Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Top positive review

Best Metal Gear of them all.

Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2016

The game is great and holds up. Graphics are not on par with todays top games but there still amazing. In fact I think it's better this way because the loading in this game is EXCELLENT which I imagine it would take a lot longer if the graphics were more shiny. But the game play is top notch as well as the size of the game. There's so many guns here it would make Call of Duty sweat. The level of freedom is insane. hundreds of weapons and you can call in a support chopper to drop them off as you see fit during the missions. You never have to look for ammo or wish you had a certain weapon since all you gotta do is call it in. This game has everything from vehicles too horses and a bunch of wildlife.
Also as far as conscious parents. This game YES is a shooter but the themes are not terrible. No cursing and the game story in general is rather sci fi. I'd get this for my own child because of what it does NOT have in it. No sex and no cursing. There is a female in the game but there's no "relationship". Or actually much talking. only a character meant for sniping support.
This game is perfect for anyone who beats games and is done with them too fast. This game is almost unlimited in replay value because there's A LOT of mission but on top of that there's a lot of reason to replay them to get a higher score and succeed with 100% of the mission. Meaning other tasks that weren't required the first time like securing hostages or obtaining information. But also if your not the greatest and hate getting stuck, this game has an option given to you when you fail a checkpoint like 3 times in a row. Gives you a quote "chicken hat" option which is really funny actually. Wearing this makes the enemies not attack you when first spotted as to give you a greater chance of succeeding. I used it once when I was stuck too long and was getting frustrated. Got me through that mission and auto turns off after that. Kept me moving along with the next mission. So even if your not the greatest there's no reason to feel intimidated. If you like shooters but want single player THIS is the game for you. It even has online as well if you want that too but unlike most games this games single player is top notch and is the main draw.
Oh and one last thing. You do NOT need to of played the other games. I've plaed metal gear 2, 3, and 4. And you know pretty much everything i know if you havent played em.

9 people found this helpful

Top critical review

Critical reviews›

NOE

Awesome game that has some horrible flaws

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2022

The beginning prologue is very LONG with a ton of video. You can hit SKIP SCENE to get past, but it's annoying to start.

Once you get action it gets much better. But you're pushed to save your progress on a KONAMI server. So if you ever want to start over, you can't using ONLINE settings. Once you've started you can't delete your progress.

The other option is to download all updates, then play in OFFLINE mode. Then you can always delete the game and start over. The only problem with this is, it only occasionally saves your progress. So you may start out and get far on your first time. But you come back later and the game has lost all your progress. And you're forced to sit thru the LONG, BORING prologue in the beginning AGAIN.

This really really sucks if you take hours to complete a mission, quit, and come back to find your progress was wiped out.

The game is really really fun, but the drawbacks make it a PAIN that's not PHANTOM.

It also has trouble with completing tasks. If you don't do things in order or do something unexpected, missions will not be completed and constantly reappear.

979 total ratings, 499 with reviews

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From the United States

Greg Guzik

Best Metal Gear of them all.

Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2016

Platform For Display: Xbox OneEdition: StandardVerified Purchase

9 people found this helpful

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Tony

An amazing game!

Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2015

Platform For Display: Xbox OneEdition: StandardVerified Purchase

I've been playing it for about six hours now. Here are my thought:

1. EVERYONE has to play the first mission of this game ("Prologue"). It's one of those rare moments in gaming when you actually FEEL like you're the character. It's very graphic, though, so I wouldn't sit the entire family around the TV for this one.
2. I just finished Far Cry 4 and this has a lot of the same elements in it. For instance, when "attacking" an installation I spend some time "tagging" the enemies with my binocular just like I did in Far Cry 4.
3. Graphics are the best I've seen yet on Xbox One.
4. Very elaborate controls, in my opinion - almost to the point of being confusing. Lots of "Hold down the D pad while pressing the left button while selecting AND pushing down with the R analog stick" kind of stuff. Still not used to it all.
5. The story is solid and the voice acting is great!
6. I like the "Mother Base" component to the game. It's a great way to customize and pick the equipment you want without adding too much management overhead.
7. It's kind of "open world." It's not nearly as open as Skyrim or something like that where you literally can just go do whatever you want.

Great game. Glad I bought it. Look forward to MANY more hours of enjoyment.

