| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| PlayStation 4 | 8.90 |
| Overall | 8.90 |
|
Unless you lived under a cardboard box for the last few months you know of the controversy over the length of Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes. Many felt Konami was charging $30 for what is essentially a demo. The anger became louder when it became clear that the main mission could be finished in under two hours. Ground Zeroes created an interesting debate about length, value and price; one that I think has no clear cut answer. The purpose of this review is not to get into the length debate and whether its worth your money, I believe you can figure that out on your own. This is a review of the game itself, one that I feel is one of the best of this year. Ground Zeroes can be described as a small map that allows the player to play around in with various missions and trials to complete. It is a preview of the gameplay that can be expected from the full MGSV and what a preview it is. Within seconds in becomes apparent that this Metal Gear has gone under major changes, most all for the better. Big Boss moves with a fluidity that no character has, he can easily sprint over objects, jump across rooftops, dive, spin, and hide behind over. Cover can be a little tricky as there is no cover button, Boss will simply hug a wall when you get close which could lead to moments where you stick against a wall when you want to get moving or vice versa, not a big deal but one that hopefully gets looked at for MGSV. The R2/L2 inventory system is gone replaced with a more natural d-pad weapon switching. The shooting mechanics are similar to MGS4 but feel more refined to the point where it can hang with the most dedicated of shooters. Rations have been removed for a healing over time mechanic, this will anger many but in my playtime it did not feel like it impacted the game much. I almost always have plenty of rations in an MGS game so health isn't really a concern. It may impact boss battles where having limited health can have a big impact but GZ has no bosses so it does not come into play. CQC remains the same as in MGS4 with one new addition which allows you to rip away an enemies weapon and turn it against them. Movement and controls feel better than ever but how does that fit into the stealth that this series is known for. Well stealth has gotten a complete makeover due to the open world nature of MGSV. Previous MGS games including MGS4 had spacious areas to explore but they always felt enclosed and specifically designed to create certain paths. Each area led to another enclosed area. That structure is gone, there is one large map and you are free to go anywhere you want, do what you want with no breaks or loads stopping the action at any moment. Which means that now an entire base of enemies is always in play, they are scattered all about and they will spot you if you are careless. There is no radar and no camouflage , stealth relies completely on staying out of the line of sight of enemies and using traditional tactics of staying low, getting behind cover and distractions to move about. To help out with the added pressure of having eyes from all directions potentially spotting you there are now two new gameplay elements, reflex mode and tagging. Tagging is the same system used in games like Far Cry 3, if you stare at an enemy through binoculars or down iron sights you will mark them, you may now see tagged enemies through walls. I found this tool to be extremely helpful, there are simply way too many enemies around to be blindly running about, knowing where some are through scouting is a great gameplay mechanic. There are even trials where the game times you on how fast you can mark enemies, creating a sort of mini game. Reflex mode slows the game down to bullet time anytime someone spots you giving you a few seconds to neutralize the enemy before an alarm goes off. Once again this is a handy tool as many times you will have no clue where you got spotted from, this allows you to fix a silly mistake. It is not exactly a free pass, you still need to get a headshot to take them out and if you have the wrong weapon out well you are basically out of luck. If you really screwed up you may be spotted by 2 or 3 enemies at once, good luck taking them all down. For anyone that feels these features ruins the MGS experience you may simply turn them off but I find that they fit perfectly with the new kind of stealth presented. The game is split into six different missions each taking place in the same base. The main Ground Zeroes mission is the only one with a cannon storyline complete with an amazing cutscene that sets the stage for MGSV. Codec conversations now take place as you play, personally I hope the traditional codec returns for MGSV as they serve to build so much character and lead to many of the quirky moments that make MGS so special. This game is basically all gameplay, while in any mission no cutscene lasts longer than a minute and there are only two of them. Ground Zeroes takes place at night allowing the lighting system to come into play, spotlights must be avoided at all costs and you are naturally much harder to see. Other missions take place during the day with enemies that can see you move from half the map away due to the added light. GZ is a simple extraction mission, go in, rescue two prisoners and extract them by helicopter (which you can now call in to attack or extract at certain points of the map). Other missions have you accomplishing different goals like assassinate two targets, go on an on rails helicopter escort mission, interrogatting certain soliders, and the console exclusive mission which for the PS4 is a deja vu mission that recreates scenes from MGS1 and is easter egg crazy. These missions can be completed in various ways, many offering a hidden obejective that you may not know about until you interrogate certain guards or listen into conversations. On top of that there are speed trials of various objectives for each mission with leaderboards to compete in. Each mission is graded in a variety of ways, trying to get an S rank in all is not an easy feat. Plus every mission has a normal and a hard mode, each mode has a separate set of trials. Not to mention the hidden collectibles in each mission and unlockable weapons. Basically to 100% this game you are looking at 30 hours or so. The missions themselves are almost just guidelines, the true fun simply comes from messing around. Just like past MGS games the fun begins when an alarm goes off and everything becomes chaos. Now there are vehicles which are driveable, including a tank which adds to the madness. There is almost never a mission that goes by where something crazy or unexpected happens, or some moment that makes you laugh out loud. For a good 15 hours I was still finding new paths through the base or discovering some strange quirky MGS moment. Torturing guards is as fun as ever, even better now that you have cars. Knock out a few, put them all in a car and drive it off a cliff. The game is an absolute blast to play, easily the best gameplay the series has ever seen. Obviously having one map hampers the enjoyment level of the game. After 10 hours or so you will know the base by memory. If you play enough missions over and over you will learn where every single guard is placed. This is not a full game, all the story driven moments, or the amazing boss battles that make MGS special are missing. Ground Zeroes also feels a lot more serious than past MGS games. The more comical elements like cardboard boxes and funny codec conversations are missing, probably due to this being a small sample. MGS Ground Zeroes on the PS4 is absolutely gorgeous running at a near perfect 60FPS at all times. The lighting is crazy, the character models are insanely detailed, it is stunning. The only things holding it back graphically are certain models of objects that look last gen and a few odd animations that feel like they were taken from MGS4. Keifer Sutherland voices Big Boss now and honestly he doesn't speak enough to have an opinion on how he will do, he's fine so far but it is weird hearing Jack Bauer rather than Hayter. I got more than my money's worth from Ground Zeroes. I did not play it to 100% out of some obligation to justify the price, I played it cause I was addicted, I could not put it down. I finished all missions on both difficulty modes, went for S ranks, did some speed runs, I just kept finding new things to do. The only reason this isn't my favorite game of the past year is cause it is not a full game, it is missing touches that make this series such a masterpiece. The ground work is there though, all MGSV has to do is craft an adventure that makes the best use of that gameplay in a variety of ways and you know that is what Kojima is best at. If this sample is this damn good I can't even begin to imagine how incredible MGSV will be. |
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Posted by Dvader Thu, 24 Apr 2014 02:13:51
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