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"Wow them in the end" was screenwriting guru Robert McKee's mantra in Charlie Kaufmann's meta-masterpiece Adaptation. In real life, McKee's received as much criticism as he has acclaim, but I've always found that particular piece of advice his most sound. After all, how many movies have been acclaimed due to their final moments? From Citizen Kane to The Usual Suspects, that final shot can be what makes an incredible film.When it comes to video games, however, this emphasis on a compelling closer is rarely put into practice. The reason for this is simple: games are long and most people don't finish them. The greatest ending in the world won't matter if the majority of players bail long before getting there. Games like BioShock, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Batman: Arkham Asylum are all guilty of going limp in the final stretch. Now you can add Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain to that list. Now, it's only fair to warn most of you that I'm going to get into very high SPOILER territory for MGS5 from here on out. Consider yourself warned.
Regardless of whether you think The Phantom Pain's story is genius or juvenile, it's nearly impossible to argue that the game quite simply isn't finished. It's not that there are too few boss fights, and too many plot threads left dangling. Instead, the game's finale explicitly had to be scrapped, while the current conclusion halts abruptly with hardly any closure at all.
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