Once again, I decided to do a little rant review but unlike the other rant reviews where I just make them short and sweet, I can plenty to say about this game considering this is Hideo Kojima's final Konami game that he produced and boy did he go out on top although in the storyline he took a step backwards.

Metal Gear is a member of a story within the game industry, has been popular since its inception in the 80s, it is a rare distinction it shares with strong names like Mario or Zelda. Unlike many other games, Metal Gear continuously tells a story all the time, giving it a unique strength but also a certain weakness. Older fans love the series for its narrative and tactical espionage action, but the story has expanded into several titles and consoles makes it intimidating to newcomers. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is different, it puts the saga of Big Boss and his children in the background, emphasizing the dynamic, tactical game and an approach aimed at progression. The game moves over the narrative in a way for it to be an open and tactical play.
 
The story remains important but is not the driving force in this release, I have much to say about this, so it was in progress and all the hype behind it, ended up being something else. Anyway, after one of the best starts I've seen in a game (for which The Phantom Pain started superbly) here I see Big Boss working in order to rebuild his army and confront Skull Face (introduced in Metal Gear V Solid: Ground Zeroes). The premise of how it was giving the legend of Big Boss is interesting and evolving to include urgent and unexpected issues that do not say give away many spoilers. But I see the will of Hideo Kojima as I spot the negative comments about his games (more Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots) which had an absurd amount of cinematic videos apparently for this key information in history The Phantom Pain is in optional audio records, causing major events can occur without context and we can only learn more about them after the fact.
 
As fans of the series for many years, I prefer to deal more with scenes that spend time listening to audio tapes to get the proper background of what we're going, we do not misunderstand, not greatly affect the game, but a narrative context It ends up feeling unnatural. But in the end all the information is collected over time into a tale worthy of the name Metal Gear but ultimately ends up feeling incomplete, almost falls into what as was the missing to complete the series link (and mentioned in the launch trailer Hideo Kojima), presenting few answers and many more questions.
 
The approach is non-intervention in the game's narrative it is disappointing yes, but also leaves space for other elements of the game, which become art. Without frequent interruptions of exposure, we are free to dive into the mission-based structure. We are present an amazing number of these, divided into primary and secondary missions, to plan and execute these transactions at their own pace. Freedom is great, it allows us to choose the activities and benefits that interest us. The extraction of prisoners, resources or weapons is valuable, the Fulton system will be vital for all this, being constituted of levels, these will allow not only carry our personal basis, if not bigger and necessary things. Each mission has a different flow not only to build our Mother Base, but to unravel every piece of history, the game can be completed in 45 to 50 hours but with a lot of extra things to do, believe me.

Metal Gear Solid comes with this fifth installment in an open world that generally gives a soft welcome but to move in is not as easy as it might. A fast travel system is buried, we have to spend much time either our horse or spend much time watching Big Boss ride his helicopter as it travels to areas closer to landing a mission. These mobility problems did not let us enjoy the game a certain way, we did see that in the study did not find a quick and intuitive way to solve this problem that other open world titles resolved for years.
 
The basic mechanics of The Phantom Pain is essentially the same as in Ground Zeroes. This time I can choose before shaping my arms to be to begin a mission. My arsenal includes standards such as guns and rocket launchers, as well as secondary options such as silencers pistols, water, etc. Unlock more weapons depending on levels that go up our Mother Base for manufacturing these is one of the main forms of progression and is consistently entertaining.
 
The biggest difference I see in The Phantom Pain at this point in the missions and we can choose weapons before the system is able to select a partner who can take a partner with me in the missions. At first I was concerned that this would dilute the sense of infiltration alone, something I love in Metal Gear, but our partners work well to support my style of play and not dominate the battlefield, offer a variety of benefits, it is a delight see discover how each contributes in different situations.
 
The Phantom Pain has missions that are designed brilliantly, with multiple paths to success. It's not as simple as going without quarter, to Rambo, or stealth, each encourages us to experiment with the tools available. Take out a guarded truck can be no doubt with a simple balloon Fulton (taking appropriate improvements) but you have to subdue the guards around, then that we can do it quietly or, call in reinforcements ranging from having our D-Walker to use brute force or to have launchers ready for any disruption that may range from enemy soldiers to tanks. The solutions to all missions are varied, the availability of these depends on your personal approach and how you want to build the image of the legendary soldier Big Boss.
 
