seanmackey

[seanmackey]

I am so proud of how my first ever interview for Game Rant turned out. I had a ton of fun talking with the Virtual Video Game Orchestra about their musical inspirations, how open they are to new members, and whether or not I can convince them to cover Pokemon music.

[seanmackey]

So I started writing features not too long ago for Game Rant as well, and this is the one I’m most proud of so far. I always thought Battlefront 2 deserved more love, so I was really happy to spread the word about it. Judging by how much traffic it pulled in I think may have actually turned some people around!

[seanmackey]

Here is a trailer I edited for Memory Lane, a streaming service with content designed for people living with dementia & their care partners. Memory Lane offers a unique non-pharmaceutical approach to dementia, inducing relaxation, stress reduction, and perceptual sensations through plot-free programing. 

I began editing 45-minute films for the organization's founder, Alban Maino, late last year and it has been a really wonderful experience being able to work with some incredible footage to create something that I know really makes a difference. Below is a link to Memory Lane's website as well as its YouTube channel, so you can get a better understanding of what Memory Lane has to offer and the content I have been producing. 

[seanmackey]

Something else I have been working on is I have been editing video for my partner’s YouTube channel, Clur Reads on YouTube. It’s been really fun taking her ideas and running with them, and I’m really proud of this time-lapse kind of video I put together for her. Enjoy!

[seanmackey]

I’ve been so busy I forgot to post an update here, but I am now a writer for GameRant.com! As you can see if you scroll down to the start of this blog, I have always wanted to write about video games, and now I finally have the chance! So here is a link that will update every time I write a new story:

[seanmackey]

I had the pleasure of editing some videos for E. Genevieve Williams and the online graphic design course she is teaching for the Parsons School of Art and Design. Here is a sample of my work and what her class has to offer. 

Check out more of E. Genevieve's work at studioegenevieve.com

[seanmackey]

A sequel to the critically acclaimed "Welp." (depending on who you ask), see what a morning looks like for Buddy's roommate Joe. Wonder who could be waiting for him outside in the hallway...

[seanmackey]

I am immensely proud to share that I have self-published my first book! Dreamers is a modest collection of short stories that is available now in both print and digital editions on Amazon!

http://amzn.to/2ESKmUj

[seanmackey]

Have you ever forgotten your keys? Well then maybe you’ll relate to the Greek tragedy of Buddy and Guy in a short film I wrote, shot, directed and edited. Enjoy!

[seanmackey]

PSVR - SuperHyperCube Impressions

So yesterday I went to my local Best Buy to try PSVR and I played SuperHyperCube. Even from the brief amount of time I spent I can tell that PSVR has a lot of potential, even if it is still a little rough around the edges.

At first I thought the setup felt very cumbersome. There’s just a button to hold so that you can adjust the headset to fit. And of course, for immersion you have to also wear giant headphones. None of it was heavy, but it was a hot day outside so it was fairly warm inside the Best Buy as well, so having nearly my whole head covered wasn’t great. And as I sit in my air condition-less apartment right now on a 90 degree day, I think the last thing I would want to do would be to strap all that equipment onto my head.

Speaking of which, the attendant would not let anyone put it on or take it off. I’m sure it had something to do with protecting the product, but it made it difficult to get a sense of what it would be like to gear up on one’s own.

At first I was not very impressed with the immersion. I was surprised how much of the black of the headset surrounding the display I could see. The attendant and I also had trouble adjusting it and calibrating it, which worries me again how I would do this without anyone around. I thought it felt more akin to peering into a View-Master toy. But once I was engaged in the game that all fell away.

SuperHyperCube is a neat little puzzle game where you have to look around a 3D shape in front of you to see if it will fit through the hole that is fast approaching you. At first it’s simple squares into square holes, but the difficulty and speed with which you have to rotate each new object to get it to fit increases rapidly. Towards the end of my playtime leading up to when I failed (the attendant told me she hadn’t seen anyone get that far) it became increasingly frantic as it required me to look around the object from all angles.

