for some reason this is probably the only time a piece of media has ever made me feel "triggered" to the point of trembling white hot panic and rage and I'm very lucky to be able to say that because it was a fucking horrible experience and I hated it a lot!!! As someone who watches a lot of "transgressive" or politically indefensible genre media and has a complicated fragmentary interest in it I'm no stranger to sadist exploitation and the justification of horrific, perverse acts committed against women as a callous means to reinforce a fictional world's steely hopelessness but JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. The way this game doles out such repugnant torments to its one female character, a child (who was previously presented as a duplicitous saucy nubile cartoon temptress in a way that felt indefensibly racist and pedophilic), granting her zero dignity or humanity and utilizing her sexualized abuse as some cheap suggestion of a new "darkly-real, Kiefer Sutherland's war on terror" stylistic direction for this series.. is just... fucking grotesque and too ghoulish for me to even process. Kojima's misogyny was always something I had to internally justify or excuse up until this point--undeniably objectifying and ignorant but mostly absurd in a schlocky horny genre way I was personally able to overlook--and i think part of what I found so fraught about GZ was how intensely it laid bare how adjacent to abject misanthropy and callous hatred his views on female characters always were. I mean there are hints of this in MGS4 as well with the BnB's--the body oil moaning nymphoid war crime victim sequences that immediately transition into narrated monologues (not from them of course) about how these women had dealt with like the most lurid and sensationally violent trauma possible and you freed them via murder actually bc that was your job and right 2 do! That was disgusting to me at the time as well, but something about the treatment of Paz: an unrelenting violation of a character as a means of stylistic/thematic transition and an intended vehicle to generate hype (Metal Gear pulls no punches now this aint your momma's genre game we put Liveleak ISIS torture in it!) just utterly revolts me and makes me feel queasy 2 my core. The insult to injury was seeing this games attempt at some hateful cruel stylistic baptism for the series and then having Quiet's design revealed... Ground Zeroes isnt even an honest statement of intent for the series; Kojima isnt heralding in a new misanthropic world of mutilated dignity and constant desecration... he's simply incorporating that into his world where women are also sexy cartoon sidekicks with coo coo pulpy character designs... I think part of what upset me so much about this is envisioning the mental landscape of someone who is able to justify a narrative universe in which both of these ideas can non-schizophrenically coexist, let alone communicate anything valuable about geopolitics or war crimes. Utterly vile / fuck this piece of shit 4eva and tbh while I found so much of death stranding to be arresting and sprawling and deeply felt I also am unable to remove the stain of this fucking filthy worthless game from any of his other works! u marred your library forever u fucker I hate you!!!!!
Seeing as Metal Gear is one of my favourite series, I was determined to make an event out of the first time I played Ground Zeroes. I sat down with a plate of strawberries, joking to my friends that, knowing the series' infamously long cutscenes, I would probably have finished them before the first cutscene was over. As you can see, I make very funny and original jokes, which is why I have lots of friends and am DEFINITELY not lonely.
These were famous last words. Not only was the intro over before I had eaten my strawberries, but so was the fucking game. Ground Zeroes is incredibly short, and savvy readers already know the only story-related mission can be completed within an hour.
I'll give it this: from a technical point of view, Ground Zeroes is a marvel. The first time I played it was on a laptop that didn't even have a GPU, and it still ran like a dream. The graphics are phenomenal, bringing the nigh-photorealism we take for granted today. I remember the exact moment in the first cutscene that I realized that there hadn't been a single camera cut, and I was mindblown. This gritty, guerilla-cam directing style became a staple of Hideo Kojima games from this point onwards. The climax is one of my favourite cutscenes in any video game.
And the gameplay is superb. Ground Zeroes provides a stellar stealth action sandbox that, while not quite up to The Phantom Pain's level of 'if you can think it, you can do it,' was an excellent taster of what was to come. There are many ways to achieve your goals, and the developers thought of everything: cutscenes change to accommodate the smallest detail. Despite the low score, rest assured that this game plays very well.
