About
Metal Gear Solid V is a stealth action video game developed by Kojima Production, published by Konami, and directed by famed designer Hideo Kojima. The sixth installment in the Metal Gear Solid series, the game centers around the character Snake in 1975 and 1984 as he goes on the path of revenge against the organization known as Cipher for the destruction of his motherbase and the death of his comrades.
History
On September 1st, 2012, Metal Gear Solid V was first announced during PAX 2012 under the title Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes (shown below, left). On December 10th, 2012, Kojima Productions, under the fake name of Moby Dick Studios, unveiled a trailer to a game titled The Phantom Pain during VGA 2012 (shown below, right).
On March 27th, 2013, Kojima announced during GDC 2013 that Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain are part of the same game that has been officially titled as Metal Gear Solid V: the Phantom Pain (shown below, left). On March 18th, 2014, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes was released as a standalone prologue to The Phantom Pain for the Sony PlayStation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One (launch trailer shown below, right). A PC port of Ground Zeroes was released on December 18th, 2015, via Steam.
On September 1st, 2015, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was released worldwide for the Playstation 4, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC. The game’s online multiplayer component titled Metal Gear Online, is currently scheduled for release on October 6th, 2015 (shown below, right).
Reception
Ground Zeroes was met with mixed reponses while The Phantom Pain was met with critical acclaim upon launch. Both games have been praised for their open ended and emergent gameplay.The Phantom Pain was met with further praise due to its scope, replayability, and themes that delves into subjects such as the cold war, nuclear weapons, child soldiers, language, and disease. Ground Zeroes was criticized for its short length and steep price tag. The Phantom Pain was met with criticism due to its more lighter approach in storytelling in favor of gameplay which differs from previous installments in the series that were more story focused.
| Game | Platform | Metascore |
| Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes | PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC | 66/75/None/76/80 |
| Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain | PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC | None/94/None/96/95 |