Well my theory about the “double bluff” was wrong. Which means that just as everyone guessed a mere hours after it was first shown, The Phantom Pain is meant to combine with Ground Zeroes to become Metal Gear Solid 5. Or rather, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
Overall I’m not disappointed, considering the trailer we got:
It’s what you DON’T see that makes it fascinating. Negative space. The words “METAL GEAR SOLID V” literally cut out of the title, instead of being shown front and center. It’s brilliant, intriguing, and (hopefully) reflects a deeper theme within the game — of letting our imaginations go wild, for better or worse.
Is The Phantom Pain really Metal Gear Solid 5? Or is that what we’re supposed to trick ourselves into thinking?
Remember when Kojima talked about a “taboo” project that could potentially force him to leave the industry — the project which was eventually revealed to be the “devil” project?
Not long ago at the San Diego Comic Con, rumors about MGS5 were stirred up by some images that appeared to be leaked, which connecting the “Ogre Project” with the next Metal Gear game. The whole thing was dubious from the start, but Kojima has confirmed that they are fake, apologizing to those who were looking forward to it. The tweet was posted on July 16, leaving no doubts that it was fake.
In other news, Part 5 of MGS2: A Complete Breakdown is still being worked on, but all the fun and activity of Summer is admittedly soaking up my free time, so it’s not moving as quickly as the other ones have. I know many of you are looking forward to it, and so am I. As I said on my own Twitter, this feature was originally designed to be a video, so I’ve had to rewrite a lot of it to fit a written format. Look forward to it in August.
I happened to notice “Metal Gear Solid 5” in the Twitter trends this morning, and soon found myself reading very vague, and very possibly fake rumors. Here’s the news piece.
The unverified picture prominantly [sic] displays a logo for Metal Gear Solid 5 along with the phrase ‘Open Ground Reconnaissance Endeavors (OGRE)’ which could be a replacement for the ‘Tactical Espionage Action’ tagline the series has carried thus far.
Kojima wanted to have an open-world environment ever since Snake Eater, which was supposed to be “seamless” initially, with weather patterns and a day/night cycle; players were supposed to get lost in the jungle and need to use landmarks for navigation; hunting and sneaking would be more important than ever. The trailer even made reference to Grand Theft Auto, suggesting that the games would be comparable. Basically, compared to Kojima’s original ambitions we got a can of sardines. This would be the full feast.
This may be Kojima’s opportunity to make his old dream a reality. If “OGRE” does stand for “Open Ground Reconnaissance Endeavors” — which for the record I hope it does not, because nothing sounds lamer than the word “endeavors” when describing a game — then it could be Metal Gear Solid 5 after all. How on earth this ties into raising a family? Well, Big Boss did have some hand in raising Solid and Liquid Snake, at least…
Do I believe the leaked rumor? Actually, I sort of do. It would even fit with his old statement about how it could end up as career suicide if it went wrong, which I surmised involved retconning the Metal Gear series. Or maybe I’m dumb!
EDIT: Okay, so I’m way behind in the times here. So there are a couple of fuzzy screenshots, not just one, and there is a lot more news about MGS5 being said already. I am dumb!
CVG, reporting on the upcoming PSM3 issue, is predicting that Metal Gear Solid 5 will follow Big Boss in Africa during the 1970’s, and that Solid Snake will be seen as a baby. That’s not hard to believe, considering the Fox Engine screenshots of jungle environments, the artwork of Big Boss with the “Diamond Dogs” arm patch, and the way Peace Walker ended. Here’s an excerpt of their analysis:
The Kojima Productions site itself ‘hides’ another image of Big Boss with a ‘Diamond Dogs’ logo on his shoulder, which Dawkins claims is a reference to both the 1974 David Bowie album Diamond Dogs (Kojima being a confirmed Bowie fan), but, more importantly, the diamond mines of Angola, against which some of the action could be set.
It adds up. There’s still plenty of material left to explore in the career of Big Boss, and we know that there will be a real Metal Gear Solid 5. Solid Snake’s saga is finished and Raiden has his own wacky spinoff, which leaves only Big Boss left.
