Some might think they’ll be disappointed when playing Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. After all, the game’s main campaign is only two. Hours. Long.
Get over it.
Or rather, you mightn’t even need to worry about that. You’ll forget that useless time statistic, lost in a number of side-quests that extend the (reduced price) game. Better yet, Ground Zeroes also looks great, plays great and feels like an actual current-gen title in a sea of games that try to cater too hard to capture those in this gen and the last.
Those aforementioned side-quests — and all of the real beauty in the game — are thanks to the Fox Engine. As the game proper starts, you’ll see that it’s quite capable of making realistic nighttime vista… that also happen to have torrential rain pelting down upon them. Light from a nearby storm flashes against Snake’s grizzled face, contrasted by the swing of a searchlight conducting a standard patrol. Shadows in the day time are equally as important if you want to be a master of stealth.
Of course, in Metal Gear fashion, your first glimpse of Ground Zeroes’ world is inside an over-the-top, overly long in-game cutscene. But really, would you have it any other way?
Of course not.
Old friends make an appearance early on in the game (and, in other places… you’ll know what we’re talking about when you get there), and the game’s feel — whilst beefed up by new tech — is unmistakably Metal Gear Solid. You’ve still got a dedicated button to crouch or go prone; new weapons are selected in a wheel made up of an all too familiar boxy, green-coloured UI.
As for gameplay, imagine Metal Gear Solid IV in a setting much like Far Cry 3 — especially in the sequences where you were tasked to liberate an outpost — using Splinter Cell: Blacklist’s mark and execute function. And before you get up in arms, you only get the “mark” option of “mark and execute”, so relax. All that combined is Ground Zeroes precisely.
In case you didn’t get the subtext there, it’s damn good, and damn fun.
For those that want to be stealthy, you can certainly do so. If you’re more the run and gun type, the game will certainly cater to your playstyle. Hell, if you want to sneak up to a tank, take it over, and start blasting away, you can certainly do that too. A colleague previewing the game beside me decided to mark and silently kill each and every person on the base you were supposed to infiltrate; once that had been achieved, Snake was basically able to do as he wanted without hindrance.
Even if you’re worried about the game’s campaign length, it’s safe to say it’s very, very replayable.
The one thing that does sadly rip you out of the Ground Zeroes experience is the absence of David Hayter as Snake. Sure, Kiefer Sutherland does a great job, but his gravely voice isn’t the one you’re expecting. That said, the game does go out of its way to stress that your Snake is the Big Boss version, so one hopes that there’s still room for an (overly dramatic, of course) return of David Hayter as the character of Solid Snake not too far down the line.
Moreover, the game’s side-quests – whilst all very enjoyable – aren’t really connected to the game proper. Rather, they’re in place to show off just what the Fox Engine can do. In one, you’re taking out baddies from the relative safety of an overhead helicopter. In another, you’re skulking around a military base, desperate to take out two specific targets before caught out. While they’re great fun, there’s also a sense that they’re all a bit disjointed.
If you love stealth, you’ll love the game. If you appreciate truly current-gen graphics, then Ground Zeroes is for you. Finally, if you’re a Metal Gear Solid fan, well, there’s no need to try to excite you. Thankfully, those eager for the game don’t have long to wait – you’ll be able to grab Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3 and PS4 from 21 March.
Do yourself a favour and go current-gen, okay?
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