Amazing soundtrack and great gameplay, with trademark weirdness and a really nasty taste in the mouth – it can only be Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience.
There are lots of good things to say about Metal Gear Solid V. The core gameplay mechanics are probably the best the series has ever seen, and for the first time you can really fight your way out of a failed stealth attempt, and the Fulton Recovery System – based on a real life CIA technology – is useful and hilarious in equal measure.
The soundtrack too, a whimsical love letter to the tunes of Hideo Kojima’s youth, is stellar. It’s everything you want a soundtrack to be, and must have cost an arm and a leg to license, but it was totally worth it.
But all that being said, it’s also rather irritating that such an accomplished gameplay experience is in equal measure so childish, puerile, offensive and unpleasant. There surely must come a point where a great game is no longer a justification for brazen sleaze, and “Oh Japan, you’re silly!” really isn’t cutting it anymore. Read these words by our own Harry Mackin over on Videodame for why it’s quite so gross.
Anyway. If you’re not offended by the treatment of Quiet or you haven’t grown out of distracting guards with nudey magazines, then perhaps Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience is for you.
Combining the prequel, Ground Zeroes, and the game proper, The Phantom Pain, Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience certainly represents great value, with at least 50 hours of gameplay and a very silly (but rather fun) online mode.
Getting all that in a bundle for £25? If you can overlook the game’s flaws (and can turn off your shame filter for the duration) then you’re getting a cracking deal.
Order Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience from Amazon.
It’s probably worth nothing – there’s nothing in the Definitive Experience for anyone who’s got both games already. It’s not a Tomb Raider DE or a Witcher EE.