I want to preface this review by saying that I currently have 94 hours in this game.
Metal Gear Solid V is easily the weakest experience of the mainline titles. Its story, while an intriguing premise, is horribly botched by godawful pacing. Most of the game itself is filler, or at the very least feels like it is. Whatever bits of story that are there aren't strong enough to truly make the experience itself justifiable. Say what you will about a game like Metal Gear Solid 4, but at least in that game everything you did felt relevant to the plot at hand.
That's not to say it's a terrible game, because I don't think it's completely irredeemable. As I said earlier, I have roughly 94 hours in this title, and that's almost entirely because of the game play itself. The stealth action is the greatest it has ever been here, and the missions themselves can be tackled in any number of ways. Everything feels so fluid in ways that earlier titles weren't. However, in the second half of the game, everything starts to feel a bit samey. MGSV doesn't do enough with its latter half to truly justify playing through it in its entirety. Boss fights are disappointing here as well, with only two real boss fights throughout the entire game. It's incredibly embarrassing that the series had some of the most creative and engaging boss fights in gaming as a whole, while V only has two decent ones.
This game lacks any of the charm present in other titles. Characters in V (with few exceptions) pale in comparison to characters in other games. Nearly everyone present sounds flat too, and V is missing that characteristic theatricality that was present in other Metal Gear titles.
In summary, I would say that V is fun as its own experience. But as a Metal Gear title, it fails to properly maintain what made the series special. Play it if you wish, as its definitely enjoyable as a game. But it is far from being representative of Metal Gear as a whole.
Metal Gear Solid V is easily the weakest experience of the mainline titles. Its story, while an intriguing premise, is horribly botched by godawful pacing. Most of the game itself is filler, or at the very least feels like it is. Whatever bits of story that are there aren't strong enough to truly make the experience itself justifiable. Say what you will about a game like Metal Gear Solid 4, but at least in that game everything you did felt relevant to the plot at hand.
That's not to say it's a terrible game, because I don't think it's completely irredeemable. As I said earlier, I have roughly 94 hours in this title, and that's almost entirely because of the game play itself. The stealth action is the greatest it has ever been here, and the missions themselves can be tackled in any number of ways. Everything feels so fluid in ways that earlier titles weren't. However, in the second half of the game, everything starts to feel a bit samey. MGSV doesn't do enough with its latter half to truly justify playing through it in its entirety. Boss fights are disappointing here as well, with only two real boss fights throughout the entire game. It's incredibly embarrassing that the series had some of the most creative and engaging boss fights in gaming as a whole, while V only has two decent ones.
This game lacks any of the charm present in other titles. Characters in V (with few exceptions) pale in comparison to characters in other games. Nearly everyone present sounds flat too, and V is missing that characteristic theatricality that was present in other Metal Gear titles.
In summary, I would say that V is fun as its own experience. But as a Metal Gear title, it fails to properly maintain what made the series special. Play it if you wish, as its definitely enjoyable as a game. But it is far from being representative of Metal Gear as a whole.