The Phantom Pain is, for the most part, a masterclass of open-world gameplay. A tense, tactical stealth-'em-up on the one hand, and a gadget-filled sci-fi, conspiracy crackpot mashup on the other. Yet it manages to fuse all this together and work brilliantly. Why then, did Mission 45 have to happen? All the ingenuity of taking out vehicle patrols using your wits, or the fear of coming face to face with a tank, go out the window as the game turns into a generic wave shooter, as you blow tanks and soldiers away with a bazooka at the same rate you take out aliens in Galaga - except the enemies are coming from all angles, you have to keep Quiet alive, and you die... a lot. One stray rocket gets you blown up, while Quiet's self-sacrificial move to divert the attention from you will most likely lead to her death. The precision of the enemy's pinpoint missiles is ridiculous, and even if it's not a direct hit you'll probably get knocked off your feet from the impact and duly smattered with bullets by oncoming soldiers. This is particularly arduous if your character's been stealth-oriented up to this point, because you can't back out of this mission once you've started it, and calling in more heavyweight supplies while under heavy fire isn't ideal. A cheap mission that has no place in an otherwise excellent game... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fs8dg0k25U
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
