Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

[Scotty_ffgamer]

Anyone else played this game yet? I'm just curious to see what other people think about it.

[Ayen]

Not yet and it's going to be a while too. I still haven't played MGS4 yet.

[Wolf Kanno]

I was willing to check it out until it became a 20-40 dollar demo for MGSV.

[Ayen]

I was willing to check it out until it became a 20-40 dollar demo for MGSV.

Wait, what?

[Wolf Kanno]

It's pretty much the rescue mission for Chico and Paz. There are a couple of variations of the mission but the only thing that apparently changes is the lighting and weather effects because it's showing off what the new tech can do but it's still basically variations using the same mission and enemies from what I've heard, though there is the special system exclusive missions where you can play as Classic PS1 Snake and Cyborg Raiden. It can be completed in less than an hour but Konami wants you to buy the "game" for anywhere between 20-40 dollars depending on what system you own or whether you buy the digital or physical copy of it. There are tons of speed runs of the game, most lasting under six minutes.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

At least they did lower the PS4/XB1 price down to $30. Definitely not worth it, though. First time through on the story mission, I beat it in 40 minutes. It is extremely fun gameplay and is enjoyable, and I actually do enjoy the side missions. All of the side missions are in the same base, but they don't involve rescuing Chico and Paz like the story mission. There's some fun variety there. I've put about 10 hours into it probably just with messing with the side missions and trying to get everything. There's enough content that it doesn't feel like a demo exactly, but it does at the same time.

[Ayen]

That sounds pretty disappointing overall. If I'm paying full price for a game the game should feel like a full game, not a demo for a bigger and better game. I'll probably give it a rental when I have the time to play it just to be on the safe side.

[Bolivar]

I got it day 1 and have enjoyed it a ton. The original trailer was impressive enough but playing this at home on a large TV, running at 1080p and 60fps on PS4 is what next-gen is all about. The gameplay is nuts and it integrates the radio conversations and menu stuff back into the actual play, on the go, similar to how they started doing with Peace Walker. The entire main mission is a sequence shot: from start to finish, everything takes place in one shot with no camera breaks, so to me Kojima's pulled off one of the most impressive sequences in gaming history. If the entirety of the Phantom Pain is like that, well, damn.

To me it is worth the price point and unquestionably so if you're a Metal Gear veteran. Most finish the main mission in an hour or less but I took time to explore the base, rescue prisoners, raid supply depots, listen to audio tapes, get into gunfights, and interrogate soldiers. All in all I probably spent a little under two hours on my first. The other missions are a half hour to an hour but the different entry points and scenarios make Omega Base seem completely different each time. And they do have their own stories to go with them, all of which are fairly interesting. When you add in collectibles, finishing on hard mode, going for S Ranks, going for 0 kill 0 alert completions, the game is an easy 20-30 hours of content. The low end of that is a single play through of a full Metal Gear game, but this isn't a full Metal Gear game, it's a $20 Metal Gear game. It also bears emphasis that Omega Base is HUGE with many distinct areas and a ridiculous amount gadgets, toys, even vehicles to do whatever it is you want to do.

Personally, I think we need to get away from the mentality that games are disposable entertainment experiences that you play once and forget, except when you nostalgically brag about having played it on video game forums. Games are meant to be fully explored and appreciated and if we don't take this medium seriously, we're going to get more generations like the last one - a never-ending slew of homogenous Hollywood-imitating action games with tacked on multiplayer and on disc DLC.

[Wolf Kanno]

I got it day 1 and have enjoyed it a ton. The original trailer was impressive enough but playing this at home on a large TV, running at 1080p and 60fps on PS4 is what next-gen is all about. The gameplay is nuts and it integrates the radio conversations and menu stuff back into the actual play, on the go, similar to how they started doing with Peace Walker. The entire main mission is a sequence shot: from start to finish, everything takes place in one shot with no camera breaks, so to me Kojima's pulled off one of the most impressive sequences in gaming history. If the entirety of the Phantom Pain is like that, well, damn.

