After several years without a Metal Gear Solid video game (excepting the hack 'n' slash Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance), Hideo Kojima presents us with a preview of what is to come in the upcoming Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. This preview, also acts as a prologue (and arguably a demo) - set after the events of Peace Walker - which may I add - for those who didn't finish the final act, I recommend a good read of the synopsis provided in Ground Zeroes for any exposition, as it remains relatively bare in the game itself. Kojima decided to reform from his conventional cutscenes (which on occasion lasted for over an hour) in order to concentrate on open world-based gameplay, adding a fresh offering of tactical espionage.
Kiefer Sutherland controversially stars as our beloved badass Big Boss/Snake, who is deployed to Camp Omega, there he must extract two P.O.Ws - whom some may note as familiar faces from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Additionally we are introduced to the ambiguous XOF commander Skull Face, who no doubt will be a significant boss in The Phantom Pain. After this ninety minute sneaking mission, Big Boss returns to a Mother Base under attack from the U.S. Government, only to escape in time with his brother-in-arms Kazuhira Miller. After which, we are blown away with another explosive ending - the obvious cause of Big Boss' coma at the start of The Phantom Pain.
The little bit of story which is presented in Ground Zeroes isn't its strong point, mainly due to the significantly shortened cutscenes - as that itself acts as an exposition for the next installation of the series. The main highlight I'm wanting to point out is how utterly brilliant the new FOX engine is, after watching trailers and gameplay footage of The Phantom Pain, I just needed something to keep me going on such a long wait, craved - if you will; Ground Zeroes acts as a light starter for this appetising three course meal. The FOX engine, as aforementioned, offered new open world-based gaming, as well as refined controls - offering the player the choice of a silent approach to the mission, or an infernal guns blazing run through. The map is a relatively decent size for this sort of mission, and vehicles are distributed for the player to commandeer at will.
Illustrating my first point, previous Metal Gear games have failed to utilise the ability to move in both the prone or crouched stances; I'm relieved to say that Kojima has now allowed this, you would think as a tactical stealth game, Metal Gear Solid would already have this mechanic - but thankfully I am at peace with this. Most importantly, the CQC (Close Quarter Combat) - the special essence of the Metal Gear gameplay, is more attuned than it ever has been. Being extremely convenient to use, the silent approach that bit more enjoyable; Snake can either interrogate an NPC for information, put him to sleep or kill him. I personally prefer interrogation, followed by a slamming into the ground.
Adding onto the open world gameplay itself, is the feature to request for a helicopter to arrive at a landing zone for the purpose of extracting P.O.Ws; the player has a range of LZs to choose from, varying from low danger to high - again, offering more flexible, choice based gameplay.
As for the pricing itself, £22 for a two hour mission is a cheeky move from Kojima, but the silver lining is the amount of replay value granted. Several side missions are included, as well as collectibles which provide additional exposition: such as tapes containing voice recordings, as well as XOF badges to collect in order to unlock a console-exclusive side mission. At this point I haven't unlocked the so called 'Jamais Vu' bonus mission (basically, cyborg Raiden must eliminate a group of 'body snatchers' infiltrating the U.S. Government), however it does appear to be a great deal of fun.
I wouldn't recommend this title for newcomers to the series, as the small snippets of story provided in GZ aren't introductory, and characters seem to be thrown in there as if we should already know who they are - it's acting as a direct epilogue to Peace Walker in that sense. Apart from this, Metal Gear fanatics would either love or hate the direction the series has been taken in. Sure, it has evolved dramatically - less of a Japanese feel has been implemented, but I can deal with that.
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