Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Reviews
Kojima's open-world opus succeeds in delivering incredible gameplay and captivating storytelling.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is a gameplay marvel, rewarding intelligence and creativity in a way few games do.
Make no mistake, though, the Phantom Pain is excellent. It expands and enriches Metal Gear Solid without compromising the qualities that make the series so beloved. Despite the huge scope, hollywood talent, and technical flashiness, there's a subtlety to the Phantom Pain that's truly captured our hearts.
Big Boss' supposedly final outing puts players in the middle of the most ambitious entry in the series yet, and it delivers on almost everything it promises. If this is Hideo Kojima's final game, then he is stepping out at the top floor of the industry.
It's difficult to effectively describe everything this game has to offer. It's difficult to think about the next time we see a new Metal Gear Solid and when that will be. It is, however, not difficult to say that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is the best game of the year so far.
The Phantom Pain is an unusual Metal Gear experience, one that not everybody may enjoy if they cling to systems of old. If they're willing to adapt and accept this new way of exploring Kojima's world however, they are going to be blown away, absolutely, and one hundred percent guaranteed. This new open world is one that is begging to be played with, in whatever way a player wishes.
A fitting swansong.
An unforgettable gaming experience, a unique world and an unmistakable style. Hideo abandons Snake with an all-in that emphasizes his courage and ambition.
Review in Italian | Read full review
A round work that will go down in the annals of the sector for its structure and balance in all its aspects. A brilliant closure that results in the most complete Metal Gear ever, and one of the most profound and inspiring titles in recent times.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
With Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Hideo Kojima did not just create a final masterpiece but he wanted to leave a much stronger mark by renewing the series and literally reinventing the genre of infiltration.
Review in French | Read full review
In The Phantom Pain, Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions have pulled off the rarest kind of balancing act, delivering a story that will satisfy many franchise fans while also being the most beginner-accessible Metal Gear game to date.
The Phantom Pain combines an open-world setting with the best Metal Gear Solid gameplay the series has to offer and a killer narrative to boot.
A celebration of everything that makes MGS so brilliantly unique, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain heralds a new stage in Kojima's stealth opus that might sadly be his last. Should the Metal Gear series continue without Kojima Productions, we'd be surprised if it's anywhere near as superlative as this. The Phantom Pain is sensational.
This isn't just the best Metal Gear game, nor is it just the best stealth game, it is one of the best games ever made.
Perhaps MGSV's best quality is how in pulling gameplay to the foreground and letting much of the exposition remain optional, it opens it up to be enjoyed by people who have in the past been put off by its weirdness, serving as both the perfect entry point and a satisfying conclusion. MGSV takes the best of a great series and creates a series' best in the process.
As an intermittent admirer of the series, I found "The Phantom Pain" unexpectedly emotional, not as a story or as an arrangement of digital things to play with, but as a parting gesture to a community of which I have occasionally been a part.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is not a game like any other. It is one of those who respect the intelligence of the players by offering them almost total freedom, without too visible of a guide.
Review in French | Read full review
The Phantom Pain is a bittersweet but impressive send-off for the series' creator
If The Phantom Pain is really going to be goodbye, it's a farewell worthy of the name it bears.
Review in Italian | Read full review
There's no denying that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is Kojima's masterpiece; A culmination of 30 years of Metal Gear games, and an evolution for the series. I know that Ground Zeroes was supposed to be the first taste of what The Phantom Pain would be like, but I don't think I was ever fully prepared.