Snake? Snake?! SNAAAAAAAAA - Oh, there you are, Snake. This is just a quick Codec to let you know that Konami's stealth blockbuster bundle Metal Gear Solid - Master Collection Volume 1 is now available to buy. Did you ever play Metal Gear Solid, Snake? It's this sprawling philosophical epic about war, surveillance, AI, nationalism and anti-heroism, a baroque metafictional saga spanning generations that is also a complex series of videogame design experiments. I know - it's a lot to take in, Snake, but you can sort of boil the series down to the difference between two varieties of wall. There are the ones you hide behind, so as to get the drop on your foes, and there are the ones you break, because they're fourth walls, Snake. Do you see?
]]>Our list of the best open world games on PC is for those who look at a forest and think about seeing what's in the middle. For the players who really do want to climb that mountain. Sure, the size of games these days means in some sense they all have an open world, but here we're leaning in to those games that want you to adventure, where the onus is on exploring and seeing what you find. These are the games where part of the destination really is the journey, and you can tell the devs wanted you to stop and look around every so often to see what you could find. They might not be for everyone, but if you're the sort of person who likes getting lost in a game for a long time, then these open world games will help you do that.
]]>How time flies, eh? We were so busy putting together The RPS 100 last month (including the first ever Reader Edition), that we clean ran out of time to do another RPS Time Capsule. But fear not! Our written repository of games we've deemed worthy of saving from the eternal hell bin of the future has returned, and this time it's a good 'un. The year is 2015, folks, and cor, has there ever been a better year for video games? Of course, with only 11 slots to fill in our RPS Time Capsule, it also means we're having to say goodbye to some real gems. Come and see what's transcended to the higher plane of Capsule existence.
]]>All dogs go to heaven, we have heard it said. But what about videogame dogs? By the virtue of their non-existence you may suspect they are refused entry. However, after contemplating the issue for some time, our finest minds in the listicle archives have concluded that, yes, even videogame dogs go to heaven. What a relief. Here are the 10 goodest boys in PC games, all approved for divine ascendence.
]]>Dusty mook-tormenting simulator Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has finally had its much-awaited Peace Day, as players achieved full nuclear disarmament last night.
For the first time since its 2015 release, not a single player had possession of a nuclear weapon. Enough people chose to destroy them that there were simply none left. The result is the unlocking of a new celebratory cutscene, which you can see below thanks to a YouTube user known as Steff.
]]>[Warning: this article must be read entirely in a comedy cowboy voice]
Howdy pardner. Spittoon? Take it, we got a whole crate of them right here. Every god-fearing outlaw needs a good spittoon at their heels, as my grandmammy used to say. Hoo-wee, what a women. She was known to enjoy a strong snifter of list article, you know. Everyone who visited got a spittoon and a list article. And vidyagames be damned if I ain’t the same obliging sort as my grammy, yes sir. So here you go, friend. In anticipation of that there Desperados III, here are the 9 most desperate cowboys, cowgals, and cowbots in PC gaming. Yeehaw, I say, yee and haw.
]]>If you plumb the depths of human ingenuity you will resurface with a wet box of penicillin and 100 million bits of different-coloured plastic. We people are very good at making useful things, and then killing ourselves with them. But videogames, my friends. Videogames hold the solution to our self-destructive ways. That tech utopia your pal Start-up Stan is always talking about is in reach, we just need to find a way to make these 12 practical devices from videogames appear in real life.
]]>The greasy realm of the videogame is not always the best place to look for good writing. For every Disco Elysium there are roughly 800 Detroit: Beyond Humans. But it is a good place to look for wondrous, over-the-top nonsense. I’m talking about character dialogue so flamboyant and exaggerated, you could insert some line breaks and it would instantly become a verse in a glam rock anthem. Here are the 12 most extravagant, exuberant, and intense lines of dialogue. In games, subtext is just whatever’s written on the side of the nuclear submarine.
]]>Children, life’s great copy-paste. Adorable, drooling idiots with no self-control and a habit of yelling embarrassing facts to the entire supermarket. In our everyday lives, human children are a snotty emblem of hope, vulnerability, and aspiration. In videogames, they are a cursed harbinger of escort missions, narrative roadblocks, “cutesy” voice acting, and precocious dialogue. They are annoying. But hold on, that’s the point. Many of them are meant to be that way. So here is a list of the 10 most annoying children in PC games. And perhaps, the best annoying?
]]>Mech love, not war. That is the lesson we must learn from the futuristic prophecies of the MechWarrior games. Yes, it is very noble to slam your big steel shoes upon a separatist’s bedroom, and to laser him in the head. But would it not bring greater valour, greater unity, greater enlightenment, if those same 65-ton brogues were used … to dance!
No. Here is a list of the 9 stompiest mechs in PC games. The heaviest, most murderous machines we know and trust with our frail human bods. But are they are all good at squashing?
]]>It's been an eventful decade for PC games, and it would be hard for you to summarise everything that's happened in the medium across the past ten years. Hard for you, but a day's work for us. Below you'll find our picks for the 50 greatest games released on PC across the past decade.
