It has been over one year since the release of Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes and fans including myself are anxious for the release of MGS5: The Phantom Pain. This game has been in development for about 4 years now and the release is coming sometime this year for the PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC. For this entry, I will explain what we know about the story and characters so far based on trailers and interviews from the Metal Gear creator himself, Hideo Kojima.
SETTING.
The theme for this game is “Race and Revenge” as with the story touching upon the misunderstanding, prejudice, hatred, and conflict caused by the difference of language, race, custom, culture, and preference.
Kojima set out to depict the damage present in all returning soldiers in The Phantom Pain. Physical injuries such as the loss of limbs, and emotional wounds created through the loss of comrades and loved ones will all be part of this theme of pain. Kojima said that having his characters lose limbs is one way to depict the pain they carry.
This game follows up from the ending of Ground Zeroes where MSF (Militaires Sans Frontières. Big Boss’ private military company) has been under attack by XOF due to an Trojan Horse Operation carried out by SkullFace. Once Big Boss saved Kaz Miller and escaped from their base which was under destruction, Paz (who was rescued hours before) revealed that there was a second bomb inside of her. She then jumped out of the chopper but unfortunately, she jumped out too late before the bomb exploded, sending it careening into a pursuing XOF chopper. Since after that scene faded to black, we are not sure what happens next but we do know that in the hospital near by when Big Boss, Kaz and a third patient are treated in a nearby hospital and Big Boss fell into a coma.
9 years later (keep in mind that this game takes place in 1984. This is the sequel to Ground Zeroes and that took place in 1975 and the prequel to the very first Metal Gear which took place in 1995), Big Boss Awakens from his coma and the doctor informed him about how long he has been there. Also, Big Boss’ left arm is missing and replaced with a prosthetic hook and he has a shrapnel debris on the right side of his head. Later that night, The hospital is attacked by XOF where they also killed many patients. A patient going by the name of Ishmael aids Big Boss with his escape since he is way too weak and his muscles atrophied. During the escape, we see a young Psycho Mantis, a ghostly flaming figure of Volgin from MGS3, a flaming whale and more. After some time, Ocelot appears and rescued Big Boss as they escaped the area.
A number of days later with recovery included, it s time for Big Boss to go on his first mission and it is at Afghanistan. Kaz Millier has been held hostage for 10 days Prior to Big Boss awakening up from his coma. his mission is to rescue him within 3 days and leave the area. While all of this is going on, a new unit formed between a Big Boss, Kaz and Ocelot and it is named Dianond Dogs. It’s purpose is to take back revenge to Cipher/The Patriots to what happened 9 years ago and for soldiers to have a home without any control of Cipher or any government. This is all we know about the story for now so I am glad that Hideo Kojima is not spoiling too much.
LOCATIONS
Since this will be a first for the Metal Gear series to be an open world stealth action game, the maps in the game will be much larger than any other Metal Gear game to date. Troy Baker who is doing the voice acting for Ocelot, recently stated in an interview that the game’s very larger scale and map size is much bigger than the highly popular open world RPG game Skyrim. The comfirmed locations where the story and missions will take place at will be in Cyprus, Afghanistan and Africa.
In the Metal Gear series, Hideo Kojima has always used real life events in his fictional universe. For example, the hospital escape sequence and attack is a reference to the Princess Mary hospital attack/suicide bombing that happened in Cyprus in 1983. Between 1979-1989, the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan took place and in this game, most of the areas on the Afghanistan location are under Soviet control. The location of Africa, we know a few things that happened in that time period such as the Mozambique Civil War. There are also child soldiers in this game being shown that they are participating in the war.
And finally, Outer Heaven, Big Boss’ military nation in which we first found out in the very first Metal Gear, is located in South Africa so this game may possibly introduce us to the creation of Outer Heaven.
CHARACTERS
Big Boss/Venom Snake (Voiced by Kiefer Sutherland)
Once a legend and an enemy to others, Big Boss is back and is ready too take back revenge against Cipher for what they did to him 9 years ago. He is no longer the same person he once was anymore as he is deprived with nothing but hate and pain. He leads the new unit Diamond Dogs as his quest for revenge begins. Nobody is sure about how he lost his left arm and how that debris got on his head but we will sure find out once we play the game for ourselves. He will stop at nothing whether if his actions are for good or for bad. Pretty much, he is turning into the main antagonist against America in the first Metal Gear.
OCELOT (Voiced by Troy Baker)
A triple spy, agent for Cipher/The Patriots and someone who idolized Big Boss since the 1960’s, Ocelot returns in this game. Ocelot is also on Big Boss’ side for the quest for revenge but we don’t know why. We however, do know that in the beginning of the Soviet Invasion, It was during this time that he became feared amongst the mujahideen as a sadist, for which they named him “Shalashaska.” At some point, he also ended up working in the Soviet Union’s concentration camps as a special torture advisor. Ocelot also joined the Diamond Dogs unit as he became the interrogation specialist and the weapons trainer for the soldiers.
KAZ MILLER (Voiced by Robin Atkin Downes)
Kaz is more hell bent on revenge more than both Big Boss and Ocelot. I would be too if I’ve lost my unit, been captured by the Soviets, tortured and lose my arm and leg. He is also the sub-commander for Diamond Dogs but unlike when he was the sub-commander for MSF, he shows no mercy and does not hold back on his anger. The Developers of the game stated that Kaz this time around will be unpredictable so I am looking forward to seeing how darker they will take the character’s direction.
QUIET ( Voiced and motion capture by Stefanie Joosten)
There is only a few things we know about this mute sniper.
- She cannot talk but can make sounds.
- She has special abilities.
- Ocelot tortured her for reasons unknown as of right now.
- As stated by the developers, there is a reason she does not have on a lot of clothes but we will have to find out once the game releases.
SKULLFACE (Voiced by James Horan)
The man and leader of XOF who caused the destruction (under Cipher’s orders) of MSF 9 years ago, is here again. There is a lot we know about SkullFace we know since Ground Zeroes but there is a lot more we need to know in this game. One of the most important things that we need to find out is when and where did him and Big Boss meet before since he said in one of the recording files to Chico that “me and your Boss go way back”. what will be his motives in this game and at the near end of the E3 2014 trailer for this game, we see him and Big Boss in the same location where a Metal Gear is. Will he side with Big Boss in this game or will he not? I consider him the Joker of the Metal Gear series as his torture audio files in Ground Zeroes makes him one of the most convincing villains in the series for a long time.
ELI (Voiced by Piers Stubbs)
Another character we do not know too much about besides the few scenes we have seen him in the recent trailers. Many fans including myself may think this kid is the Young Liquid Snake (Big Boss was cloned by a project which caused him to have 3 sons in 1972. Solid, Liquid and Solidus Snake). He looks very similar to him, he was in Afghanistan in the 1980’s, and the bible reference where David ( Solid Snake’s real name) was the superior son while Eli was the inferior. There are many more theories to back this up that Eli is liquid Snake since his real name went classified for so many years until maybe now.
HUEY EMMERICH (Voiced by Christopher Randolph)
The father of Hal “Otacon” Emmerich. Huey is suspected that he was the sole person that lead to the destruction of MSF but there are also other theories to why Ocelot and Kaz tortured him. We also do know that he is not in a wheelchair no more as he now uses bipedal legs to help him walk.
There are many more characters that we do not know yet and I have not explained such as Ishmael, Psycho Mantis, Code Talker and more but their bios has not been fully explained yet but again, I am glad that Hideo Kojima is not spoiling way too much. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain should be released sometime in 2015. Next month, I will cover the gameplay and multiplayer aspect of the game.
follow me @julianexcalibur