Systems: PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC

ESRB: M

No. of Players: 1-16 online

After several years of development, the latest game in the “Metal Gear Solid” series is finally here. While we got a taste of the gameplay in the “Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes,” the prologue released last year, “The Phantom Pain” is a fully realized game and an excellent swan song for Hideo Kojima’s involvement. While there are some flaws, the game is exceptional and a must play.

Following the destruction of Mother Base at the end of “Ground Zeroes,” the legendary soldier, Big Boss fell into a coma for nine years. Upon waking up in a hospital on the Greek Isle of Cyprus, he is greeted with the sight of a missing arm and the news that the whole world wants him dead. What follows is an attack on the hospital by an unknown military organization that Big Boss narrowly escapes. He then reunites with his allies, Kazuhira Miller and Revolver Ocelot, and begins to rebuild his private military force in order to get revenge for what he had lost.

“Ground Zeroes” gave us a taste of the new open world style, but instead of being limited to a single prison camp, you get to explore large regions of Afghanistan and Central Africa. There is plenty to do in these areas, such as rescuing prisoners, capturing animals, gathering resources and, of course, many bases to break into. Once you decide on a mission, you have plenty of options for how to accomplish it. You can go in silently during the night, but have to avoid searchlights. You could sneak in from a side enterence or go in through the main gate. If you are confident, you can charge in guns blazing. There is even the choice of knocking out the guards or killing them.

What keeps thing exciting is that the guards will adapt to your tactics. For example, relying too much on head shots will result in them wearing helmets. If you keep going in at night, the guards will start carrying flashlights, or even night-vision goggles. This forces players to mix things up and constantly upgrade equipment to remain effective, especially due to the excellent AI.

While the  game gives you a lot of freedom, you have to constantly manage your in-game money carefully. The operation costs will vary based upon which weapons and equipment you take with you, so you have to take only what you need in order to avoid going into the red. This also applies to if you take a vehicle with you and which buddy you have accompany you. There are four buddies. D-Horse is great for traveling long distances silently. D-Dog is able to sense nearby enemies, animals, mines and medicinal plants. Quiet is a sniper who helps with taking out enemies and scouting the area. Finally, D-Walker is best used for straight fights. You can call in supply drops and request new buddies, but it also cost money.

While things are excellent out in the field, there are some design choices that do not work as well. You can return to Mother Base between missions and freely explore it, but there is barely anything to do there. In addition, the main storyline offers plenty of missions, but the post-credits content is largely made up of tougher versions of previous missions. Granted there are some new story missions, which are some of the most engaging in the entire game, but you need to wade through a lot of recycled content to get to them.

The game offers online multiplayer in the form of “Metal Gear Online.” In up to 16 players in the PS4, Xbox One and PC versions, or 12 players in the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, compete in three different types of matches. Bounty Hunter is a team deathmatch mode with a twist. Each team has a set number of points and must deplete the other team’s points to win. Killing an enemy is worth one point, but it also increases the point value of the killer. If you capture the enemy instead, you earn the point value instead. Cloak and Dagger has one attacking team armed only with non-lethal weapons and must steal intel and exfiltrate the area, while the defenders have lethal weapons and must kill all of the attackers. Finally, Comm Control requires the attacking team to reach the nodes to download intel within the time limit, while the defending team must keep them from doing so until time expires.

All of these modes are fun, but I thought that Cloak and Dagger was the most faithful to Metal Gear. I also never had a problem connecting to the server or experienced lag.

The other multiplayer component, the Forward Operating Base, on the other hand, is nowhere near as fun. You basically get to create your own base and set the defenses. You can also attack other players bases to steal their resources and kidnap their men to recruit into your own army. You can also kill them. If you get attacked, you can go to defend your base. The catch is that the defending player can respawn, but the attacker cannot. The attacker wins if they can get to the goal.

What makes this annoying is that, unless you purchase insurance with real money, you will actually lose resources and men when you are attacked, even if you are not connected to the internet at the time. If you are connected to the internet past a certain point, you are forced to create an FOB. This would not be so bad, but you need a premium currency to upgrade the base instead of the free currency.

Annoying FOB mode aside, The Phantom Pain is an excellent game that should not be missed.

Score 9/10