring run down villages and Soviet checkpoints and generally making a mess of the place at your leisure.

That openness also affects how you approach your missions. Want to run in like Rambo, guns blazing, firing your entire ammo belt? Go right ahead. Want to stick to the shadows and stealthily sneak into a facility? You can do that, too. It’s probably smarter.

You can destroy a base’s communications equipment to prevent soldiers from calling in reinforcements. Or wait for nightfall — yep, there’s a real day/night cycle — and cut the lights to a building so you can easily sneak by enemies. If you take the stealth route, you can take down guys using close-quarters combat (CQC) or your trusty tranquilizer gun or sneak up behind them and put them in a headlock. Once they’re in your grasp, you can either interrogate your captives, knock them out, or send them the way of Old Yeller.

Adding to The Phantom Pain’s open-world ambitions are two new mechanics: the Phantom Cigar and Reflex mode. The Phantom Cigar is a cigar that you equip to speed up time. This beefy spliff comes in handy when you want to quickly change the day/night cycle without having to wait around. It’s a Metal Gear blunt — a “rest” mechanic with a dank twist — and it’s a perfect representation of how adept Kojima and Co. are at turning a pretty straightforward feature into something ridiculous.

Reflex mode, meanwhile, provides you with an extra few seconds to react when a guard spots you. When active, Reflex mode lets you either dispatch your enemy via deadly force or take them down with a choke or CQC. Guards taken down while you’re in Reflex mode don’t alert their comrades.

In general, The Phantom Pain’s controls are tight and satisfying, which is important when moving so much as a millimeter in the wrong direction can mean the difference between successfully navigating past a guard and taking a machine gun to the face.

The one bugaboo I have with the game’s controls has to do with its cover system. Ideally, this lets you automatically stand flush against a wall when you walk up to it. This way you can easily move up and down hallways and peek around corners without getting spotted. Unfortunately, the mechanic is pretty touch-and-go. Sometimes you’ll lean against the wall; sometimes you’ll just stand next to it like an idiot.

(Image: Konami)

The battle on the ground is just one part of the game, however. The Phantom Pain also includes a rather in-depth base building mechanic. A former oil rig dubbed Mother Base serves as a safe haven for you and the Diamond Dogs, allowing you to research upgrades (BETTER CARDBOARD BOXES!), new weapons, and launch missions. To pay for upgrades, you’ll need to complete story and side missions as well as collect resources scattered about the world. Usually, they’ll be in enemy bases, but occasionally you’ll find gems lying out in the open, ripe for the taking.

A base is only as good as the soldiers manning it, and from the outset you’re pretty shorthanded. To grow your ranks, you can capture enemy soldiers on the battlefield and send them to your base. How? By strapping them to a balloon, naturally. The “Fulton Surface-to-Air” recovery system shoots unconscious soldiers into the sky and, weather permitting, deposits them safely on Mother Base. You can do this with all sorts of things, too, from large items to — I am not making this up — bears. Because you never know when you might need a bear.

Yes, it’s silly, and, no, it doesn’t make any sense. But that’s what makes the Fulton perfectly Metal Gear. The series has always toyed with crazy sci-fi conceits; using gigantic balloons to ship stuff back to your home base is par for the course.

It’s also one of the best-looking games around. Afghanistan’s rocky landscapes are meticulously detailed, and the characters, as always, look incredible. Kiefer Sutherland does an admirable job voicing Snake, who for decades was voiced by series mainstay David Hayter. Those are big shoes to fill, but Sutherland handles it well.

Few games are this ambitious, and even fewer manage to integrate so many different gameplay styles so smoothly. From the off-the-rails exploration to the overwrought dialogue, quirky villains, and men locked in porta-potties, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is the perfect expression of creator Hideo Kojima’s vision for his beloved franchise and a fitting end to his time at the helm. But more than that, it’s just plain fun. Don’t miss it.

What’s hot: Wonderful amount of freedom; deep base building; memorable characters; thrilling stealth gameplay.

What’s not: Stealth control can be wonky; story hard to follow for newcomers.

Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley or on Google+.