Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - The Rajakaru Review

So, I’ve had a rant about my initial interpretations on Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes and, while I’m still convinced this is a poor attempt at a sale product, I do feel there the need to review this as the title it stands to be.

As Metal Gear games go, “Ground Zeroes” is a stripped down feature that avoids the typical norm by dropping lengthy cutscenes, climactic boss fights, and the usual frayed and tangled plot strands. Instead Hideo Kojima has played for a more action orientated title with smart, tactical gameplay and a central campaign that shows of the superb, effortlessly crafted sandbox style due to come with Phantom Pain.

While the central campaign is very short – hitting the steady heights of two hours – it does have a multitude of additional campaign missions to encourage replayability. Again these are set in the same locales but have different daytime cycles (some taking place during the day – while the main campaign is set during a rainy night) and weather condition (one particularly fun side mission sees you take to the camp during the height of summer). It’s an interesting dynamic that effectively changes the mechanics of each mission – enemies see clearly during the daytime, while rain muffles the sounds of Snakes movement. The weather genuinely changes the feeling of Omega Base too and it’s in these details that Ground Zeroes is most impressive. The world is wonderfully realised and presented sharply both indoors and outdoors.

For the first time in a Metal Gear game, Boss’ adventure is a non-linear one, played out in the US Naval Prison Facility known as Omega Base. It’s a small sandbox, where the corridors and rooms littered with conveniently placed containers we’ve grown so familiar with have been replaced with a sprawling, functional ecosystem, full of open industrial areas and heavily populated camps surrounded by a raging sea.

As this is the prologue for the upcoming, and full access title, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (due 2015), you can see glimmers of previous demo titles in its structure. The tanker section from Sons of Liberty jumps straight to mind although with a much more expansive setting.

The plot here is a lot darker in tone than what we’ve come to expect from Hideo Kojima and that desire to make Metal Gear into a grittier, more provocative, series can be seen from the outset. While I do appreciate these ambitions – and the series had been a little cartoonish before – I found the ending, which features some horrendously graphic cruelty, quite uncomfortable (although I’m sure that is exactly what they wanted). In fact it’s in these cinematic moments that the Fox Engine doesn’t hold up so well. I agree with most fanboys (and girls) arguments that this is when the Engine is most stretched but the main gameplay looks far more interesting; with long draw distances, clear textures and individual personalities for each area.

But the problem here, and for a full retail priced title (as in the same as Rayman Origins that has 50+ hours of gameplay), it is over far too quickly. When I rushed through it, I was finished in less than an hour, but taking my time still only took my just under 3. The length might not bother those coming into the title knowing what it’s like but the casual gamer may not be so happy.

Ground Zeroes is so adept at generating tension that at times it felt like I was playing a survival horror game. While Boss has never been more flexible; able to roll and jump and shoot in line with today’s top third-person action-adventure games, enemies are smart and plentiful too. In the harsh light of day - and played on Hard mode - they possess cruel 20/20 vision, and react to every little movement or shifting shadow by becoming more efficacious in their patrolling.

However, you’re given a couple of helpful gameplay mechanics to counter this high pressure stealth system – on Hard mode these are essential. Firstly you get a pair of binoculars that allow you to ‘tag’ enemies to track their movements and also the Boss’ iDroid which provides map and mission information.

Obviously, with Ground Zeroes being an open world game, you can skip the sneaking completely and go in all guns blazing. It’s chaotic but immensely pleasurable at the same time; especially when you blow everything to hell in a tank.  

A few of the ‘side missions’ drop the action gameplay a little too hard – with one seeing you mow down enemies off the side of a helicopter – but they also give us a sense of the diversity being offered in the Phantom Pain title.

Otherwise, and it pains be slightly to say it, this is a fairly rounded but short offering. Yes, the title holds up well and looks lovely to boot but, I couldn’t shake the feeling of being short-changed. If I had to sum up Ground Zeroes in one attempt it’s like waiting for a train and then not being able to sit down when it arrives. You know the title has the gameplay you expect but by the end of it you feel like you’ve paid for more than you, as a minimum, deserve.