Everything you do in missions contributes to improving your army. Everything ends at the Mother Base, your headquarters offshore and secret star of The Phantom Pain.This is where you reap rewards for all our deeds; Mother Base works as a tree of skills, arsenal and symbol of power. Recruit soldiers are assigned in areas that help build a better team. This team brings together more resources, these will expand the base to be able to recruit more soldiers and coins you get missions will allow to invest in other things, and so the loop goes on. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker presented a prototype version of this process, implementation in The Phantom Pain this makes us see an evolution that leaves us with a good taste. The depth of customization and incentive to continue doing so, with the phrase in our heads "just one more mission" is amazing and walking around our base, watching the progress obtained first hand is rewarding, especially with the help of our iDroid which is also a perfect implementation to control many of the things inside the base. We were surprised to see that the improvement of the Mother Base is not the main story arc, if not the main driving force through The Phantom Pain.
 
The soundtrack is amazing, lots of music from the 80s that we find in several missions, so exploration is essential and encourages us to where we are, we look at any door to find some of these tapes. Something that we liked a lot is how to get from one point on the map to another can put our iDroid these songs and the game is set to hear these without us lose some ambient sound, either when infiltrate some basis or just explore some area, making the experience not only a visual delight if not sound.
 
Another thing that has Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is the game in each mission begins with opening and closing credits, these credits sometimes make big spoilers of what will live in each, knowing ahead of time if is a mission that we find a character or transcendental enemy, or just be normal. This also creates a feeling very segmented in history, having such claims ruined a bit the experience because in the end it feels as if we play based on a story missions made and say a Metal Gear title.But as I said earlier, the game leaves aside the very narrative experience to be an open game and based on the tactical. What would it cost to do a title with these characteristics but with the narrative of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater? It would have been epic gameplay combine, modalities and options in The Phantom Pain with this narrative, something beyond reach the sublime to tell the final story of Big Boss, but the game ending owe us a lot in this section.

Besides the battles with "bosses" are also somewhat diffuse, Metal Gear has been characterized for giving epic enemies, some very memorable, they have a story behind that are against us and mechanical to defeat them according to what they are. The Phantom Pain does not have that much as we expected, it is a title that in its progress made us wait a little longer than it ended up being but a game in its gameplay manages to give something many titles spy should, perfection . Sadly though gameplay is perfect, the story ends in mid-game to go downhill, recycling missions beginning but now "hard" difficulty to fill a space, some truth that ended disappointing us that Metal Gear not needed that, it feels like the end of development and decided to finish as soon as possible without cared fill spaces that.

The original Metal Gear game Hideo Kojima was a stealth title from the top down, screen by screen. Compared to the huge and ambitious world that we in The Phantom Pain is hard to believe that both games are products of the same creative mind.Certainly a series can not survive long without evolution, and The Phantom Pain is a testament to the importance of taking risks. An open world, a database that can be customized, mission structure variables and perfect gameplay aspects are well done in this Metal Gear, making it exceptional. The way the story is told, and there are players within it may change with each release, this is certainly not the best, but Kojima's ability to surprise and enthrall players remains unchanged. Although everyone is sad to know that this is the last game of the director in the saga, we appreciate the years that gave us incredible stories, iconic characters and a saga that goes down in history as we wish Hideo Kojima and hopefully not Metal Gear series a fond farewell. Thank you, Kojima for all you've done. *salutes*

Short? If 1844 words is short, I dare not want to see a LONG rant

Anyway this review is the archetype of a featured one. You tell a continunous story instead of using the "classical" structure of analyzing the different metrics, making it very easy to read. You go into deep about the game and its mechanics. Also, most important of all for a game from such a long series, you give abundant comparisons with other games of the series.

Seriously, I am jealous

janus :
 
This a long rant. I was saying I normally keep my rant (aka ungraded) reviews short but this one was an exception.

First Keiji Inafune (the creator of Mega Man) and now Hideo Kojima. We are losing our legends due to bad management and stupid decisions. And the ones that are screwed are the fans.

I really love Hideo Kojima. His crazy smart mind comes up with masterpiece's all the time. It was upsetting to hear what Konami's intentions were when I first found out months ago. I know a lot of people look at the Metal Gear Solid series and think of it as his swan song, but I mean let's not forget Silent Hill. I was really excited for Silent Hills, and when I heard they cancelled it I was just so confused. That game would have been awesome.

Ugh, I hope Hideo Kojima finds another game company that respects talent like his. I mean, the things he comes up with is just insane and awesome.