It's been almost two years since Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was first announced. It quickly became one of the industry's most anticipated games, especially once Kojima Productions finally began showing extended gameplay demonstrations. People finally knew what the game was about, and the demos have been incredibly successful for the studio. Now, in Metal Gear's home country, Kojima Productions has shown off over 20 minutes of new footage...and then some.
The first reveal came in the form of a short, three-minute trailer. Taking place on the player's home base, supposed enemy sniper Quiet drops into the middle of the main characters. Without attacking, she seemingly joins the heroes as an ally, only for Snake to claim that he'll be the one to kill her. Confusing, yes, but it's the first real look of the Quiet character that we've seen. The graphical effects of her teleportation are amazing, and the level of detail seen in The Phantom Pain is astounding, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.
As with the other demonstrations, Kojima Productions had quite a bit of new content to show off at the Tokyo Game Show. This was the first chance the public has had to see the African jungle, and frankly, it's amazing. The attention to detail in the environment is absolutely unbelievable. When people say "This could only be done on next-gen hardware," it's typically an over-exaggeration; that is clearly not the case here. The weather system also looks astounding, as does the environmental destruction, though the latter seems to be rather limited.
With new environments come new ways to get around, and Kojima Productions showed off new traversal options in addition to the previously-shown Fulton system. Snake can now climb walls as long as there's something to grip, and can hang from the walls for a seemingly infinite amount of time. It sounds rather tame, but it could potentially open up a wealth of new stealth tactics.
In terms of the familiar, a few recurring Metal Gear items returned, such as the oft-advertised Fulton System, as well as the Analyzer from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. While it's nice to see these tools return, the new inflatable dummies are far more entertaining. When thrown, a blow-up version of Snake inflates, distracting guards and allowing Snake to remain undetected. It's certainly funny to watch, though the game now has an almost overwhelming number of distraction-based items (which many Metal Gear players will admit to never even using).
Finally, Kojima Productions gave the people what they've been waiting for: a release window for The Phantom Pain. While it's still a bit broad, the team has confirmed that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will be released sometime in 2015. It doesn't sound like much, but many had predicted that the game would be pushed back until 2016, so a little reassurance is nice.
Until then, players will have to make due with Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, which was released back on March 18.
