Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes review

A new entry in the Metal Gear Solid series is usually an event, surrounded by years of hype and critical appraise upon release. However, things are a bit different this time for Metal Gear Solid V, the fifth main numbered entry (and 9th overall) for Konami's long-running stealth series, as Metal Gear Solid V has drawn quite a lot of controversy in the last few months.

See, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes isn't actually the fifth main console entry in the series, but is instead a prologue for the rest of Metal GearSolid V, subtitled The Phantom Pain, due to release presumably next year. To compare MGSV to other games in the series, Ground Zeroes could be seen as akin to the “Tanker” chapter in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, whereas The Phantom Pain will probably be the “Big Shell” chapter of this analogy.

The key difference here, though, is the fact that MGS2's Tanker chapter was originally a free demo (and then later included as part of the full game), whereas MGSV: Ground Zeroes is being sold as a separate piece of content, a choice that has soured many pre-release, especially in the wake of the oft-repeated news story that, from opening credits to close, Ground Zeroes can be beaten in less than two hours. So, is Ground Zeroes nothing more than just a paid demo?

Let's get this out of the way - yes, Ground Zeroes' main story mode can be completed in less than two hours, and even quicker than that on repeat playthroughs where you know what you're doing. Further, the game is surprisingly light on story. Taking place in 1975, a year after the events of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Ground Zeroes finds Snake tasked with infiltrating a secret black site base known as "Camp Omega" (a fairly heavy-handed stand-in for Guantanamo Bay) in order to rescue Paz and Chico, Snake's former comrades from Peace Walker. Those who elected to skip over Peace Walker will definitely feel lost going into Ground Zeroes, although the main menu features a lengthy backstory detailing Peace Walker's events. After the opening cutscene, you're left to explore the base, retrieve your targets, and escape the base, all without the interruption of cutscenes, save for a final one that essentially serves as a teaser to The Phantom Pain.

I can easily see Ground Zeroes' short length as disappointing for long-time fans of the series, but dig deeper and you'll find that there's actually much more narrative content than meets the eye. Audio logs in the menu provide backdrop for all the major characters, and various others are hidden throughout the base and its various side missions. It could be argued that the real meat of Ground Zeroes' story rests in these, and hunting them down and piecing together the story becomes almost as central to the experience as the gameplay itself.

Of course, the gameplay is the real star of Ground Zeroes, and in fact is the best the franchise has ever been, providing the biggest overhaul in game mechanics since the first Metal Gear Solid debuted over 15 years ago. Gone is the camo index - a percentage meter used in the past three main entries to measure how well you were hidden - as players now must rely on cover, darkness, shrubbery, wits, and common sense to stay out of sight from enemy soldiers. Enemy line-of-sight has greatly increased since previous entries, with guards being able to spot you from up to 80 meters away if you're out in the open.

To account for the loss of the camo index and increased guard awareness, Snake brings a new set of tools to the table. A new dive mechanic allows Snake to quickly jump out of the way in any direction, instantly going to prone and potentially out of the way of any suspicious guards. This combined with a new sprint button adds a huge deal of mobility to what has traditionally been a slow, methodical franchise.

A new “Reflex Mode” has also been added to Snake's repertoire, going into slow motion whenever spotted by an enemy guard, giving players time to dispatch the guard before sending the whole base on alert. Purists may decry this feature, but those looking for more challenge can turn this mode off in the settings, creating for a much more tense and slow-paced experience.

The biggest new addition is the ability to tag enemies by focusing on them, allowing players to see their location no matter where they are on the map. Initially it seems like a cheap tactic, but Camp Omega is dense enough that it's still incredibly easy to be blind-sided by an unseen enemy, so staying aware of your surroundings is a must.