"Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain" Review

This article offers a critical analysis of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain from artistic, narrative, and game design perspectives. It examines the title’s reconfiguration of stealth mechanics within an open-world framework, as well as its audiovisual direction and its engagement with themes of war, identity, control, and authorship within the legacy of the Metal Gear series. Particular attention is devoted to the historical and cultural context of the 1980s, the construction of Big Boss as a fractured subject, and the role of characters such as Major Zero in articulating the end of an ideological and mechanical era. The study situates the game as a pivotal work in contemporary video game history, marking a turning point in the evolution of stealth design and in the maturation of narrative ambition within mainstream interactive media.