]]>I’ve never been myself, but if games have taught me anything about the 80s, it’s that they were wild. Big hair, big clothes, big music – it was all there. If you were to use Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as a sole reference for the period, you’d assume that everyone was constantly walking around to the beat of their own pulsing, synth-infused soundtrack. When 80s-inspired games come to mind, you’re probably reminded of excessive action, neon-laced landscapes, and other stylised sensibilities. The games industry seems to be obsessed with this flashy, bitchin’ decade – or, at least, a version of it. Point being: it doesn’t have to be like this.
]]>Messy spinoff Metal Gear Survive might not have landed with much grace, but Konami know better than to kill their golden goose; Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. Even if its exiled director is busy hanging out with Norman Reedus and Mads Mikkelsen, they've still got a few people working on MGS5, and their latest annual update finally gives players the chance to play as underdressed and overpowered mutant sniper lady Quiet. Right now she's restricted to the semi-online FOB invasion missions, although given MGS5's mod scene, that may change soon.
Update: That changed. See the mods below.
]]>There was a point early on in Metal Gear Survive where I thought that, despite its annoyances, Konami’s zombie spin-off was actually going to be quite good. It came about an hour in when I had to sneak into a base packed with shambling horrors, using stealth and distraction to outwit the hordes. It was tense. It was exciting.
That didn't last long.
]]>I'm having a significantly better time than I'd expected with Solid crew spin-off Metal Gear Survive, but something about it does rub me up the wrong way - and I'm not talking about whether or not it stuck a dagger in Kojima's kidney or how heavily it borrows from other survival games. Like Metal Gear Solid V before, microtransactions have crept into Survive, and though they're not at all necessary to either singleplayer or co-op in the open-world base-building survival sandbox, they do push against the limits of fairness. $10 to buy a second character slot, for instance, or $2 for a one-day temporary boost to the points required to level your guy up. And this is in a game that costs $40/£35 upfront.
]]>Wormhole spin-off Metal Gear Survive is out today, flinging off the tactical espionage trousers of its heritage and donning the “survive waves of zombies” windbreaker. Obviously, this makes the Kojima-free game look very stupid, walking around in its underpants. But don’t worry, they made a launch trailer to cover up its bottom half. It’s got the robots and desperate dives of its Fox Engine daddy, MGS V: The Phantom Pain, but this defend-o-shoot really has more in common with Fortnite. At least, that’s how I felt after only an hour with the weekend beta.
]]>After two-and-a-half-years, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain on PC has finally unlocked a hidden cutscene celebrating complete nuclear disarmament. This has been a semi-secret community challenge, waiting for players to destroy all nukes built by players in the game's 'Forward Operating Base' multiplayer invasion mode. However! In a very Metal Gear-y conspiracy theory twist, it seems that celebrations are premature, because Konami say that the event was triggered when the nuke counter was not at zero. We're celebrating peace while thousands of nukes are still unaccounted for. If you load MGS V now you can see the cutscene, or watch it here:
]]>Though stealth has always been an element of the Fallout games, it's never been interesting stealth. It's been powerful at times, sure, but always a bit bland and never explored in much depth (hey, it's an RPG, not a sneak 'em up). A new mod for Fallout 4 attempts to shake this up a little by introducing two Metal Gear Solid-ish sneaky tricks: whistling and throwing bolts to lure and distract enemies. It's not quite on the same level as walking around wearing a cardboard box with a picture of a sexy lady on to distract horny guards, but the Tactical Distraction System mod does sound neat.
]]>Woooo - there's a new Metal Gear game coming out next month! Boooo - it's a zombie survival game. Metal Gear Survive is Konami’s new Metal Gear V spinoff, which swaps shooty men and paramilitary politics for clawy zombies and weird dimensional rifts.
It's a premise that's easy to scoff at, and arguably an unimaginative step for the series to take. But you know what? The sneaking, crafting and base building on display in the latest trailer - and a more detailed one from a few weeks back - look compelling enough to make me think that it might be worth giving the game a chance after all.
]]>Cowardice is a virtue. So says the team on this week's RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show. That's because our theme is "running away" - games that encourage you to flee from danger, or that give you a choice between fight and flight. Adam will run from the soldiers of Arma or the post-apocalyptic antagonists of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Brendan will scarper from poor odds in For Honor or Overwatch, while Alice only pretends to run away in Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, tricking her foes into giving chase before ambushing them like some kind of velociraptor.
]]>Ahead of what can only possibly be the impending financial doom of us all - Black Friday 2017 - Humble has launched its Fall Sale. It's a fairly big sale range, too, featuring thousands of games with discounts on a selection from a varied selection of publishers. That includes Capcom, Focus Home Interactive, Rebellion, Konami, Rockstar, Adult Swim, THQ Nordic and many more.
]]>Been a while since we heard from Metal Gear Survive, Konami's co-op focused Metal Gear V spinoff. It was originally slated for a 2017 launch, Konami fell silent while estranged series director Hideo Kojima started his own independent studio, which I'm still half-convinced is just an excuse to hang out with Norman Reedus and Mads Mikkelsen
Admit it, you'd do it too.
While perhaps a little late to cash in on the Zombie Survival Sandbox zeitgeist, Metal Gear Survive is alive and kicking, or at least slowly shambling closer. Today, Konami announced a release date for the game (February 20th - 22nd in Europe), along with a handful of perks for those bold enough to preorder. After the jump: details, and 15 minutes of (subtitled) Japanese gameplay footage.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day, perhaps for all time.
