Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - Collector's Edition - PlayStation 4

It is a masterpiece game and because it is indeed Kojima last Metal Gear Solid game is a most buy. Very happy with my half size Big Boss arm!

The gameplay has reached perfection in for Metal Gear Solid. The fluidity and control makes playing a video game never more fun in the open world environment. However, storytelling has left an bad taste in my mouth with the story really picking up and becoming interesting at the end but then the game itself ends with a ending that left me wanting even more content-wise and, especially, story-wise. The online component, FOB, felt tacked on and not that much fun to play. MGO currently needs to fix the issue of hosts leaving mid-game and not being able to earn exp to level up.

I've played all the metal gears starting with metal gear 1 on the original playstation. This game is amazing. Huge open world, tons of missions and side ops. The graphics are gorgeous. And that opening scene, epic! Collectors edition comes with a cool half scale replica of snakes prosthetic arm. I have it on my desk. It's pretty awesome. The fingers move independently. 2 thumbs up!

It is a little sad knowing this will be the last Metal Gear title Kojima will be working on. The open world gameplay may be a little different from the usual MGS style but the gameplay is so addicting and enjoyable. There is so much to do in this game. You got your main missions and over 150 side missions. The freedom to play any mission is what this game exceeds in. You can go in pure stealth or guns blazing and the amount of weapons and gadgets you unlock is overwhelming. The ability to customize your weapon is also a nice addition. If you are not doing any missions, you can explore the open world and capture enemy outposts and small guard posts or you can even extract animals like bears. The "bionic arm" feels pretty cheap but it's a great piece to put on a shelf and look at. Japan is getting a full scale arm while the U.S only gets half size. The metallic case is nice and comes with a bonus disc inside that has extra content. Sadly the metal case only has one disc slot so it cannot hold both discs. All of the DLC was included in one easy to use PSN code so that was nice. It also included a hard plastic box with a "Diamond Dogs" logo on the front and included a fairly large Map of the areas in the game as well. If you like Metal Gear Solid V, you definitely will love the Max Mad game.

I’m currently about 20 hours into Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Hideo Kojima’s farewell masterpiece produced by the infamous pachinko makers, Konami. And already, this is shaping up to be arguable the best Metal Gear Solid installment yet. Already known for its refined sneaking and stealth mechanics, MGSV: TPP somehow further builds on the control mechanics of its MGS predecessors. This is probably some of the most exhilarating sneaking experience I’ve had in any game. That is to say that the prior Metal Gear Solid games only allowed me to take one relatively predetermined path from point A to point B with some obstacles and structured sequence of events in between. The Phantom Pain is designed to be a whole lot more flexible, replacing the chapters and segments of old with an expansive list of selectable "episodes". This is familiar territory to those who have played the PSP prequel, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. There are also many side operations, which you may complete using one of the many Mother Base recruits in place of Snake. Unlike any of the Metal Gears before it, this is truly a vast open-world just waiting to be explored. And that’s going to take some time. 20 hours in and it doesn’t even feel like I’m close to making a dent in terms of the story's plot (which has some amazing plot-twists by the way and Episode 23 is my favorite thus far), something I'll look forward to over this long weekend. Kojima, himself, often encourage players to tackle missions using different tactics. One may opt to stealth their way past all enemy guards and security cameras and complete the assigned tasks undetected like a ghost, or go in full Rambo with guns blazing and bombard the enemy camp with Michael Bay levels of explosions. Each is viable in their own right. Bringing along a companion in the form of a horse, a mechanical D-Walker, a dog, and the silent female sniper, Quiet, further enhances the experience in unexpected ways. The game, however, does encourage a more pacifist approach, where it’d be more beneficial for the player to NOT murder every enemy soldier they can find. With the return of the largely satisfying Fulton recovery system that was first introduced in Peace Walker, Snake can kidnap unconscious enemies and Fulton them back to Mother Base, where they’ll be repurposed into your personal soldier slaves. Sometimes, it’s the level of attention to details that truly sets this game apart and beyond many others. I can no longer fulton enemies or prisoners of war while indoors anymore. (People don’t just past through roofs!) In a different scene, I would tranquilize an enemy guard from afar, only to realize that they had died by the time I reached them. Apparently, they fell face first into a puddle of water and drowned. :( On the other hand, there also happens to be some small gripes I have with the game. For one thing, the aim and fire buttons are inexplicably swapped to the trigger button and vice-versa for the binoculars and codec buttons. This is particularly strange as Ground Zeroes on the PS3 still had the aim and fire button mapped on L1/R1 respectively. And there’s no settings option to change this otherwise. Another slight quirk is the absence of codec conversations between characters, a staple of the Metal Gear series. Instead, this has all been replaced by cassette tapes that Snake can playback while on a mission. Pray that Kaz or Ocelot doesn’t radio you (which happens often), or their audio will overlap with the cassette tape. A lot of props should go to the Fox engine’s ability to optimize the game from a technical standpoint. The Phantom Pain runs at a locked 60 fps on the PlayStation 4 console and even during parts of the game that had heavy action and explosions, the game held its own and hardly ever stuttered. Combined with Snake’s great animations, this locked framerate makes every action in MGSV feel perfect. Crawling on the ground, suppressing enemies in CQC. EVERYTHING looks and sounds great. This is everything the final installment of the Metal Gear saga should be and more. Despite Kojima parting ways with Konami Productions, I will still look forward with anticipation to whatever new projects he’ll helm next……(even if it’s not Zone of the Enders 3).

