GameSided’s Top 10 Game of the Year 2015 List

Game of the Year 2015 – #6 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (125 points – one 2nd place vote, four total votes)

Developer: Kojima Productions

Publisher: Konami

Little did we know, in the lead up to the release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, that this would be the final release by Hideo Kojima in the Metal Gear Solid series. Despite its unfortunate third chapter “truncation,” the action stealth espionage gameplay has never been better. Taking place on a grander open world scale, your goal as Venom Snake is to build up your Mother Base in the Seychelles waters by recruiting soldiers in your adventures throughout Africa and Russia while running missions for Diamond Dogs. It’s all done to build up a force in the plot of revenge against Zero, Cipher, and the mysterious Skull Face.

Surprisingly, the 4+ hours of cutscenes feel brief in comparison to just how many things there are to do in The Phantom Pain. There are 50 missions, more than a hundred side ops and a ton of collectibles, many of which help expand the mystery and story behind Snake, Ocelot, Kaz Miller and the expanded Metal Gear universe of truths and lies. A world roughly two hundred times bigger than that of Ground Zeroes, The Phantom Pain works as a brilliant chapter worthy of bringing the true Metal Gear Solid experience to a close, regardless of whatever pachislot/console gaming plans Konami has for it in the future.

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