It’s hard to believe that the awesome Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was released five years ago way back in 2008, its certainly been a patient wait for fans of the franchise.  I suppose in-between we’ve have had the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection in 2012 (November 2011 in North America) and the hack ‘n’ slash spin-off with Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance in early 2013.  So finally we get a proper sequel in the Metal Gear Solid series, well kind of, as Ground Zeroes is in fact a prequel to the true sequel that is The Phantom Pain.  This certainly is a complicated universe in almost every aspect, but what else is new?

Hideo Kojima says that the purpose of Ground Zeroes is to prepare fans for The Phantom Pain, a game that Kojima claims is “200 times bigger the Ground Zeroes.”  It’s a bold statement, but one that I hope is true.  Ground Zeroes takes place on secret military base called Camp Omega and Big Boss is assigned to infiltrate the base and extract two POW’s, Cipher agent Pacifica Ocean and the Sandinista child soldier Ricardo “Chico” Valenciano Libre.

Pacifica Ocean first appeared in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, in disguise as an innocent school girl, but anyone that is familiar with Peace Walker’s story will know how that story turns out.  The war child Chico also appeared in Peace Walker and it’s fair to say that he is one troubled child and is someone that Big Boss is desperate to rescue from the hell on earth that is Camp Omega.  At the beginning of the mission, you are literally thrown into the mission with little explanation, other than to rescue and extract the two POW’s.  Come to the end of the mission a dark conspiracy begins to unfold and in true Metal Gear Solid fashion, nothing is as what it first seems.

It’s quite staggering to see how good Ground Zeroes looks, is it the best looking new generation game currently on the market?  Possibly.  The visuals are a real sight for sore eyes, seeing all those fancy preview videos simply does not do the game justice in comparison to playing the game first hand.  I’m not just talking about how great Big Boss looks with the uncanny facial animation or the stunning environmental objects; ‘everything’ looks nothing short of breathtaking.  Despite how impressive the more obvious visuals might be, arguably for me the most fascinating piece of eye candy comes in the form of the dynamic weather effects.  Prior to playing Ground Zeroes, perhaps Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag took the crown for the most realistic weather effects, which has now been blown out of the water in place of Ground Zeroes.

The lighting effects are also among the best I’ve seen, but not only does it look good, but the light/dark can be both your greatest ally in Ground Zeroes, as can it to be your greatest enemy.  Stick to the shadows and you might just sneak past a guard unnoticed or stagger in front of a wayward torch like a rabbit in headlights and you will be gunned down quicker than a Deer in hunting season, either that or just run for your life.  I really could talk about how almost every aspect of Ground Zeroes beams with visual beauty, but if I was to do that, then I would fear that reading my review would take longer then finishing the main mission of Ground Zeroes on your third playthrough.

Right let’s get this out of the way, Ground Zeroes is tough, very tough, even on the basic normal difficulty setting.  I’ve been a devoted fan since the original back in the 80’s and ever since then, I’ve been hooked on its world.  While I’m not the best gamer, not by a long shot, I still consider myself to be a competent Metal Gear Solid player. So when I went into Ground Zeroes, while I was expecting a challenge, nothing could prepare me for the amount of running away that this game had in store.  With all the stories of the short campaign (and I believe it’s taken a degree of unfair criticism), Ground Zeroes is going to require a lot of playtime to perfect your skills and tactics.  But don’t let the tough difficulty curve put you off, because if anything it makes Ground Zeroes that ever more addictive.

One of the key reasons that makes Ground Zeroes so tough is the smart and challenging A.I.  Have you ever wondered when playing games like Splinter Cell or Assassins Creed how on earth that guard didn’t spot you?  Well that won’t happen in Ground Zeroes, even if you’re hidden in the shadows or the bushes, any sudden movement in the line of sight for a nearby guard, they will spot the suspicious activity and they will investigate.  It’s here where you must decide to stay perfectly still and utilise the ‘Reflex’ mechanic and perform a CQC if needed or just run for the hills and let the search party commence.  In truth there actually both very viable options, depending on your current situation.

