With Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain releasing on September 1 this year, it wasn’t very surprising to see the game make an appearance at E3. Konami showed off a lengthy hands-off demo, featuring some of the partners and comrades Big Boss will be able to take with him on missions.
Some older trailers of the game have featured Big Boss with a dog in the helicopter, known as Diamond Dog, or D-Dog. In the demo, it was revealed that D-Dog could also serve as a tool of distraction during missions. The dog can not only help to attack Snake’s enemies, you can also direct it to position itself elsewhere and bark to distract enemy soldiers. The cool thing about using D-Dog is that when he isn’t with Snake, he can scout out enemy soldiers by himself and mark them so that they appear on Snake’s radar, making him a very valuable companion to have during missions.
Enemy recruitment and the Fulton Recovery System were also very major parts of the demo. As fans of the series would be well aware by now, the Fulton Recovery System allows you to capture enemy soldiers and send them back to Mother Base, where they can start working for you and strengthening your army without a nation. In Metal Gear Solid V, Big Boss will be able to scan enemy soldiers and prisoners to identify the types of skills they possess. For instance, there was one recruit that was able to speak Russian. By taking him along on a mission, Snake was now able to understand what the Russian enemy soldiers were saying.
You’ll also be able to look up information and details about the various types of skills your recruits have via the iDroid device. This certainly adds a new layer of complexity to Metal Gear Solid V as the recruits you have in Mother Base will be able to help you in a big way during missions, depending on the kinds of skills they have.
During the demo, we also got a glimpse of the real-time dynamic weather the game has boasted so much about. Sandstorms, for example, will impair your enemy’s vision and make it much easier for Snake to sneak around undetected. Sandstorms are a double-edged sword though; they also lower the chances of a recruit making it back to Mother Base via the Fulton Recovery System due to bad weather conditions.
Another big thing introduced in Metal Gear Solid V was the D-Walker, the robot that Big Boss was spotted riding at the end of the red band trailer from two years ago. Similarly to D-Dog and the other Mother Base recruits, the D-Walker can also be summoned into missions with you. When you the summon the robot, you’ll be able to hop onto its back and start riding your way to your objective. To speed up, the D-Walker’s limbs transform into continuous tracks that allow it to move a lot faster. The D-Walker can fire bullets at enemies at high speed, making it a dangerous weapon for your foes to contend with.
While it was a little disappointing that we couldn’t get any hands-on time with the game even though it’s set to release in just 3 months, the game does look like it’s shaping up to be a massive stealth experience in a large open world.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will be made available for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on September 1.
