Game Picks: ‘Phantom Pain’ is big, brash and ambitious

‘Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’ is big, brash and ambitious

Big, brash and ambitious, “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” is the latest installment of one of gaming’s longest-running franchises. For fans of stealth-based action-adventure, it’s a state-of-the-art experience – but maybe too much of a good thing.

Set in the 1980s in the waning years of the Cold War, “Phantom Pain” puts players once again behind the eyes of Big Boss, aka Punished “Venom” Snake, voiced this time around by Kiefer Sutherland. A legendary mercenary, Big Boss has just awoken from a nine-year coma – don’t ask – and is tasked with assembling a private army to take revenge on the villainous organization known as Cipher.

The Metal Gear franchise is nearly 30 years old now with a complex story mythology that stretches from the 1960s to several years into a science fiction future. Entire online guides are dedicated to parsing the endless prequels and sequels. Happily for the new player, all you really need to know, in terms of gameplay, is the objective of your next mission.

Playing on franchise strengths

The Metal Gear series’ core strength has always been its inventive level design. Individual missions in “Phantom Pain” require Big Boss to achieve a specific objective – gather intelligence, rescue a hostage, infiltrate a building. The goal is usually straightforward; it’s how you achieve it that provides the fun.

The new game employs an open-world environment but otherwise sticks close to last year’s prequel title “Ground Zeroes,” in regard to tactical gameplay. You’re encouraged to find your own solution to the many, many obstacles and opportunities placed between Big Boss and his objective. Direct frontal assaults are rarely effective, stealth is encouraged throughout, and non-lethal options are almost always available. Ah, the good old tranquilizer dart – where would we be without it?

In another hallmark of the franchise, missions are stitched together and frequently ornamented with detailed cinematic cutscenes. Japanese writer and designer Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear series, returns as director here and once again indulges his love of Hollywood movie-making flourishes. The story’s complex plot twists are mirrored by a camera style that swoops, spirals and dives.

Kojima and his team serve up some fantastic images, and they have a lot of fun playing with the 1980s-era culture and technology. Big Boss’ mission briefings are provided on cassette tapes, but the story regularly takes sideways quantum leaps into futuristic sci-fi weirdness.

Many of the game’s elements are self-consciously absurd and quietly funny. For instance, when you shanghai soldiers for your private army, you strap them to self-inflating weather balloons that shoot them skywards toward waiting helicopters. The soldiers’ yelps of dismay only get funnier with repetition. You can attach balloons to other stuff, too. Salvaged equipment, say. Or goats. Definitely try the goats.

Tonal problems cause disconnec The trouble is that “Phantom Pain” often seems to be going several different directions at once, which imparts some significant tonal problems. The most pressing dilemma is that, like previous installments in the series, the game aims for a balance of escapist action-movie goofiness with Serious Themes about war and human brutality.

It’s a tricky maneuver to pull off in games – or films, for that matter. Big Boss eventually gets involved with the Angolan Civil War and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and there are implicit critiques on issues like imperialist proxy wars and colonial hegemony. But the material then toggles into cartoonish villainy, or worse, gratuitous shock value with plot points on human biological experiments and child soldiers.

You can’t invoke this kind of imagery then cut to tough-guy Hollywood dialogue with characters named Ocelot and Skull Face. Well, you can, but you risk losing the central storytelling appeal of your game, not to mention a big chunk of your audience. I eventually found myself skipping cutscenes and tuning out the narrative elements to focus the excellent tactical missions. They’re great – really great – but it feels like I’m only getting half a game.

“Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” (rated M) is now available on Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

This story was originally published October 1, 2015 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Game Picks: ‘Phantom Pain’ is big, brash and ambitious."