That said, it's terrible value for the money. Ground Zeroes launched for the price of $40, and even today, is being sold for $20 - $10 if you buy it as a bundle with Phantom Pain. Every one of these prices is a scam. Make no mistake, this is a demo. The story can be cleared within 45 minutes, the side ops (all using the same base) lack proper stories, and score chases/collectibles aren't a suitable incentive for the casual player.
It would have made sense if Ground Zeroes had been released as a free demo, or included in The Phantom Pain as a prologue chapter. There are a few players who claim to have hundreds of hours in it, but the only explanation I can think of is that they left their PC on all night. Even if you sieve this game for every morsel of material, it adds up to a few hours at best. Unless you're a completionist, you won't get your money's worth buying this game at full price. And here's the thing: you don't have to impose these conditions while purchasing other games. It's usually bad form to judge a game's value by its length, but here it's justified.
The long and short of it is, Konami found a way to fuck it up once again. It's a shame that a game with such high production value was handled by a company whose unofficial motto is: "Where there's a will, there's a slot machine."
These were famous last words. Not only was the intro over before I had eaten my strawberries, but so was the fucking game. Ground Zeroes is incredibly short, and savvy readers already know the only story-related mission can be completed within an hour.
I'll give it this: from a technical point of view, Ground Zeroes is a marvel. The first time I played it was on a laptop that didn't even have a GPU, and it still ran like a dream. The graphics are phenomenal, bringing the nigh-photorealism we take for granted today. I remember the exact moment in the first cutscene that I realized that there hadn't been a single camera cut, and I was mindblown. This gritty, guerilla-cam directing style became a staple of Hideo Kojima games from this point onwards. The climax is one of my favourite cutscenes in any video game.
And the gameplay is superb. Ground Zeroes provides a stellar stealth action sandbox that, while not quite up to The Phantom Pain's level of 'if you can think it, you can do it,' was an excellent taster of what was to come. There are many ways to achieve your goals, and the developers thought of everything: cutscenes change to accommodate the smallest detail. Despite the low score, rest assured that this game plays very well.
That said, it's terrible value for the money. Ground Zeroes launched for the price of $40, and even today, is being sold for $20 - $10 if you buy it as a bundle with Phantom Pain. Every one of these prices is a scam. Make no mistake, this is a demo. The story can be cleared within 45 minutes, the side ops (all using the same base) lack proper stories, and score chases/collectibles aren't a suitable incentive for the casual player.
It would have made sense if Ground Zeroes had been released as a free demo, or included in The Phantom Pain as a prologue chapter. There are a few players who claim to have hundreds of hours in it, but the only explanation I can think of is that they left their PC on all night. Even if you sieve this game for every morsel of material, it adds up to a few hours at best. Unless you're a completionist, you won't get your money's worth buying this game at full price. And here's the thing: you don't have to impose these conditions while purchasing other games. It's usually bad form to judge a game's value by its length, but here it's justified.
The long and short of it is, Konami found a way to fuck it up once again. It's a shame that a game with such high production value was handled by a company whose unofficial motto is: "Where there's a will, there's a slot machine."
great game if you hate women. for everyone else it's one of the edgiest, most mean-spirited, misogynistic piles of shit in the medium. kojima go to hell challenge.
uma demo paga (R$ 36,99) do M.G.S. V dor fantasma ,
é muito curta , mas é um bom tutorias pro MGS V
é muito curta , mas é um bom tutorias pro MGS V
METAL GEAR... something something...
I wish that Phantom Pain was just like 4 Ground Zeroes sized levels. This was peak, focused stealth gameplay with a mature story from Kojima.
that was a lot of fun for me. crawling around, popping out the binoculars. being the big boss, saving those prisoners, getting to the chopper. sleep darting guards, interrogating them. I really liked it, but I was very sad to find out there is no David hayter
Ground Zeroes works really well both as a strong inciting incident for the events of The Phantom Pain and a vertical slice of what MGS V would have to offer in terms of gameplay. That being said, the fact that this was sold as a separate game is unforgivable.
