Thanks to the recent announcement of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’s release date, we can finally start to look forward to the game and all the wonder sure to be found therein in earnest. Well thanks to Yoji Shinkawa, the primary character and mechanical designer of the Metal Gear Solid series, we can look forward to the game having a “deep and detailed” weapon system.
Initially, presumably during the earlier stages of development, Kojima wasn’t entirely sold on the idea of having an intricate weapon system and wasn’t very interested. That is until he seen the amount of effort that Shinkawa had put into it. One such feature is the Ballistic shield that will actually deflect bullets when stored on Snake’s back, making a running retreat a viable option when coming under heavy fire.
Players can of course use this shield in conjunction with their other weapons, but it’s likely that this will only apply to pistols and possibly light sub machine gun weaponry, I doubt we’ll be seeing a one handed shotgun/shield combo. Which is probably a good thing.
[Source]