The following also applies to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, for almost all aspects, a few variations appear but do not affect my opinion on how the controls perform.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeros released on PC on the 18th December 2014, 9 months after the console releases. We already know the game is short but very solid, however as this is a console series, how has it been brought over to the mouse and keyboard?
Ok, I’ll tell you what I know!
Are the Mouse and Keyboard Controls Any Good?
Overall the game has been brilliantly ported over to the PC…
In true Metal Gear Solid style the game starts out with a decent length cutscene, then when you get given control you get told hold F to bring up binoculars, later you realise holding F with your gun out allows you to aim down the sights. The good news carries on, there is a walk button, a sprint button and crouch/prone button, so pretty standard really.
Basic Controls
- Hold F – Allows you to go into first person, with no weapons drawn this will bring out your binoculars.
- Hold Left Ctrl – Walk pace, allows you to move slowly.
- C – Press C allows you to crouch, if crouched you stand. Hold C Allows you to prone, if prone you stand.
- Mouse – Left Mouse Button (LMB) fires and Right Mouse Button (RMB) aims, nothing abnormal there.
- Q – Allows you to call for help on the radio.
- Left-click (unarmed) – Initiates CQC, and holding allows you to grab opponent.
- E – Climb, get in vehicle.
- WASD – Standard movement and vehicle control (W accelerate, S break reverse).
- Space – With no weapon drawn you dive to the ground in the direction you are moving.
- Tab – Press to bring up iDroid system, which is an all in one map, mission objectives and tapes playing device.
- 1 – Selects primary weapon, hold to modify.
- 2 – Selects secondary weapon, hold to modify.
- 3 – Selects grenade type, hold to pick type.
- 4 – Switches to night vision.
When the Controls are Fiddly
One thing which is worth noting is that the mouse does not work for the menus, not an issue as arrow keys or WASD keys work just fine.
The controls become fiddly when dealing with grappling or using the games inventory system.
Grappling:
To initiate a grapple you hold LMB, when near an enemy, with no weapon drawn. You now have a choice of what to do, interrogate, knockout or kill.
- Interrogate – You press Q to initiate the interrogation, now you have to use the arrow keys to select the question to ask. But be sure not to let go of Q otherwise you will let go of the prisoner. When you have finished you questioning you let go of Q and quickly hold LMB again to get back to the initial options.
- Knockout – Simply tap the LMB, it’s slightly counter intuitive to let of the button, but not difficult to pull of.
- Kill – Simply press E to kill and done.
What you will see while grappling.
Inventory:
You can do several things with the inventory, but every PC gamer knows how to switch weapons, so I am going to talk about modification of those weapons.
Holding down the key for a gun, which would be 1 or 2, allows you to do two basic modifications – remove/add light or remove/add suppressor. These use X and Y, I can imagine on a controller this inventory system working very well, but on keyboard it’s a bit of a pain to start with.
The Inventory Gun modification screen.
iDroid
Using the iDroid is easy when you get your head wrapped around it.
I found just experimenting with buttons, and looking at the screen allows you to work out what to do. It falls down with the system for changing pages, which use keys 1 and 3.
When you want to call for a helicopter, or go into Walkman menu you need to change the page. I found that using WASD, Space, and Escape (to go back) to be the most effective way to navigate through the iDroid.
This is the iDroid’s map.
Conclusion
You cannot remap the controls, in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain you can. There are a few presets for controllers, there is only one for mouse and keyboard (in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes). Also the loading screen tips show the controller bindings, not keyboard ones which is a strange oversight.
Overall the game has been brilliantly ported over to the PC, and not just with controls, but performance and optimisation also. With a few minor inconveniences, which with learning the game you get fluent with the controls.
