Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Review

It’s been 6 years since we’ve seen a home console title expand on the Metal Gear Solid storyline or fill in the gaps that have led up to current MGS events. Although it has been a long wait, it never surprises me that the MGS series are always welcomed with open arms no matter how long the wait, and what a wait its paid off to be.

As soon as you put the Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes disc into your preferred console, you instantly release out “OMG!”….. well maybe after the blank screen has passed, and the logos, and the other stuff that’s after the logos, the “push start menu”, the “please wait ” screen and then finally the opening sequence starts, and then YOU DIE!……. not literally but all your thoughts die and you’re left with complete shock, mouth opened, the whole surprise package.

Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is instantly seen as a perfect work of art, it’s the Mona Lisa of visual portrayal. The FOX ENGINE is so powerful that every part of the game just bounces out at you and your stuck for literally 10 minutes on the cam just studying the amount of detail that’s put into the game, which really uplifts the gameplay, visuals, soundtrack and acting, it’s brilliant.

STORYLINE:

MGSV:GZ takes place immediately after the events of  Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, and shows the boss embark on a mission to rescue two valuable members of his army from MGS:PW, Paz and Chico from an isolated island prison that could extract from them vital information that could impact heavily on “The Boss”.

GAMEPLAY:

MGSV:GZ’s gameplay is extremely engaging mainly because there are missions within a mission, not only do you have your main objective to complete but there are also other little things going on at the same time such as: P.O.W’s that need to be rescued and evacuated by chopper and Fox Patches that need to be collected to unlock a Secret Mission. Depending if you have the Xbox One, Xbox 360 or PS4, PS3 version, there will be an exclusive mission designated for Xbox and PS related consoles.

Having missions in a mission does put more pressure since majority of its gameplay is based on stealth and clean getaways, not that it matters since it allows you to enjoy more of the game and prevents you from finishing quickly. However we all know the pressure of being spotted, which if it happens it summons at the time twenty soldiers, then you take them down and all of sudden there’s a million of them.

Thankfully a new “Reflex” element has been included in the game, which allows the player to make a last-minute head shot before the guard alerts the entire camp. This however has an impact on your completion score at the end of the mission but it does save you from facing a million soldiers and failing the mission.

The title has also adapted on to a what I call a fade death, which is used in most action games now. You no longer need to find rations as you die once the entire screen fades away and turns red. To heal you simply duck and hide while the screen returns to normal, which is a good call to replace the ration thing, less pressure.

SOUNDTRACK:

Having brilliant gameplay and visuals it’s heavily supported by detailed soundtracks. Mainly in the small details of traveling as well the overall environment, ads to the realistic and believable vibes to the game, which ads to excitement particularly when you’re evacuating people in a chopper while engaging in combat, it’s also the little things that are done so well in this title that really makes it unique.

FURTHER REPLAY:

When in the title menu you will notice a completion percentage meter, which increases every time you finish a mission. So if your keen on bringing that up to 100% then it is recommended that you play through the campaign again on both “Normal” and “Hard”, and try to achieve an S Rank on each mission, which also unlocks some pretty awesome weaponry you can use at the beginning of each mission.

OVERALL:

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Although Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeros was fairly short and can be completed in a number of hours depending on how long you complete your campaign. It is a great intro and set up as to what to expect in the upcoming Phantom Pain title.

The gameplay, visuals and soundtrack are spot on, not to mention the acting. Although I miss David Hayter I think the choice of having Keifer Sutherland was perfect, mainly because I love that he is “The Boss”, his portrayal is so convincing and he takes his job seriously by giving a powerful performance, not to mention the building around his face suits the character.

If you can look at it as, David Hayter is Solid Snake and Keifer Sutherland is now “Big Boss”, it works out. If they were replacing David Hayter with someone else to play Solid Snake then we would have a serious problem.

BOTTOM LINE:

This is a terrific piece of work and Kojima hits a repeating blows of home runs! Not to mention he is pretty badass in his own game.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zero is available for Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The game is available from Amazon.com for $29.99.