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.

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 smurfing 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.