When comparing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain vs Hitman (2016), the Slant community recommends Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain for most people. In the question“What are the best singleplayer games on Steam?” Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is ranked 69th while Hitman (2016) is ranked 123rd. The most important reason people chose Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is:
Metal Gear Solid V gives players multiple choices on how to approach a mission. You can choose to use stealth, taking out enemies only when it's absolutely necessary. You can run in guns blazing, killing everyone on sight. You can get on a high vantage point and take out everyone with a sniper rifle. Or you can call in air support to do all the work for you. The choice is up to you and the game doesn't penalize you for sticking to a single way. This helps keep the gameplay fresh for a long time.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Freedom in approaching a mission
Metal Gear Solid V gives players multiple choices on how to approach a mission.
You can choose to use stealth, taking out enemies only when it's absolutely necessary. You can run in guns blazing, killing everyone on sight. You can get on a high vantage point and take out everyone with a sniper rifle. Or you can call in air support to do all the work for you.
The choice is up to you and the game doesn't penalize you for sticking to a single way. This helps keep the gameplay fresh for a long time.
Pro Allows players to create their private military company
Throughout the game, you will be trying to rebuild your private military company.
Your base of operations is the "Mother Base", which is a giant structure similar to an oil rig. You can expand it and add new facilities such as Research and Development.
You'll also be managing your personnel, allowing you to recruit (capture) enemy soldiers and assign them work in their area of expertise. This can be research, development, various upkeep tasks around the base or earning resources out in the field.
All of these things truly make you feel like you're running a PMC.
Pro Reflex system helps you stay unnoticed
Time will slow down for a short time if you're spotted by an enemy. This allows you to take them out before they can sound the alarm or alert other soldiers. This is quite refreshing compared to other stealth games, where messing up means an immediate end to being stealthy.
Pro Enemy AI adapts to your playstyle
The enemy will pick up on your habits and react accordingly. For example, if you use tranq darts to knock enemies out, they will try to wake up their comrades at first. Do this for a couple of missions and they'll immediately run to sound the alarm when they spot someone knocked out. This way the game expertly keeps you out of the comfort zone, having the later missions feel as tense as the first.
Pro Large assortment of weapons and tools
MGS V has a lot of weapons, including pistols, shotguns, machine guns, and sniper rifles. There are both lethal and non-lethal variants, allowing you to find something suitable for any playstyle.
There are also many tools such as the Fulton device, which allows you to capture enemy soldiers and animals, sending them to your base. It's a ton of fun experimenting with new gadgets.
Pro Tons of choice
The game's six levels are all big sandboxes that allow players to complete their tasks in any way they see fit. This allows players a great deal of freedom in experimentation and the customization of play style. One of the earliest assassinations in the game can be achieved through the manipulation of a chess board, sabotaging the ejection seat of a fighter jet, or faking a radio call, among other things. Hitman provides a strong context for the player's actions, but there is no wrong way to play, so long as you get the target.
Pro Hiding in plain sight is intuitive
The game allows for players to easily hide in plain sight through a disguise system, like dressing up as a model at a fashion show, which gives the player access to anywhere they might want to go. This is expanded upon by having a helpful hint system for those who are unfamiliar with its intricacies.
Pro Replayability through escalations, contracts, challenges, and masteries
Once the main level and objective is complete, players can move on to escalation missions or player-created contracts. Escalation missions remix the maps, giving players new targets to complete in the same maps. Paris features 17 escalations, Sapienza has 9, and the other missions have some as well. More are being added all the time. Escalations are unusual in that they feature specific constraints, such as specific uniforms that must be worn, or specific methods of assassination. This increases the difficulty, but it's a great to expand each episode. The player contracts are similar, but this game mode allows the player to choose who their target is and what constraints to put in place, making for an endless list of possibilities in a particular level. Each level also features 20 'Mastery' levels, which unlock tools and insertion locations that expand the way the level can be played. Hitman is a game built to be replayed.
Pro Interactive environments
More so than previous games in the series, Hitman has many objects that can be tampered or interacted with. Nearly any problem the player faces can be solved by using the game's many interactive objects. For players unsure where to start, the challenge system offers a wide variety of hints. For instance, the optional challenges for the first training level include one where the player must disguise himself as a special character who is scheduled to meet the target and another where the target can be given rat poison at the bar.
Cons
Con High learning curve
MGS V can feel really overwhelming at the start. First the controls have various nuances such as different ways of crawling. Then you get a bunch of mechanics thrown at you, such as stealth, base managment, etc. It will take quite a while until you can fully enjoy the game.
Con Micro transactions make multiplayer pay-to-win
You can buy bundles of in-game currency, which can be used to gain an advantage in multiplayer. This makes multiplayer not fun for the players who don't intend on spending extra money. It also makes it boring for the ones who spend the money. Both of these things negatively impact the longevity of the multiplayer.
Some of the bundles go for $79.99, which is more than the game's price. It's sad seeing Konami milk their fans with microtransactions like this.
Con DRM issues
While playing single player, if the player loses connection to the game's servers (through their own internet going down or the servers going down) the game will boot the player back to the start screen, meaning any advancement made in the game will be lost. To see this happen in single-player is concerning, as there is no reason for the single-player experience to take place online.
The game features frequent online updates, limited-time event assassinations, and other features that benefit from an online connection, but players cannot opt out of these features if they simply wish to play the single-player campaign.
Con First chapter does not offer a ton of content
Much of the content in the first chapter are a bunch of training levels that are represented as being done on a set of some kind, giving a feeling of not being real. The problem here is that there is little in the way of giving a feeling of wanting to revisit these training levels, which drastically cuts down on the playable content in this chapter.