To me it is worth the price point and unquestionably so if you're a Metal Gear veteran. Most finish the main mission in an hour or less but I took time to explore the base, rescue prisoners, raid supply depots, listen to audio tapes, get into gunfights, and interrogate soldiers. All in all I probably spent a little under two hours on my first. The other missions are a half hour to an hour but the different entry points and scenarios make Omega Base seem completely different each time. And they do have their own stories to go with them, all of which are fairly interesting. When you add in collectibles, finishing on hard mode, going for S Ranks, going for 0 kill 0 alert completions, the game is an easy 20-30 hours of content. The low end of that is a single play through of a full Metal Gear game, but this isn't a full Metal Gear game, it's a $20 Metal Gear game. It also bears emphasis that Omega Base is HUGE with many distinct areas and a ridiculous amount gadgets, toys, even vehicles to do whatever it is you want to do.

Personally, I think we need to get away from the mentality that games are disposable entertainment experiences that you play once and forget, except when you nostalgically brag about having played it on video game forums. Games are meant to be fully explored and appreciated and if we don't take this medium seriously, we're going to get more generations like the last one - a never-ending slew of homogenous Hollywood-imitating action games with tacked on multiplayer and on disc DLC.

This message created and paid for by the Konami PR department ~ Remember buy more Metal Gear we need new office seats. :shifty:

I'm not saying the game isn't good but considering two generations ago I got a Demo for MGS2 (with another game) that entails most of the Tanker mission from said game, or that I got the demos for the original MGS1 and MGS3 with a $5 purchase of Playstation Magazine and they both were the first hour of gameplay of games to suddenly be asked to drop some serious coinage for something that might be awesome but feels like a demo for the real game and is about the same length of previous demos for the series that I got much better deals for. Making a demo and then calling it a "game" so they can jack up the price of it and screw their customers is just bad business, paying for it and then trying to come off like this is a good thing for gaming is just sending the wrong message to the publishers and developers and giving them an excuse to bleed their fanbase dry with micro-games.

[Slothy]

I'm going to have to agree with WK on this Bolivar. Sure, I have little doubt you can play the hell out of it and get many more hours than just the main mission from it. But the same was literally true of the free demos of previous MGS games we got. I probably spent 20 hours or more playing the MGS2 demo. That doesn't mean it was a full and complete game or that it should have been sold as such. And from what I've heard about GZ's it really sounds like they're trying to sell the modern equivalent of the MGS2 demo.

I mean, if they put it out there for $10, I could probably see the argument for it. As demos went, the MGS2 demo was a fucking beast with a lot of stuff to explore. But I really have a problem with the idea of forking over $30-40 for a demo. It does set a bad precedent for developers and publishers and I don't want to see more of this in the future. Like it or not, there is a certain amount of value that most people are going to expect from a game when they pay that much, and the I don't believe for one second that everyone should have to become a completionist to get their money's worth out of a game.

The main story mode or whatever you want to call it should be sufficient to justify the price because not everyone wants to play more than that. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

[Skyblade]

I can't fully answer that on my phone, but I will say that, at the same time, if we accept full price for what is, quite literally, a demo, the consumer game market is screwed. And, yes, it is a demo. I can't find it now, but there's an interview with Kojima where he talks about Ground Zeroes. He says that it was released because the full game wasn't ready, and he wanted to give fans a feel for what the game would be like, and what sort of things the team was working on. That's pretty much the definition of "demo".

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I do feel comfortable saying that it is more than a demo just with the extra missions. They are stuff you wouldn't normally see in a demo, I think. The main story mission feels exactly like a demo, right down to getting a trailer for The Phantom Pain after the final credits. It's a heck of a lot of fun for what it is, but it's not worth the asking price of $30 on PS4. I know you can get it for $20 as a digital download on PS3/360, but that's still pretty high for what it is.

[Bolivar]

I probably spent 20 hours or more playing the MGS2 demo. That doesn't mean it was a full and complete game or that it should have been sold as such. And from what I've heard about GZ's it really sounds like they're trying to sell the modern equivalent of the MGS2 demo.


