We're just three months and a half from the release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and several journalists are in Los Angeles to try the game. My friend Antonio Fucito from the Italian site multiplayer.it had a ten-hour run with the game, and dropped a ton of information in a long series of tweets, a full translation of which you can enjoy below.

I played MGSV on PS4, the code looked quite polished and basically final. I wonder what they'll do in these three months.

I'm going to tell you about the sixth mission in Afghanistan.

Before the mission, you can select the initial equipment, with two primary weapons, two secondaries and gadget. You can also select Snake's uniform, his companion and equipment (in this case his horse).

When the mission begins, it's set like a movie, with the cast, the main protagonists and its guest stars. Besides accessing them with the helicopter from Mother base, it's possible to stay on the map and tackles missions one after another.

I'm playing Venom Snake, you understand at the beginning of the game why he isn't Naked Snake anymore. In any case, he's Big Boss.

As soon as you're on the map, you have your horse, that can be controlled with the square button to gallop and the analog stick for its direction. With X you can hide to the left or the right of the horse to avoid detection, and obviously you can use weapons while on horseback.

With the lower right corner of the touchpad you can use the iDroid, and you can see the map, selecting your waypoints (even multiple ones), but also asking support from Mother Base, call the Helicopter and more.

With R1 you can use the binoculars with different degrees of zoom. It's vital to mark your enemies to see what's awaiting for you.

When you begin the mission, you can decide the departure time, night, six AM or six PM.In the sixth mission you have to recover a particularly important missile launcher, and there are several optional sub-missions.

The Afghan map seems definitely big. It's divided in sectors, but you can explore it all without loading times.On the road to the objective there are other outposts, maybe you can conquer them to control them and get materials. Those are useful for the enormous quantity of personalization options and power-ups included in the game.

For instance in Mission 6 I could use the Foulton, and now besides people you can also send back to the base heavier objects.

In the options you can choose two control systems, tactical or FPS, which change the layout of the triggers. I selected the tactical one, R2 activates CQC, while L2+R2 aims and shoots. X toggles between crouching or lying on the ground.

Primary and secondary weapons, items and support gadgets are used with the D-pad. You can carry only two per each type of weapon.

There are various ways to approach. I did some parts in full stealth, some while fighting, but that's harder. Playing stealthily is much more satisfying, because you can explore, hit targets and recover items in a much cleaner version.

It's important to explore the outposts before the objective, as there are blueprints, diamonds and tapes to grab.

If you want, you can disable aim assists and the reflex mode when you're discovered.

During mission six things became harder because an enemy helicopter came, and I had to run and hide in a valley. There i found a base with a big structure built in a rocky cliff.

After I killed almost everyone, I retrieved the missile launcher and I called the helicopter, but as soon as I came out it was foggy and the "Skulls" appeared. They're very hard enemies, some of which I could kill only with the rocket launcher.

They look great aesthetically, and for sure they're part of the story. Graphically, the game is already very fluid most of the time.

Map and settings are much bigger than Ground Zeroes, and there are further improvements here and there. Lighting is beautiful.

The code seems almost final to me. Probably the three months and a half they have left will be used to polish it and test online gameplay.

Interestingly, Fucito also mentioned that Konami promised to clarify things about Hideo Kojima in the future. His name is still included in the game's credits, of course.

One thing is for sure: despite Kojima-san's departure, I'm still definitely excited about this game. Whether this will be the series' swan song, or just the end before a new beginning, we have no way to know, but it definitely sounds promising.

I'm also quite curious to see where Kojima-san will land, but that's another of the things that will remain a mystery for the time being.