They sold this as its own game, therefor I shall review it as its own game. Besides, I’m gonna need a lot more time before reviewing Phantom Pain. Mostly because I’m only about a tenth of the way through PP right now.
Note to self: never abbreviate MGSV as PP ever again.
Some time after the events of Peace Walker, Big Boss and the others at Mother Base get word that Paz is still alive. She and Chico have been captured by XOF, a mysterious new foe, and it’s up to Boss to break them out. Meanwhile, Mother Base is under inspection for nuclear weapons… or is it?
This whole story is just a prologue to Phantom Pain. All it does is put Boss and the others where we meet them at the start of the proper game. Seeing Mother Base and the army you’ve built up throughout Peace Walker get destroyed is sad, after all the time we spent with it in the previous game. But that’s the only important part, and that’s at the end of the game.
Not to say that it takes long to get there. The whole game takes less than an hour to finish. And that’s if you’re bad at it, like I am.
Presentation wise, this game is amazing. At least in comparison to other photo-realistic games. It still holds up today, by those standards. The environments are meticulously crafted, the character models are all amazing, it runs at a perfectly smooth framerate from start to end, and all of the effects, like rain, look great!
Oh, and surprising no one: the music is really good. Shocker, I know. Metal Gear Solid music is great.
Man, I can’t wait to just copy-paste that into the full Phantom Pain review.
The gameplay itself is also really fun. Mostly because it’s just Phantom Pain, but in a smaller area. The controls are easily the most simple and responsive out of any Metal Gear game, making it super easy to pick up and play. And you have a fair amount of creative freedom in how you approach the mission, although the resources given to you are extremely limited.
While it is fun to sneak around and take dudes out, the lack of content in this game is an issue. The whole thing is basically just a demo for Phantom Pain. Sure, there are unlockable missions where you replay the mission with different conditions, but those don’t add anything of actual substance to the game. If you paid more than five bucks for this as its own game, then you have been ripped off, my friend.
Luckily, it comes packed with Phantom Pain nowadays. So you really shouldn’t need to worry about that.
Ground Zeroes isn’t bad. For a demo, that is. As a standalone release that they charged thirty bucks for? This game is an insult. No matter how fun it is, it isn’t worth anything more than five dollars or less. Especially since you can just go straight to Phantom Pain. Sure, you’re missing some story if you do that. But you ain’t missing much story.
And now for a Metal Gear break. Because hoo boy, is Phantom Pain a long game. But hey! After that, we get to play the… original NES games.
Can I just skip straight to MGS1 or do I have to do those, too?
Jonah's Daily Rants 