For sure not a game everyone can play. If you are an impatient gamer then stay for away from this game. If you are like me and can put hours into a slow game then give it a try.
I gave DS a lot of heat when it was reviewed, but after playing it i gotta say even though it is not GOTY material, it is not as bad as i thought.
Expect a story that is very hard to make sense of. Lots of silly things, dumb anti America/trump politics, weirdness all over it. As you get towards the end things start to make sense, but still even if you somehow manage to understand it, i still felt confused. In a way i feel the story is dumb to be honest. Kojima contradics himself a lot, he tells you people are isolated, and we know why (internet, social media), so he gives you a game where you give social media type likes to everything and have to connect everyone to this internet thing called the chiral network! Nice one Kojima...
DS runs on the best game engine in the world, Decima engine. Kojima should really thank Guerrilla again for letting him use it. The result is one great looking game, even though the world is plain empty. Horizon ZD for example is a better use of the engine. If we compare it to the The Witcher 3 sure DS looks better, in some ways, yet TW3 has much more density. Go into a forest area in TW3 and you see trees moving, way more trees, animals, villages with people, cities, so much more life to the world. While DS the world looks good thanks to the monster engine, yet feels empty and dead. For example, the only animals i found in DS are birds. The birds are up there flying so up high i can barely see them. While on TW3 birds can come ground side, there are bunnies, deers, fish, bears... so much more! At the start of DS you see two deers in a cutscene, where are they in game? Nowhere. In game DS is not among the best looking games, but in cutscenes the game looks amazing. Maybe Kojima should stick to movies? In game however, look at the ground, textures to me don't look that great. Go look at stuff on Horizon and you know what i mean!
When i saw this game back during the first gameplay trailers i said... wtf you play as a delivery guy? Yeah you do. The future Paperboy is here. Now an adult trying to reconnect America to the chiral network. And this is pretty much the gameplay, get the delivery contract and go to the point. There is some struggle to get there, mountains, BT's, and maybe a boss here and there, which is where the game can become more fun during boss fights, as rare as they are. So you will be doing deliveries most of the time to progress through the story as you try and get to the next cutscene, boss or whatever. And as you progress/connect people you unlock items that help Sam become a more efficient delivery man.
Back in the old Metal Gear Solid days i was always amazed by the music and voice acting. Opening cut scenes were so cool, David Hayter made Snake come to life, all the codec messages were great, it was amazing. DS in the other hand... oh boy... Norman voicing Sam is sure not David Hayter level. During the game you also run into some horrible voice acting, the worst i ever seen from some Japanese looking girl. While the world as you walk the walk is about as silent as it gets. Sure i get it, DS is supposed to make you feel lonely. Sam is a character that wants to be alone after what happened in the past. Whatever the reason, MGS games had far better sound.
As some already know the game connects you online to other players if you wish. I recommend to do it since it is how the game was made to be and if you want to get the platinum, you need to connect online. Personally i did find this interesting, having other players cars/structures show up in areas you connect to the chiral network. Something new i never experienced before. But do i want another game like this? No thanks. One time is enough. Last thing i want is people connecting to my single player games!
The game is long, if you just go through the main story then not so much, but if you are a completionist like me then expect over 100 hours on it. 90% of the game is delivery from point A to B, sometimes A B and C, that is almost all the game. Yes, repetitive, very. This is why even if the game is long, replay value is not great. Who would want to do 500 premium deliveries again? Yet i still say MGSV was the most repetitive after 10000 heli calls and Kojima credits after every mission. Stop making repetitive open world games Kojima, STOP!
After playing this i feel Kojima can still make some amazing games. After the worst MGS ever, MGSV, i found DS to be a better game. Kojima should just go back to his better linear games, stop the anti Trump politics (the stuff i found was hilarious and just sad), and just make a better less weird story. Rumor is he is working on a horror game for PS5, if so i hope he can change because while DS is not as bad as i thought, it is no GOTY contender. DS and MGSV are the worst Kojima games i ever played, shows how in decline gaming is.
8.2