'Metal Gear Solid 5 The Phantom Pain' E3 2014 Gameplay Surfaces: Shows First Mission In Afghanistan, Customizable Mother Base, & More! [VIDEO]

There was a lot to take in at this year's E3, and unless you had the gift of omnipresence or a Doc Brown DeLorean, there was no way any one person would be able to see everything. That's exactly why Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima has taken to sharing the entire trade show presentation of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain with the whole wide world.

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The whole thing was livestreamed earlier today, so in case you missed both the original E3 presentation AND the livestream, we have the footage right here for ya. In the roughly 30 minute long showing, there was a LOT to take in, but here are some parts worth highlighting:

* For you console warriors, the gameplay was from the PS4 version, and ran in 1080p and 60FPS.
* Transitions from cut scenes to gameplay were seamless; no loading screens, no stutters, nothing.
* Arguably the biggest part of the demo was the Fulton recovery system, which Peace Walker players will be familiar with. But it's been upgraded since then. In addition to soldiers, it can now be used on vehicles, animals, artillery, and even larger items like storage crates, all of which was seen in the demo. Once they've returned safely to Mother Base, they can be used at the player's will, whether it was using the intel of captured soldiers, or to call in for support in the form of supply drops (a rather creative use of this is seen during the demonstration), airstrikes, an escape helicopter, and more.

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* Getting supplies and Fultoning away troops and the like all costs money, or, GMP, which returns from Peace Walker as the form of in-game currency. Raw items like diamonds can be found throughout the map as a means of getting more, but any other methods of earning GMP wasn't elaborated on. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't too dissimilar from the same methods in Peace Walker.
* Dynamic weather is not only visually impressive, but affects gameplay as well. The type of weather coming and when is unpredictable, but updates via the iDroid will warn you what's on the way a few seconds before it starts. During the demo, Big Boss experienced a blissfully brief sandstorm while scouring Afghanistan, which impeded vision of not only the player, but of enemies as well.
* Time of day affects mission difficulty, not only when it comes to vision, but also enemy behavior. For example, a tired soldier might unexpectedly drift off to dreamland mid-shift. To make time pass by and speed up such a process, Big Boss is armed with an e-cigar with a "special herb" to make time pass by quicker.
* Old tricks like hiding in dumpsters and sneaking around under cardboard boxes are still present, but with new improvements. For example, Big Boss can drag an enemy inside a dumpster, knock them out, and leave them there so no one can see the body. Or with the box, he can quickly burst up through the top to fire off a quick shot, or even spring out from the side to cover if he's been spotted.
* Intelligence can still be gathered by questioning enemies, thus updating the map a la Ground Zeroes, but the iDroid now scans documents, as another means of gathering intel.
* Mother Base promises to be very interesting, but that was the briefest part of the demo, and wasn't elaborated on much. The entire thing is completely customizable: soldiers skills and equipment can be upgraded, defenses improved, sections built, etc., all of which will likely come into play in the game's multiplayer mode. It all begins with one small platform, and can be expanded to truly immense proportions.
* And yes, pooping ponies.

As you can tell, it's a lot to take in. You can see the whole thing for yourself in the video below. Just make sure you skip ahead to 41:15 to get to the actual game footage. Grab some popcorn and enjoy!

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is set to release sometime next year for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.