Sam Fisher, Sam Fisher, where are you, Sam Fisher. Now that Hideo Kojima has left Konami and Konami appear uninterested in returning to the series outside multiplayer spin-offs and pachinko machines, Ubisoft's absent neck-snapper seems the last best hope of getting a new open world stealth game like Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site].
]]>I don’t know how I finished Far Cry 3. Luck and perseverance, I suppose. It’s hard to play when you’d happily take a bullet for a dog, though. The island paradise is full of them, and for some reason they are extremely aggressive. But I refused to harm a hair on their precious little heads.
]]>The still-surprising Metal Gear Solid V spin-off Metal Gear Survive [official site], where Snake's MSF pals are sucked through a portal to a world crawling with zombies, has been delayed. Konami confirmed during E3 that it won't make its planned 2017 launch, being pushed back a few months so they can work on it more. They want it to be good, y'see. It's now expected in early 2018.
]]>If you're one of those "I'll wait for the Game of the Year Edition" types, good news: a new stealth game called Metal Gear Solid V [official site] has just become available to you, and I think you really might like it. Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience has arrived on PC, packing both the small, directed MGS V: Ground Zeroes and the sprawling open-world MGS V: The Phantom Pain along with the multiplayer Metal Gear Online and all their DLC. That's a respectable slab of sneaking for £25! For all its flaws, I still really like MGS V - and you might too, you ol' GotYhead you.
]]>If the very mention of Metal Gear Survive [official site], an MGS V cooperative zombie survival spin-off, makes you fume and spit like a malfunctioning furnace, the fifteen minutes of in-game footage below might not convince you to reconsider. I'm willing to give it a chance though, partly because the wide open spaces of The Phantom Pain seem well-suited to spotting of distant hordes, but mostly because the video shows the Fulton dragging zombies and sheep alike through a sky portal back to Hell.
]]>What will Konami do with Metal Gear Solid now series maestro Hideo Kojima has gone off to start a new studio and impregnate Norman Reedus? Oh, you know: zombie survival. Konami today announced the first post-Kojima Metal Gear, Metal Gear Survive. It's a co-op spin-off set in an alternate universe where some of Big Boss's pals got sucked into sky and appeared in zombielandia. No, really.
]]>Metal Gear maestro Hideo Kojima has announced Death Stranding [official site], the first game from his new studio. It may or may not involve beached whales, crabs with cables coming out their guts, a nude Norman Reedus, a cyberbaby, and mysterious hovermen, going by the cinematic E3 trailer. I am delighted that Kojima's first game away from Konami seems to be going hard on the weird. Have a gander:
]]>Here's yer weekly top ten Steam best-sellers. That being what most tore up the charts last week. Is DOOM still king? What happens to Total Warhammer now it's actually released? And what in the name of all that's holy is YouTubers Life?
]]>After laying bare its details at the beginning of the month, the Cloaked in Silence DLC for Metal Gear Online [official site] is out now. On top of three new maps and unlimited access to the upcoming Survival mode, the expansion adds the formidable photosynthesising sniper Quiet to its ranks. Come see her in action:
]]>Expert sniper Quiet is joining Metal Gear Online [official site] as a playable special character in the upcoming 'Cloaked in Silence' DLC, and I'm sorely disappointed in everyone who won't get into character by humming over voice comms whenever they see an enemy. The add-on will also chuck in three new maps and give unlimited access to a new mode which will only allow non-DLCers a few plays each week. Me, I'm mostly in it to bug teamies by humming away with a crinkling binbag tied round my left arm.
]]>Sure, you've defeated the entire Soviet army in Metal Gear Solid V [official site] by throwing hunks of metal at soldiers' faces then telling your dog to bite them, but that will only work on actual humans five times - tops - before someone calls the rozzers. But you can now test your sneaking (and face-shooting) skills against actual humans virtually, beyond the base invasion antics. After a week in public beta testing, Metal Gear Online has properly launched on PC, bringing team-based shootysneaks to MGSV.
]]>I’ve playing MGSV obsessively at the moment. You might have noticed. This is a statement which would make 2005 me punch 2015 me in the nose. A decade ago I was so much more forceful and intolerant in my opinions about videogames, and one of the recipients of that unyielding ire was Metal Gear Solid. I played some of 2, felt as though it was simply wasting my time, and that was it, the entire series was irredeemable. Everything I read now suggests I’d still feel that way about MGS2 particularly, but in the wake of Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, I do realise that in decrying the entire series, I did myself out of some particularly excellent stealth gaming, and a playful streak a mile wide. Which leaves me thinking – what else did I dismiss - or praise - out of hand and now regret?
]]>I've just realised that Metal Gear Solid codenames follow the same pattern as tech startups and game studios. Pick an animal, slap an adjective on the front and there you go, you're now Flatulent Badger; you're Scarlet Dolphin; you're Indigo Axolotl. You'll blow away either investors with a proposal to disrupt e.g. the shoe-tying industry with an app to have someone come round and tie your laces, or blow up a huge robot. Well, round up your pals and start naming each other, as proper multiplayer finally comes to The Phantom Pain [official site] today-ish with a beta launch of Metal Gear Online.