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Update 9/18/2015
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After playing the game for another 20-25 hours I decided to upgrade my review to 5 stars. This game is amazing. It might be one of the best I've ever played. I try to play it whenever I can and I haven't run across a game like that in a LONG time. It's just something that has to be experienced. I love it. :)

Why did I change my star rating to 5?

1) The detail and thought put into the game is breath taking.
2) The shear size of the game is staggering.
3) I'm not losing interest. In fact, I'm getting MORE interested as I play it longer.

~Slick

61 people found this helpful

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T. Merc.

Beat sniper by dropping boxes on their heads, 5/5.

Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2015

Platform For Display: Xbox OneEdition: StandardVerified Purchase

This is the first MGS game I've ever played, so this review is from a newbie's perspective. Plotwise, this game is absurd, but highly entertaining all the same. The game does try to give you some background info on what's going on, but it's pretty hard to come up with a short way to explain a couple of decades of franchise lore, so I have very little clue about what's happening at any given time. A co-worker of mine who's a longtime fan did try to explain it to me, but I had to stop him before the blood started shooting out of my ears. I do love that the characters can have such goofy conversations completely in earnest, though, and I appreciate that the dev team didn't put in some tedious plot dump. In terms of gameplay, it's tons of fun, with many ways to approach objectives depending on your preferences and experience. A newb like me can clear missions, but each mission also has extra objectives if you want a challenge, and they can be done out of order or skipped altogether if you're having trouble with anything in particular. You'll miss out on some endgame stuff, but since Konami butchered the endgame anyway, it's not a bad option. Base building is frankly a bit lackluster, however; the real reason to work on your base is to develop better weapons and tools for yourself, unless you're playing online.

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mjk280

So great yet still misses some marks

Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2015

Platform For Display: Xbox OneEdition: StandardVerified Purchase

This is a really hard review to nail down just because there are things I think the game does superbly and maybe better than any other game to date, but then there are a list of things the game whiffs on that could've made it one of the best of all time.

The gameplay is fantastic. This is the best stealth game of all time. Gone are the non-intuitive controls of the old MGS games. This is like the classic Splinter Cell games but improved to today's standards. In other words, the control and options when sneaking are great. Maybe for the first time ever you really can approach a situation in a number of different ways. Large bases are basically blank canvases for you to infiltrate exactly how you please. You are given everything you need and the game almost never feels cheap when you're spotted. The AI is probably the best out there right now. Their reactions are usually reliable but not TOO consistent, making it very organic.

The problems with this game are (at least generally) the same with the past entries. Half of what it does is amazing, and the other half leaves you wondering if Kojima & Co. had ever made a video game before. It's really baffling. The "open world" aspect is okay, but you visit the same locales multiple times, especially if you do a lot of side missions. Many times I would perform a side mission and just by coincidence the next main mission would be at the same exact location. That's disappointing. Also, traversing the map is a royal pain sometimes. If you happen to pick the wrong landing zone get ready to travel around a huge mountain, because the devs didn't think it was necessary to cut any pathways to allow easy access over top of it. If you don't have the horse with you, you're going to be sprinting for 5 minutes just to get to where the mission is. Also, the story is almost non-existent so far and I've been playing for 12-15 hours.

Like I said it's so hard to pin down a score for a game like this. To me, the gameplay is there. When you're in the midst of sneaking it's one of the better games I've played in a long time. It's just everything else that's so haphazardly executed. If you like Metal Gear you'll like this game and you'll probably expect it to have some glaring imperfections. If you've never played one before I'd probably just as well recommend you don't jump in now. It's just too much of a mish mash of stealth, exploration, base building, and erratic story. For those that know what you're getting into though it's a great game despite its faults.

EDIT: After completing the game I won't change my initial score, though I think 3/5 stars may be more appropriate. The story was definitely lacking, however the more you play it becomes apparent that the game simply wasn't finished. Plot threads are left dangling, some make no sense, and the story arc everyone was expecting is basically completely ignored. The entire second and final act is a mish mash of random half-baked missions and ideas.

