Even with our booth tour of Konami there wasn’t much information to be had about the new Metal Gear Solid game beyond the trailer shown at the booth and at Microsoft’s conference. Still its existence in the first place is pretty awesome.

Going back to the Big Boss storyline, this game takes place after Peace Walker and before the first Metal Gear but it is starting to get some crossover in terms of the time it takes place and the characters it features. Old Favorites like Psycho Mantis and Master Miller make appearances and it is confirmed that it takes place at a time when Solid Snake and Liquid Snake are alive somewhere in the world. Whether they figure into the plot at all is not known but it is possible to some degree or another.

From what we were shown at the Microsoft conference, Metal Gear Solid V features an open world that looked a lot like Red Dead Redemption and placed emphasis on survival aspects of the gameplay while offering the typical assortment of play styles from action to stealth.

The visuals in the game looked absolutely amazing and the level of detail was astonishing.  I didn’t get a really good beat on the story but given the abject mess the Metal Gear series is in terms of story I don’t really care. The gameplay looks cool and the cutscenes are awesome looking as usual. The music could be better though as one song in particular made me want to shoot myself but that could just be a product of waiting in too many lines while it was being piped from too many places. I am also a bit disturbed by the notion that David Hayter has been replaced by Kiefer Sutherland. I am not sure what the story is behind this but I don’t like it. Kiefer is peachy and I love his work on 24 but Hayter IS Snake and by extension Big Boss. I don’t know if Hayter wasn’t interested or available but if it is a publicity move then shame on them. If, on the other hand, they are doing it so they can introduce Solid and want to differentiate voices then I take it all back.

Regardless of the question marks, Metal Gear is a series that can always be trusted for exciting and well made gameplay even if the story is completely wackadoo. I am looking forward to this quite a bit.

Metal Gear Solid V the Phantom Pain will be available for the PS4 and Xbox One.