]]>What is the best stealth game of 2015? The RPS Advent Calendar highlights our favourite games from throughout the year, and behind today's door is...
]]>The great Konami/Kojima cabinet reshuffle continues - first Koj shacks up with Sony, and now Konami are running job listings for a new Metal Gear game that'll they make without the involvement of the notorious/revered auteur.
]]>We're about 11,000 nukes away from Snake and pals throwing a shindig in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site] - disarming 11k of them, that is. You might've seen a while back that folks had uncovered cinematics celebrating nuclear disarmament, but it wasn't entirely clear what they were or how to trigger them. Welp, Konami have now confirmed that, as guessed, it'll trigger if every nuclear weapon players have built is destroyed (they're part of the Forward Operating Base PvP invasion stuff). They're issuing daily updates on disarmament progress too.
]]>Below you will find the 25 best stealth games ever released on PC. There are sneaking missions, grand thefts, assassinations, escapes and infiltrations. Stay low, keep quiet and we'll make it to the end.
]]>Half-way through Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site], I had enough swanky guns and gear that most challenge was self-imposed as I toyed with weird strategies. So how come a new update has just added a load of new Grade 7 and 8 tech? Forward Operating Base invasions, innit. (Also, dang, they're pretty cool.)
It's interesting to see development shift focus now many will have moved on from singleplayer, trying to keep folks interested through multiplayer FOB invasions. We still haven't even received the full multiplayer side, Metal Gear Online, on PC yet.
]]>Big Boss ordering a soldier into battle dressed as a sexy version of his ambiguous mentor/mother/lover figure who he himself killed is an unusual move even for a chap who abducts people with balloons, but this is Metal Gear. The curious MGS3-inspired DLC costumes for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site] have arrived. They're outfits for male and female soldiers, Snake included, and showy getups for your horse, priced at £0.79 each or £3.99 for all seven. However, it seems some are bugged and don't work properly.
]]>Though I quite cheerily murdered folks in Dark Souls by invading their world - hey, look, everyone knows spooky woods have murderous guardians - I've yet to invade another player's base in Metal Gear Solid V [official site]. 120 hours in, no one has invaded my own Forward Operating Base either. Loading MGS up this morning to see what a new patch brought, I noticed Konami are offering a whole load of rewards for invasions and it makes me wonder... do most people skip invasions? Have you intruded?
]]>Update: Konami are denying that Kojima has left the company, saying that he is instead "on vacation." More details below.
Original story:
Metal Gear Solid maestro Hideo Kojima has left Konami. We've been reporting on rumours about Kojima's departure from the publishers since March, but now it's reported by The New Yorker that October 9th was his last day at the company.
]]>Metal Gear Solid V [official site] latest update focuses on additions to FOB missions, in which players can invade and steal from specially-constructed bases maintained by other players. One of the updates is the ability to pay real money to insure the contents of your base. Find more details below.
]]>I expected MGSV: The Phantom Pain [official site] to be punishing - the kind of stealth game that stuck you with insurmountable challenges the second you stepped out of the shadows or were spotted. These expectations were born of what I assumed previous Metal Gear Solid games were, based on struggling through the first on PSone as a teenager, and based on the slavish praise they received from what I assumed were more skillful players than me.
I was initially relieved, then, when The Phantom Pain turned out to be accommodating. But after twenty hours of play, I'm much more surprised to find myself feeling so far towards the other direction. The Phantom Pain is too easy.
]]>Oh God suddenly my private desert adventure is a PvP game in which other players can invade my base and steal my stuff and my men at any time. THIS WASN'T WHAT I SIGNED UP FOR HELP HELP
]]>Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site] is a fine game, but is not a difficult game - at least, not unless you want it to be. Sure, you can roll through everything with big guns and a murderbot or Quiet without breaking a bloodsweat; the challenge comes in following weird whims and trying strange ideas with its arsenal of guns and gadgets. Or I suppose you could install a mod.
If you want everything to be tougher, the Hardcore mod by 'JRavens' ups the difficulty by pushing it more towards realism, with enemies more aware and you weaker.
]]>While most of us continue to be starry-eyed about MGSV: The Phantom Pain [official site], there has been no shortage of Internet Grumbles about its ending, and concerns that it wasn't finished-finished (possibly related to Kojima and Konami's latest round of spats?). I'm not going to get into OPINIONS on that stuff myself, primarily because I'm not personally invested in MGS lore, but yeah, there really was an original, longer ending sequence with MORE RIDICULOUS DRAMA and arguably a greater sense of closure, both for Big Boss/Venom Snake himself and in terms of closing the loop between the two main Metal Gear Solid timelines.
This other finale, set on a jungly island, was partially completed before whatever happened happened, and is included on the MGSV bonus disc from the PS4 collector's edition. You can watch the whole, 18 minute sequence below. Spoilers, inevitably.
]]>Merry weekend, one and all! May you have a wonderful Saturday, and a calm Boxing Day. Why, perhaps you'll even manage to get away from your friends, families, and loved ones after dinner to squeeze in a cheeky video game or two before you all wrap up and head out carolling! Here's what we'll be playing when we can sneak away:
]]>Continuing a diary series in which an MGS virgin plays the Phantom Pain.