10 people found this helpful

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Lucas Clark

Pleasantly Amazed

Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2015

Platform For Display: Xbox OneEdition: StandardVerified Purchase

Having never played a Metal Gear Solid game prior to this title, I was not entirely sure what to expect from the game. I bought this primarily due to the good reviews that it had on IGN and Gamespot, and I have to say that I am beyond pleasantly surprised. Pleasant amazed would do my reaction more justice. Graphics are arguably the best I've seen on Xbox One, and, despite having little to no knowledge of the previous story of the Metal Gear franchise, every minute playing this game is phenomenal fun. The main complaint that I've read from other reviewers is that they don't like the idea of sneaking around and playing a stealth game--but if that's the case, I don't know why they are playing the game in that way. While stealth is encouraged, there is nothing stopping you from playing the game in whatever way you see fit, and that is what makes this game so much fun. One player might choose to be stealthy as they clear a base without injuring any of the soldiers stationed there, while another player might approach that same level by pulling up in a tank and blasting everyone. It's this freedom to solve the puzzles with a wide variety of interesting and entertaining tools that makes this game a must-play.

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NOE

Awesome game that has some horrible flaws

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2022

Platform For Display: Xbox OneEdition: StandardVerified Purchase

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LivinOnEdge

H.Kojima's Legacy - Updated review

Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2015

Platform For Display: Xbox OneEdition: StandardVerified Purchase

I knew this game would be good from the get go, but I was blind-sided by the intensity from the very beginning. From the very start of the game you get brief hints and flashbacks of the ending of Ground Zeroes which ties Big Boss into his awakening 9 years later. You are then quickly introduced to some familiar faces, especially if you've followed along the series since Playstation 1.

While completing missions, you have the ability to free roam the wilderness before returning to base, or continue on to more missions. The world is very large and the choice is yours to pursue whichever course of action to complete an objective, you may so desire. When you complete story related missions, you will become involved in the cut scenes that fail to disappoint. However, unlike MGS4, cut scenes are not 20-30 minutes a piece. (Although there was nothing wrong with that either)

While exploring, you may come across resources that can be used to fund you home base, or fill it with bodies. Each soldier you capture has different stats which makes their placement on mother base crucial. While some may be great at engineering, they fail miserably in medicine, but they can also double as a defending force. You can also pick up wild animals which will boost your GPM for future researching expenses.

During the day, your a soar thumb, and at night your are invisible, however both come with their pros and cons, and they made it so hard to choose that I find myself playing 50/50 night and day scenarios, which by the way, you can choose to start your missions ASAP (as fast as the chopper can get you there), 0600 hours, or 1800 hours, so you are not limited by waiting for the right scenario. You are also near invisible in dust storms which help A TON when wanting to travel a semi-long distance quickly without cause for alarm.

D-Horse functions like a dream, people said that it would be hard to top Red Dead Redemptions horse controls, but I feel this game beat it and buried it. D-Horse will navigate mountains and small obstacles without the need to gain speed. He comes immediately when you call him, and doesn't act up when around obstacles, causing you to have to chase him down. (Witcher 3 cough*).

I am only 5 hours into the story, and unlike those who received their copies early, I've had mine since the release so this may be just repeat news for some who have already completed the majority of the game. However, to those who have yet to venture into the depth of the Metal Gear series, it would help story wise if you already had some mileage on it, but this game is also welcoming to new combers and future fans of HIDEO KOJIMA.

I will update more as time goes on.

***UPDATED 9/3/15***

Been getting more reckless while on missions while getting "too" comfortable with just running and gunning. Been getting killed a lot....my fault. Loving the weapon upgrades, the abilities to customize drabs and helicopter colors.

I am starting to feel however the locations are very redundant, as this game was hyped to be an open world, well so far it certainly is but open within a limited space. Not really a big deal, scenarios keep changing and the enemies keep bringing new weaponry and are also becoming more elite as the game goes on, so it brings a fresh perspective and tactical disadvantages that make me want to play more.

Online capabilities are yet to be available, but when they are, I will continue to update this review.

***UPDATED 9/10/2015***

Still no online capabilities yet, however I have spent over 40 hours into this game already and have only reached a 30% completion. I have yet to finish the story as I have been completing all side quests and S ranking all missions before moving forward.

There have been zero hiccups in frame rates dropping and this game runs extremely smoothly for how beautiful it looks.

