20 hours in...MGS5 really is 2014's Destiny. The similarities are staggering.
+AMAZING play mechanics, feels great to play when the action starts
+Looks really nice, although clearly cross-gen
-Open World is really a few walled off linear hot spots used for main missions and filler "free roam" missions, with resources to collect. Areas you think you can traverse, ya can't. Its a hassle getting from one side to the other. No NPCs, villages, anything particularly interesting or notable.
-You spend a lot of time sitting in loading screens after you extract from every mission. Your ship takes you back to the hub base, until you realize its horrifically boring with maybe 2 activities and you can't interact with anybody, so you go back to the loading screen ship.
-There's not a whole lot of narrative momentum or structure, you can play for hours and not really have much of an emotional investment in any of the world or its characters. Main character feels like an avatar and not a person. You do "main" missions thinking they'll advance the plot, and not only are they very similar to the filler missions, but it feels like nothing you did mattered anyway. Just another chore taking care of.
-There's a big grinding metagame they attached to it, so you're always on the lookout to collect a hundred different things to build yourself up and micromanage various components of your loadout. IDK, they felt this was a needed evolution over the old games where you just played it and found cool shit in the world. Now they make you grind for it.
Can't wait for the expansion next year that makes MGS5 a great game