Well I'm downloading the game right now on ps4 (Its only 3 point something gigs). I'll post how I feel about the game when I get the chance to play it, but for the people that have express how you feel about the game. Did you go more of the assault or sneaky playstyle?

Btw... don't start spoiling shit for the story, especially since the game is very short.

• Animation Top Notch
• Controls Feel Good
• Sound Design Fantastic

Will spend a ton of time on this, always take my time with stealth games.

Alright I just got done playing and beating the game. I'll add my 1 percent and list my pros and cons.

Pros.

Graphics- This game is one of the best looking games on my ps4. The amount of detail you see with character models and environments looks aswome, and the animations are smooth and fluid.

Gameplay- You have freedom to go about the way you want to play. You'll come across a good variety of weapons, and you can improvise on how to tackle different situations. It definitely has some replay value, and when you beat the game you'll unlock the side missions and harder difficulty levels. More then likely you'll be replaying the game just to try out new tactics and alternate routes.

Sounds- Everything to the gunfire, footsteps, voice acting is all great. Though Snakes new voice still takes some getting use too for me.

Cons

Length- This is really my only major complaint. For 30 bucks you do get a game that has good replay value, but its short as fuck. It took me only about an hour to finish the game. Even though there is other missions to unlock. You're just doing different objectives on the same level. Now I'm not angry that I bought this game at all I did enjoy it, but for 30 bucks it all comes down to ''if you feel that you got your moneys worth''. Personally, if you have a ps4 and your debating whether to get ground zeroes or put it towards second son. I'll say go ahead and use it to buy second son, unless you have money to spare and don't mind dropping 30 bucks.

Also you might aswell buy this game digitally, it doesn't take that much space up.

I really like it worth my money. I'll most likely do a review soon. Also not sure if people who buy the digital version get the extra goodies in phantom pain or not. I got some code I have to go punch in to a website to unlock content in phantom pain.

I wonder what the code unlocks. Though thinking about it doesn't phantom of pain comes out next year?

I'd love to give my impressions, but the game simply refuses to download on my Xbox One.

I've played through the main mission and one side-op. While I can definitely understand the value proposition being too steep for some people that aren't invested in Metal Gear or aren't a fan of its brand of stealth gameplay, if you're the type of person that played the MGS2 demo over and over again like me, this seems like plenty to keep you occupied for a while.

I don't know whether or not Brad will actually do a review, but I think this game is the very definition of 3/5 on GB's scale:

An inherent appreciation of this game's specific gameplay style, characters, subject matter, and so on may play as big a role in your enjoyment as the actual quality of the game.

It's a pretty easy recommendation for the hardcore Metal Gear fans, but if you're the least bit apprehensive about your enjoyment of that gameplay, there's a good chance that the purchase price is going to sting.

looks great on ps4. Plays great.

New snake voice is weirding me out though.

Yeah, he doesn't feel the same compared to previous games.

@falserelic: Well, to be fair he isn't the same. This is where Big Boss stops being the hero and starts going into business for himself. So to me makes sense his VO is different.

that's a very werird justification imo. Why would his voice change along with his motives?

The gameplay was amazing, even if the alert reaction thing is completely overpowered. The open world allows for some moments, my escape at the end of the main mission was awesome.

The story continues Peace Walker's trend of being downright ridiculous. This time going from really dumb to mass shock value. Careful with some of those tapes.

@syndrom: Well in MGS4 he has a different VO than snake. At some point there has to be a switch over in VO.

It also seems to be part of a push from Kojima to further distinguish Big Boss from Solid Snake in The Phantom Pain. At some point, Big Boss has to become the villain - the Darth Vader to Solid Snake's Luke Skywalker for lack of a better analogy - and I think the change in voice actor is a part of that shift.

I still think it was silly that Big Boss shared David Hayter's voice to begin with frankly. Especially considering Hayter only voices one of the three clones, and Solidus is the closest to being a complete clone of BB. Hell, even Liquid would have been a more suitable fit if one of the voice actors had to carry over, given he is the one that inherited the dominant genes.

In the Japanese version I think there's a single voice actor that voices Solid, Naked, and Solidus (though not Liquid for some reason), but still...

Plus, judging from Hayter's performance in Peace Walker, his voice was really starting to get wrecked after everything it's been through.