In terms of how responsive I felt the tech was, I was impressed. Once the game had gotten going, it felt completely natural, as if the puzzle was actually tangible. Using the DualShock 4 is second nature to me, but not seeing it in my hands honestly kept me from thinking about what I was doing with the controller. Thinking back, I feel like that was the most immersive quality about the experience, which is great, it means I almost forgot I was playing a game.

I see an incredible amount of potential in PSVR and VR in general. While it certainly seems cumbersome or awkward at first blush, the only way to really understand how immersive it feels is to actually get a chance to play it. I highly encourage that anyone who gets a chance does so, so that they can form their own impressions. Sony’s PSVR campaign will continue for a short while longer, and you can look for a nearby demo opportunity here.

[seanmackey]

Occasionally I take pictures of cool toys, if that interests you.

[seanmackey]

The Four Most Interesting Things at E3 2016

E3 has finally come to a close. And oh, what an E3 it has been. A lot was shown and a lot went down this year, so let’s talk about the four most interesting things at E3 2016. 4. Spider-Man PS4 To the surprise of everyone that followed the rumors, the PS4 exclusive Spider-Man did in fact turn out to be real, but instead of being done by Sony’s first-party studio Sucker Punch, it’s being done by Insomniac Games.

While it was only a sizzle reel of gameplay, Spider-Man PS4 looks like the AAA Spider-Man game that fans of the Webslinger have been wanting for years. The trailer was packed with gorgeous visuals, action and destruction of a kind that’s never been seen before in a Spider-Man game, and traversal mechanics that only the minds behind Ratchet and Clank and Sunset Overdrive could come up with.

While we didn’t get to see much of the game, we did get to hear a lot from their partners at Marvel. Listening to the people that Marvel brought to E3 talk about why they chose Insomniac and their plans going forward for console Marvel games should give hope to Marvel fans. No longer are they looking for cash-ins. Marvel is now looking only to the best creators they can get a hold of in the industry, the same approach they’ve taken with their movies. Listening to them wax on about how excited they are to be working with Insomniac and their new approach to games is refreshing and should have Marvel fans very excited.

As a side note, it seems the relationship between Insomniac and Sony is no longer strained. After being devoted to PlayStation for nearly twenty years, Insomniac broadened its horizons after sales for the Resistance franchise disappointed, especially after Sony bungled the marketing for the third installment. But after Sunset Overdrive didn’t fare much better as an Xbox One exclusive (likely do to a comparatively smaller Xbox One install base) and the disaster that was Fuse with EA, it seems Insomniac is going to stay more open going forward and continue playing the field. Insomniac is still working with other partners like with GameStop’s independent label for Song of the Deep, but between Ratchet and Clanks’ return to form and Spider-Man PS4, it appears like they’ve at least patched things up. 3. Xbox One S, Project Scorpio and the Xbox Play Anywhere initiative (Hence why the title of this list is “Things” not “Games.”)

The PlayStation 4 is still currently outselling the Xbox One 2:1. Only time will tell if Microsoft will ever catch up, but this week they certainly laid out their plans on how they intend to do so.

Microsoft’s cross-buy initiative with Windows 10 called Xbox Play Anywhere is intended to bolster the adoption of both platforms, as well as boost sales for the titles within it. The hope is that the player will adopt the other of the two platforms to have more places to play their games, and it also sweetens the pot if it sounds like you’re essentially buying two games for the price of one.

Coupled with that is the enabling of players on Xbox One to play with Windows 10 players in games like Halo Wars 2, Minecraft, Gears of War 4, and Forza Horizon 3. This could effectively multiply the community for a game to something that could rival or even exceed the size of a PS4 community for a game.

