Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Reviews
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is a good value for the $20 entry-level fee, provided you are willing to explore every nook and cranny of the environment and all of the possible ways of playing.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is not for everyone. I can't stress how underwhelming the game will be if you aren't a huge fan of the series, or you can't see yourself playing in the same sandbox enough to really get your money's worth. But for everyone else that can't wait to get even a taste of Phantom Pain, it's worth the budget price of entry -- especially on a current-gen console.
Fission Mailed?
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.
Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes is a short, but mechanically very sound, sandbox stealth appetiser for The Phantom Pain. Just be aware that its value is in experimentation and replaying scenarios, rather than lasting narrative.
The game is a great sampling of what to expect from Phantom Pain, but there is enough content to make Ground Zeroes more than just a sampling. You will find yourself replaying missions over and over.
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.
I think that Hideo Kojima and team have something truly special in store for us when The Phantom Pain is finally released and Ground Zeroes is just a sampling of this.
Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes offers a promising taste of freedom, but there's not much meat to feast on here.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is a nice bite-sized piece of content that will help players get a good grasp on what to expect when The Phantom Pain is released sometime next year. It retains the stealth features hardcore fans have come to enjoy, while at the same time implementing various modern mechanics that will appeal to an even greater audience.
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.
At full disclosure, my score fully reflects my willingness to dive deeper into the game, and also the fact that I'm genuinely into the Metal Gear franchise. For me, the short mission time wasn't completely awful. If anything, Ground Zeroes helped me build excitement for what's to come.
This is just a streamlined version of what fans have encountered in the past, and it's hard to say whether these features will continue in the upcoming Phantom Pain or not.
If you're a Metal Gear Solid fan looking for your next hit, or someone who loves soaking up everything a title has to offer, then absolutely. It's a wonderfully crafted experience that looks and sounds fantastic. There's been a lot of love given to this "demo" in ensuring it feels right at home next to the others in the franchise.
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.
While it looks like one, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is not a demo. It could - and should - be cheaper, but that can't erase the fact that this is a product of a very high-quality and depth.
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.
It is light on story, heavy on action and stealth, but redeems itself with a fantastic ending and backstory-filled cassette tapes. Yes, cassette tapes. It is 1975, after all.
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.
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.