In most open-world games there are buildings you can enter, and buildings you can’t. In the majority of cases, entering any interior requires an immersion-breaking loading screen. Not in MGSV. It is able to do this because, of course, there are fewer buildings in an Afghan settlement than a given patch of LA, but even so, the effect on the player is tremendous. This is integrity of design: the idea that everything in a world is a physical presence that reacts as it should, rather than a solid 3D shape that’s basically wallpaper. So used are we to the disappointment of locked doors, so inured to the possibility that things could be different, that the simple fact you can seamlessly enter any building you see in MGSV strikes with the force of a revolution.
MGSV feels like a game of endless possibilities. MGS as a series has managed one of the industry’s greatest feats, which is to have remained at the cutting edge over four console generations. No other AAA title has managed this. What is even more remarkable is that Kojima and his team have managed to maintain the core elements of the series over this time, and the way they work in MGSV is a revelation.
MGSV promises so much, and after two days in its world it feels like, if anything, it’s going to over-deliver. If this is to be Hideo Kojima’s last Metal Gear Solid then all you can do is salute, and acknowledge that despite the sadness – what a way to go.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/11/metal-gear-solid-v-phantom-pain-kojima-preview
