Monday 14 December 2015

Metal Gear Solid V: A Real Diamond Dog

I would say I'm predominantly a PC gamer, and probably always will be. However I do own a PS4, and get good use out of it for games which I currently wouldn't be able to run well on my current PC. Metal Gear Solid 5 is one of these games, and a game I bought based on the huge swell of positive reviews and comments. I went into this game knowing almost nothing about the Metal Gear series, having only a very brief experience with one of the games many years ago.


As a game it captures both that "cinematic" quality that so many other games are so desperate to achieve, but it does it without significantly affecting the gameplay. The opening section does seriously try your patience though, as your wounded protagonist can barely move his head initially and it takes some time before you are able to move freely.

I feel unsure about the storyline of the game even after many hours of play, with the prologue feeling almost like a fever dream. Some elements feel very grounded in reality, but other parts of this alt-history 1980s are pure sci-fi. It does feel like it's drawing heavily from 80s action films too, with the backdrop of a Russian-occupied Afghanistan reminiscent of Rambo 3.