Indeed, the world of Metal Gear Solid is no longer a carefully constructed artwork in the same way it used to be. With a huge sandbox comes great responsibility, and the fans of the series might not be pleased to hear that the carefully crafted mission areas that have helped earn Metal Gear Solid its fame have been replaced with enormous, open maps, dotted with generic outposts and military bases.

In short, Metal Gear Solid has gone open world. The controls and the stealth might be similar, but there is more ground to cover, more missions to embark on, more gadgets, better graphics, dynamic weather, sandstorms, brown bears, herbs to be gathered and small animals to be captured. It's only when the prologue is finished and you're sitting on horseback with an enormous chunk of Afghanistan at your feet, that you realise that Hideo Kojima's latest endeavour is unlike anything he's done before. With several cut-scenes, a few mysteries and some obligatory toilet humor, the first scenes from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain certainly seem familiar.

New metal gear solid v review