This messaging is also key for the two new consoles that Microsoft announced. People don’t want to hear that they’re being left behind, and this messaging is meant to assure them that they won’t be. Microsoft’s hope is that the Xbox One S will bring people in by undercutting the price of the PS4, and that Project Scorpio will bring people in looking for the most powerful hardware. And with an existing install base of roughly 18 million for the vanilla Xbox One and Windows 10 players, it puts Microsoft in front of a massive ecosystem with a unique way for several different kinds of players to all play the same games. This “something for everyone” approach might prove to be huge play for Microsoft, and it’ll be extremely interesting to see how and if Sony can form a response to it.

The only problem is the possibility that this expanse of options may just intimidate consumers and cause them to turn to the (for now) one box approach of the PS4. This is going to be a long play, but it begins when the Xbox One S begins to sell for $299 this August.

2. God of War

During many interviews at E3, creative director at Sony Santa Monica Cory Barlog said that what had worked for God of War on the PlayStation 2 and early in the PS3’s life doesn’t necessarily work anymore. That kind of honesty is indicative of the direction the new God of War is going. Before Naughty Dog’s rise to prominence with Uncharted and the Last of Us, Sony Santa Monica was Sony’s show horse. God of War I and II showed what was possible on the PS2. God of War III is certainly a showcase for the power of the PS3, but Naughty Dog showed what was really possible with not just Sony’s hardware, but the medium as a whole. In a post-Last of Us games industry, protagonist Kratos’ incessant fury and the series’ consequence-less gore just come off as juvenile.

The pseudo-reboot for God of War on PS4 feels informed by the leaps and bounds storytelling in games has made in the time since Kratos’ last true outing. Kratos displayed more depth and character in the ten minutes on Sony’s E3 stage than he did in seven previous titles in the God of War franchise. Kratos’ narrative from the past seven games now serves as his demonic past that he has to try to hide in hopes of building a new life and relationship with his new son. There is something special about not rebooting Kratos’ past. Knowing who he was and watching him trying to keep that version of himself inside (both figuratively and literally) is a thoughtful and mature way to engage with the series’ history while going forward in a new direction, as opposed to just saying that the monster that Kratos was no longer exists. 1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild The problem with building on a thirty-year history is that it becomes iterative. As a franchise grows, so too does the excitement for the next entry. Expectations begin to form, and the window for taking your time as a creator shrinks, and eventually innovation begins to give way to iteration. 

Zelda was by no means in a bad place, but it needed to be reevaluated. Like with God of War, what had worked or even been praise worthy in the past doesn’t stay that way in an industry with constantly moving goal posts. What Zelda needed was a break, and maybe so did the rest of Nintendo.

Gone are heart containers, motion controls, hand-holding stories and annoying companions. It’s just Link in an open world. Just like the original Legend of Zelda in 1986. Freedom looks to be the name of the game here, and for the first time in ten years, Zelda looks exciting again. 

The folks at Nintendo sat down and reevaluated what makes a Zelda game, and gave it an honest interpretation for the modern era. The last great reinterpretation of a Nintendo game was Metroid Prime. And before that, reinventing an IP seemed like Nintendo’s bread and butter. Games like Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Super Metroid and a Link to the Past were all bold reinterpretations of what the initial chapters in their respective franchises meant. But somewhere along the way, the trajectory mentioned earlier took hold at Nintendo.

But now Nintendo is in a place where more of the same is failing them. Iterative sequels for games like Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Mario Kart 8 did nothing to save the sinking ship that was the Wii U. Nintendo has now been hemorrhaging money for a few years. The only way Nintendo can rise again to prominence is to get people excited about their games again. And what they’re doing with Breath of the Wild is clearly the way. Breath of the Wild absolutely dominated this year’s E3, and even made the top of this list. 

Whether Breath of the Wild will breathe any life back into the Wii U or will save the NX from following in its predecessor’s footsteps remains to be seen. But it has a chance. People are excited again, and that excitement can be gained again for other Nintendo IP if they try to reinvent them as well. Imagine Nintendo taking another spin on Metroid. Or Pokémon. Nintendo is in a place of fight or flight right now, and by reinventing Zelda they’re choosing to fight. So, let’s hope they keep fighting.

