Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain - 10 Huge Problems Nobody Wants To Admit

6. The Combat-Heavy Missions Are Godawful

Although MGS 4 and Peace Walker were first attempts (to varying degrees) at presenting full-on gun combat as a worthwhile option in the field, for Phantom Pain you get missions where there's literally no alternative. Coming across Quiet and engaging in a tense back n' forth sniper battle is fantastic (as you're given the option to outwit her, escape and return later, or leave her altogether), but when you're tackling the seemingly invulnerable Skull Unit (who can leap huge distances, kill you in a handful of shots, teleport right next to you and take 20 rockets to put down) it's damn-near torturous fathoming out how or why it's in a stealth game. The worst part, is at times you'll not even know what you're in for, only to boot up a mission that's framed as "Kill everything that moves", making you thoroughly unequipped. Tanks can kill you in one shot if you're not wearing the right armour, and if you arrived with an assault rifle to a battle against Skulls that need constant explosives to stop, well, that's a swift reset to the ACC to create a new loadout just for that mission. On a base level, Metal Gear works as a shooter - but you don't have the freedom to dart about the battlefield like some of your opponents, and when you've died to a rogue Skull or The Man on Fire for the 30th time simply because you're not anywhere close to being able to put up a fair fight, it's just infuriating.