The real trouble with Quiet is that she's lazy. Or so I incorrectly thought for the longest time.
]]>I play every stealth game the same way.
I remain at a distance. I find the higher ground. I use a weapon with a scope; a bow and arrow if one is available, a normal sniper rifle if not. I crouch-walk around my target or targets slowly, attempting to pick off each enemy and objective in turn, such that no one ever notices anything is amiss until the instant when they're killed. If they do notice and sound the alarm, I do not care; as long as they do not know where I am, and so can never fire at me, I continue until the job is done. It's always this way. In the Far Cries, Crises, Splintered Cells and Rainbows Six; wherever possible, this is how I play.
I am playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain differently and I don't know why.
]]>Ah, what are we to do in these High Pressure Days? Playing video games may help, I suppose. But which, when there are so many? Here's what we'll be playing:
]]>There have been some unusual and unexpected ports in recent times. I'd never expected to see Deadly Premonition in my Steam library and Way of the Samurai 4 was something of a surprise. Strangest of all, perhaps, is that I've not only become accustomed to the presence of Metal Gear Solid V on PC, but that its stealthy immersive sim-feel has made it an integral part of 2015. Aspects of the design will become part of the fabric of future open world games, whether stealth-focused or not, and there's nothing about the game that marks it out as a port.
]]>Our chums at Eurogamer are lending their trusted backing to recent claims that publisher Konami are beating a swift retreat from big budget land for a while, even though everyone and their D-Dog seems to be playing Metal Gear Solid V. Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 is out now and Metal Gear Online is still due for release, but if reports are to be believed everything else is getting dropped like a very expensive hot potato.
]]>Not a horse-tux, sadly. Nor is the cheesy avatar of an open source operating system becoming a playable MGS character. Big Boss gets the tux, D-horse gets armour, and playable women soldiers get [sigh]. This, then, is the first DLC for the mostly excellent Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site].
]]>Once a week most weeks, the RPS hivemind gathers to discuss An Issue. Sometimes it’s controversial news, sometimes it’s a particular game, sometimes it’s favourite things and least favourite things, sometimes a perennial talking point. This week, off the back of most of us being obsessed with Metal Gear Solid V, we're talking about open world, or sandbox games. Big map, go where you please, kill or don't kill - the GTA, Assassin's Creed and Far Cry formula. And it's very much a formula now. How do we feel about that? Has the promise of earlier open world games such as the first few Elder Scrolls been lost? And just why are we apparently giving MGSV a free pass given we often roll our eyes as Assassin's Creed?
]]>Continuing a diary series in which an MGS first-timer plays The Phantom Pain.
On the one hand, the openness and rogue weather of Metal Gear Solid V's second zone is a spectacular, tactics-altering change from the dusty, mountainous, barren Afghanistan I've spent dozens of hours in. On the other, no, it's different, it's not the same, it's all weird, I hate it I hate it I hate it.
If you want to go into the game completely clean, the below piece spoils what that location is, but doesn't cover any plot stuff.
]]>Mistakenly lock eyes with a D-Dog plush toy in Metal Gear Online, and when you snap out your stupor you may find yourself hoisted into the air with a balloon on your bum.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site] does have a little multiplayer action through its Forward Operating Base invasions, but it's getting a big fancy affair with teamplay and different modes - not to mention zany gadgets like cute D-Dogs - as a free update. Metal Gear Online is delayed on PC, but with the console launch soon, Konami are showing it off a little so we can at least see what we'll get next year:
]]>Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site] may be the best stealth-action game ever made, but it's not flawless. The game's massive scope, and the surprising amount of detail in each interaction within that massive playpen, is impressive - however, that scope is precisely why certain aspects feel like they have something missing. Consider the following, then, as an exploration of The Phantom Pain's own phantom pains - without plot spoilers.
]]>You might remember Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site] publisher Konami last week warned of a nasty bug that could corrupt your save file if you took a certain character with you on two particular missions - not something someone would expect to break a save. Well, that's now fixed and my Steam has downloaded an update for The Phantom Pain, so consider it sorted.
For the curious - and those who don't mind vague spoilers - I'll explain more about it.
]]>The weekend is upon us, ready thyself! I've probably linked that before, but stuff it - it's a good way to start any weekend. Me, I'll spend a lot of this weekend seeking a new place to swim outdoors (had a nice swim a reservoir last weekend, but it's not quite right), but also video games. Lots of video games. Lots of video game. Here's what we're playing this weekend, and what about you?
]]>Swapping 3D models is usually one of the first mods folks figure out for games without official mod tools, letting you earnestly play as different characters or just dick about and make things weird. Well, folks have been fiddling with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site] and sure, you could make it so Quiet takes Snake's place.
Or you could swap D-Dog for Quiet, making some of the sniper's already-odd cutscenes get really weird. It's a simple thing and entirely predictable but, like physics ragdolls freakouts and missing faces, I will always laugh at model swaps gone wrong. Look, this dog thinks he's people (sorry, I don't have a better source for that):
]]>I quailed at even the idea of bosses in MGSV [official site]. It’s my desert, leave me alone to do my thing, and that thing most certainly does not involve filling something big with as much heavy ordinance as is possible. A couple of encounters with the teleporting zombie super-soldiers known as The Skulls had already left a bad taste in my mouth. While stealth, or at least avoidance was possible to some degree, they were exactly the sort of bullet-sponge nightmare I was afraid of. Would this be pre-Director’s Cut Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s bosses all over again? I would be abandoning this game halfway through, of that I was increasingly sure.
