A great opening can really set the tone for any piece of art. Whether it be a films first scene or an albums initial track, the opening will be the first thing you engage with in an artists work, and as such, it has the potential to be the most important part of the package. This is certainly true of the opening of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, director/designer/writer/producer Hideo Kojima’s final piece of his acclaimed Metal Gear saga.

The opening in question is a masterwork of excitement and emotion, and a fantastic example of how to engage the player right from the start. Beginning with Big Boss awakening from his coma, set brilliantly to David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World”, Mgsv fades in on a blurry first person point of view as Snake comes to and is introduced to his...