Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

I fell in love with the Metal Gear Solid series after picking it up on the original Playstation in 1998. So when a demo was released for the forthcoming Metal Gear Solid 2 on the PS2 in 2001, I happily bought the demo, which just so happened to come with another game (Zone of Enders, which turned out to be excellent). 13 years after I bought the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo, Metal Gear fans are once again asked to pay for the demo of a forthcoming game... except this time without an extra full game attached.

They call Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes a "prologue", but let's call it what it actually is, a demo. It's a demo for that as yet release date TBD, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. While it's a lot of fun while it lasts, it doesn't last very long. On my initial playtrhough, I finished it in just over 2 hours. (Which is only slightly longer than some of the cutscenes in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.) Which is not to say it's not a lot of fun.

As a taste of what the full game will be like, it delivers. While all of the previous Metal Gear Solid games could "technically" be classified as open world games, Ground Zeroes opens up the world unlike any game before it. Whereas the previous games presented limited options on how to complete your objectives, this one is limited by only your imagination. Want to play stealthily and knock out guards and hide their bodies? Sure. Want to go in guns blazing? Ok. Want to drive around in an armored vehicle and leave a trail of destruction in your wake? Um, I guess you can do that too, but prepare for an army to descend on your location.

I'm not usually a fan of open world games (I think they offer too much freedom... I think what makes games fun are the rules they impose and you overcoming those rules), but Ground Zeroes manages to combine the open world with the classic hide and seek gameplay of the franchise. It feels like a Metal Gear game, but gives just the right amount of freedom. It also seems that Kojima and crew have heard the criticisms of the previous games and made the cutscenes less self-indulgent. For those of you who hear the words "2 hour Metal Gear Solid demo" and think "10 minutes of gameplay, 1 hour 50 minutes of cutscenes", fear not, the majority of those 2 hours you'll spend with your hands on the controller, navigating Snake through his mission. (But on the subject of cutscenes, HOLY CRAP, the ones that are in the game can be pretty graphic. Seriously, if you are in any way squeamish, you might want to skip the last cutscene.)

Though the main campaign is only two hours and change, completing it will unlock a number of side missions, which are a nice change of pace. There are your usual sneaking missions, but there's also a side mission where you assault a military base from a helicopter. The side missions are a lot of fun, but I'd probably trade them in for more of the main campaign if I could.

Considering games cost 60 bucks a pop now, demos are an important factor in deciding if you want to buy the game. But demos can also be decieving. I've played through my fair share of demos that I loved, only to be indifferent to a full game. But Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes gives me hope. Hope that when the full game comes out, it'll be well worth 60 bucks... whenever it happens to come out.

Rating

I had a great time playing Ground Zeroes but I have a hard time recommending a purchase.  Even at the below average price of $30, it's too much to pay for too little content.  I'd suggest you do what I did and rent it. 

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