Then I met Quiet. Spoilers for an early boss fight follow.
]]>I haven't got anything like as many cassette tapes as I'd like in The Phantom Pain [official site]. A combination of a determination to be non-lethal, to knock out or capture everyone and my inherent ineptitude means most base raids go South pretty quickly, and I end up in a desperate sprint to a checkpoint in order that I don't lose all my progress. No time to clear out all the buildings: just run, run until that magical yellow save circle appears in the top right of my screen, and I know my prisoners are safe and my diamonds are in hand. I've left tapes behind that way, and it breaks my heart. Rebel Yell and Love Will Tear Us Apart are definite casualties, the latter of which I can barely cope with the loss of. If it turns out I've abandoned Bowie's Cat People somewhere, I'll almost certainly lose my mind.
When I heard the distant strains of Take On Me while trying to rescue a prisoner from a particularly well-guarded base, I knew my priorities had to change. Physician heal thyself. The trouble is, I didn't hear those strains until everything had already gone to hell.
]]>It's been days since I wanted to talk about anything other than Metal Gear Solid [official site]. My sister is probably sick of this. We're very close but live far apart so we tend to speak almost every day, not so much about our lives as about the things that distract us from our lives. She had no interest in Metal Gear Solid, but eventually my incessant chatter caused her to look into The Phantom Pain. I should have predicted the response.
“I watched a trailer for it last night. What's the deal with the boob lady?”
I'd been talking about the game for days but hadn't mentioned Quiet, your sniper buddy. I had been raving about the things I liked about the game, and when the conversation turned to flaws, it turns out it's the small things that disturb the experience more for me than those bigger talking points.
]]>Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site] is our Game of the Month for September, but why has this traditionally non-PC series infiltrated our chests and Fulton'd our hearts? Alice, Adam, Alec and a Graham gathered to discuss stealth, balloons, dogs in eye-patches, making enemy grunts feel alive and accidental kill-sprees.
No plot spoilers here, but if you still hope to go into the game entirely blind, be warned that we do discuss some of the game's systems and mechanics in some detail.
]]>If you've been playing Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain [official site] for a bit, you may have joined up with superfast sunbathing sniper Quiet. Folks warn you that she's trouble and heck, it seems she is. Publishers Konami have warned that she may corrupt save games on certain missions, and are warning folks until they can fix it. Read on for details because I feel I've already spoiled too much in this post and know I thought "Oh huh!" when I saw a tiny insignificant detail in the announcement.
]]>Game Of The Month returns, haunting the first Monday of the month with the answer to life's eternal question: "I do not have time to play all of these games so which one should I pick?" There are so many worthy games that it's hard to pick just one but in this month of September 2015, one game has dominated our waking hours with its extraordinary take on open world stealth. It's Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site].
]]>Like Snake with the open expanse of Soviet-occupied Afghanistan stretching out before him, we've got a lot of ground to cover. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site] is a massive game, both in terms of the systems that drive it and the number of plot threads it feels obligated to weave together. This breadth is the game's triumph, as well as its downfall. The Phantom Pain is the best stealth-action game ever made, and one of the worst Metal Gear stories ever told.
]]>This weekend I decided to spend a rare spare afternoon waiting for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain to start. Here's what I did.
]]>The weekend crept up on us silently, catching us snoozing or distracted flicking through magazines. But now it's here! Loudly! In our faces! And has brought a dog! Read on to be wholly surprised by which game many of us are playing this weekend, then why not tell us what you're clacking away at?
]]>Global illumination. Volumetric clouds. Sub-surface scattering.
These are words that make me hot.
But I know this feeling is forbidden. I should care about games, not the empty pursuit of photorealism. But oh my, it’s so exciting, and not empty. In fact, I think that right now photorealism is becoming crucial to games, and that we should celebrate it.
]]>Continuing a diary/review-in-progress of MGSV [official site], from the perspective of someone who hasn't really played Metal Gear Solid before. There are no plot spoilers in this one.
Metal Gear Solid V is a videogame in which I travel around on a bright pink helicopter which blares Kim Wilde's Kids In America from a loudspeaker. Then I go home to my bright pink oil rig in the Seychelles and roll around on the floor with a one-eyed puppy for a while, before delivering a savage and unprovoked beating to the men who work for me. They thank me for my cruelty, and demand I hit them harder.
11/10
]]>When we talk of 'spoilers', we usually mean plot twists - e.g. you're actually your own uncle's uncle's nephew sent back in time to cut your child's finger off. More rarely, and more delightfully, we face odd surprises in what a game does or becomes. What's so great about Frog Fractions? Mate, go play Frog Fractions yourself.
Metal Gear Solid games hold many surprises big and small (I still chuckle at Snake Eater's glowing mushroom chat), and I wouldn't want to ruin any in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site] for you, but this post is about a small and charming thing you'll only see on one day of the year so... maybe have a peek below?
