Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

[danny]

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[OL]

^^Didn't watch the whole thing (just skipped around), but watching that defender vs. intruder match was really entertaining.
The game just looks ridiculously involved and complex. I'm really looking forward to this.

[Shibiryo]

About less than 20 days to go. I'm picking this up day one.

[danny]

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[St. Elmo's Fire]

MGSV: Ground Zeroes is a free game on Xbox Live this month, worth a punt?

I was thinking of returning to the MGS franchise soon with this Phantom Pain game, but since this is free and seems to be a prequel to PP may have a bash. Is it playable enough? 'cos even though it's free I don't wanna waste time downloading a few gigs for something that's just shite...

[Shibiryo]

It's worth it. GZ has good replay value and you can play it at your own pace. As PP is coming out very soon, you can get a taste of the gameplay and kick ass easier when it arrives so that you aren't unsure how to control certain things.

[danny]

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[Henry Spencer]

Anybody else here going to be playing Metal Gear Online once that's out too (which comes with MGSV)? We could start a Dojo group.

[danny]

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[ShenGCH]

MGSV: Ground Zeroes is a free game on Xbox Live this month, worth a punt?

I was thinking of returning to the MGS franchise soon with this Phantom Pain game, but since this is free and seems to be a prequel to PP may have a bash. Is it playable enough? 'cos even though it's free I don't wanna waste time downloading a few gigs for something that's just shite...

The main mission should take a first-timer around two hours to complete, but Side Ops, collectibles, and generally messing around for fun (the concept of which many of the game's critics seem to be sorely lacking) could see you pumping hours and hours and hours into the game. I've put around thirty hours into it myself.

As for whether it's a good game that's playable enough? Very much so. It's hands-down the best Metal Gear Solid in terms of control and playability; the open approach aspect to missions brings about a natural increase in difficulty, but only in the sense that it requires much more of the player than simply going from crate to crate to your mission objective. Instead, you really need to plan your moves carefully, keeping an eye on your surroundings from all angles, making sure to scope out and tag enemies with your binoculars, memorising their patrol patterns, etc. It's deceptively deep. The story (not plot, mind you, because all that is going to be explained in The Phantom Pain) isn't all that fleshed out, but the events within the story are great. Oh, and the FOX Engine is a sight to behold, and it's only going to get better in The Phantom Pain.

Any bad points? For one, Kaz (your radio guy) doesn't shut the fuck up, and clumsily hand-holds you in a number of instances (a pet peeve of mine with games), which can get pretty annoying when replaying missions. The game was clearly rushed for release (I guess we can all blame Konami for that), as evident by the handful of bugs, glitches and occasional 'wonkiness'. By very recent standards of rushed products, however, Ground Zeroes is still an A+ compared to Assassin's Creed Unity and such. Other than that, it's a great game.

Have fun

[danny]

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[ShenGCH]

Yeah, especially when you eavesdropping on soldiers.

I wish there was a "shut the feck up" option for Kaz.
Also, you cannot turn off music in the game.

Oh there is another thing: Certain things you do and get in Ground Zeroes (rescuing POWs etc.) will be forwarded to TPP (via data transfer) to enhance your experience:

http://www.metalgearinformer.com/?p=18555

"The drainage channel... You might be able to crawl in there!" still makes me let out a sigh of frustration every time I hear it

Hey, here's an idea, Kaz: let me discover the shortcuts on my own and decide where I fucking well want to go! Honestly, an 'I get it, Kaz/Ocelot' button prompt in The Phantom Pain would be a godsend. It's fine hearing what they have to say the first two or so times, but after that, it's aggravating as fuck.

[St. Elmo's Fire]

Thanks for all the comments folks. Guess I'd better put my Xbone back on...

EDIT: Just done so, system update required which I expected. But a system update that's two gigs? FFS!

[Monkei]

^ That sucks!
Since you're talking about getting back into the series: Which Metar Gear games did you play?

[St. Elmo's Fire]

Haha err, not played any since Substance on Xbox. I loved MGS on PS1 and enjoyed Substance, but not enough to stay with the series...