Get excited for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain: here’s why

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’s release date is just around the corner (comparatively, seeing as we’ve been waiting for years), with a global release date of 1^st September.

Die-hard fans and rookies of the series alike are looking forwards to getting their hands on what seems to be one of the better action games to come out in recent times.

This is one of my favourite gaming series; I can honestly say I have not been more excited for a game to come out for a long time.

‘TPP’ appears to be the definitive title in the franchise, something that will appeal to the sneaky cardboard box-lord and gung-ho maniac alike.

What exactly is it that’s got everyone so hyped for Metal Gear V: The Phantom Pain, the enigmatic final instalment from the eccentric genius Kojima-san’s epic canon?

Snake is very pissed off and wants revenge. He’s also not very impressed with Konami at the moment.

Open-world

‘Punished Snake’ or ‘Big Boss’ finally breaks free of the confinement of linear stages to burst out into the proud new world of the mid-1980s.

From sprawling deserts in Afghanistan to lush jungles in Africa, the world is now your oyster. Players will now be free to roam the world in search of recruits, vehicles, resources and goodies in general.

As seen in the previous Peace Walker, these collectibles will be used for the development of players’ oil-rig base similar to the ‘Big Shell’ in Sons of Liberty.

Items, people and vehicles can be extracted by the ‘Fulton Recovery System’, an attachable balloon that will hoist its victim high into the air for helicopter extraction.

Obviously you want to make sure that no enemy sees this activity, as seeing a mate being flung into the air by a balloon is enough to cause wide-spread panic.

Your base will expand in size and prominence the more you work on securing assets, and jumping in your helicopter and being dropped off at a desired location to secure assets or accomplish missions is all too easy.

Players can fulfil missions and side-quests or freely roam and explore as we all love to do so much. Methods of travel include jeeps, LAVs, tanks and horses.

These will be essential as one navigates their way around enemy-infested bases, making stealthy infiltrations or explosive getaways.

There is plenty to do in the massive world of TPP besides missions. If all turns out as expected, I will play the game as I do the Elder Scrolls titles, doing everything but the main missions for a long time.

Jaw dropping environments begging to be explored.

Buddy System

Snake is no longer alone in his leopard crawling antics. He will now be able to pair up with a range of companions that will significantly augment his progress.

The most basic buddy is the horse which you will romantically gallop around in and leave droppings which will send enemy vehicles spinning.

Then there is the infamous, ridiculously clad bombshell ‘Quiet’ (or Chico as many conspiracies lead us to believe), a mute sniper who will assist snake by distributing headshots on command.

Quiet will also play an integral role in the game and storyline, that is if the player choses to include her in his missions and the game in general.

Next we have a badass wolf with an eye-patch named ‘DD’. This furry agent will sniff out enemies and animals and will be able to take them down nimbly with rows of fangs to the jugular.

The most exciting companion for me is the ‘D-Walker’, a conventional, bipedal robot that Snake can hop on and speed along in. It comes armed with a choice of mini-gun, tranquilizer, rifle and more. It also has a lethal arm which can be used to slam foes around.

One can choose between stealthy roving or laying down noisy waste with its attached guns.

Quiet – the enigmatic sniper. I just don’t see what all the fuss is about!

Multiplayer

TPP’s multiplayer looks like too much fun.

The oceanic bases that players strive to set up and populate with valuable resources and soldiers can be infiltrated, and everything you worked so hard to collect can be nicked by a proficient shadow of a man.

Definitely one of the ultimate trolls in gaming will be returning from a successful mission to find everything you spent days collecting missing, but I’m sure one would have to be present in the base for this game mode to occur.

There is also a team mode where two groups of creepers will pit their discretion ability against each other by racing to secure intel, which can easily turn into a chaotic fire-fight.

Prove you’re the biggest ninja online.

A story you will be completely bamboozled by

Anyone who knows anything about Metal Gear Solid knows that its story is among the most convoluted and confusing in video game lore.

With a myriad of shady and two-faced characters spanning the 20^th and 21^st centuries, it’s a mission just keeping track of who did what.

This final chapter in the lengthy epic occurs around the middle of the canon’s timeline, bringing closure on the events that led ‘Big Boss’ to become the integral antagonist.

The game will continue from the events of Ground Zeroes, after the *spoilers* explosive annihilation of Militaire Sans Frontaire and the cliff-hanging destruction of the helicopter transporting Big Boss and Kaz.

From the trailers revealed and the overpriced prologue Ground Zeroes, one can expect dark and disturbing themes not often explored in video games such as race, sexual violence, child soldiers and child abuse in general.

Ground Zeroes showed us Chico and Paz, from the PSP’s Peace Walker, being seriously brutalised and debased. Players can expect more of the same sad experiences befalling characters in TPP.

There are also plenty of supernatural and extraordinary happenings, from flying flaming whales to cybernetic zombies.

Interestingly enough, this game will not feature the usual monstrous and frequent cut-scenes the series is famous for. In fact, people are reporting sparsely sprinkled cut-scenes with Snake barely talking.

Child soldiers, torture and racial issues; this game is going there.

Obviously mum’s the word with this game.

Kojima-san has only revealed enough to wet our appetites and is not spilling any more beans than he needs to.

All will be revealed when we finally get our hands on the long-awaited controversial finale.

I just hope that it doesn’t digress from the Metal Gear Code of Conduct too much, but tweaks the atmosphere enough for a refreshing experience that will recruit new legions of fans for this cult franchise.