It's very well put together how the more elite weapons will cost certain amounts of GMP and other material resources every time you set off onto a mission. It makes it so you have to scavenge every plant and resource container in your area. Every materials has it's usefulness, whether its deployment costs or development costs, you will always be looking for resources throughout the game, and the best part about it, is that it doesn't hinder gameplay, it just adds another element to the fun factor.

Again, still awaiting the online portion of the game, but I have plenty to do while I wait.

***UPDATED 10/7/2015***

So with the "TRUE" MGO (Metal Gear Online Multiplayer) going live, I had to immediately go home after work, ditching the fiancé for the evening and play Metal Gear for the rest of the night.

The online portion is very limited as of this moment. I'm not sure if they are adding more in the future or if this is all were getting. But there are 3 game types online. I would go through detail mentioning all of them, but honestly for those who have already played it, we'll just stick with team deathmatch.

So for the fun side of it all, its nice to be able to play as your own avatar just as you would in the main game with Snake. It's satisfying to knockout an opponent and folton them away, adding to your teams tickets.

Now for the bad part
-Micro transactions (not mandatory to use, but it's stupid they would add such a thing)
-Invisibility...I can't tell you how many times I got killed just because a guy is running out in the open across the map to get me while invisible, and unlike most game, the invisibility is rather difficult to see, especially in the night maps.
-When the host disconnects...either through gamer rage or bad connection, everyone is booted and all experience earned is basically thrown out.
-There are points where the game would freeze for a good 3-7 seconds from terrible lag.
-I can shoot through steel plates with a heavy machine gun but I can shoot through a tarp with an AR.

I took 2 stars away from my rating of the original 5 star because of micro transactions and all the online issues. I will update again if anything changes.

32 people found this helpful

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Blake Bonar

Open-World, immersive gameplay challenges ability by forcing innovative approaches to combat

Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2015

Platform For Display: Xbox OneEdition: StandardVerified Purchase

The Phantom Pain is the first Metal Gear Solid game I played. My previous experience in sneaky-type shooters was Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell. Those games never quite fell fully rounded, however, as the combat was really the only emphasis, leaving out important aspects such as buddy usage, personal equipment, vehicle usage, or even a good UI. Even comparing Metal Gear Solid's combat and stealth system to those games which were only built to have strong combat, MGS beats them at it. MGS is perhaps the only game where planning an attach is actually necessary.

Playing The Phantom Pain reveals a world of possibilities when engaging enemies. Whether using Primary Weapons, Secondary weapons, Support Equipment, or other Items, there are literally over a dozen different equipment types to take out a single enemy. Want to call in an airdrop and plop a tank on his head? You can. How about shooting a rocket-fist into his face to knock him out? Seriously. Or maybe sneaking up to him and holding hip up, forcing him to drop his weapon (they always do)? The options are many.

Most importantly for me, (and this is really what determines how fun a game is for me) when I eliminate an enemy through a sniper shot to the face or attaching a balloon to ship him back to my home base, I really feel like I accomplished something. Taking on several enemies and systematically, and stealthily, eliminating them without them knowing where I am, is a rush. I've learned that, when it comes to killing or snatching dudes in this game, I can do whatever I want.

So, the bad:

I looked forward to this game for months, anticipating the highly-engaging mother-base customization and thinking I would be able to really build and customize the base of operations in defense against other players, as well as my own exploits in invading others' bases. Well, it's not really all that great. Given that I was most anticipating the first-person elements, this hasn't really been a loss for me, but just know that the whole base customization and pvp elements are much more one-dimensional than the open-world stuff you engage in.

Another of my main gripes, which really isn't that bad, is the buddies getting into the way or not doing exactly what I wanted. Quiet the sniper and D-Dog the.... dog... have their individual issues. D-Dog is sometimes too close to me when I'm pile-driving a guy, and gets beat up when I slam the guy on top of him, leading to D-Dog losing his bond level with me. As for the sniper, she can just get out of control shooting guys when I am trying to target a guy to have shot, and she starts shooting elsewhere.

Overall, this is the best game I have played for the Xbox One, and I'm not even very good at it. It's definitely one of the more challenging games I've played, but it's highly immersive and lets me do what I want, when I want. Not without consequences, of course.

2 people found this helpful

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