This is a must have game for any gamer especially if you are a metal gear fan. The arm is good but not great. Plastic and stand are a bit underwhelming but fun to have never the less.

I'll review only the collectible part from this Collector's Edition, as there are plenty game reviews around. First, this CE comes in a box that imitates leather, but it's just paper, and with a non-removable Diamond Dogs logo (because the best things always stay on Japan.) Inside the box, you'll find the 1/2 scale arm, packed in a way that it won't break even if the mail guy kicks the box. And on the other side of the box we have the Steelbook with a Blu-Ray full of extras, and a spoiler, so it's recommended that you only watch that AFTER you're done with the game. And the game disc itself, that comes in its own retail case. Inside the retail case of the game, aside from the obvious game disc, you'll find the map of the game areas, with hints. This is the same map as the Day One editions have. The PS4 CE, however, lacks the DLC from the Collector's Edition, so you can email either Best Buy or Konami, with proof of purchase, and they should email you your Collector's Edition DLC in a few days The Arm is fully articulated, meaning that you can move the hands and fingers pretty much like any healthy human being can move theirs. Which also means that kids and rebel teenagers might make the arm "flip the bird" wherever it's displayed. This arm, however, can hold a PlayStation 4 controller. Sure it's not the full scale arm that all western fans wanted, but it has almost everything its big brother has, except that the fingers, except the thumb, look too flimsy to me, seems like you can break them easily if you apply enough force. Overall, this is one of the few CEs in the market that is totally worth what you pay for it, which is why it sold out really quick. And even if it wasn't worth its price, collectors would still buy it, as it means both Metal Gear Solid Series and Hideo Kojima's farewell from Konami.

The game is great, but you knew that. For the collectors edition to be worth it, IMO, you need to be excited about that behind the scenes documentary. If you don't care about it, pass this up because the arm and DLC isn't worth the extra $40 or more to me. The arm will not hold anything over a few ounces without the fingers giving and dropping the item. It has a cheap plastic feel, seems it would break if a little pressure is put in the wrong place. It's currently holding one of my smaller shaving brushes (that cream handle is 32mm x 38.5mm) since it wasn't strong enough to hold a straight razor. The outer box is nice cardboard, but still cardboard and nothing fancy. You can get a bigger, better map in the collectors edition strategy guide if you want.