Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes has been labeled as one large demo and prologue to The Phantom Pain. In fact there have been gameplay sessions of the game that show it can be completed in a little over seven minutes. The game is also not the same price as a normal retail title but it is still $30 but is it worth the price of admission to Metal Gear Solid V? Let's dig in and see if you should drop the cash and time.

Story:

Sometime after Peace Walker rumors of Paz Ortega surface that she is still alive and Chico Valenciano has failed to save her or prove she is still alive. So send in Snake to pick up the job and make sure he can get both of them out or prove that they both died and didn't give up any information. That is about it as far as the main story for Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. There are a few other things in the side missions but I won't go into that here.

Hated:

This is going to be the same stereotypical complaint that most people have had but Ground Zeroes is really short. Even when I took my time on my first play, 84 minutes, when the final cut scene happened I was asking myself out loud "Wait, that's it?" I found myself holding my controller during the final and long cut scene waiting to be thrust back into the game. I was let down. Even when some of the scenes that took place during the cut scene felt like I should be jumping back into the action, we are just placed back into spectator mode. Why do that when there is a whole fire fight we could have played through? It just seems like it was a waste of time we could have been playing. Even if it would have been just shooting a few more enemies from cover as the scene played out. I'm just saying.

Also, for a game that was so short in the main mission, Ground Zeroes also had a really weird learning curve when it comes to the controls of the game. If this is to be the prologue to The Phantom Pain then shouldn't this be also a tutorial for all of the game's controls? It does give you a few of the controls during the game but I found myself needing to go into the game manual and pause screen to get all of the controls that are needed to complete the game. Maybe this will be fixed when the real full game comes out. I'm talking The Phantom Pain here.

Loved:

Ground Zeroes is absolutely beautiful in all sensory areas. I would have to say this, at least the PS4 version, has to be some of the best graphics to date on the consoles. I had the same shock and awe when Metal Gear Solid IV came out on the PS3. This new next gen version is leaps and bounds further and is insanely photo realistic with the general audio mixed in to enrich the entire gaming experience. This carries over from the game's day and night cycles and I think the rain system shows it off to perfection. This is next gen for the consoles plain and simple even if it is stated as being a demo. I think I spent a good amount of time just looking and listening.

Back to the stereotypical shortness again now. Even though that was something I hated I do have to give major kudos to Kojima Productions for using the same map and "demo" multiple times and making it feel "new" with each side mission that is available. Not only that but all of the extra challenges in each side mission and main mission add quite a bit of replay to Ground Zeroes. In fact I spent upwards of 15 hours over a couple days just playing and replaying the game multiple times and in different ways. Not many titles can really claim that nowadays can they? Even as I am writing this I want to go back in and play Ground Zeroes again just to try different things.

Overall:

Alright, so is Ground Zeroes worth the lower price tag for the game? That is really up to you and if you have the extra cash sitting around. While I will say that having a game that has some great replay value should be worth it I don't see there being a lot of longevity after you have mastered Ground Zeroes. I have yet to master the game which is why I will keep playing it. Also in a time where everyone either claims to have A.D.D. or needs instant gratification you may get bored pretty quick as it is quite literally the same mission map over six different scenarios and two difficulty levels. So far I am looking at about $2 per hour I have played though and there is still more for me in my opinion. Not to mention keep me excited for when The Phantom Pain finally launches. I just hope that time flies there.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes was developed by Kojima Productions and published by Konami for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on March 18^th, 2014. A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes.