PlayStation 4 Critic Reviews

There have certainly been sandbox action games that have given me a bigger world to roam, or more little icons to chase on my minimap, but none have pushed me to plan, adapt, and improvise the way this one does. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain doesn’t just respect my intelligence as a player, it expects it of me, putting it in league that few others occupy.

There has never been a game in the series with such depth to its gameplay, or so much volume in content. The best elements from the past games are here, and the new open-world gameplay adds more to love on top. When it comes to storytelling, there has never been a Metal Gear game that's so consistent in tone, daring in subject matter, and so captivating in presentation. The Phantom Pain may be a contender for one of the best action games ever made, but is undoubtedly the best Metal Gear game there is.

Kojima redefines the stealth-action genre showing a V for Victory. Good decisions, clear direction, deep gameplay, extremely polished... MGSV writes one of the most important chapters in the Metal Gear franchise.

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.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is not a game like any other. The kind of game that respects the intelligence of players, with almost complete freedom, without visible guide. Both giddy and capricious, he carried on his shoulders the heavy responsibility to end the saga. In addition to profoundly redefining the infiltration genre and changing its type of narration, it offers the best gameplay in the saga. At the time of the conclusion, more subtle and direct as usual, Hideo Kojima was able to speak to the players, and most importantly leave a unique legacy in the history of gaming. The kind of eternal diamond that will accompany you throughout your life as a gamer. Big Boss, thank you for this last trip.

Metal Gear Solid V will transcend videogame history as the best episode in the series; packed with tons of contents, a mature and dark tone, memorable characters, villains and final bosses, intense missions and packed with surprises. The Phantom Pain is Hideo Kojima's ultimate tribute to Metal Gear. A Hideo Kojima Game.

Incredibly, unbelievably, what we have here is a nearly perfect finale to the Metal Gear franchise. I truly believe that The Phantom Pain is where Kojima always envisioned he would take the franchise. This is personalized, open-world infiltration at its finest.

Great, ambitious, funny and spontaneous, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will surely teach a thing or two to every developer in modern gaming.

It’s a shame that this will be Kojima’s last MGS game, but for what it’s worth he set aside whatever ill feelings he might have against Konami to create one of his most ambitious games yet. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is the best entry in the franchise.