Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Review

First of all MGSV: Ground Zeroes is a hard game for me to review. One reason of it being a prologue similar to the fashion of Grand Turismo Prologue, and another being that I am a long time fan of Hideo Kojima and the Metal Gear Franchise. On the surface, the core mission is a short game, and I wouldn't recommend it for newcomers since it will throw you in right after Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and rescuing a traitor Paz and young soldier Chico. The game does come with background info but I'd recommend playing through at least MGS3 and Peace Walker since it's only the jist of the story. I think a recap video with narration would've been a lot more engrossing then a text summary which doesn't do the prior titles any justice.

Your mission objective is to rescue them, and extract them via helicopter. Unlike most modern AAA titles, the game doesn't baby you with tutorials and lets you do your own thing. This is unlike the linear progression of the prior iterations of Metal Gear. A stealth sandbox with multiple entry points to objectives. This is one of the titles strengths as it advocates emergent gameplay and isn't a wide sprawling world like say GTA or Assassin’s Creed.

The player is still rewarded to avoid all contact as a good stealth-action title should, but the game has multiple paths to the objectives as well as vehicles such as tanks and jeeps. Speedrunners may able to find the most efficient route, and manipulate the guard AI while shooter fans may take a more offensive and difficult route. The player can also take on objectives in a non linear fashion, and as a nice touch in the main “Ground Zeroes” mission the cut scenes will slightly change as well as guard patrol patterns.

The gunplay is also made a bit more nuanced with bullet drop for every firearm. The weapon that's most effected by it is the series staple tranquilizer pistol which has an effective range of 30 or so meters. This is another strength as the shooting is no longer point and click and from farther range it becomes a game of ballistics and judging distance.

Graphics are another strong suit for the next generation consoles at least. I played it on PS4 were the game has a rock solid 60 frames per second with a full 1080p resolution, and I also have played the old gen PS3 version which runs at up 30 frames with severe dips when there is a lot of activity on screen at 720p. The character models are well made, the JJ Abrams inspired lens flare is a sight to behold, and texturing is mostly good except for a rock texture here and there. The flaw I see with the graphics is the draw distance, but I think it has to do wit the size of the map and the amount of objects that are on screen.

Loclazation and acting with most of the dialogue except for a pivotal moment which has now become an internet meme is natural flowing, and feels like it was written for a western audience in mind and in my opinion, has a similar flow to the original Metal Gear Solid as opposed to the literal translations of MGS2-3 which had a few awkward lines here and there. I loved the “Don't fight it..” reference to 24 which reminds me of the allusions to Blue Velvet in MGS1. Good job, INTAC., and it's great they picked up Marc Laidlaw, one of the key people who worked on the fantastic 2009's Policenauts fan translation.

Acting is on par with prior installments as I was apprehensive with replacing series mainstay, David Hayter. 24 star Keifer Sutherland provides a more stoic and subdued performance much in line with David's iconic performance of MGS1. He doesn't over do the grit like Hayter did in Peace Walker and justifiably in MGS4, but he gives it the original's sarcastic wit, and subtlety.

Now to the main issue of it, your mileage may vary on the game. Myself has 100 percent completed the game and trophies, and took me a total 31 hours to complete. If you just want to play the main mission it'll be a 30-70 minute storyline, but once your done with that there will be 6 side ops which range from stealing intel to comically escorting Hideo Kojima with support fire via chopper. This can be completed on a average of 4 hours if you don't do the time trails, but if those are completed you will be ranked on a internet leader board which for hardcore players will enhance the replay value of it.

This makes it a good rental for people curious about the franchise, but is a must buy as its a good tease for hardcore fans. Story is also a bit problematic as lore isn't told fully as I stated before, and there is some content which involves surgery without anesthetic in a gruesome scene which will be taken aback by a few people.

There's also the much debated forced rape scene with Paz which just seems to only make the main antagonist of the game, Skullface, seem inhuman. This goes hand in hand with the dark subject matters as the location of the game is basically Guantanamo Bay with references to black-sites and 'enhanced' interrogations. Unlike the heavy exposition of the first 4 MGS titles, it has a collection of tapes similar to Peace Walker, and does give some heavy insight on the background story as with a lot of western games. This shows Kojima finally evolving from his particular taste of having information dumped on you to storytelling that requires player agency. The cut scenes are also more spaced out to allow for more gameplay which is not a bad thing.

In conclusion, as I stated before, your mileage may vary with the title. It may be something from awesome rental to the ultimate vertical slice and prologue to the full MGSV experience of The Phantom Pain, and to be honest doesn't do a bad job of sating a Metal Gear fan's appetite. The story may be hard to stomach and comprehend with the lack of a good recap feature, but is short but sweet.



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