Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is the best playing entry in the series, and while it’s not going to wrap up the entire story in a neat little bow, it’s a technical marvel that works beautifully as a playground for espionage.

I can’t believe the amount of content squeezed into this beautiful created masterpiece.

Metal Gear Solid V is the best playing game in the series by a long shot. You choose where and how to do missions, and if sneaking isn't your thing that's fine too. The base-building is a good addition, and ties into the story and world superbly. The story is a slow burn, but goes out with a bang.

Kojima and his team saved the best for last, bringing the long running story of Big Boss to a close with a bang in gameplay, though a slightly stumbling run in the story. Despite that, the Phantom Pain a must play.

Bigg Boss's latest adventure is also one last goodbye to the Hideo Kojima and his impressive team. Last "big" MGS game bears the "big" title with honor. If you are a real gamer, you should play this unforgettable experience.

A generous stealth sandbox masterpiece that will delight both new and existing fans of the long-running series. [Dec 2015, p.50]

MGS5 is an enormous open-world adventure, a monster of a game that can entertain for months.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain makes good on its word and delivers a great experience that's more than worthy of the saga's heritage. However, it's not exactly perfect, as the story requires a lot of pre-established knowledge, not to mention cassette-listening to make sense.

Flawed in many, many ways, but none of those ways impact a glorious, emergent, open-world experience.

It might not be the best Metal Gear Solid game ever released, but it's certainly the bravest and most interesting. [Oct 2015, p.53]

There was no need for this lifeless open world; Phantom Pain would work much better as a series of “sandboxy” missions that include only the to-be-infiltrated complex and some space around it, like in Hitman: Blood Money. Still, the most important thing of all – stealth gameplay – is top-notch. [Issue#201, p.46]

Kojima's latest epic is equally magnificent and frustrating, exhilarating in its gameplay and confusing in its storytelling. Even so, it is a truly great game that every gamer needs to experience first-hand. One thing is for sure, we will be talking about The Phantom Pain for many years to come.

Metal Gear Solid V is amazing at times, and I enjoyed playing it, but there are so many embarrassing blunders and contradictions. Rich tactical gameplay vs an almost dead world. Fun HQ management and interesting characters vs an unfinished narrative and boring side quests. In some regards, this is a huge step back from previous Metal Gear games.