Before I even start this review I might as well get the elephant inthe room out of the way so I can concentrate on everything else athand. Yes, Ground Zeroes has a pitifully short length coming in atroughly an hours worth of gameplay for the single mission of whichthe title shares it's name with. Yes there are a handful of sidemissions to do which extend the lifespan of the game marginally,though there is no excuse when a game has this little content and youare being charged nearly full retail price for it.
As a message from myself to all those who defend the length of thisgame. You are the ones I and many others in the gaming community willhold responsible when greedy publishers and lazy developers jump onthis new opportunity Ground Zeroes has given, the opportunity tocharge outrageous prices for virtually no content. Regardless of thequality that Ground Zeroes delivers, we as consumers should not bedefending what is daylight robbery by Konami and Kojima. Because it'sus who are to blame when imitators do the same in the future.
Now, on with the rest of the review.
Metal Gear Solid V is the culmination of 30 years of gaming historycoming to a close. One of the longest running game series in historyis ending and in Kojima fashion, it's a long drawn out affair splitacross two games; Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain. Though GroundZeroes is only a prologue to The Phantom Pain, something to act as abridge between it and Peace Walker, it's absolutely something youcannot miss out on if you are planning on playing the Metal Gearsaga. The final act of Big Boss' story is now in motion and it's onehell of a set up.
Following the the destruction of Metal Gear ZEKE and the discoverythat Paz is actually a triple agent working for Cipher (A.K.A: Zero),Big Boss and the rest of MSF are alerted to the discovery of Paz'sbody in the Caribbean, she has been taken to Camp Omega, a militarybase under the control of XOF. Chico has also been kidnapped by a manknown only as 'Skull Face' and taken to the base for interrogation.
Big Boss must travel to the base himself and retrieve both Chico andPaz before they can reveal any information they have to the enemy.
That's your mission in Ground Zeroes, to retrieve two prisoners froma military base and escape. But how you do it is for the most part upto you. The level is non-linear, allowing you to tackle the situationin a multitude of ways. Having no concrete intel to go on only makesthis more exciting as you infiltrate the base either stealthily or ina more explosive manner. Finding the fugitives in the base is amatter of clever deduction and using a vast majority of the new toolsyou have to play with such as your omnidirectional microphone, iDroidand binoculars that permanently tag enemies whereabouts (similar toFar Cry 3's camera). It's a thrilling, challenging breakout missionthat allows you to fully realise the potential that The Phantom Painhas with it's more open areas and non-linear mission design.
The five Side Ops missions act as opportunities to use the gamesmechanics in different ways to the Ground Zeroes mission, as well asallowing you to thoroughly explore Camp Omega in different ways towhat you did in the main mission.
Though these side missions are entertaining, their narrative value isnext to nothing. One sees you extracting a high profile asset in themiddle of escaping his blown cover, another has you taking down twohigh profile targets that roam the base, the next is finding aninformant and the information he has hidden for you, then in anotherdestroying the AA turrets dotted around the grounds. Plus there isalso a platform exclusive mission, Playstation's 'Deja Vu' sees youcontrolling classic Solid Snake in a mission similar in structure toMGS1; Xbox's 'Jamais Vu' mission sees you controlling Revengeancecyborg Raiden who must eliminate body snatchers around the base.
The thing is that these missions really screw up the canon to GroundZeroes. The missions take place in Camp Omega prior to the events ofthe Ground Zeroes mission, yet the Ground Zeroes mission is the onlytime Big Boss has been to Camp Omega. The explanation behind this isthat they are recreations of missions that took place elsewhere;however the explanation to this is very poor and many will miss it.Not to mention it shows the lack of effort put into GZ when the sideops all had to share the same map as the main mission. Yes, makingnew maps for each of them would have been pointless, but at the sametime, all sharing the same map makes it seem like there is even lesscontent in the game!
The production values on Ground Zeroes are phenomenally high however.The graphics are simply stunning, with a very high level of detail inthe game world, not to mention an amazing lighting engine, weathereffects and character animations. All the stops have been pulled outfor MGS V's presentation and it looks beautiful. Alongside this,returning characters Kaz, Paz, Huey and Chico have their voice actorsreprise their roles. It also sees Kiefer Sutherland take over fromDavid Hayter as Big Boss. Hayter had voiced both Big Boss and SolidSnake since the original MGS on the PS1 and the sudden and ultimatelypointless change is a little jarring at first, though Sutherland'sperformance is superb and helps distinguish the difference betweenBig Boss and Solid Snake more.
The sound design is again brilliant and of extremely high quality,whether it be original score, licensed songs or sound effects.
So, Ground Zeroes. The verdict is ultimately something that pains meas a Metal Gear Solid fan. Though the game is a necessary purchasefor anyone intending on playing The Phantom Pain, that doesn't mean Iactually condone purchasing it at full price. This game should onlybe bought at a reduced price, no matter how high the quality ofgameplay is.
The sheer lack of content is disgusting and I cannot under anycircumstance recommend the game to anyone unless the price isreflective of the amount of gameplay that is on offer to you. Byliterally squeezing every last drop out of this game you will beplaying for around 10 hours; but for the majority of players you'llbe done in around 3 once you've finished the Ground Zeroes missionand the side ops.
For gamers who are yet to play a Metal Gear game, do not purchasethis game until you have at least played Peace Walker, this is abridge between Peace Walker and The Phantom Pain after all so theevents of Ground Zeroes are based entirely around what happened inground Zeroes with almost no explanation of the events that havepreceded it.
But if you're already a fan of MGS then you've already bought GroundZeroes and I expect some of you belong to that group that defend it'sawful length. To those of you that don't defend it hopefully it's asign not to be so trusting in the future; to those who do support,have a good think about how much you would enjoy just an hours worthof content for £30+ on a regular basis?
No matter how high the quality, the quantity is so low that Istruggle to recommend a purchase beyond sale prices.
MetalGear Solid V: Ground Zeroes – 5/10
+GameplayFreedom
+PhenomenalPresentation Standards
-OutrageouslyShort