Kojima's treatment of Hayter was weirdchamp but i'm gonna be honest, Kiefer Sutherland is so much better at being Big Boss and it's not even close
"Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes" é incrível, mas desnecessário
Ground Zeroes está cercado por um estigma que o torna difícil analisá-lo ou que desanima aqueles que querem conhecê-lo, sendo um jogo muito curto e que claramente devia estar integrado no Phantom Pain e eu não culpo aqueles que o desprezam por esses motivos, a minha opinião vem de alguém que comprou o Ground Zeroes e o Phantom Pain por apenas 20 reais e de alguém que nunca zerou um MGS na vida, se a minha opinião vale mais ou menos do que a de um fã da franquia depende de cada um.
Ground Zeroes tem como influência os acontecimentos na Baía de Guantánamo, uma prisão dos EUA, construída em Cuba que serve (até hoje) para abrigar terroristas e que foi usada após o 11 de setembro para torturar milhares de prisioneiros, a maioria desses prisioneiros não tinham evidência substancial contra eles, muitos não tiveram um julgamento ou possibilidade de soltura, muitos desses prisioneiros eram crianças, muitos foram soltos anos depois sem queixas e muitas organizações confirmaram que humilhações religiosas e sexuais, junto de métodos de tortura proibidos, aconteciam rotineiramente na prisão, esse, é o local que Ground Zeroes nos convida a visitar.
Ground Zeroes é um dos jogos mais políticos que eu já joguei. sua representação dos prisioneiros com capuz preto de Abu Ghraib, e as referências a Sacco e Vanzetti tornam o um jogo interessante de conhecer e de se aprofundar no que ele usa como influência, porém, ele não trata desses assuntos de forma apropriada, esses assuntos não fazem uma boa justaposição com a gameplay e tom geral de MGS, você vai passar boa parte do tempo aprendendo as mecânicas, se divertindo dando mata leão em soldados, se infiltrando em uma base militar secreta pra descobrir que a sua recompensa é desvendar por quais torturas uma criança de 13 anos e uma adolescente de 16 passaram, isso sem contar que boa parte da interrogação é opcional, o que significa que a maioria dos jogadores vai experienciar uma história incompleta, e a busca por essas gravações extras não é prazerosa, eu não me senti satisfeito indo atrás delas, o que eu senti foi vergonha alheia ouvindo o seu conteúdo.
Há também a questão da desconexão das Operações Secundárias, algo que foi certamente feito para fazer valer a existência dessa experiencia como um jogo inteiro, você tem missões que mudam totalmente o tom do jogo, nessas missões você vai resgatar o próprio Kojima, metralhar aliens com um ciborgue e reencenar cenas do primeiro MGS, elas com certeza são divertidas de fazer, mas fazer essas missões pra depois voltar pra campanha principal é desgostoso pra dizer o mínimo.
Mesmo com esses problemas, é possível apreciar o Ground Zeroes, seja pelo seu valor nominal ou simplesmente aprecia-lo mesmo com suas falhas, o jogo oferece uma gameplay refinada para aqueles que buscam um equilíbrio entre Stealth e Ação, gostei tanto que fui atrás de todas as conquistas e peguei Rank S em todas as missões, e reconhecidamente, o Ground Zeroes trouxe uma atenção para todos os tópicos históricos mencionados acima, e me fez ir atrás e aprender sobre eles, por causa de tudo isso, acredito que ele é um jogo que vale a pena conhecer, mesmo que você não goste da experiencia.
Ground Zeroes está cercado por um estigma que o torna difícil analisá-lo ou que desanima aqueles que querem conhecê-lo, sendo um jogo muito curto e que claramente devia estar integrado no Phantom Pain e eu não culpo aqueles que o desprezam por esses motivos, a minha opinião vem de alguém que comprou o Ground Zeroes e o Phantom Pain por apenas 20 reais e de alguém que nunca zerou um MGS na vida, se a minha opinião vale mais ou menos do que a de um fã da franquia depende de cada um.