]]>Continuing a diary/review-in-progress of MGSV [official site], from the perspective of someone who hasn't really played Metal Gear Solid before. This entry contains possible spoilers for some early in-game mechanics, but no plot stuff.
I suspect the craziness of Metal Gear Solid V's prologue is as much the 'true' MGSV as are the rather more sober missions, so I don't want to making wild proclamations about how I'm now onto the real deal. However, the missions, with their wide-open stealth sandboxes, already feel like a reason to stay in the game, rather than just hoot uproariously at it from afar. The stealth is good. Good. And the game comes up with some smart, and funny, reasons why you would always want to play it as a stealth game rather than a straight shooter. And I don't just mean the balloon-based animal abductions pictured above.
]]>What. What?
]]>I woke up this morning in a bright new world, a world in which what may be Hideo Kojima's final Metal Gear game [official site] is available on PC. It still seems like an impossible dream, that a series that has only sporadically stealthed its way onto our machines should be here day one, the same time as the console launch, so I was expecting something to go wrong. Performance issues due to the port from console to PC? A sudden stepback in visual quality as compared to 'prologue' mission Ground Zeroes?
Remarkably, The Phantom Pain hasn't gotten its cape into a tangle and seems to be running smoothly while looking devilishly handsome. There are some caveats and snags though, as always.
]]>When I was asked to write 1000 words about why Metal Gear Solid matters, and what you need to know about it, I knew there was only one way to do it.
By feel alone.
]]>If you want to go in cold when Metal Gear Solid V [official site] lands next week, you probably shouldn't watch this brand new 'launch' trailer. In fact, you probably shouldn't even go anywhere near the discussion around it because as soon as I clicked through to Konami's YouTube page, I saw speculation and rumours that have now wormed into my brain. Of course, the whole thing might be a bait and switch, designed to provoke certain trains of thought so that the game can happily derail them as it twists and turns like a weird combination of M. Night Shyamalan and an Olympic high-diver.
Is it possible to go in cold at this stage though? We're all red hot, if we're interested in the slightest. It's below of you want it - a spectacular five minute burst of memories, melancholy and military murderbots.
]]>If you pay any attention to the internet, you may have noticed some rather glowing write-ups of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site]. You may also have noticed some quibbling and equivocating about the appearance of microtransactions in the Forward Operating Base competitive multiplayer mode. Yes, that's a PvP mode called F.O.B. that may be fobbing people off with in-game purchases to speed things along. Below, I've gathered what information I can about those pesky microtransactions and explained why we haven't been able to pass judgement on the game yet.
]]>Big Boss is a lot like Father Christmas: he sneaks into your home unseen; he has toys made by special helpers far away; and you want to slide down the stairs when you wake up after his visit so you can see as quickly a possible what he's brought you.
Alas, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site] will not have a pre-load option on PC so you'll need to wait. However, thanks to timezone trickery, pre-orderers should be able to start downloading and playing a few hours before its official release.
]]>Yes, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site] is a game about super spy Snake sneaking around an open world to get revenge and stop a shadowy organisation. It's also a game about Snake building a cool ocean clubhouse for his soldier pals and all their animal friends.
A new 30-minute video hows all the fun Snake will have around Mother Base, including playing with his dog, defending it against attackers in online invasions, showering (finally, a game learns the joys of cleanliness from Deadly Premonition!), and flying around listening to Joy Division.
]]>Who ever knows what Konami are up to? Between the reported fallout with Metal Gear maestro Hideo Kojima and new tales of Kafkaesque working conditions, maybe even Konami don't know. But for once, this has worked to our favour. Konami have shunted the PC release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site] forward a fortnight to September 1st to match the console editions.
It's not that simple, of course: Konami's announcement today also notes that its multiplayer, Metal Gear Online, won't launch until January 2016 - though the console multiplayer will kick off on October 6th. Oh, Konami!
]]>Yes, we used this header image for the last video of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site], but look at it! Diamond Dog and his eyepatch are just too adorable to pass up. As is the new video below. It's an alternate playthrough of some of the same areas as the 40 minute presentation from last month's E3, but despite its Japanese narration I watched all of it to glean a few more succulent details of Kojima's approaching open world stealth game.
]]>We've seen some of the Kojimaisms awaiting us in this Autumn's Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site], but what about the bits where you actually do stuff instead of endure/enjoy sustained psychic assault by cutscene? Seems like there's plenty of sneaky Snaking to be had too, building on the excellent stealth of prequel Ground Zeroes.
And, well, there are a great many in-game Kojimaisms too. Not all good ones unfortunately, but some of the good ones are really good ones.
]]>The E3 trailer for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site] is one of the most Kojima things I've seen, I say with great affection. While it seems the Metal Gear maestro is breaking up with publishers Konami, he is at least around until the end of the game, and that includes directing this here E3 trailer.
In case you don't want the villain's grand plot spoiled, I shall wait until the next paragraph to mention his philosophy. You'll like it, though. It's very Kojima.
]]>You know those rumours going around that Metal Gear mastermind Hideo Kojima and publisher Konami have fallen out, and he'll be leaving the company after Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, throwing the series into turmoil just as it starts settling down on PC? Well!