[I can’t quite believe I compared Ground Zeroes to Southern Rail]

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Konami is trying to Rip us off with 'Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zero'

Before I begin ranting, I’d like the record to show that I actually completely love the MGS 2 and 3 prequel/demo sections. However, for me, Konami’s approach to Ground Zero as a promotional piece is too much a glorified demo for a full retailer pricing.

Much like most of you reading this, the demos of Metal Gear Solid and the Sons of Liberty packages hold a special place in my heart. I grabbed the MGS2 demo through Zone of the Enders; and the Tanker section, which was the demo of the title, showed off the mechanics, the stealth system and the Easter Eggs that have become a staple in the Metal Gear franchise.

Ok, I was pretty young at the time of the original title, so I didn’t digest the story as well as I might have now, but I do remember loving the game and completing the ‘mission’ was fulfilling and probably contributed to why I’m still a gamer today.

I must have played that section of the game nearly 20 times before ever picking up the full game and therefore I’ve spent more time with those tasters than with half of the game I’ve ever played. I loved working out different routes through the rooms, hiding in lockers and picking up all the items I could before the demo finished.

Yes, the time spent in these demos justified my investment in Zone of the Enders – as I hated the game itself but I cannot see how Hideo Kojima and the team can justify paying £40 for any demo, no matter how length or great the content may be.

The difference for me is that demos cannot exist on their own. The Halo 3 and Sons of Liberty’s samples in Crackdown and Zone of the Enders were incentives for gamers to invest in new franchises. These key demos had their own reasons to be included, they gave a new game the chance to impact consumers and if you didn’t enjoy the titles, but wanted the demos, then you had something else to spend time with. You categorically shouldn’t remove the new franchise and just sling the demo our to consumers at the full price – because it still just boils down to a demo.

It’s almost one of the well-known “Unwritten Rules” – you shouldn’t sleep with your buddy’s girlfriend and you should sell something that’s a taster for the full price. A baker doesn’t charge you full price to sample the crackers and chutneys it has on the top of its counter so why should Konami get away with, what some are saying is, daylight robbery.

Ground Zeroes would not look out of place as a free listing on the PSN or Xbox Marketplace. It is the opening chapter for Metal Gear Solid V, for all intents and purposes, the equivalent of taking the MGS2 demo and labelling it “Metal Gear Solid 2: Chapter One”.

The worst thing I can think of is that I know, and I doubt many people could argue with me here, that some consumers will pay the full price because they think it is a whole new game – especially if they don’t troll through the Internet like you and I.

Recently the designer for Ground Zeroes argued that the length of the title is irrelevant, with indie titles such as Dear Esther and Journey offering similarly short experiences. However, and he seemed to miss these points completely, neither of those titles demanded a full retail cost and they also offered the full game in its complete form. Had Ground Zeroes asked for maybe half of what its recommended retail price then I wouldn’t be so pissed, but the nerve to ask gamers to double dip is morally ambiguous at best.

The worst thing is that Konami knows this, and the exploitation of their fanbase to their attachment with this franchise is what annoys me most. They know gamers will pay full-price for a new Metal Gear Solid, but many will feel ripped off if they knew what they were getting.

The title isn’t being advertised as a small sample of MGSV, at least not to the average consumer, and we are not the average consumer. You are informed, and passionate amount games, which is how you stumbled upon this site anyway and so you know the truth of what is on offer. The majority of people who will purchase this title will no doubt see if as the ‘next-gen’ Metal Gear and buy it with the incorrect understanding.

The inclusion of 'Metal Gear Solid V' on the box art of Ground Zeroes only adds to the notion that Konami is misleading fans. Many people won’t acknowledge that Ground Zeroes is a stop-gap cash-in, but instead think it a full release, in the same way vain that Guns of the Patriots, Sons of Liberty and Peace Walker were.

I hope gamers vote with their wallets on this one, because this could set a dangerous precedent going forward. If this sells well, which at the moment it looks like it will, then we could see other titles do the same which would mean we’re all in trouble.

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