Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

the best in the series in terms of control, and abducting entire bases as Asia blares from your anachronistic iPod is the kind of hokey schlock that 2015 MGS should be doing. but it also feels like the engine would have been better served with an original property. it's the best Metal Gear -game-, but it's also the worst -Metal Gear- game. if the latter does not matter to you, it will be your favorite in the series. if the former does not matter to you, well, it's better than 4.

The most advanced and technically proficient Metal Gear is also certainly the worst on a narrative level. The ending sucks ass and ends the franchise on such a bummer note that I need to replay the good entries to wash the taste out of my mouth. The gameplay is solid(snake) enough to still make this worth playing for sure.

Solid gameplay mechanics, probably the best of the series, but instead of progressing through a series of new locations like the past games, MGS:5 asks you to repeatedly play through the exact same locations with different mission objectives. Add in the need to build Mother Base and Phantom Pain suddenly develops into a grind that I didn't enjoy and so I gave up and I don't expect to return. With the way Kojima left Konami, it's likely this is an underwhelming swansong for a great franchise.

I had fun for a short while. The stealth mechanics felt fresh and neat but the game drags on forever and places everything it possibly can in the way of doing the enjoyable stuff. There is way too much travel back and forth in the least exciting open world I've ever seen. I spent so much time collecting and developing unnecessary junk and the plot barely exists... I admit I might just be too attached to the older MGS style, but I found this made a good first impression and then became a chore.

I wish I could say everything about this game is great because the stealth mechanics are the best in the history of video games, quote me on that. However, the Metal Gear parts of this game are lacking to the point of being boring and the multiple "messages" that haphazardly manifest by the end is so horrible it almost feels like satire. A sad end to Kojima's time with Konami because the potential leaps off the screen and was never fully realized.

Fun and challenging up until you unlock a certain ally that makes the rest of the game trivial.

Hm, there's something screaming "I'm through with this franchise, but you assholes just keep asking for more" in how this is put together. Maybe rehashing the same locations over and over with only slight changes in objective is a hint? Although there are lots of neat gameplay ideas, this is actually the first MGS that feels unengaging and boringly repeti...what??! A mute, half-naked, big boobed female sniper companion carrying out my every command?!? Kojima, you evil genius!!!

So much wasted potential that it hurts. I guess the Phantom Pain is an appropriate title in more ways than one.

Hard to rate. Best gameplay in the series on the one hand - unfinished game on the other. Protagonist who's largely mute due to an overpriced Hollywood voice actor. If MGS4 was a movie, this was the opposite - but at least 4 had an ending, unsatisfying as it may have been for many. (Lacking when it comes to the engaging bosses and set pieces MGS is renowned for, too.)

Holy grindfest Batman! Had this game ended at the end of chapter 1, it would actually have been good. The problem with chapter 2 is, that it's mostly grinding the side missions, or replaying same missions again with different modifiers. All this simply to unlock more main missions. Also the world is very boring, you keep doing the missions in same few places over and over, with basically empty unused space in between. This is by far the worst MGS game that I've played.

After beating MGS 1, 3 and 4 this game feels weird, the introduction is amazing but later on you see how weird it is, no memorable bosses, no memorable ost, good story but the repetitive missions ruined it. Edit: playing 4 years after release and now its amazing. If you trully understand that Kojima didnt wanted sequels since after the first Metal Gear Solid youll see why this is not the best MGS of them, but after beating it and replaying it, it reveals its awesomeness.

Not bad, but it got repetitive long before I could finish the main quest.

Need to play more of this, really liked the controls and options for dealing with situations.

I didn't like this at all.

Perfect gameplay and controls and you get to enjoy Konami spreading my sorrow to the heartless sea.

A hell of a lot of fun to play but I have to agree with everyone else about the story. It's too scattershot to fully have an effect, the ending twist is pretty crappy, and without Chapter 51 it essentially doesn't have a climax (although the end of the Quiet story will make do I guess).

From a gameplay perspective it is probably the most fun Metal Gear game; the depth of the insanity is great. But as a complete MGS it's lacking because the way the story unfolds is incredibly lame. They either hide it behind things or never fully embrace it like other games in the series. There is some really good content buried in there but I needed the Metal Gear story emphasis to love it and it didn't quite deliver in that regard. Also didn't give us memorable bosses like previous entries.