Clearly it was worth the wait to see Zelda.

[seanmackey]

The Five Games I’m Most Excited to See at E3 2016

In less than 24 hours, E3 will be underway. There will no doubt be a litany of great surprise reveals for games that we didn’t know existed, but there’s still a long list of confirmed games that are equally as exciting. Based on games confirmed to be shown this year and some educated guesses, here are the five games I am most looking forward to seeing this year at E3 2016.

5. Detroit: Become Human – PS4 Not confirmed to be at Sony’s E3 conference but definitely a game that exists: Detroit was a pleasant surprise when it was announced in October at Paris Games Week. Quantic Dream excels at presenting engaging, cinema quality, narratives in their games, and Detroit looks to be no different. Even the gorgeous in-engine trailer for the game makes me feel something. The story of Kara was teased a few years back, and that short film is still incredibly powerful, not just from a technical standpoint, but even more so from an emotional one. The only problem is, outside of a trailer, I can’t see this game being shown at E3. Unless there is a lot of action to be had (which there could be), a dialogue driven emotional narrative won’t demo well on a live stage in front of a crowd of rowdy thirty-somethings. But I think this game is certainly coming out in the fall, so Sony has to show it off sometime, and this is still the best place to do so. 4. “Beyond Cars” (Criterion Games’ Untitled Project) – Platforms Unspecified Criterion, otherwise known as the Burnout developer, teased this game two years ago at E3. Since then we’ve heard not even a peep from them. We know they went through some restructuring and downsizing after shifting people over to form Ghost Games to carry the torch for Need for Speed, so they’re definitely taking it slow with this game, but now would be a good time to show what they’ve come up with thus far. Other than involving various forms of vehicular mayhem, we have no idea what this game is about. But with Need for Speed taking a pit stop for this year, if EA wants a racing game in their fall line-up, this would be a good candidate. If you don’t know why you should be excited by the next game from Criterion, go pickup Burnout Paradise. ‘Nuff said. 3. Sucker Punch’s Next Game – PS4 Two years is about the average for what it takes for a mid to large game developer to make a new game. If it’s a sequel it could be less, and if it’s a new IP it could be more. New IP or sequel, I think we see Sucker Punch’s next game at E3. inFamous Second Son came out in early 2014, so if their game is shown at E3 and comes out in the fall, (which I think is very likely) that would be a little over two years’ dev time, which would be feasible for either another inFamous game or a new IP and from one of Sony’s largest and most talented studios. I adore the inFamous franchise, so I wouldn’t mind another entry, but I would hope we get to see a new protagonist and setting. I loved Delsin in Second Son, but he didn’t click with everyone, and regardless Second Son gave a solid bookend to his story. If inFamous were to continue, I like the idea of each game being a vignette into a new person getting and subsequently dealing with super powers. If it’s a new game? Great! But I have no idea what it would be. They clearly have a knack for traversal mechanics and open world exploration, so undoubtedly a new IP from SP would have to feature one or both of those things. Rumors have swirled over the past month or so that Sony hooked them up to produce a Spider-Man