Following statements to press saying everything was hunky-dory, Konami and Kojima have issued a public statement which carefully avoids confirming or denying the juicy bits of the rumours. It mostly says what we know: Kojima will finish MGS V, then Konami will keep on making Metal Gear games with or without him.
]]>Sometimes I'd swear that Ian Video Games is deliberately trying to ruin everyone's fun. Just as we're getting used to Metal Gear games settling on PC (not just Solid - we mustn't forget Platinum's Rising), Big Mouth strikes again and starts spreading rumours of strife.
Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear creator and director, and other senior members of Metal Gear Solid devs Kojima Productions are at odds with owners and publishers Konami, Ian says, and will leave once MGS V: The Phantom Pain is done. So Ian says, anyway. Konami say all's hunky-dory.
]]>Good news first, RPS: there's a commentated version of the trailer for the Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site] online component, Metal Gear Online. It shows off a (highly scripted) 8v8 round of play in a one-sided CTF style game mode of "get the item and get out." The new commentary explains some of the gadgets and devices shown last year.
Bad but typical news: while the simultaneous global release date for MGS5 is September 1st, that's only for yir auld console-box. We'll be waiting until the 15th to sneak up on it via Steam. There's been no explanation as to why this is.
]]>Metal Gear Solid V's release date is so important that there's been a countdown and everything. TICK TOCK, it went. TICK TOCK. And then, moments ago, a cuckoo popped out screaming "SEPTEMBER 1ST, SEPTEMBER 1ST" before the timer had hit zero. Oops.
]]>Hideo Kojima is one of console-land's greatest champions. Over the past two decades Konami's Kojima-led team, eventually formed into Kojima Productions, has produced classic game after classic game – almost all of which are Metal Gear titles. Though not without critics, each MGS feels like a reinvention rather than a sequel, consistently innovative, stylish, and changeable. And with Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, the prologue act to next year's full release of MGSV: the Phantom Pain, Kojima Productions reinvents itself as a PC developer.
]]>I could not tell you exactly how this toy dog plushie works, how exactly people are distracted by it and end up gazing adoringly into its plastic eyes, but I am keen to find out. Konami have announced that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will have a multiplayer side, bringing back Metal Gear Online. That there dog is one of the class-based sneak-o-shoot's gadgets, which also include the likes of minimechs, cloaking systems, and sentry turrets firing Fulton balloons. I want to play the wacky teamplay mode this first trailer shows.
]]>I think I posted those Metal Gear Solid V Tokyo Game Show videos too soon. Not because the first set of videos were in Japanese - this one is too - but because the video released at the end of this weekend has introduces a new companion for Solid Snake Big Boss: a wolf. A wolf with an eyepatch.
I'm excited enough at this point for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain that I'm willing to watch videos that are entirely in Japanese. Heck, in some ways I prefer it this way. These latest videos - a three minute trailer and a twenty-one minute playthrough - both come from the Tokyo Game Show, and not being in English means I don't have to listen to the feverish conspiratorial jibber-jabber and can instead just imagine the wonders of an open-world stealth game.
]]>If you came to me and said that there was an open world stealth game in development about dynamic infiltration of forts, with horses, and a multiplayer meta-game, I'd be giddy. That's what Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is. That it's also part of a series I haven't played since 1998's Metal Gear Solid, and that it's burdened - or strengthened - by Hideo Kojima's batshit lore, only serves to make it more interesting.
At this year's Gamescom, a new 22 minute demonstration was shown to attendant press, designed to depict how the same missions and multiplayer shown at E3 could be radically different based on the dynamic systems at work. A video of that demo is below, and it contains stealth-enabling horseshit.
]]>As daft and self-obsessed as it became, Metal Gear Solid is a wonderful thing. The series has only been spotted on PC a few times over the years, but delightfully we will get to interrogate its two shiny new games. Open-world sneak 'em up Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and its short standalone prologue Ground Zeroes are both coming to PC via Steam. Maybe PC folks are lucky, knowing less about the knots the backstory tied then bloody-mindedly untangled at agonising length in MGS 4. For many of us, it might simply be a pleasant and silly open-world sneaky game.
]]>The existential limbo that the PC version of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain finds itself is is pretty apt given the ridiculous lore of the series. For what it's worth, Hideo Kojima has stated that it will appear "sometime", but that it's not a priority. Boo-urns to that! His lackadaisical attitude isn't going to stop me from showing off the new videos of the game, because open-world stealth games are my jam. Below is probably the only footage of Metal Gear in existence that's not interrupted by seven billion cut-scenes, which I find encouraging. I might be able to play this when it eventually comes to the PC.
]]>SHOCKING DEVELOPMENTS. Metal Gear Solid 5 is an actual, factual thing, as revealed during Kojima Productions' GDC panel. But wait, that's not all. Are you ready to ratchet up the vein-searing voltage? OK, here goes: The Phantom Pain was just a promotional stunt! It was Metal Gear all along, just like no man, woman, child, infant, or single-celled organism could've surmised from painfully obvious evidence. Now, though, you probably ought to flee into your local neighborhood tire factory, because here comes the most electric news of all. In spite of Hideo Kojima's repeated claims that Metal Gear Solid 5/Ground Zeroes/The Phantom Pain's demos have been running on PC, Konami still won't confirm or deny a PC version for some reason.
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