When guards search suspicious activity, they will radio in beforehand, so if anything happens to them (and in most cases something will), backup will arrive if a guard fails to report a status update on that suspicious activity.  This improved A.I makes almost every encounter even more tense, as you have to think two or three moves ahead of yourself.  Just a little while ago, I mentioned the ‘Reflex’ mechanic.  Basically what this does, is during that split second when you get spotted by the guards, time will slow down Max Payne style, giving you a few short decision to make a decision.

When I first heard of this mechanic a few months ago, I was very dubious as I was in fear that it would make the game a little easier.  Once you’ve become a more competent player, I have no doubts that the reflex will work in your favour.  For me when I first experienced the Reflex, it filled me with sheer panic and I was unable to think straight to make a decisive decision.  But I’m sure as time goes by; I will become a little more composed.  The options that are available during the Reflex (other than run or gun), is that you can smack the guard firmly in the face and put him down or you can grab him to use him as a human shield or integrate for vital Intel.  What you choose to do, will often depend on your current predicament.

There are various gadgets and weapons to be used at your disposal, many of which can be taken via disarming a guard or by discovering an armoury.  Other then the obvious options such as your silenced weapons, tranquilizer and very handy night vision goggle, a gadget that you must use as a form second nature are your binoculars.  They are not only handy for scoping out an area, but they can also tag enemies, anti aircraft turrets and vehicles.  Once tagged, they will always remain on your map and will indicate how close or far away they are from your current location.  This can become essential when planning an infiltration and extraction.

Their locations will always remain on your map screen via the iDROID, but be warned as when viewing your iDROID, it will not pause the game, so you will be exposed.  Just make sure to pick a safe location when viewing the map or other methods of Intel.  Though there is a way to get round this however and that is by downloading the iDROID app for your Android or iOS. This isn’t a plug to buy addition add-ons, as the iDROID is absolutely free and so long as you have a compatible device, it is an essential app to download for Ground Zeroes.  iDROID app Android – iOS.

Much has been said about second screen applications since the new gen consoles have arrived and while downloading the accompanying apps for games such as Dead Rising 3 or Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag, Ground Zeroes second screen app feels like the first essential app that I’ve downloaded yet.  It’s very handy to have your device by your side with the in-game map on screen, revealing all key areas and tagged military, all moving and reacting in real-time, as it happens in-game.  Quite frankly I do not play Ground Zeroes without firing up the iDROID app, it is free after all and I strongly recommend you giving it a go.

When the controversial decision was made to end the legendary David Hayter’s long tenure as Snake, it was met with much uproar and rightly so.  David Hayter’s voice as Snake is almost as iconic as the Metal Gear Solid games themselves, which is something that not many (if not any) voice actors can boast in this industry.  So whomever was to come in and replace Mr Hayter would have one hell of a task to replace him, even for Kiefer Sutherland.

It would be unfair to say that Kiefer Sutherland has or hasn’t replaced Hayter, because in truth that can never happen, as David Hayter is well and truly cemented his legacy in the industry. With Sutherlands grizzly voice, he’s a perfect fit for this new role and it would be hard pressed to find anyone better suited. So what Sutherland can do here is come in and make this new Snake/Big Boss his own and it’s fair to say that mission has been accomplished and soon into your Ground Zeroes campaign, you may be thinking what all the fuss was about.

The Metal Gear Solid series has always been rife with wonderful soundtracks throughout its rich history and while we don’t get to hear much in terms of a varied soundtrack in Ground Zeroes as a result of the short campaign, it’s fair to say that it still manages to do a sufficient job.  It heightens the drama and intense atmosphere when it needs to and brings you back down to earth with its moments of serenity.  Nothing short of what you would really expect from this great series and the song ‘Here’s to You’ from Joan Baez which you will hear during various moments of the mission is particularly enchanting and haunting.