game, and Sucker Punch making a Spider-Man game is the best idea I’ve heard for a game in years. The original inFamous already feels like a spiritual successor to Spider-Man 2, and no other studio in the entire industry has a better pedigree to make a Spider-Man game than Sucker Punch. Unfortunately, I think it sounds too good to be true. Making one of your best studios make a license game could be stifling to a creative studio like SP if they’re not on board. I can only pray that it’s true and that they are. 2. The Legend of Zelda – Wii U, NX Oh Nintendo, sometimes you make loving you so hard. I understand that you needed to unveil the next Zelda game at the Game Awards in 2014 so that the situation on the Wii U didn’t look so dire in terms of upcoming games. I also understand that you probably expected to have the game hit last year. But, being the perfectionists that you are, you just couldn’t make it happen. I understand, I’m a perfectionist too. But oh how agonizing the wait has been. I have so many questions that I’ve wanted to be answered. Is Link a girl this time? Is the character in the promotional material thus far even Link? What are the dungeons like? The bosses? What crazy new items do you have in store for us? What does (I’m assuming) Koji Kondo’s music sound like? Is it open-world? How are the Wii U and NX versions going to differ? Is Tingle in the game? But I know you, Nintendo. You’re gonna make it worth the wait. You’re going to answer most if not all of those questions on Tuesday. I can’t wait to see the first true HD Zelda title; something I’ve wanted to see since finishing Twilight Princess in 2006. Zelda is consistently one of the best gaming experiences to be had whenever you manage to get one out the door. I’m betting this will be no exception. Just don’t delay it again. 1. Mass Effect Andromeda – PS4, PC, Xbox One I don’t think I’ve been this excited for an E3 in a couple years. And I think Mass Effect Andromeda is the biggest reason why. Mass Effect 3’s final piece of DLC came out March 6th 2013 (six days before my birthday!), and I’ve been waiting to get back into the world of Mass Effect ever since. The Mass Effect universe is a world that I truly got lost in, more than in any other game I’ve ever played. Every single piece of lore and every quest was something I was genuinely interested in because of BioWare’s phenomenal writers. I became genuinely attached to characters like Garrus, because of how deep the level of choices I was given as a player. Garrus didn’t have to become my best friend in the game, in fact I could have gotten him killed. I potentially could have never even met him if I played a certain way. I felt like I was interacting with these characters and this world on my terms, and that made me feel that much more invested in it. After putting down the games, I actually experienced separation anxiety, like when you move away from a close friend. That’s how much the original Mass Effect trilogy meant to me. But can they capture that magic again? This game takes place in a new galaxy (hence the title), and is removed by time as well. So I probably won’t get to see Garrus. And we won’t be playing as Commander Shepard again either, which was a character I felt I truly inhabited. Obviously we want games to be new and exciting, but we also love the familiar. Is the new stuff going to be as interesting? It makes me nervous, but in a good way. I need to see Mass Effect Andromeda now, so I can start to get an idea on where I’m going, who I get to meet, and the adventures I get to go on. So bring it home BioWare.

