Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - Xbox One
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a third-person action game with a focus on stealth and the final game in the Metal Gear series. Canonically it is the fifth game in the series, but it is the eleventh main installment overall. It is the sequel to Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes released the year before and a prequel to the original Metal Gear. The gameplay borrows and expands upon most of the mechanics introduced in Ground Zeroes, which was a smaller slice in content in anticipation of this title. The game is set in 1984 with Big Boss also known as Punished "Venom" Snake as the protagonist. It takes place in Afghanistan and the border between Angola and Zaire as Big Boss seeks revenge against the Cipher group led by Skull Face who destroyed his forces and almost killed him in Ground Zeroes. At the start of the game he wakes up in a military hospital in Cyprus and is almost immediately attacked by soldiers and a strange, burning creature. Eventually he is rescued by Ocelot, he locates Kaz Miller and the trio then establishes a base to hunt down Cipher and its covert strike force XOF with commander Skull Face.
The game has a complex story with the typical long cut-scene sequences, but there are fewer and they are shorter compared to earlier Metal Gear Solid titles. Most of the gameplay mechanics introduced in Ground Zeroes are carried over. It is still an action game and stealth oriented, but replaces the linear corridor design from most earlier titles with large open world environments that offer the player unrestricted freedom for the approach. Ground Zeroes only offered a single environment, while this game has many and brings back the base building feature from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. To access advanced tools and weapons, Big Boss needs to complete missions for Miller so he can expand the main Mother Base. The player needs to focus on a consistent flow of the GMP currency to manage the base, research new technologies, hire soldiers and use money during missions for instance to call in an air strike. Next to merely completing missions, a Fulton technology can be used to transport back items, weapons, vehicles and even soldiers with interesting abilities to the Mother Base to use them. Soldiers can be assigned to different teams for combat, research or gathering intel. Eventually they can be sent out to complete missions on their own, providing additional GMP. A companion app on a real smartphone can be used to manage the base as well.
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