@chaser324: Exactly. I think Kojima wants to get across that point that Big Boss isn't the hero he was in MGS 3 and to a lesser extent in MGS Peace Walker. I guarantee you that Phantom pain doesn't end happy it practically can't.

I have two big takeaways from playing it. The first is that mechanically, I think it's the best stealth game I've ever played. The other is that there wasn't enough story! Maybe that was just me expecting 30-40 minutes of cut-scenes at the end.

Okay so those audio tapes are really fucked up HOLY SHIT

Kojima snuck in some VERY shocking shit in them, damn.

@mooseymcman: Yeah, the lack of plot is a bit of a bummer, but I feel like the trailers for The Phantom Pain already made it pretty evident where this game would end anyway.

If anyone wants to know what I'm talking about, the tapes include the before and after of Skull Face raping Paz, the before and after of forcing Chico to rape Paz, and overseeing a doctor "rigging" Paz, personally implanting the second bomb (heavily implied into her vagina) with squishy sounds.

@chaser324: Yeah, I was just expecting a little more talking. I did think it was a little much that after the credits there is a straight up trailer for Phantom Pain, though.

@mooseymcman: Yeah...I can't say that I'm in favor of that decision. For all those people complaining that this is just a demo, seeing that trailer roll is going to really piss them off.

@mooseymcman: So there aren't any codec calls in this I take it? Is it basically like Peace Walker where you press a button to get a quick bit of info in real time?

@yummylee: There aren't any codec conversations, but you can tap L1/LB to get intel at times and there are a lot of audio recordings to listen to in the menu (although I think some of them might be pulled straight from Peace Walker).

@yummylee: Yeah. There are audio tapes that you can use to listen to conversations that happened before the events of the game. Some are unlocked by doing stuff, others you just have in the menu. I'd be feeling happier about the story part of this if they had expanded that stuff and made it into cut-scenes, rather than something you can completely miss.

L1 is the radio button. You push it, and then Miller says things about where you are, or what you're looking at. That kind of stuff.

yeah i can follow that, but it's still jarring. Wish they picked somebody else than keifer sutherland though. can't stop thinking: 'hey that's that guy from that 24 shitshow' :(

@kankohii: Jesus.. Fucking.. Christ..

The red-band trailer they released for The Phantom Pain made it obvious enough that the series was undergoing a drastic change, but I don't think that had really hit home with me until now. I'm genuinely shocked not to have heard more on this subject as is.

@do_the_manta_ray: Yeah most of the old tropes from the inventory system to the control scheme have been entirely overhauled. Changes is a coming.

played about 45 minutes last night.

but I was heavily drunk so it didn't go especially well, and the game has NO tutorial at all which means you're constantly checking the manual menu to remember what non-standard buttons MGS is using for standard actions. You can't roll anymore and that's REALLY throwing me off too, the roll was essential in past MGS.

The stealth seems really good, it's cool that they actually avoided the Spidey Senses syndrome

completely, you can tag and mark enemies with your binoculars and then they'll always show up on screen (as well ZZZ'd enemies) but you can't see enemies through walls and what not.

Also, the slow motion thing is pretty cool to someone like me who wishes every third person game followed in Rockstar's footsteps and used snap aim mechanics, but a lot of purists are going to want to turn it off quick. Basically when you get spotted by a guard the game goes into ultra slow motion, the game throws your targeting reticule in the center of the guard's chest automatically and you have like 5-6 seconds to get a shot off. It looks really cool, especially on PS4 at 60FPS, but it's SO not Metal Gear lol.

It seems like there should be some depth to the CQC, the first time I did it my radio guy mentioned interrogation but I accidentally hit the kill button and afterward whenever I snuck up on people I either immediately KO'd them (guards seem to wake up rather quickly from a KO) or they resisted and opened fire.

Speaking of opening fire, like I said I was drunk last night and got spotted by that very first spotlight man, and started this huge firefight outside the front gate where I was lying prone on this rock face at the top of the hill getting the luckiest head shots ever. When I pop back into the game later I'll try to see where it keeps records of stuff like that, Every other kill I was getting a "longest head shot record" pop up on the side of my screen.

EDIT: Also, I got spotted a LOT but this game seems pretty forgiving about alert states. Getting out of alert status is usually as easy as sprinting into a bush or climbing a guard tower (seriously, I used this "trick" twice to fool the guards, not sure if that's a difficulty thing or what since MGS enemy A.I. has been some of the best for a decade).

also also: Skull Face is way less mysterious in English

the opening of the game is essentially that first big trailer with the XOF patches flying out of the helicopter and all that, and I gotta say the mystery of what they were saying in Japanese was way more interesting than what was actually going on lol.

