Hideo Kojima is a genius; a statement purely based on my experience and liking for the guy. I was in 6^th grade; I still remember the first time I started playing Metal Gear Solid 2. Since then, I have been hooked to Kojima production. Whatever they had to regurgitate, I’d scoop it off the gaming industry.

Today as I think of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, I can highlight my appreciation as:

• You gotta love the story line. Hardly, there are any games with a rich story, despite of outdated graphics, i.e. if we go back to the roots of gaming industry.
• Metal Gear Solid is a rare find if looked at from the perspective of those games that are still being updated via upcoming sequels.
• It is not just a game; it is art at its best! Combine all the elements and you’ll find out.

First Impressions Image from Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes

Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes + Phantom Pain = Pure Awesomeness!

It hasn’t been very long MGS Ground Zeroes trailer surfaced on the internet. The gaming world was enticed to see more footage. It was “breaking news” material back then. Frankly, I thought, “Okay this is it, Kojima is going to be working full time on promoting this title.” Boy, I was so wrong…

Damn – It’s So Dark in Here – Snake from Phantom Pain

Phantom Pain happened – the sequel to Metal Gear Solid – Ground Zeroes. Set against the backdrop of Mother Base destruction, the highly anticipated title boasts of something to be looked forward to. The only bad news, at least for now, is that David Hayter is not going to be the part of Phantom Pain.

Recently, David Hayter; the voiceover actor for Snake, tweeted, “Well look, at least I had a good run.” Indeed he did have a good run. People were so used to his voice. For gamers who have been playing MGS series, it will be a little unnerving to tolerate someone else’s voiceover skills. Snake will probably emit that artificial feeling…

During his press conference, Hideo Kojima reflected briefly upon Metal Gear Solid Phantom Pain’s story. He said, “Ground Zeroes is ( just) a prologue of MSGV. 9 years after that event will be ‘The Phantom Pain.” Later on, the actual game trailer, alongside a little bit of footage was showcased to give an idea about the upcoming title.

Metal Gear Solid: Phantom Pain Storyline is Impossible without Ground Zeroes:

Both gamers are interconnected. Phantom Pain depends on Ground Zeroes as long as you need to figure out the entire plot. Otherwise, you can simply buy one copy of either one of the titles and then head off to spending a couple of days to end it. It will be like hitting your head against the wall.

Besides hurting your head, it will hurt Hideo’s feelings too…

During the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Kojima took over the podium with his head bandaged. People thought he was crazy or got beat up by muggers on his way, but Kojima did this to resemble Jaokim Mogren; a fictional CEO of Moby Dick Studio.

Later on, the conference revealed a 6 minute trailer. It was a mixture of footages and some extra animation sequences taken from Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain. The logo later on suggested ‘Phantom Pain’ as the subtitle of the trailer.

Kojima demoed the game on a PC; a very powerful PC if I must add here. The graphics looked amazing. However, Kojima or his associates did not say anything about other platforms. I know for a fact that Phantom Pain will be released on PS3. Xbox 360 is a second preference but I am not sure right now about the 360 release.

“Call me Ishmael” and Let’s Get Out of Here:

Snake wakes up after a 9 year coma. Whether it’s Big Boss himself or Snake, we do see a guy. Kojima repeatedly calls him Snake so I will stick with it. Anyhow, Snake wakes up in a hospital. The first thing he sees is a bandaged man, whose voice resembles that of Kiefer Sutherland.

I think I’m Gonna Time Out for a while – Phantom Pain Screenshot

“Call me Ishmael”, is the first thing the bandaged guy says to Snake. Both of them head towards the elevator, with Snake crawling and walking on his knees. He has little or no control over motor functions but he’s trying.

They are at the elevators in a couple of minutes. Snake and Uncle Ishmael see an image of a levitating girl. The bitch disappears, leaving behind a burning man who attacks them on sight. The trailer also showed flashes of what exactly happened to Snake and how he ended up at the hospital in the first place.

Is this Snake Leaning Over Someone?

It looks like he was rescuing Ishmael in a firefight and something bad happened. During flashback sequences, doctors were on their toes to bring Snake back to life. They even tried the defibrillator after his heart stopped; something that caused the coma later on.

Morsels of Awesomeness in ‘The Phantom Pain’:

Here’s a quick rundown of the latest/ unseen elements in Metal Gear Solid – Phantom Pain:

Revolver Ocelot? A guy in long stringy hair is aiding Snake during his rescue. He’s riding a horse. There are spurs on this guy’s boots. Could this be the legendary Revolver Ocelot? My hunch says, “Yes, YES and YEEEESSSSSSS”. What do you think? Snake is riding shotgun with him for now until something new comes up.

This Could be Paz from Peacewalker Series – Eurogamer Images

Paz from Peace Walker? We also see a gas mask girl in the footage. Snake comes out of an overturned ambulance. Apparently, Ishmael is also with him during this escape footage. We see this girl, leaving behind a strong possibility that she could be Paz from the Metal Gear Solid – Peace Walker series. I doubt that she’ll have her own part in the game.

Motorcycles and Cigars: Nothing like sticking a big Cuban in your mouth, eh? Snake, at the end of the footage, is saying “Diamond Dogs, our new home.” He’s sucking on a cigar and he’s on a badass motorcycle.

A flash of text suggests, “V has to come”. Maybe the Kojima team is referring to the final installment/ 5^th part of the Metal Gear Solid series.

Photorealistic Graphics: Without mentioning anything about graphics, I would be doing injustice to the Phantom Pain sequel. The graphics are amazing without a doubt. Hideo hinted that Kojima Studios is using photorealistic assets to bring the game to life.

Other than photorealistic effects, Kojima team has its own studio set up; entirely dedicated to Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain. Both these projects are utilizing full PlayStation 3 power, new lightning effects, latest texture implementation and etc. Kojima said, “The more that technology evolves, the more we have to understand our physical surroundings.”

Hideo Kojima continued, “To make a quality product, the artist’s eye is essential. Simply recreating reality would result in traced images. This is what we mean by photorealism through the eyes of a fox!”

Editor Note: I could not find a high res wallpaper for Metal Gear Solid – Phantom Pain. Otherwise, i’d have used it for our main image. For now, you gotta make do with Ground Zeroes’ image