To say that this game is "unfinished" is a misnomer. It's less that the game is unfinished, and more that the game had a lot of cut story content and a rough development cycle. Which pretty much every finished game has. There is no such thing as a game development cycle that goes perfectly smoothly. Kojima himself has said that the game is finished. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean the story ends any less abruptly. The game is divided into two chapters, and each one feels like it ends with an obvious fakeout ending. At the end of Chapter 1, you know the game isn't actually over. At the end of Chapter 2, you can't believe the game is actually over.

The gameplay is first-in-class for the MGS series, going back to the stealth sandbox nature of 3, except even more expanded, with a massive open world for you to experiment with to your heart's content. However, I can't really give it extra points for that, because the stealth isn't at all mandatory. The game has the best stealth gameplay of the entire series, but suiting up in several metric tons of kevlar and riding around in a miniaturized Metal Gear with a minigun that never needs to reload isn't just a viable strategy, it is the best and most straightforward strategy. And when this franchise's iconic tagline has always been "TACTICAL ESPIONAGE ACTION" then I feel like disproportionately rewarding you for going monkey brain mode and just whipping out a gat is worth docking points for.

I can't recommend this game, but only just barely. If you're a fan of the MGS series, this is an easy purchase. But also the game is seven years old now, so if you ARE a fan of the MGS series, you likely already own it.

To say that this game is "unfinished" is a misnomer. It's less that the game is unfinished, and more that the game had a lot of cut story content and a rough development cycle. Which pretty much every finished game has. There is no such thing as a game development cycle that goes perfectly smoothly. Kojima himself has said that the game is finished. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean the story ends any less abruptly. The game is divided into two chapters, and each one feels like it ends with an obvious fakeout ending. At the end of Chapter 1, you know the game isn't actually over. At the end of Chapter 2, you can't believe the game is actually over. The gameplay is first-in-class for the MGS series, going back to the stealth sandbox nature of 3, except even more expanded, with a massive open world for you to experiment with to your heart's content. However, I can't really give it extra points for that, because the stealth isn't at all mandatory. The game has the best stealth gameplay of the entire series, but suiting up in several metric tons of kevlar and riding around in a miniaturized Metal Gear with a minigun that never needs to reload isn't just a viable strategy, it is the best and most straightforward strategy. And when this franchise's iconic tagline has always been "TACTICAL ESPIONAGE ACTION" then I feel like disproportionately rewarding you for going monkey brain mode and just whipping out a gat is worth docking points for. I can't recommend this game, but only just barely. If you're a fan of the MGS series, this is an easy purchase. But also the game is seven years old now, so if you ARE a fan of the MGS series, you likely already own it.