Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Reviews
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes delivers a solid package for fans of the series. While the main mission's brevity may turn off some, I compare it to when I was younger and telling myself I would pay half the price to get to play games early.
A bold and inventive new take on Metal Gear Solid that placates rather than fills the appetite. As billed, Ground Zeroes is merely a prologue to the true sequel, The Phantom Pain. Enjoyment will rely on expectations and on how invested you are in the overarching story of the various Snakes.
If you're after a new next-gen experience but can't see yourself moving past the main campaign, I'd say this is probably not for you, at least not unless you have money to burn. It's a terrific little package brimming with options to replay, but it's not a large play-space by any measure, and there's not a huge amount of variation on scenery or tone. This one boils down to preference.
Ground Zeroes is an interesting game to score. The way that it has been presented is to show off the features of the FOX Engine, and each mission is clearly designed to showcase some new gimmick or other. And yet, it doesn't feel like a demo. Although I do feel the main mission is too short, it feels like a stand-alone experience that will connect to something much greater in the future. My only gripes with Ground Zeroes, a prequel, is its length, so you can only imagine the game changer The Phantom Pain will be.
As a testament to what can be done for the Metal Gear Solid series, Ground Zeroes is mouthwatering. The new Fox Engine holds up well, looking staggeringly good at times even on the Xbox 360 version. We know that The Phantom Pain is going to be many times bigger than this, so in a way it feels like a shame that this is such as slender portion of what is sure to be a fantastic fifth outing for the series. Ultimately though, it plays great and it's a fantastic game, marred by a lack of content that will leave some players understandably feeling short-changed. Some people will be quick to blurt out to them that they're playing it wrong, but I think that misses the point. We all approach games in different ways and for different reasons, and for some this will be an offensively abrupt experience, while others will burrow deep and try to uncover all of Camp Omega's secrets.
Aside from some skinned knees earned by stumbles through the story, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is a great starting point for this generation's big Metal Gear Solid experience. I'm more excited than I might've been otherwise for The Phantom Pain. With that in mind, it would be a lie if I didn't say that The Phantom Pain, appropriately named in this case, haunts every corner of this game. Everything feels like a taste of what is to come. Call it a demo or a prologue, it isn't a full game.
Ground Zeroes is an assured, above-average stealth shooter, something there are an abundance of. For years there has been a vocal group of people who have sought to temper the excesses and eccentricities of Hideo Kojima. In Ground Zeroes, Kojima has finally found an editor.
Once again, Metal Gear Solid has shown that as a series, it's a master of stealth action in a small, yet extremely well crafted experience that you will enjoy and play multiple times, right up until the release of Phantom Pain.
Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes offers a promising taste of freedom, but there's not much meat to feast on here.
Though its brevity's become it's biggest talking point, there's much more to Ground Zeroes than meets the eye. Beyond that it's accessible, featuring the most fluid stealth the series has shown - and delivers a promising glimpse at the future of Metal Gear Solid.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is an excellent first taste of the gameplay we can expect in the upcoming Phantom Pain. It's well designed, well tuned, and a lot of fun to play, but the general game design and lack of content make it feel like an extended demo rather than a full game. Viewed from that perspective, the $30 price tag is really steep. Die-hard Metal Gear fans and those who've replayed the games over and over to achieve Big Boss rankings will probably get their money's worth. Everyone else would be better off waiting for an inevitable sale. There's just not enough here for the average player to get his $30 worth.
Ground Zeroes probably won't alienate fans of the series, and in terms of giving players a taste of what to expect in the as-yet-undated Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, it delivers. But between its poor value proposition and its jarring darkness, it's not likely to make Snake and company any new friends.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is the prologue to The Phantom Pain. Quite frankly this short but sweet sampled taste of a sure-fire masterpiece is an amazing demonstration of what's to come.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes may be short, but it sure is sweet. There is a technical achievement in Ground Zeroes that some mainstream games could only wish they could accomplish such freedom in their design. The cost of entry might be high, but what you get to witness is a game by Kojima that is tailored towards a pure gameplay experience, rather than a mash of movie meets video game.
This short length of Ground Zeroes is definitely a downside, but consider this: would this style of gameplay hold up after 20 hours? It might be too soon to tell, but the structure seems like a radical departure from what made Metal Gear Metal Gear. Action purists will no doubt love its combat-centric gameplay, but those looking to wax nostalgic with a MGS title from 2014 best tread with caution.
On the one hand, it may not seem fair to judge a game based upon its price. Prices can change, price drops and sales can occur, so a final score shouldn't be affected but what the retail value is. On the other, the value obtained by the purchaser is important, and if a game isn't delivering enough value for the player, they have a right to know. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is a piece of something great but it always felt short of something whole. Kojima released this to tease and whet the appetites of the Metal Gear fans that were begging for more. If you fall into that camp, then you have probably already have your mind made up. For anyone who has never played a Metal Gear game however, I can't recommend that this be your first foray down the nanomachine-filled rabbit hole.
As a prologue to The Phantom Pain, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is disappointing. But a demo it is not, and taken on its own, there is plenty here to enjoy.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes shines with its nipped and tucked mechanics. It feels like a step forward, and away from the Metal Gear series that I've grown tired of, but the bloated, preposterous narrative is in desperate need of liposuction.
Although its overall run time is brief, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is well made, addictive and thoroughly entertaining. It may not be Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, but it does a good job of lessening our anxiety as we wait for that full-length sequel to drop.