You Called It, Internet - The Phantom Pain is Metal Gear Solid V
Before you do anything else, watch the eye popping, spine tingling, FOX engined debut of Metal Gear Solid V right here.
It was a poor kept secret that The Phantom Pain, a new title from complete unknowns, Moby Dick Studios, was somehow related to the next installment of Metal Gear Solid. The announcement of Ground Zeroes, an open-world continuation seemingly starring Big Boss, only served to cast confusion on matters, though, making certain no one but Hideo Kojima and company knew what the hell was going on (as per usual, that sly bastard).
That’s not to say there isn’t a huge cloud of “What the hell?” hovering above today’s news, but at least I can tell you this: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain debuted today and it looks crazy good. MGSV is slated for current gen consoles (yes, both the PS3 and Xbox 360 – the first time a title in the main series has launched simultaneously on different systems) and runs off of Kojima Productions’ newly created FOX Engine – a foundation capable of some…well, put plainly, really goddamn gorgeous visual effects.
After debuting the trailer and some gameplay at GDC, Hideo threw some vagueness in the form of answers our way, confirming that the game is definitely open-world, another first for the series, and that both Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain make up the whole of Metal Gear Solid V. Ground Zeroes was described as a prologue to MGSV to begin with, but how fans experience it – whether digitally, a full retail release, or packaged with The Phantom Pain – is still frustratingly not known.
Also, a bit of a downer for fans (though we were warned this might happen): David Hayter won’t be reprising his role as Snake, a part the actor has voiced since 1998. And, you guessed it, his replacement is as of yet unnamed.
But we’ll end on a high note today, kids. Enjoy some Phantom Pain gameplay hereabouts. That should de-salt the wound nicely.