Metal Gear Star Plays Phantom Pain After Replacement

David Hayter, the voice actor who for years gave Snake his iconic gravelly tone, has finally "made peace" with series creator Hideo Kojima for not bringing him back for 2015's Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain after experiencing the "brilliant" game for himself.

When he was replaced by Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland back then, Hayter confessed that playing the game at the time would have felt like "60 hours of pure humiliation." He added, "I hold no special affection for Kojima. I don't feel any desire to collaborate with him again."

Now, with the benefit of time, Hayter told PC Gamer, "Honestly, I was hesitant. I avoided playing because I thought it would sting. But then a decade passed, and I thought, 'Enough with the hurt pride. What does it matter?' [...] I'm a screenwriter—getting fired is practically part of the job description. I eventually get let go from every project, and I'm not a kid anymore.

"I told myself, 'Grow up and just play the game.' So I did. And it's incredible."

Hayter has also "let go of any grudge" toward Sutherland. After running into him at a bar in Dallas, the two "shared a few drinks." "He's a fantastic person, really. No hard feelings. Everything's water under the bridge," Hayter stated.

So, what makes Hayter hold Phantom Pain in such high regard?

"The way you can approach the same mission each time, with the enemy patterns set, but choose completely different paths or tactics, creates this feeling of time travel… So, yeah, that was supremely cool. As far as I'm concerned, all is forgiven."

We also considered it a masterpiece, noting in IGN's 10/10 Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain review: "The Phantom Pain is the game we never thought possible—one where every gameplay detail serves a real purpose. Its lighter narrative focus may split Metal Gear fans, but the heightened emphasis on my own personal stories of Espionage Action easily makes it my favorite in the series."

Are Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid games overly dependent on cutscenes? To settle the debate, we calculated exactly how much of Hideo Kojima's games are cinematic. From his Konami days to Kojima Productions, we attempt to definitively answer whether there are simply too many cutscenes in a Kojima game.