What more can be said about Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain? Fans already know this is creator Hideo Kojima's last Metal Gear game, his magnum opus.
Kojima's split from longtime publisher Konami has been well publicized. Kiefer Sutherland voices the main character. It's built on the ultra-realistic Fox game engine.
Yadda yadda, you know the rest.
The Metal Gear games have always been a mashup of polished, tactical shooter/stealth action and Hideo Kojima's singular storytelling. Don't expect that to change with MGS5; just look for a much broader canvas for Kojima to tell his story on, set in a vast open world that offers action, customization and RPG elements that reach a depth never before possible.
Kojima's made a tradition of trotting out a new trailer for MGS annually up until the game is finally released. He seems to put as much obsessive attention to detail into these five-minute-long trailer videos as what he puts into the actual game. The three trailers released thus far have been moody and dreamlike, sometimes feeling like LSD-fueled nightmares. Kojima is such an icon in the industry, even his trailers have a distinctive style; they're known for inserting flashes of cheesy text ("The Ultimate Thrill!") and loads of developer credits.
Regardless, his skill at producing compelling stealth game mechanics is virtually unmatched, and it's this talent for putting gamers into a living world that reacts to your actions that keeps players coming back.
Kojima has pieced together one last video, a launch trailer, for Metal Gear Solid V, and it follows in its predecessors' footsteps. This time, in addition to the melancholy music and brooding characters, he's included a look back at previous games in the series to show how far the technology has come. He also put in short clips of some of the biggest and baddest Metal Gear contraptions that Snake faced in each game.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will be in stores on September 1, 2015 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One and Xbox 360.
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