Our policy here at Middle of Nowhere Gaming is to have a review up within a week of the game’s release. As much of our audience knows, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a huge game and conflicts with that policy.

What I am trying to say here is that our Metal Gear Solid V review will not be posted this coming Tuesday. I, the person who is reviewing said game, have played about 30 hours so far. From this time, I can confidently say that it is easily one of the best games of this year, and probably even of all time. The variety of ways to approach objectives feels nearly unlimited, the base building is very robust and almost overwhelming, and the game controls so smoothly, which has always been a weak point for the Metal Gear Solid series.

So why am I not posting a final review? I have yet to unlock Forward Operating Bases, an online mechanic that allows players to attack other players bases. According to the internet, that unlocks after mission 22, and I just finished mission 16. As far as I know, no other major gameplay mechanics are introduced after that point. Even so, I want to finish the story before writing the review. It will be spoiler free, but the narrative will have an impact on what the final score is.

The review will be up by September 15th; I hope to have it up before then. Thanks for your patience ladies and gentlemen.

Riley Berry is an Associate Writer for MONG. You can follow him on Twitter.