Metal Gear Solid as a series has always been... quirky. From psychics who can read your memory card to the near-perfect stealth device that is a cardboard box, the series isn't afraid to have some fun. Now, the franchise is open-world, with the release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain — and that means more shenanigans than ever before.
Players aren't wasting any time, either. One of the game's new features that seems to be endlessly amusing is the "Fulton surface-to-air recovery system," or STARS for short. These self-inflating balloons can be used to send all manner of supplies and personnel to Mother Base. Sometimes that personnel involves bears.
Yes, bears. As players have discovered, it's painfully simple to airlift a bear back to your home base for... well, your guess is as good as mine. Allow the GIF below to demonstrate. Perhaps the scariest part of this is how quickly that balloon takes off. As indicated by the "ZZZ" over the bear's head, it isn't dead, but merely sleeping. Then, the poor animal is strapped to the balloon by one leg and hoisted off into the atmosphere.
At that kind of blazing speed, though, you shouldn't expect the bear to survive the trip home. In case you were wondering, goats and sheep can also be airlifted back to base — if you're into that sort of thing.
If PETA hasn't contacted Hideo Kojima for that, he can expect to hear a call from the organization about unethical treatment of horses. Just as players can airlift supplies back to base, Snake can also call in supply drops via parachute. Sometimes these parachutes go off course and assassinate your horse.
Uhh, boom, headshot? If nothing else, at least players seem to be having fun with Kojima's sandbox. The game has been getting great reviews all around. It's sad to think this may be Kojima's last Metal Gear game, but if it is, at least the series is going out with a bang.
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