The game is much larger and less linear than the tanker scene, with bonus missions that fundamentally change the experience, alongside a richer variety of gameplay options and a cache of collectibles that flesh out the lore.

If I asked you to create a $20 Metal Gear game, it would probably look a lot like Ground Zeroes.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

It's larger and less linear, but it's essentially the same in terms of scope. Kojima has practically said to consider this to be like the Tanker section for Phantom Pain. The story there is good, heartbreaking, and kind of disturbing; but there isn't much there. They added length to the experience with the added missions, but they are all in the same place. Yes, in the story mission it's dark and rainy and every other mission is bright and sunny, but it's the same location. They don't add anything to the story really aside from the few tapes you can find which help flesh out Skull Face as a villain and what Chico and Paz went through.

If the money was worth it to you, I'm glad. $30 is a lot they are asking for what you are getting. I just think it's worth nothing more than a rental considering you could do everything in the game in two days.

[Bolivar]

Strange, I felt the different objectives, patrols, and insertion points make Omega feel like a different place each time. But you said it yourself, it really comes down to that I'm getting more than my money's worth and that seems to be the consensus for people who actually played the game.


If I asked you to create a $20 Metal Gear game, it would probably look a lot like Ground Zeroes.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I've played it and put something like 10 hours into it or more just because. I do think it has incredibly fun gameplay, but as silly as it may seem, the story is a huge part of Metal Gear for me. There isn't much there in terms of the story, and that's what I mean in terms of the scope being like the Tanker section.

And no, the insertion points and everything don't really make Omega base feel like a different place every time for me. There is night and day, those feel kind of different. Same layout, but visually there is enough of a difference. Maybe it has to do with the order I did the missions in, I don't know. But I saw the entire base pretty much in the ground zeroes mission, and I saw the entire base in the mission I chose to do after that. Soldiers have a different routine in each mission and your objective is different, and this adds good variety. The base doesn't feel like a different place, though. I can use the same strategies in every mission in pretty much the same spots to reach my goals. I'll give you that it feels like a different place after going from night and stormy to a clear, sunny day; but I just can't understand the thought that it seems like a different place after that. I think more weather variety might have helped. The Deja Vu mission on the PS4 version has snow (though I can't remember if this is only when you have the MGS1 skins on after completing the mission the first time). Had the ground been snowy as well, there would be added effect of being able to be tracked by your footprints and stuff which would have been nice. Having it be foggy could have made everything feel pretty differently just because your approach would need to be different.

Those are just my thoughts. But we can have differing opinions and I'm glad it was worth the price for you because it sucks buying something and not feeling like it was worth it afterwards.

[Skyblade]

Strange, I felt the different objectives, patrols, and insertion points make Omega feel like a different place each time. But you said it yourself, it really comes down to that I'm getting more than my money's worth and that seems to be the consensus for people who actually played the game.


If I asked you to create a $20 Metal Gear game, it would probably look a lot like Ground Zeroes.

Actually, there is no "consensus" for people who play the game. Check nearly any online discussion on it. Half of the people are saying it's a great game that they got a ton of enjoyment out of, the other half are saying that it's a complete rip-off for even the $20 price (in its cheapest form).

[Slothy]

Yeah, I don't think I've seen any discussion for the game anywhere that has any consensus at all. The critics are certainly divided on it. Almost all of them say that what is there is great, but many have a problem with it being just a slice of what you'll get with the full game in the Phantom Pain. And considering the thing was released for 2/3rds the price on the PS4 and XBone originally, there's really no excuse for that. That was a blatant rip off and Konami should be ashamed.

Now at $20, there is more of an argument to be had. Under the right circumstances I don't have a problem with releasing a preview of a full game for money. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue worked for me as an example because even though it wasn't a full fledged GT, it still had about as much content as the typical racing game and was being released at a lower price. I don't see how this MGS is worth $20 though. I'll find out for certain when I eventually play it as my brother in law bought it so I'll get a crack at it eventually, but from everything I've seen and heard about it I wouldn't pay the money for it. At $10 maybe, but I don't see the value as is, especially when the full game will eventually hit with a lot more content, and at an only modestly higher price.