 

Ground Zeroes campaign length is no secret, with stories of completing the campaign in 1 – 2 hours, even as little as a mere 10-20 minutes from other gaming websites.  But what some of these speed runs have failed to tell you, is how much they have skipped and cut-out to hit the obscene completion time.  However a mainstream gaming website that completed the campaign in a measly 10 minutes did admit to playing on the normal difficulty setting (which is the lowest setting), they skipped all the real-time cutscenes, did not partake in finding any of the hidden items (not including the Side-Ops as their individual missions) and above all else they practiced over and over, so that they knew the game like the back of the hand.

I don’t know how many times they completed the main campaign to know the routes and routines so well, but the fact that they finished the campaign so often, might indicate how enjoyable it is to finish Ground Zeroes on more than one occasion.  Personally it took me just over 3 hours to finish the campaign on my first playthrough (which should of course decrease over time) and that included watching all real-time cutscenes (in which there aren’t too many), plenty of exploring and a heap of retries.

Campaign aside, there are plenty of reasons to return to Ground Zeroes after you’ve finished the main mission.  For one it will be interesting to see how differently you can approach the objectives, and on the harder difficulty settings for that added challenge.  Then you have the hidden objects to discover such as the tape cassettes (which offer great back-story) and the XOF patches that are tucked away in the most obscure of places.  Upon completion you also have the Side-Ops to take on and at the end of the main campaign and the Side-Ops, you are greeted with an end of screen ranking, which adds further replay value for those that like to achieve high scores on the various difficulty settings.  Not to mention that you times and stats will be uploaded to the online leaderboards, to see how you fair against other gamers.

The Side-Op missions will all take place on Camp Omega, depending on the mission; some will take place at night and some during the day.  Some will involve gathering valuable Intel and some might involve taking out certain individuals.  I’m trying to be vague for a reason here, as I don’t want to give too much away, but there is one Side-Ops mission in particular (and I’m not talking about the console exclusive mission), which is a change of the norm and very gung-ho.

Let’s just say it’s an awesome mission and once you click on to what’s going on, it will bring a smile to your face.  It is worth mentioning however that those console exclusive missions (Playstation Déjà Vu Mission & Xbox Jamais Vu Mission), only become available once you have discovered all 9 of the XOF patches.  So yes, Ground Zeroes campaign is very short after multiple playthrough’s, but as long as you’re willing to put in the time, you can get great value from this game.

The big question is, is Ground Zeroes worth your time and money?  Well that depends on two things, how much you love Metal Gear Solid and how much you pay for the game.  The official RRP for the physical new gen version is £29.99 and at that price, I would say that’s too much of a steep price to pay.  After some shopping about for the best price, I managed to pick up a physical copy of Ground Zeroes for £23 (with added loyalty points), which I am more than happy with that price.  The digital version of Ground Zeroes has an RRP of £19.99 (which is the same price as the digital last gen version) and I also believe that is a fair price too.

Sure if you fly through the campaign and partake in none of the extras, you will not get value for money, that’s for sure (even at £20).  But after you’ve finished the campaign and unlocked all the extra modes, including the console exclusive missions, then you are going to get more than your money’s worth in my opinion.

If I was reviewing The Phantom Pain, on the basis of what I have experience in Ground Zeroes, The Phantom Pain is a game that one would assume will be one worthy of the highest acclaims.  It’s no secret that Ground Zeroes has a very short campaign, if you can call it a “campaign” as its really a large mission.  So for that reason its difficulty to give it a top end score, but there’s n denying that this game is great fun and it will leave fans desperate for more, which is where the Side-Ops and exclusive missions importance comes into play.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is kind of like comparing a chicken nugget dipped in mayo to a chicken royale, it’s a taste of the greatest to come with The Phantom Pain on the horizon and Ground Zeroes needs to be played by all Metal Gear Solid fans…at the right price of course.

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