[seanmackey]

Star Wars Battlefront (PS4) Review

Most Impressive.

Star Wars Battlefront is a game that needs little introduction at this point. Since the release of Battlefront II by the now defunct Pandemic in 2005, fans were eager for another Star Wars shooter. Disappointingly, after changing developers and enduring a troubled development, Free Radical's Battlefront III was cancelled several years later. 

Now, many more years later, after the dissolving of Lucas Art's games division, the rights to Star Wars games rests with EA. For their inaugural Star Wars game, EA and developer DICE have chosen the direction of a reboot of sorts for the Battlefront franchise. However, a full decade has passed since the release of Battlefront II, and much has changed in the gaming landscape in the interim. Thankfully, DICE has proven that there is no other studio as fit for taking up the Battlefront mantle with modern gaming sensibilities. 

As was likely a combination of personal choice and Disney mandate to match the heavily nostalgic tone of the upcoming film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Battlefront leans exclusively on the style and aesthetic of the Original Trilogy of films. With that goal in mind, DICE has crafted the single most authentic Star Wars experience that can be had outside of watching the original films.

The power of DICE's own Frostbite engine is used in full effect to render some of the most photo realistic and stunningly beautiful environments ever seen in a video game. The Redwood forests of Endor and frozen tundra of Hoth are so screen accurate–down to the hallways of Echo Base and the trenches outside–that it would be easy for someone passing by to mistake it for the actual films themselves. Every single sound effect has been either remastered or rerecorded from their original sources. DICE's award winning mixing and sound design make you truly feel like you are entrenched in these iconic Star Wars battles, and make playing the game an absolute treat with a cranked surround sound system. The authenticity of Battlefront is then brought home by composer Gordy Haab. Haab's score is a fast, frenetic, and percussive rush of familiar John Williams themes mixed with brand new work that genuinely sounds like the lost tracks of A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. The new sound effects–like the thermal imploder–and Haab's new music are so true to Star Wars that most players will just assume that they've always been a part of the franchise. DICE is not simply reusing the props, sounds and score of Star Wars; they are building on them with a labor of love. 

While incredible surges of nostalgia may make for an entertaining few hours, many were concerned about the longevity of a multiplayer only title with 15 maps (12 before free DLC additions were made in the weeks since its initial release). To test its longevity I opted to wait to review the title until after I had played it for two months

The number of maps is certainly not a problem for Battlefront. The maps range from massive and sweeping forests and deserts for its Walker Assault mode to tight and constrained halls and canyons for modes like Cargo and Heroes V. Villains. The map design is unlike that of any other shooter I've ever played. Likely do in large part to the aesthetic and iconic environments of Star Wars, Battlefront's maps often provide organic cover. Tree lines naturally break lines of sight and snow banks replace the chest high walls and crates that players are so accustomed to hiding behind in every other shooter. There's nothing about Endor that makes it feel like a multiplayer map, it feels like a real place because it shies away from traditional game design conventions like lanes and choke points. Anywhere can be a choke point in Battlefront. Everything in the game flows naturally, and ensures that every match plays out dynamically from one another.

There are plenty of modes to accompany these brilliantly designed maps, though some are stronger than others. Supremacy is a rather uninspired tug-of-war mode that reduces the well-designed maps to two kill points at any one time, but it still proves hectic and entertaining. Fighter Squadron is simply death match for the ships of Star Wars, and it only serves to point out the lack of an objective based ship to ship mode, which is the only glaring omission one would expect from a multiplayer Star Wars game.

The real star of the game is Walker Assault. Walker Assault shows you everything that Star Wars Battlefront has to offer, all in one impressive mode. The Rebels are charged with activating and defending two control points that move across the map in order to ultimately damage and destroy the AT-AT(s) before it reaches the Rebel base. Conversely the Imperials must play defense for the control points and AT-AT(s), and thus are granted more vehicles and weapons. One of the best things about this mode is its asymmetrical nature. While on paper the Empire has more vehicles and firepower, somehow the mode is surprisingly well balanced. The 40-player scale and brilliantly designed maps ensure that anything can happen anywhere on these maps. Pure chaos is the name of the game in Walker Assault, and nearly every moment of a match is full of exciting things that could only happen in a Star Wars game like this. One moment you can be chasing down an A-Wing in the sky, the next you can be teaming up with Darth Vader to hunt down Princess Leia. These emergent Star Wars-moments are so plentiful and powerful that I found myself playing more to chase these moments than to necessarily win the match or level up

That is not to say that other modes like Cargo and Droid Run are less fun because of their smaller scale. The smaller modes provide a necessary and refreshing change of pace from the 40-player chaos of Walker Assault and Supremacy, which gives the game the variety it needs. Smaller modes often turn into tense games of cat and mouse and require more strategic uses of your abilities, known as Star Cards, and power ups.

Heroes V. Villains is another, smaller mode, that fulfills the childhood fantasy of pitting three of your favorite Star Wars heroes against three of its villains. The support roles of Princess Leia and Emperor Palpatine encourage teamwork with the saber wielders of Luke and Vader, while Boba Fett and Han Solo provide the chaotic wild card element. Teamwork is what makes this mode shine, like when you see Luke being overpowered by Vader and the Emperor, or when Leia saves Han from Boba Fett. But what sours this mode is the curious inclusion of additional players playing as regular soldiers. You alternate each round from playing as a Hero character to a generic soldier. Playing as a normal stormtrooper or rebel in the thunder-dome that is Heroes V. Villains is an exercise in either frustration or boredom as you get continuously mowed down by lightsabers and high powered blasters. Conversely, it defeats the entire purpose of the mode if Luke is killed by a lucky shot from a stormtrooper when he is supposed to be fighting Darth Vader. You can play as a regular soldier in every other mode of the game, and their inclusion here is equal parts frustrating and confusing. 