[Bolivar]

Review aggregate sites (http://www.gamerankings.com/ps4/739463-metal-gear-solid-v-ground-zeroes/index.html) have tallied and weighed the scores and the critical reception has indeed been categorized as generally favorable (http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/metal-gear-solid-v-ground-zeroes). The game also placed 6th (http://www.joystiq.com/2014/04/17/march-npd-ps4-leads-hardware-sales-titanfall-rules-software/) for the top 10 selling games of March. Everyone I know in real life and all the fan podcasts I have listened to all say that the game is worth the price of admission.

Of course the reception looks mixed on video game forums, article comments sections, and other places where you cannot actually verify if the person really did buy the game. It's the internet, after all.

[Wolf Kanno]

Review aggregate sites (http://www.gamerankings.com/ps4/739463-metal-gear-solid-v-ground-zeroes/index.html) have tallied and weighed the scores and the critical reception has indeed been categorized as generally favorable (http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/metal-gear-solid-v-ground-zeroes). The game also placed 6th (http://www.joystiq.com/2014/04/17/march-npd-ps4-leads-hardware-sales-titanfall-rules-software/) for the top 10 selling games of March. Everyone I know in real life and all the fan podcasts I have listened to all say that the game is worth the price of admission.

Of course the reception looks mixed on video game forums, article comments sections, and other places where you cannot actually verify if the person really did buy the game. It's the internet, after all.

Except when you actually read the reviews of said websites and ignore the score (shocking I know) and see that all of them marked it down for being overpriced. Granted everyone remarks that it is good and I am certainly not denying that cause Kojima does good stuff, but the demos for the earlier entries were all excellent as well and much more reasonably priced. I still feel like letting Konami get away with this (I would love to see Nintendo try this, they would be eaten alive) because it sends a really bad message to the gaming companies that we'll pay anything to get our next "fix".

Aren't you happy I came back? 53066

[Scotty_ffgamer]

Which mission was your favorite, Bolivar? I quite liked the eliminate the enemy threat mission (I think that's the one where you have the two targets). I liked trying to extract both the targets instead of kill them, which was actually pretty difficult.

[Bolivar]

Aren't you happy I came back? 53066

Always!

My favorite mission... I haven't played De ja vu yet so it's still in the running. Maybe the "eliminate the AA batteries" because of how challenging it is for the base to be on full alert the whole time. Plus you get to decide how to go about it - shooting red tanks with a silencer, finding an RPG or planting C4 and detonate them all at the same time? I also like how the APC comes out at the end, reminded me a lot of Peace Walker.

I didn't know you could extract those guys... that's crazy.

Any idea on who Skull Face is? In one of the tapes he tells Chico "me and your Boss go way back." I suppose he could still be a new character.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I kind of imagine he's a new character, but it's kind of hard to tell because of that line you mentioned. It's hard to think of who he could be from any of the Big Boss games as I don't remember seeing anyone get caught in a fire or anything (though I haven't played Portable Ops). Volgin is the only one I can think of. There are other things that kind of make me think otherwise. There's the tape where Skull Face describes how he came to look the way he did if I remember right. I need to listen to that one again just because I was distracted and missed some of it. I would imagine he had some connection to FOX with the whole XOF thing.

[Skyblade]

Review aggregate sites (http://www.gamerankings.com/ps4/739463-metal-gear-solid-v-ground-zeroes/index.html) have tallied and weighed the scores and the critical reception has indeed been categorized as generally favorable (http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/metal-gear-solid-v-ground-zeroes). The game also placed 6th (http://www.joystiq.com/2014/04/17/march-npd-ps4-leads-hardware-sales-titanfall-rules-software/) for the top 10 selling games of March. Everyone I know in real life and all the fan podcasts I have listened to all say that the game is worth the price of admission.

Of course the reception looks mixed on video game forums, article comments sections, and other places where you cannot actually verify if the person really did buy the game. It's the internet, after all.