I feel like Snake rarely talks. It's strange, tons of talking from other characters but Snake is just silent the majority of the time.

Also, spoilers. Skip to the end. Hilarious

What I would love is if at the end of Phantom Pain, We get a glimpse of Solid Snake with a surprise VO of Hayter "Kept you waiting huh?" That would be pretty epic.

Alright, I just did the side-op where you extract Kojima-san, and I think any reservations I had about this game have been completely dissolved.

I never got a handle on the controls.

I finished it in about 3 hours, but I REALLY took my time. I had a lot of fun with it.

I really liked all of the audio tapes. You can listen to them while wandering around which is good because there is at least a half hour of them. Some interesting and weird stuff in them.

I played on the Xbox One and it runs perfectly and looks really good. My room mate has the game for his PS4 and the lower resolution on the XO isn't really a big deal. The low resolution showcases itself much, much more during the daytime, though.

I played about six hours of it with a 31% completion rate. I'm going to try to get 100% on this game and I can already tell it's going to take a while. If this is a taste of whats to come for The Phantom Pain, then I think we might have another Metal Gear Masterpiece in our hands.

The gameplay in MGS 4 was vastly improved, and this takes that and kind of throws in the wide-open tactical options of Snake Eater. It made a very good impression, but I knew exactly what I was getting and only paid $7 (after gift cards).

It has a different tone that should fit where Big Boss is at right now. It looks nice, sound is good, there's depth and plenty to do. Since the game plays so well, I can't wait to see what happens when its mixed with the probable craziness of The Phantom Pain storyline. Looking forward to more Metal Gear, that's for damn sure.

As someone who beat SOL 15+ times, I like what I'm getting for the price. The key to Metal Gear is trying new tricks. I can already think of a part I want to go back to to see an alternate cut of a scene.

In the PS4/3/XONE versions, does it just play a trailer for Phantom Pain? Because during the ending for xbox 360, it raised a fat fucking store link pop up to -download- the trailer (for free!), and that felt like the dumbest shit ever.

@indieslaw: It definitely plays the trailer in the PS4 version. Seemed to be a lower resolution than the rest of the game.

Outside of the price, it's something to look out for and what might come in The Phantom Pain, gameplay and content wise.

@mooseymcman: Interesting, thanks. I wonder if it's streaming that trailer or something, and that's why the difference for the x360 version. It's not like the disc was lacking space, according to the install size.

OR I wonder if they just want to make sure its always the most recent version of the trailer. That way, when the real game comes out 2 years from now and people are replaying it, they see whatever konami wants them to see at that point, the most recent one or whatever.

@indieslaw: I hadn't even considered that it might be a streaming trailer. It did seem weird to have a video that wasn't running in engine, because MGS cut-scenes (minus Peace Walker's comic-book style ones) are always in-engine. That's why there's the camera zoom stuff.

Anyway, that's an interesting idea. I hope that's not it, because I think ending a game with a trailer for another game is bad enough, let alone making it a full on changeable advertisement.

You can change the controls to standard 3rd person shooter controls. In my little time with this game I can already say this is best controlling, best feeling Metal Gear ever made.

After playing the game for awhile I'm starting to get bored of it. I feel asleep last night playing the 2nd mission (Then again I did just get off of work), but still I'm losing my interests. Can't wait until Friday to play Second Son.

I couldn't even figure out how to pause. I bet I would have liked the controls if the game was long enough for me to get used to them.

So I just did the 2nd Side-op where you have to extract the informant and man once you get the reveal on who he is I just cracked up. Well played. Well played.

If David Hayter is not back as snake they can kiss my money goodbye because Kiefer Sutherland is not snake I don't care for him or how much star power he has he just sounds like a fake rip off of someone trying to impersonate David Hayter and it destroys the game for me. David Hayter made snake the memorable character we all know today. David Hayter IS SNAKE PERIOD END OF DISCUSSION.

Sign this petition if you agree to try and bring back Hayter! www.change.org 22,800 supporters ATM. Even though it probably wont do anything its worth the try.

I thought it was freakin' awesome. Can't wait for TPP. Also, I actually really liked the bit of Sutherland in there.