Star Wars Battlefront has a very unique feel gameplay wise. Blaster bolts fire much slower than traditional weapons, making it necessary for players to lead their shots when firing at range. While you can only carry one at a time from the list of 11, this ensures that everyone sticks with a specific weapon, just like Han and his DL-44, or Chewie and his Bowcaster. The blasters all feel different, as much as Star Wars blasters can, but the real load out variety comes in the form of the Star Cards. Star Cards can function as anything from secondary weapons like the Cycler Rifle, to damage buffs like the Explosive Shot. A personal favorite is the Jump Pack, which helps you cover massive amounts of ground on the larger maps, and also provides a unique sense of verticality reminiscent of the multiplayer of the Uncharted series.

The unlocks, sadly, are where Star Wars Battlefront’s largest problem lies. There are 24 Star Cards to unlock, and each can be upgraded once, but the last one is unlocked at level 32. The final of the eleven blasters is unlocked at level 25, and blasters cannot be upgraded. While these numbers are modest, there is still plenty to mix and match and have fun with. The problem is that you unlock this content far to quickly and frequently, which leaves levels 33 through 50 with nothing but cosmetic unlocks that are incredibly weak. The bulk of the cosmetic changes are just different hairstyles, and there are only two unique stormtrooper armors to unlock. This issue could have been easily resolved not even by adding more content necessarily, but at least by spacing it out better.

After nearly 50 hours of playtime, I still want to play Star Wars Battlefront. While I might be out of useful things to unlock like blasters and Star Cards, that was never why I was playing in the first place. I was chasing those Star Wars-moments. Battlefront is a mandatory game for any Star Wars fan looking to fight in the trenches of Hoth or on the deserts of Tatooine. Few licensed games have ever captured the essence and feel of their property as well as Star Wars Battlefront. The gameplay is intentionally simple and smooth, so as to let players live out the Star Wars fantasy with as few distractions as possible. I never cared if I lost a match, because the bulk of them felt like incredibly close calls, just like the events of the movies. I was so drawn into playing in the Star Wars world–thanks to the sounds, sights, and score–that I would forget I was playing a video game. I was just playing Star Wars.

[seanmackey]

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4) Review

From the very moment the game begins, Phantom Pain is an exercise in presentational excellence. Vast, beautiful vistas with incredible draw-distances, muscle deformation, and lifelike animation all bring this game to life at an impressively smooth sixty frames-per-second. Kojima Production’s love of cinema is apparent in every shot of every cutscene, using cinematography in ways that you would expect from the likes of Breaking Bad and its close-ups and Alfonso Cuarón’s continuous shots. Every single thing you see in Phantom Pain feels like it was handled with the utmost care and love.

Metal Gear has always paid a great deal of homage to the American action and spy movies of old, and that is even more so the case in this entry. Phantom Pain has all the ham-fisted dialogue and paper thin characters you would expect from movies like Rambo, Terminator and Top Gun. And while thematically strong, I would be hard pressed to tell you what the actual plot is. At its core, the Metal Gear Solid V’s story is a tale of revenge. Beyond that would be spoilers, but it would also be something that I honestly could not explain any further.

The length of these nonsensical and, at times groan-inducing cutscenes, are much less egregious in frequency and length than in Metal Gear’s past entries, but I often found myself either checking my phone in boredom or laughing at poor attempts at dialogue and character development. The game’s characters and narrative are littered with unique and fascinating premises, yet they are handled so poorly. The easiest example is the game’s mute super-assassin in the game, Quiet. Her introduction and skillset in the game are awesome, but her character is immediately tarnished with outrageous over-sexualization and objectification that borderlined on making me uncomfortable.