Sure, dismiss anyone who disagrees as "not having played it". That's a successful approach. In most of the discussions I've seen, the people complaining go into detail about the game far more than those praising it, as they actually sum up the story and missions when pointing out that it wasn't worth the money, while most praising it just tend to say "it was great, what's wrong with you". I could just as easily argue that a lot of people praising it are simply rabid Kojima fanboys who would pay anything for any of his work. It would be just as large of a fallacy.

Also, sales =/= quality. Hell, Aliens Colonial Marines sold well, reaching number 1 in the UK, and number 6 in the US. Yet very few argue that it is a good game.

[Bolivar]

I believe we've moved on Sky ;)

[Scotty_ffgamer]

Do you have any theories on Skull Face, Bolivar?

[Wolf Kanno]

He's most likely new. There doesn't seem to be anyone who can qualify from previous games to be him, though I do find the Raikov theory to be quite amusing and something Kojima would do. Gene is another interesting possibility but it doesn't fit with his final words to Big Boss and I'm still waiting for Kojima to finally confirm that Portable OPS isn't canon anymore. One of the other interesting theories is that it may be Sokolov since he used the codename Ghost before but again it's not likely.

I'm pretty sure he'll turn out to be someone new and we'll find out about how Snkae and Zero screwed him over before in some event taking place before the Virtuous Mission.

[krissy]

i think it's volgin

but i'm not buying this thing

and i'm pretty much not even going to play it for free due to, from what i've read on the internet, is a scene with a bomb up someone's vagina??

hopin phantom pain will be an atonement
but we should've been done with this at mgs4 let's all be honest

[Scotty_ffgamer]

That is heavily implied in one of the audio tapes, though it isn't outright said. Honestly, the other stuff in that tape you can find in the game is more disturbing than what's in your spoiler.

I'm pretty positive Skull Face will be a new character, but it is fun to speculate anyways. I can agree that the Raikov theory is pretty amusing.

By the way, is Portable Ops any good? I've always meant to play it once I realized it was actually a part of the story.

[Wolf Kanno]

It is pretty good actually. Maybe not the best MGS but it pioneered a lot of elements that Peace Walker improved on like building a stronghold from enemy recruits which dictate what gear you get. The story is pretty good but you can tell Kojima didn't work on it and it does feature a few retcons that bother me, the boss fights are also a bit underwhelming but I felt that away about Peace Walker as well. Overall, I found it to be a pretty fun game minus the hiccups.

I actually prefer recovering enemy soldiers in this game over Peace Walker because it created new challenges, you had to personally drag the bodies back to the truck that brought you there so it was always amusing trying to drag an enemy guard away without getting spotted. Even more fun was that enemy guards (as long as they were the right type of uniform) could actually wander through stages unmolested as long as they didn't physcially touch other guards or get spotted doing something fishy.

[Ayen]

I would have rented it anyway now that I have a place that offers a full month of free rentals with no late fees, so good or bad it won't hinder me much when I do have time to play. I feel out of the loop, though, since I haven't touched any of the PSP games and most likely won't.

[Bolivar]

Portable Ops was interesting but the controls were garbage and it wasn't a Kojima game.

Peace Walker is the most impressive handheld game I've played, a satisyingly playable, free camera third person stealth action game. The story is pretty good and co-op Metal Gear is just as fun as you would hope it could be. It's probably best to play the HD remaster on PS3/360. The game is a little easy, though.

[Wolf Kanno]

I wouldn't call Peace Walker the most impressive handheld, I mean it has to download half the game to the Memory Stick just to function and like most Mission based Games, many of the missions were samey especially the boss battles which had little variation. The control set-up is better than Portable OPs but I wouldn't call POPs controls "garbage" since they got the job done, of anything both games pretty much proved to me that you can't really get an authentic MGS Experience on a handheld as both games suffer from having awkward camera controls that result in the rest of the controls and A.I. being dumbed down to compensate for it.

[Bolivar]

I guess you've just played more impressive handheld games than I have, as the controls were always perfect for me.

[Wolf Kanno]

I think you and I have different standards and needs is really at play here.

