Developed by Kojima Productions, directed, designed, co-produced and co-written by Hideo Kojima, and published by Konami; this adventure stealth video game is the eleventh canonical and final installment in the Metal Gear series and the fifth within the series' chronology. It serves as a sequel to 2014's Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes & a prequel to the original Metal Gear game released in 1987. Set in 1984, the game follows the mercenary leader Big Boss AKA Punished "Venom" Snake (Voiced by Kiefer Sutherland) as he ventures into a new war during the Cold War to exact revenge on the people who destroyed his forces and came close to killing him during the climax of Ground Zeroes. Can Snake find the men that nearly killed him or will the men that nearly destroy him, usher a new age from the ashes of the Cold War? Play the game to find out! Without spoiling the game, too much, I have to say, I like the continuation of the narrative established in Ground Zeroes. I just wish it, it was just part of this game, rather than its own separate game. Honestly, if you haven't played, Ground Zeroes or any of the previous games, you will certainly get lost in this story. That's the truth. While, the overall story is pretty interesting, it still lacks the emotional powerful thematic elements compare to the other games. Just wish it was a little more compelling. This is easily the darkest Metal Gear story yet so it could had work. The tale of Big Boss' face/heel turn covers some pretty heavy subjects, like race, revenge, child soldiers, cold blooded torture, body horror and rape. That being said, there's still plenty of room for the series' trademark humor. It's not all gloomy. As much as critics hate Quiet (Voiced by Stefanie Joosten)'s comically oversexualized. I found her character arch to be, one of the better cinematic moments of the game. The whole sandstorm scene with her was pretty emotional. The rain scene not so much. It was play, as a heartwarming moment, but it comes across, as somewhat perverted. The twist toward the end, was somewhat not as unexpected as it should be. Maybe, the overarching storyline does lose some focus. There were times, in the game, that I felt like, the story was trying way too hard to do shout outs than make a well-made story. Honestly, did we really need to see Liquid Snake, here!? As much as I love some of the cinematic cut-scenes, I just glad, this game has the least amount of it. Sometimes, they do go a little too long, for my taste. I do like how the game doesn't have a lot of exposition scenes. Those scenes, normally kinda boring with the voice acting, not being the best. In this game, the voice acting is alright, but barely used. Kiefer Sutherland is meh. I kinda miss long-time voice actor, David Hayter, instead. By far, Troy Baker as Ocelot has the best moments in the game. Still, by far, the greatest thing about this game is the gameplay. The gameplay elements were largely unchanged from Ground Zeroes, meaning that players will have to sneak from several points in the game world, avoiding enemy guards, and remaining undetected. The big different, between this and the other games is that it's more open world, meaning that you have more freedom in how you complete a mission than restrictive script format missions. I like that players may traverse the game world with vehicles, in addition to traveling on foot or on horseback, or may also call for friendly helicopter for support or send AI companions to scout a target area. I also love the game day-and-night cycle that runs in real-time. Weather effects, such as sandstorms and rain, also affect the gameplay, making it a lot of easier or harder to sneak past enemies. Still, the open world settling is very dull, both visually and in terms of quality content in it, there is nothing to discover, no fun encounters, there is so little interactivity and you're restricted to moving in between restrictive corridors, as you go from outpost to outpost doing the same work, over and over. It feels incredibly artificial and somewhat repetitive, but it gets a little more challenging toward the end. A good example is if a player frequently use particular weapons or tactics to subdue enemy soldiers. Future enemy missions would adapted to your tactics, making it, harder to have a single efficient playstyle. The enemy AI has also improved in terms of situational awareness, but still, they do have some artificial stupidity. It's pretty odd, for them, not to hear the loud screaming of soldiers, being sent to Mother Base for recruitment. That was pretty jarring. Still, I do like the idea, that you can capture enemy soldiers, animals, and vehicles with the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system, in an attempt to grow your mother base. Being able to have a base-building feature where players can develop weapons, explore the complex, and upgrade the base's defenses and technology is pretty interesting. However, the period weapons and basic military hardware of the 1980s mixed with futuristic technology was somewhat jolting. The game takes a lot of artistic license, when it comes to mixing the sci-fi, supernatural and realistic tones, together. I like how the game has numerous Moby-Dick, Lord of the Flies, 1984 and Bible references. It works with its themes. For the game's soundtrack, Donna Burke once again, returns, to recorded cover songs. I do like her version of 'Sin of the Fathers' but by far, the best cover songs here, are 'Nuclear' from Mike Oldfield & Midge Ure's cover of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World". My least favorite song is Stefanie Joosten "Quiet's Theme". I do like how the game now has, multiplayer. It's been a long time, coming. Overall: This game is an unpolished diamond. Good, but could had been great.
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