[h1][b]Convenient controls[/b][/h1]
I remember the first time playing MGS4 and enjoying its control layout: we had three stances, shoulder aiming, sticking to a wall only when needed. Yet, just like the main character Old Snake, movement was slow. Here, in MGSV, it’s finally at its peak — you can change stances on the fly, quickly switch your weapons, run quicker, aim at any direction in any stance. Awesome! But I don’t understand why they didn’t keep the button that allowed us to stick to a wall in a stand/crouch stance. It really pisses me off everytime I’m trying to hide properly behind the cover and activate knockdown from that position.
[h1][b]Gadgets[/b][/h1]
The amount of additional devices that you can bring with you on a mission or on map free roam is incomprehensible: all types of grenades that you can only imagine, hilarious decoys, different lethal and nonlethal prosthetic arms, Most of the time I even feel overwhelmed having access to that much staff! Isn’t that great being that free to choose how you want to play?
[h1][b]Enemy AI[/b][/h1]
What I like about enemies is that they have scalable difficulty now. There’s no more blunt soldiers on the map waiting for you to knock them out or kill them. I mean, at the very beginning of the game they will be blunt, but later they’ll adapt to your approach so now you will have to change your strategy. The game keeps your brain thinking, which I like.
And yet one thing I don’t really like about their behavior. You see, previously in MGS once an enemy had spotted you, they had to report it. Now, right after your reflex mode wears out, the whole area miraculously knows about your presence. Not cool.
[h1][b]Buddies[/b][/h1]
In MGSV we now have companions that help us to accomplish a mission: a dog, a sniper, a horse and a mini metal gear. I frankly have been using only the dog, ‘cause he’s too powerful, sighting all enemies around (which I think is too imbalanced sometimes) and killing/disabling one of them on your command. The sniper, Quiet, is okay, but I had struggles with her at first since she only had a lethal rifle and my approach in MGS is always nonlethal. Walker Gear (previously mentioned mini metal gear) is too complicated for me since it is extremely conspicuous and a newbie like me in MGSV will always be spotted riding it. The Horse? Well, it only helps until you manage to get access to a four-wheel transportation, then it only takes up your companion slot.
[h1][b]Open world and side activities[/b][/h1]
Everybody’s complaining about the game’s empty open world. I’m not saying that I absolutely like it. It’s empty, that is true, yet it only serves a purpose to show you the area of Afghanistan and Angola, the length between outposts. We almost always have a vehicle to travel those distances so that’s not that big of a deal.
Unfortunately the developers didn’t show us local conflicts on those areas like it was in MGS4. The Soviet army might have been fighting with the mujahideen and African private forces — with rebels. And while they fought from time to time, we could use the distraction to infiltrate or exfiltrate almost like in MGS4 or even cooler.
Side activities are that repeatable, so you’ll quickly memorize each and every outpost that game offers you. Yet I like them, because those side missions still give you a purpose to play the game a little longer and enjoy its possibilities.
It’s a shame that there are not many unique areas to play on. That would be cool if devs instead of creating multiplayer mode made a modular system to create custom outposts like in Far Cry 5 for instance.
[h1][b]Multiplayer[/b][/h1]
I’ve never tried MGSO, but from what I saw it doesn’t have that espionage vibe, it’s just some multiplayer shooter with a touch of MGS mechanics. FOB missions on the other hand are more interesting since you have to compete with other players or rather their bases, so the difficulty is adjustable, yet the process is repeatable since the design of the bases is pretty much identical. The only difference is the amount of enemy soldiers, power of security devices and the length of the base itself.
[h1][b]Storyline[/b][/h1]
No surprises here — the story is abruptly cut. Konami is never going to finish this game, but that is not only their fault, but Kojima’s as well. He wanted to add so much stuff to the game that it became too huge to develop and finish, so Konami just said “Ship it already!”
Shame that we’ll never see a downfall of the Big Boss.