I've come to appreciate handhelds as their own thing, not just some system that tries to emulate their console brethren into a portable experience cause not all games work as a portable experience, instead I like my handhelds to be game that just make more sense as a portable experience. I would say The World Ends With You was the most impressive handheld I ever played but that's because it's obvious that the entire game was built around it's system and using all of its features. It was not a console game being forcibly changed and rearranged to work on something it has no business being on.

MGS needs a proper camera control and while I appreciate PW's different control schemes which try to make it as comfortable as possible, I feel none of them make up for the lack of a right control stick and as you yourself admit, the game is easy, largely for the reason that the enemies are compensating for the roughshod quick fix and partially because the PSP can't handle a game as complicated as the MGS series. Kojima should stick to consoles when it comes to the MGS franchise.

[Dat Matt]

I've never played a Metal Gear game before, but I've heard that this game takes about <2 hours to finish. The game received a huge price drop on Amazon from RP £45 to £20 recently. That's pretty telling.

I've heard MGS games have a reputation for being short, but goodness that's short.

[Bolivar]

I think you and I have different standards and needs is really at play here.

I've come to appreciate handhelds as their own thing, not just some system that tries to emulate their console brethren into a portable experience cause not all games work as a portable experience, instead I like my handhelds to be game that just make more sense as a portable experience. I would say The World Ends With You was the most impressive handheld I ever played but that's because it's obvious that the entire game was built around it's system and using all of its features. It was not a console game being forcibly changed and rearranged to work on something it has no business being on.

MGS needs a proper camera control and while I appreciate PW's different control schemes which try to make it as comfortable as possible, I feel none of them make up for the lack of a right control stick and as you yourself admit, the game is easy, largely for the reason that the enemies are compensating for the roughshod quick fix and partially because the PSP can't handle a game as complicated as the MGS series. Kojima should stick to consoles when it comes to the MGS franchise.

I always thought the local co-op and mission structure worked wonderfully for a portable game. It's kind of hard to take your control qualms as genuine when that's what the game was lauded for and you just got done praising Portable Ops.

I think you're reaching a bit.

[Wolf Kanno]

I never said Portable OPs controls are great, I said they got the job done which is what I'm asking for but while I will agree with most that PW is a huge improvement I still feel it falls very short of its lofty goals. The camera i an issue in both games and I do feel PW is a huge improvement but it doesn't change that the camera controls weaken the rest of the experience and I spent every moment of the game wishing I was playing this game on a console with a proper controller.

Besides I'm not the one being stuck up about POps not being a Kojima game , for not having his vision it was still a well made game considering. :p

I just don't feel that PW brought as much of an improvement as I feel people are acting like it did. Most of PW's ideas are just Kojima re-tinkering with concepts and designs that POps created such as recruiting soldiers, the home base for building weapons, the comic book story cut-scenes, and most of the themes of the plot about The Boss' legacy and Big Boss finally trying to move on from it. After playing through all of POps, PW just kind of felt a bit like a rehash so I'm sorry if I'm not as impressed as you feel I should be.

With that said, I wouldn't be heart broken if Kojima finally (and I do feel this is true) announces that POps is non-canon. As much as I defend it, it was not exactly my favorite in the series either and I would love for all the changes to Gray Fox be retcon.

[Del Murder]

I'd pay 5 bucks for it but nothing more. Seems like a DLC more than an actual game. From what I've heard it's pretty straightforward and lacks the twists and crazy boss fights that this series is known for.

[Mercen-X]

This is the one. My cousin mentioned this past weekend that had got the new MGS. When he mentioned the title, I thought it sounded lame and assumed he made it up. Turns out it's just lame.

[Pumpkin]

Sharky just finished this after borrowing it from a friend. He didn't like the voice change. I asked if he liked it and he said yes and I asked if he $30 worth of enjoyed it and he said no.

