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Story
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This game takes place after the events of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. After getting news that Paz and Chico were captured in a secret camp, Snake goes on a mission to save them from their captivity. Both of them are placed separately in a black site called Camp Omega, and Snake must use his resources to find them.
This game acts as a prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, so the story is understandably and disappointingly short. Only one new character is introduced in this game, which is Skull Face who will be the major villain in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. There are not enough exposure to like the characters in this game enough, as many of them have previously appeared in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker who have only brief appearance in this game.
It is also noted that this game has more darker tones compared to other Metal Gear games, such as rape, torture and many other darker themes. Many of the cassette tapes in the game also imply these darker implications in the recordings.
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Gameplay
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This game uses enhanced game controls from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, as you can do crouch walking, interrogate enemies, knock enemies down with CQC, and many other actions. You can climb fences or obstacles, sprinting, and carry targets to your helicopter as well. The CQC feature is also enhanced in the game, as you can use it to knock down enemies, lure enemies to you as well as interrogating them. Interrogating enemies will give you good information in any of the game's mission, such as a target's location or a hole in their defenses.
This game has only one main Mission, with several unlockable Side Ops and Extra Ops upon completing the game. All of these missions take place in the same area, which is Camp Omega. Different missions have different objectives, such as safeguarding a VIP target, assassinating enemy targets, and others as well. Camp Omega is a very large area, and there are many ways to approach and exit in comparison to other locations from older Metal Gear Solid games.
Snake's weapons are set in default in the game, so you must explore the area to find any additional weapons for your equipment. You may also use vehicles to drive to escape from enemies or for faster travelling. Snake may have access to variety of weapons, such as a tranquiliser gun and explosives as well as items like binoculars to scan the area.
One new feature introduced in this game is called the Marking system. Marking allows you to mark enemies by examining them close with your binoculars or by aiming a gun at them. Unlike other games' Marking system, this game's Marking system allows you to see what the marked enemies doing indoors or outdoors. Stealth mechanics are also present in the game, as you can quickly sneak past by enemies if you lay low on the ground, quietly sneaking up to enemies and hold them up, as well as other actions.
Another new feature is called Reflex. Reflex mode slowdowns the time and allow you to shoot an enemy who spotted you to avoid any combat alarms. If you successfully do so, you can avoid fighting more enemies while the alarm is activated. However, activating Reflex mode anytime in a mission will not grant you bonus score for your final ranking, so it is advisable to do disable it if you are attempting to get S ranks on all missions.
Your ranking is affected by several factors, such as no detection, no alarms, fast completion time, and completing certain side objectives such as saving other prisoners.
Overall, this game has the finest game controls out of all Metal Gear Solid games. Simple and effective stealth mechanics, solid third person shooter view, improved overall controls, and many others. Enemy A.I. is also smart in this game, as they use their flashlight to spot you or bring buddies to search for any intruders. Unfortunately, this game does not have much gameplay content other than Side Ops and Extra Ops, so be aware of repetitiveness.
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Graphics
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This game boasts excellent graphics, with amazing looking design of Camp Omega as well as great looking characters. Snake perhaps has one of his best appearance in this game, and the environment design look spectacular. The main Mission features perhaps one of the best lighting system on characters, as well as impressive rain animation. This game also has solid performance, with no framerate drops or screentearing presence throughout the game.
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Sound
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David Hayter did not reprise his role as Snake in this game as well as Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which is a disappointment. Kiefer Sutherland is the replacement, and he did a good job on voicing Snake in this game. Other characters who previously appeared in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker however, retained their original voice actors. Skull Face's voice is menacing and bitter, which is good to me. Overall, the voice acting is good.
The soundtrack is pretty good, with lots of electronic styled action music playing in the game's battle scenes as well as orchestral themes.
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Replay Value
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This game has low to moderate replay value. You can attempt to get S ranks on the main Mission, Side Ops and Extra Ops on both difficulties, complete all Trials, collect every cassette tapes, and obtain all Trophies.
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Conclusion
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Despite the game's quality gameplay, the game content is simply lacking enough for players to enjoy it enough to appreciate Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. This game serves as a decent demo and prologue for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, but I personally feel that this game should have been bundled along with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain to have more cohesive and continuing story. Regardless, this game is worth a try in case you have not played Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
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Pros and Cons
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Pros
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- Interstesting story setup for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
- Solid overall gameplay.
- Best Metal Gear Solid game controls.
- Camp Omega is a clever area design.
- Multiple ways of completing your objectives.
- Attentive and clever enemy A.I.
- Amazing graphics.
- Good voice acting.
- Good soundtrack.
Cons
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- Story is not long enough.
- Low game content.
- Possibly low replay value.
- Pricing issues.
- Snake's English voice actor replacement may not suit everyone's tastes.
