Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain – war isn’t hell, it’s a giant playground
How Kojima’s new game threatens to deliver where previous Metal Gears haven’t quite managed to.
Years ago, I had to babysit a bunch of 12-year-olds for an afternoon and we ended up playing Metal Gear Solid 2. It was an immediate hit, for the most part. Weaned on bog-standard shooters, my charges were delighted by the novelty of having to avoid guards rather than just killing them all, by the curiously empowering act of hiding under a desk to avoid a view cone, and by the Kojima brand of crazed military acronym. They were less keen on Vamp, the sneering unshaven bloodsucker who corners Raiden and Snake on Big Shell during the opening half of the game.