[Psychotic]

I'm just giving this thread a bump as I know a lot of what put people off was the price relative to the length, and it's now one of this month's free PlayStation Plus games. I've picked it up and just begun... I really can't approve of Snake's new voice. It's just not right.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

I agree about the voice. When I think of a video game character that is known for their voice, Snake is one of the first to come to mind. Maybe if the current voice was the voice all along it wouldn't matter, but David Hayter is Solid Snake and Big Boss now. That's just how it is. It doesn't matter if you explain it with story, you should still use Hayter. He's a voice actor, I'm sure he can change it up if he needs to. It feels troutty.

As for the game. It was really a lot of fun, but yes, it was also definitely a demo that they decided to charge for. That's just how it is. I'm excited for the game, and I was excited to play Ground Zeroes, but I'm also very pleased I didn't have to pay for it. I in now way financially supported Konami's dick move and stand by it.

As for krissy's concern about Paz having a bomb in her vagina. Unless I totally missed something (possible) it was sewn into her abdomen. When they lift up her shirt you can see the suture marks and all that. Still gruesome, but wholly different in vibe and approach.

I just went back to jog my memory and yeah, maybe they did. I never thought of it going there. The human abdomen is pretty large, so I figured they just sewed it inside an organ or hid it elsewhere in there. Maybe they did drop the V bomb.

[Mirage]

I'd pay 5 bucks for it but nothing more. Seems like a DLC more than an actual game. From what I've heard it's pretty straightforward and lacks the twists and crazy boss fights that this series is known for.

It's basically just a prologue. I would be surprised if it isn't included in the main game.

[Bolivar]

Change is hard but I like Kiefer Sutherland, I think he's going to do a great job. You can always keep faith with the rumor that the only reason they got a different voice actor for Big Boss is because they needed to distinguish him from Solid Snake, who takes over halfway through the game as the main protagonist, voiced by David Hayter ("kept you waiting, huh?") :dance: Basically the MGS2 Raiden switch but in reverse.

I've said all I had to say when the game came out a year ago, I'll just reiterate - if you only play the main story, no, it's not worth it. But the other side missions and everything in total on the disc gave me more hours of playtime than many $60 games did. Gameplay, technology, and story-wise it's better than most of them as well.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

A) He's a clone, so he should probably sound similar.

B) They've already used Hayter for both SS and BB. It's dumb to switch now.

As someone who has put hours into it, I still disagree. Yes it's a fun game, yes you can lose tons of time on side missions, no it doesn't feel like a complete game. It feels like a short, very well detailed, game with a ton of sidequests/variations on a theme.

My .02 cents.

[Wolf Kanno]

Having finally played it, I still agree that it was an expensive but good demo for MGSV. The control scheme is much more fluid than anything in the series, though I miss proper Codec Calls and I'm annoyed the main game is bringing back the Fulton system because I enjoy the challenge of dragging POWs to THE CHOPPER! Hated the rail gun mission. Despite that, the game was impressive but I stand by my feelings it wasn't worth the price of admission. It did make me more excited for MGSV though.

I don't mind Kiefer Sutherland being BB. He did a good job, though his voice is a little too close to Miller's VA, making some of the tapes and trailers a bit confusing. BB is getting older and we know from previous games that BB and SS don't sound the same after a certain point (probably because Snake is way more of a chain smoker) so I'm cool with the change since we're seeing an older Big Boss. Like Bolivar mentioned, I'm betting money that Hayter was replaced because he's going to make a cameo as a young Snake. I don't believe in the switched protagonist theories the fanboys keeping saying (though I find the Quiet = Chico theory to be amusing) but I do feel he'll show up in the series traditional after credit Codec call will Big Boss giving Snake his orders to infiltrate Outer Heaven. :cool:

64596

[Psychotic]

I really enjoyed it. As WK says, the control and motion is fluid and both the stealth and combat are really tight and sharp experiences. Definitely got me hyped for MGS V. I wasn't really interested before as MGS4 was a disappointment to me after the masterpiece that was 3, but I've gone and pre-ordered it (I know, I know!)

Is it worth the price? I didn't pay a bean, so yes! :D I haven't played through all the missions yet though. I think given that TPP is coming out with the same gameplay and a full game it's not really worth what some people have played for it.