It’s very rare a game comes along that is a prologue to an up and coming big release but that is exactly what MSG, Metal Gear Solid, have done. They’ve released a brief yet interesting sneak peek into their new MGS title full release in the future called “The Phantom Pain”, This instalment however is called Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeros and I’ve been playing it for the past week, this is how it all went down…
Firstly, I’m bloody awful at these games. Stealth and patience is not something I possess and thus I massively suck at MGS. Constantly crawling and sneaking my way into the enemy base only to be spotted and die, time and time again. Alas over years I’ve played countless of these titles from the old splinter cells to the new stabs at the genre like Thief, never improving but it doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy these type of games. So when something comes along which truly makes me go wow this is pretty awesome I have to commend it.
MGS: Ground Zeros makes me go wow a few times in game, although short the game offers multiple opportunities to peek into the world “The Phantom Pain” and when you do you become more and more interested. The environment which you find yourself is in a wet and windy prison camp located in Cuba, Snake (No change there you’ll be glad to hear) makes a return once again as the centre piece of the franchise. Exploring the environment in itself is a mission, lots to see and that’s a good thing considering there are only 6 missions in game.
Those 6 missions can be broken down into 1 main mission, 4 side missions and an extra unlockable mission which is determined by your platform of choice, Xbox One and PS4 get the extra missions only, the rest miss out! So with that in mind it can seem drastically short but when you consider the price of £25 its not full retail, they simply couldn’t charge that. That’s my biggest and only issue with MGS: Ground Zeros it’s too short to pay £25 for unless you really love the franchise, a simple rental or trying it on another X1 would suffice.
And you must try this game; if this is the future I want it to hurry the hell up! From breath-taking environments including dramatic shifts and detailed effects of the weather to amazing pinpoint sound from the characters and surrounds, MGS makes good use of the next gen technology. The AI seems relatively smart as well, certainly a lot smarter than those currently on the market, Thief per say, which is more astounding considering this, is only a prologue remember. And when you consider that the AI troops all work together it becomes even more astounding, working in-tandem in order to find you efficiently and effectively. For example shooting a camera out will send over troops to find out why it’s not transmitting so you better bolt out of there quickly! The total play time of Ground Zeros can be from half an hour to over a couple of hours but that depends as always on the player.
The story you are thrust in is one of an infiltration and freeing of prisoners within a prison camp. Chico and Paz are locked in cells, with Snake being sent in as their only hope. Once inside and the story develops you truly get a sense of the passion and intensity of the game already, the game can simply go anywhere from here, the ability to integrate the officers on shift and listen to the various tapes recorded by Chico allows you to grow into the game, garnering clues and becoming a true detective, simply following objectives may not get you the results you desire.
One of the game’s features that I must talk about is the exciting use of a reflex function within the game. As previously stated, I’m utterly pants at stealth games, so getting caught is second nature. Enter the reflex function a chance for me, the amateur, to silence those trying to alert the entire army I’m having a nose round there gaff. It works really well you’ll be happy to know, the game makes good use of something which seems amazing but on the face of it is so simplistic!
If The Phantom Pain (Release date Unknown) is to succeed the AI needs to be diverse and unpredictable at times as well as being realistic, already the game shows that it has all the aesthetic qualities as well as the characters that can make a game rather than break it. MGS once again taps into the depth of knowledge on how to make good games, and Ground Zeros is no different to the rest, all in all, the value for money issue that is debated on the web is only an issue if you make it an issue with Ground Zeros, there is lots to discover, lots to try, read and to test yourself ahead of the release of the next instalment in due course. Certainly something to look forward to as we move a step closer to the finding a truly amazing Next Generation game, exciting times ahead!