The story is not Metal Gear Solid V’s selling point, however. What makes this game a must play is its much-touted “open-world stealth.” As soon as you are dumped into the literal sandbox that is Afghanistan in 1984, Phantom Pain is pure fun. You can capture guard outposts, complete side-ops, build up your home base, or even play the story missions. The choice is yours. Snake’s arsenal is massive this time around. There are dozens upon dozens of unique guns and tranquilizers to choose from, and that is before you even unlock the ability to fully customize your weapons down to the barrel and stock. You now have buddies to assist you on your missions, like a horse for transport, an attack dog, and the sniper Quiet. And of course, no Metal Gear game would be complete without its trademark cardboard box. There is a seemingly endless combination of tactics and weapons that you can use to tackle any situation in the Phantom Pain. Stealth games traditionally feature levels which you can tackle one of several ways, but none have given you the freedom of this game

While Metal Gear’s story has always been heavily influenced by American film, the games open world and choice driven gameplay feels decidedly more western than nearly any Japanese game I’ve played in recent memory. This blend of Western and Eastern game design philosophy lends even further to how unique of an experience Phantom Pain is.

What’s better is that Phantom Pain does not have to be a stealth game. You can choose to start a mission guns blazing, or unload on your enemy if ever you are spotted. I often found myself almost relieved to have my cover blown, just so I had an excuse to try out my new assault rifle, or call in air support. The choice is yours, and the game by and large respects and rewards both play styles.

The reason I’ve included that caveat is because there are several instances in which the Phantom Pain throws its player freedom out the window. Missions that are mandatorily stealth are to be expected in the Metal Gear franchise, but there are several missions that require you to be much louder and more aggressive than someone who wants to play the game stealthily and non-lethal would like. I found several missions in the game where, try as I might, there was really only one strategy to complete the level. These sudden and seemingly arbitrary walls I would hit that prevented me from tackling the level the way I wanted left me incredibly frustrated until I figured out the way the game wanted me to color inside the lines.

It is when I came to these segments that I found another issue with the game. The reason I struggled on some of these missions was because of the game’s lack of clear directions. While it is a pleasant change of pace from most games that tend to hold your hand, when Phantom Pain has a mission that must be done a certain way, it does a very poor job of telling you what that particular way is, let alone helping you figure it out on your own. During this trial and error is where you will also encounter some frustratingly placed checkpoints. Most of the time the checkpoints are generously placed and are close to where you died. Other times I’ve had to inexplicably restart missions from the very beginning. It is the bizarre inconsistencies of the checkpoints coupled with maddeningly obtuse mission directives that soured entire segments of the game for me. Given the length of the game and how many times I had to backtrack through previously completed areas, or wait for transport or supplies, I often got the feeling that Kojima Productions did not value my time as a player.

Much like the decade in which the story takes place and the movies that inspire it, Phantom Pain is a game of excess. Everything about the game is quirky and over the top. I found myself galloping on my horse to an objective to rescue a prisoner of war, until I heard the hook to “She Blinded Me With Science” by Thomas Dolby in the distance. I immediately changed course. I stealthily took out all of the guards save for one, and nabbed the cassette tape for myself. By the time the final guard realized I had stopped the music, the tranquilizer shot I had lined up was already out of my pistol. I now use that song as theme music that plays every time my chopper picks me up for extraction.

It’s this ridiculous moment-to-moment emergent gameplay that is my favorite thing about the game. One moment I could be tensely slinking my way through a heavily guarded compound, the next I could be accidentally tackling my horse while I run from a bear that I attempted to tranquilize. When I think about my time with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, I tend to mostly remember how fun the game can be, and much less the times where I felt frustrated or cheated. The good of the gameplay in the Phantom Pain far outweighs the bad of its story and the occasional poorly directed mission.