REVIEW - Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (2014)

(Note: this is a review of the PlayStation 3 version, running at 1080p @ 30FPS)

Games nowadays are often made to be something epic. Something that represents the industry's rise in culture over the last few years. To go in tandem with this, games are often made to be as long as possible (unless they are something like Battlefield where the campaign is pretty much an afterthought.) in order to give players a sense of satisfaction and reward for paying money for the game itself. So, if you're someone who doesn't like downloading games AND owns a PS4/Xbox One, what does that leave you with with today's game? You might feel ripped off. Why?

Because today's game is Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes for PS3/4, 360/XB1

Before talking about the storyline to Ground Zeroes, I want to go through this game's pricing, since it depends on the version you get, and to be honest, if you get the Physical PS4/XB1 Version, you're being screwed over. I'll get to why later though. Also, all these prices will be in Euros.

PLAYSTATION 3/ XBOX 360 DOWNLOAD VERSION: €19.99

PLAYSTATION 3/ XBOX 360 PHYSICAL VERSION: €29.99

PLAYSTATION 4/ XBOX ONE DOWNLOAD VERSION: €29.99

PLAYSTATION 4/ XBOX ONE PHYSICAL VERSION: €39.99

Now that that's out of the way, let us talk about the most disappointing aspect of Ground Zeroes: it's story.

Now to be honest, I never liked the saga of Big Boss after Metal Gear Solid 3. And look, you all may hate me for saying this, but I just need to say it because it's what I honestly feel;

Peace Walker was and still is an underwhelming Metal Gear Game.

So, when they decided to make a direct follow up to Peace Walker, how do you think I felt? Certainly not happy! But that's for another time.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes takes place in the months after the Peace Walker Incident in the year 1975. Paz, the traitor who betrayed Snake near the end of Peace Walker, and Chico, a child soldier who works of MSF but is not abused by any member of MSF, have been kidnapped and taken to a camp known as "Omega" by the CIA. The reasons for this are unknown (at least to me). As Snake (AKA Big Boss), it's your job to sneak into the camp and rescue the two prisoners. And that's it. Nothing more. There's an ending cutscene with some amusing dialogue ("THEY PLAYED US LIKE A DAMN FIDDLE!!!") but that's it. Wanna know how short Ground Zeroes is?

My completion time: 58:07:09. That's in Minutes and Seconds.

That's criminal to be charging €40 just for something that's less than an hour long!!!!!! Yeah sure, there are extra missions, but for the main campaign to be absolutely minuscule is just criminal. The actual story itself is alright though, with some spotty writing here and there. I know it's only a prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, but even still, it's really damn short.

Gameplay is by far Ground Zeroes' strength, because for the first time ever, Metal Gear Solid has an open world approach. You can approach the mission any way you want. Want to take out that guard silently? There's plenty of ways to distract him...if you don't get caught first yourself. The AI for the enemies is actually pretty competent this time around, noticing every.small.thing.you.do. Your shadow, the noise you make, your footprints, heck even your bullets can be tracked and traced to you. You have to be extremely careful in the world of Ground Zeroes. In terms of control and layout, I was confused slightly at the start. Select doesn't activate the Radio anymore, it's switched to L2. Furthermore, Start does not pause the game (it brings up an in-game item known as the iDroid....guess who the manufacturer is), Select now pauses the game. Those minor button swaps aside, Snake controls beautifully in MGS V. He adapts perfectly to the new FOX Engine. Covering is now not done by a tap of the X button, but is now done as you touch something to hide behind. It's an adapting style of gameplay, as you have to adapt to the environments and weather around you and use them to your advantage. Shooting is the same as in MGS 4 and the new diving mechanic let's you dive into cover with ease. I think this is by far the best system of any Metal Gear game to date.

From trailers and pictures, I can confirm (like everyone else) that Metal Gear Solid V runs best on the PlayStation 4, since it runs at a locked 60 FPS at 1080p. However, it doesn't matter what platform you get this game on. Regardless of if it's Xbox 360 or PS4, this game...is just absolutely fantastic to look at. It totally blows Final Fantasy XIII out of the water. The environment (yes singular) looks astounding, especially during the main mission. Everything looks amazing thanks to the new FOX Engine. Character models are extremely detailed, right down to the last pixel and the framerate never drops below 30 on the PS3/360 (not sure if the Xbox One runs at 60 FPS @ 720p). Trust me when I say this, I think that apart from the upcoming Final Fantasy XV, we won't get a better looking game than Ground Zeroes for Quite some time.

Sound-wise it's actually very underwhelming. Apart from the amazing performance of "Here's to You", not one song sticks out in my mind from MGS V. Re-listening to the soundtrack on YouTube, the songs are at best, okay, but nothing memorable. The main draw however of the sound in this game was the new voice actor or Big Boss, Keifer Sutherland. Now, I was upset that David Hayter was not doing the voice in this game, but times change and so do people. To be honest, he does a really good job at the voice, especially for his first time in the role. The other voice actors do the job and keep the high quality that the series has kept ever since 1998. However, there is something that genuinely freaked me out when I played the game. You see, you can collect audio tapes that describe Chico's time in Camp Omega....and one of them...well, I thought that The Phantom Pain would have this scene and not Ground Zeroes, but you can collect a tape...with a rape scene. Granted it's audio only but Jesus H.Christ, Kojima there's pushing the boundaries and then there's just destroying morales by blowing them up the ass!!

Overall, Ground Zeroes shows us the future of Metal Gear at the expense of a good story and a decent soundtrack. It's an amazing game to play and a gorgeous sight to look at, but the story and sound truly break the experience. It's not bad for a download game on PS3/360, but as a download on PS4 or a Physical....it's nowhere near worth it.

Story: 4
Gameplay: 10
Graphics: 10
Sound: 6
Personal Enjoyment: 7

FINAL SCORE FOR METAL GEAR SOLID V: GROUND ZEROES: 7.4/10