300,000 Metal Gear games were sold during the first quarter of 2023, Konami has announced, bringing the total number to 59.8 million.
Do not worry they will give use those pichincko remakes for top dollar soon.
Metal gear solid 3 in the fox engine looked/ran amazing but was sealed away :(
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
I know re-makes and stuff have been played to death this generation.
But damn I wouldn't mind an MGS4 remake
I thought the series would have sold more over all these years and different releases.
Metal Gear isn't that big, and there hasn't been a new release in years. Also MGS2 and 3 are still missing from digital storefronts.
5 mgs games in total if I'm not mistaken. 59 60 million seems about right. Mgs is dope to some of us but it would be hard for a lot of regulars to understand
Although there are notable exceptions (GTA, certain first-party Nintendo games, Gran Turismo), as a rule games didn't sell as much in earlier generations as they have in the past few generations. So a lot of PS1-PS2 era titles that are viewed as seminal games didn't actually sell all that much by today's standards (yes, despite the large install bases of those systems lol). I remember a similar surprised reaction happening a few months ago when Square announced the total overall sales of Final Fantasy VII.
Some of the best fun you can have online was the first metal gear online and to a lesser, but still fun to an extent, MGO2. The magazine, CQC, stealth, and tactical play Vs real players is just a blast. Not to mention playing Snake vs everyone? Amazing. The game will never be the same without Hideo, but Konami can definitely update what’s already there and take my money.
You wouldn't be talking about the OG MGO that was included with MGS3:S would you? It's rare running into another former player. Those were some of the best memories of any online game I had.
Yes my man!! That seems like the BEST game that nobody played! Tranquilizer pistol, drag the body to a corner and lay a girly mag right by their head so they wake up and instantly get caught by the mag. You could get real toxic if you wanted at that point, but man that game was incredible! The only thing annoying was that damn Konami ID
Hideo Kojima: "After the launch, many people seemed to expect GZ to be a full game."
People would have gotten “your intention” if you stated it from the beginning but people didn’t want smaller episode like MGS games.
He should have just focused on MGSV and work Ground Zeroes into that game instead
I don't remember there being confusion over Ground Zeroes being a full game. But then again I was just starting to catch up on the MGS series as a whole at that point so I might've not paid enough attention or simply have forgotten that there was confusion about it. I bet the whole Moby Dick Studios thing didn't help the casual observer understand what the hell was going on though.
I only got both MGSV games when Phantom Pain was already out and I kinda agree that it probably would've sucked if I had to wait one and a half years to pay The Phantom Pain after Ground Zeroes.
I'm sorry what now?
Who expected that?
If it was meant to be episodic or an experiment for that, the price should / would have reflected that
To be fair, there really wasn't enough content to actually justify even the smaller price tag. It was still half the cost of a full game, yet a 20th of the content.
I can't stand these paid glorified demos.
Honestly, it was basically similar to the FF15 Duscae demo. My theory is he was taking too damn long to make a game and Konami was like, “Sell what you got!” It just has kind of a scummy corporate “let’s sell this demo for half the price of a full game,” feel to it.
That’s just my take on it. I love Kojima and I love the MGS series, but this and 5 were the biggest let downs, ever. Clearly unfinished work forced out because, in Konami’s defense, Kojima was going over budget and taking forever on the project.
Lol, I loved Ground Zeroes, but releasing that level at $40 during a dryspell for games at the onset of the new gen was an obvious cash grab.
I handed over my money happily, but plenty of non-diehard fans were understandably letdown by the scale of what $40 bought them.
The price was originally $40 for the physical PS4 and XBO versions, but due to controversy it dropped down to $30 before launch. And as much as I love GZ, and even bought it twice, I do agree that $30 was too much. It should have launched at $20.
https://kotaku.com/konami-c...
I don't know how about anyone else. But i've bought it for $20 1 week after release (or $15, don't remember the exact exchange rate) and spent 24 hours beating every mission and getting all the steam achievements. I was 100% aware what the game was about beforehand though and i did enjoy every second of it. I knew it was a work in progress and it was probably the best and less restrictive game i've played in a long time (and controls were just perfect).
Even previous MGS games didn't gave me that much freedom as Ground Zeroes did.
Love stealth? Got you covered.
Want to speedrun? Here's the timer.
Wanna kill everyone? No problem, grab that AK then and let's party.
Wanna cause chaos? Just tell Pequod where to land.
Love to drive? Then go ahead.
Miss Raiden? Then play as him.
I wish they would continue MGSV, finish remaining chapters and add more missions as DLCs, there was SO many options... A poor man still can dream...
A stealth game is only ever as good as its toolkit is versatile, and this is why games not specifically designed around stealth mechanics will always fall flat when they try to implement stealth sequences. Stealth isn't fun on its own. Stealth when accompanied by gadgets and creative-style gameplay is an absolute blast.
