Take This (But Not That): What Works And What Doesn't In Metal Gear Solid V

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has become my latest gaming obsession, which is something that took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting much from it, but after sitting in on a video preview with Joe Juba about the game, I decided to pick it up. Since then, I've spent hours playing it nearly every day. On days when I'm not able to play it, I'm thinking about it. That's when I know a game has its claws deep into me. That's not to say it's a flawless game, however. There are aspects that I think could certainly be improved, but those largely pale in comparison to everything that works well. Here are some elements that I'd like to see other developers steal/incorporate in future games, as well as some lessons on what not to do. 

Take This:

Mother Base, The Concept
This is, without a doubt, my favorite thing in The Phantom Pain. I know that using balloons to send enemy soldiers to your base was something the series did before with Peace Walker, but it’s been perfected here. If I couldn’t recruit new soldiers to Mother Base, I probably wouldn’t be as strict about my non-lethal approach; tapping into my sense of greed is a good move, as it turns out.

It’s so addicting, in fact, that I find myself scouting outposts even though I’m basically overpowered for all but the largest military installations and I could rush in and be fine. Scanning each prospective recruit before tranquilizing them reminds me of being a kid, shaking presents before opening them. The guy over by the mortar, what’s his deal? An S rating?! MINE.

The Buddy System
Big Boss has always been a bit of a loner, which is why the addition of in-the-field buddies seemed a bit odd leading up to the game’s release. Now that the game’s out, I couldn’t imagine it any other way. D Horse, D-Dog, Quiet, and D-Walker all bring their own unique capabilities to the battleground, giving players a great deal of flexibility. 

D-Dog is handy, thanks to his ability to sniff out enemy positions and automatically mark them on your map – something D-Walker can do after pouring some cash into his upgrade tree. Quiet requires a fair amount of babysitting, but once I got in the habit of ordering her to scout out the next-closest outpost and tranq everyone for me, she was invaluable. Speaking as someone who leans toward pet classes in RPGs, she’s the best. My favorite thing about D-Horse is that he’s cheap, and that you can leave him behind at the mission-insertion point. It’s perfect for those rare times when I want to kick it old-school and solo a mission. And you can make him poop on your head if you’re some kind of maniac. 

Tape Collecting
When I heard Hall and Oates’ “Maneater,” I immediately ignored my objective and murdered my way to the top of the ruined palace until I found the boom box. The Metal Gear Solid series may be synonymous with cardboard boxes, but for me, Metal Gear Solid V and cassette tapes are inexorably linked. It seems that pop music is the universal language, requiring exactly zero kidnapped translators to appreciate it.

In addition to finding a nice selection of collectable ‘80’s tunes, your buddies make briefing tapes for you. They’re not quite as catchy as, say, Europe or Spandau Ballet’s work, but those informational tapes do a nice job of filling in the backstory. Better still, they work similarly to the audio logs in BioShock, where you can continue your business as you listen to them. It’s a nice change of pace from hour-long cutscenes and pages of written briefings, though I would kill (OK, tranq) for the ability to create my own playlists instead of only being able to “play all” within preordained categories. If you’re going to give me an info dump, give me a freaking info dump!

Clean-Up Detail
This one’s super simple, but I love it. Big Boss can beeline through his missions, doing only the bare-minimum requirements, but there are a number of secret objectives in play, too. These can send players far off course, rescuing hidden prisoners (who usually provide special bonuses) and finding other hidden extras. You’re not likely to find many of these the first time through a mission, but they’re all revealed upon completion. Knowing that I can research a rocket-fist attack by securing a far-flung prisoner is the best kind of replayability I could hope for. 

It’s not all sunshine and balloons, however. Continue on for a few things that stink worse than Big Boss between Mother Base showers.

Not That:

Mother Base, The Base
Building up Mother Base from a single oil-rig-style platform to several oil-rig-style platforms is great, in how it provides a nice sense of accomplishment that has tangible in-game rewards. Then you make the mistake of trying to navigate the stupid place. What a mess.

The base is horrible to explore, filled with dead ends, long stretches of nothing, and the overall sense that it’s just there to take up space. Other than a few key interiors and some showers, you can’t do anything there, either. You’d think that someone would have given Boss a set of keys. As it stands, it’s a great place if you’re into railings and humping your way up ventilation pipes.

Limited Resources
I’ve been picking up every resource deposit and cargo container I come across, and sending my guys out on a nonstop combat-deployment rotation, and I’m still finding myself short on minerals and other commodities. I understand that the whole reason they’re valuable is related to their scarcity (hello, Economics 101), but it’s become less of a grind and more of a drag. 

You’d think the Diamond Dogs would have access to some kind of mercantile exchange, where we could just outright buy missing materials instead of wandering around like freelance stevedores. There are a ton of seemingly great unlockables, too, which is the only reason I find myself caring about materials in the first place. That leads me to my next point, actually.

Weapons Customization
After wrapping up the first few story missions, you’re inundated with a flurry of available weapons to research. You only get more as you progress and bolster your R&D platform. Rather than create dozens of different handguns, shotguns, machine guns and whatever, I would have liked to see one or two main weapons-platform archetypes, and then focus on the built-in upgrade system.

Want better range? Add a different barrel. Not happy with the optics? Swap it out. The current system of having to compare Handgun ABC-1 against the incrementally better Handgun ABC-2 is tedious. I’d much rather steer my researchers’ focus on individual components, which I could then use to customize weapons. That’s kind of how it already works, only with the weird intermediate step of having to buy firearms with components that you may or may not have later access to in customizing your arsenal (indestructible suppressor, anyone?).

Advancing The Story
My biggest beef with Metal Gear Solid V is how weird story progression becomes after finishing the first act. Once that’s complete, suddenly you’re given the option of playing remixed and more difficult versions of previously completed missions. That’s great, but how do I keep the story rolling? The answer is apparently complicated.

I’ve been avoiding FAQs whenever I can, and I have to say that my current lack of story progress is killing me. There are supposedly a variety of arcane parameters that I need to meet to progress. Depending on where you are, you might need to do some side-ops missions, replay a previously completed mission, or use (or is it don’t use?) a specific symbol in your emblem. Who knows? I guess I’ll need to do some Googling when I eventually tire of this rut.

Metal Gear, Online
Maybe someone thinks the game’s online FOB mode, where you teleport into other peoples’ bases and steal their stuff, is fun. I spent an evening rebuilding a new Mother Base franchise, and I feel like I know even less about it than before I played around with it. The purpose is poorly communicated, and once you start it, you run the risk of being plundered. No thanks.

Now I pop online to get my daily reward before immediately signing off. It makes the game run a lot faster, particularly in the iDroid menus, and I don’t have to worry about my fellow Bosses coming over and causing trouble.