Ground Zeroes tem como influência os acontecimentos na Baía de Guantánamo, uma prisão dos EUA, construída em Cuba que serve (até hoje) para abrigar terroristas e que foi usada após o 11 de setembro para torturar milhares de prisioneiros, a maioria desses prisioneiros não tinham evidência substancial contra eles, muitos não tiveram um julgamento ou possibilidade de soltura, muitos desses prisioneiros eram crianças, muitos foram soltos anos depois sem queixas e muitas organizações confirmaram que humilhações religiosas e sexuais, junto de métodos de tortura proibidos, aconteciam rotineiramente na prisão, esse, é o local que Ground Zeroes nos convida a visitar.
Ground Zeroes é um dos jogos mais políticos que eu já joguei. sua representação dos prisioneiros com capuz preto de Abu Ghraib, e as referências a Sacco e Vanzetti tornam o um jogo interessante de conhecer e de se aprofundar no que ele usa como influência, porém, ele não trata desses assuntos de forma apropriada, esses assuntos não fazem uma boa justaposição com a gameplay e tom geral de MGS, você vai passar boa parte do tempo aprendendo as mecânicas, se divertindo dando mata leão em soldados, se infiltrando em uma base militar secreta pra descobrir que a sua recompensa é desvendar por quais torturas uma criança de 13 anos e uma adolescente de 16 passaram, isso sem contar que boa parte da interrogação é opcional, o que significa que a maioria dos jogadores vai experienciar uma história incompleta, e a busca por essas gravações extras não é prazerosa, eu não me senti satisfeito indo atrás delas, o que eu senti foi vergonha alheia ouvindo o seu conteúdo.
Há também a questão da desconexão das Operações Secundárias, algo que foi certamente feito para fazer valer a existência dessa experiencia como um jogo inteiro, você tem missões que mudam totalmente o tom do jogo, nessas missões você vai resgatar o próprio Kojima, metralhar aliens com um ciborgue e reencenar cenas do primeiro MGS, elas com certeza são divertidas de fazer, mas fazer essas missões pra depois voltar pra campanha principal é desgostoso pra dizer o mínimo.
Mesmo com esses problemas, é possível apreciar o Ground Zeroes, seja pelo seu valor nominal ou simplesmente aprecia-lo mesmo com suas falhas, o jogo oferece uma gameplay refinada para aqueles que buscam um equilíbrio entre Stealth e Ação, gostei tanto que fui atrás de todas as conquistas e peguei Rank S em todas as missões, e reconhecidamente, o Ground Zeroes trouxe uma atenção para todos os tópicos históricos mencionados acima, e me fez ir atrás e aprender sobre eles, por causa de tudo isso, acredito que ele é um jogo que vale a pena conhecer, mesmo que você não goste da experiencia.
I made the unfortunate mistake of playing TPP before Ground Zeroes and that unfortunately made me not enjoy this game nearly as much. Replaying the same map over and over gets tedious even with all the unique gimmicks and enemies are extremely predictable which takes away a lot of the suspense. Not a bad game but TPP is so much more refined and expanded on that the only reason to play this is for the story and fan service
Obligatory backstory to understand what’s happening in MGSV (a useless endeavor as I’d soon discover) that does a decent job setting up the main game. I just wanted to get into the real game and it felt less polished by direct comparison.
I like this way better than Phantom Pain because I think the open world thing is probably the worst thing you could have ever added to a stealth game. Make it big, make it more open-air, but stealth is always better under constraints.
like the cinematic modern version of getting a demo disc in your cereal box
The fact that this game recreates the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, but then makes it canonically run not by the US government, but by the paramilitary force of a shadowy Illuminati-esque global cabal headed by a supervillain with a literal skull for a face, which the US military then bombs because it would presumably be an international scandal if word of a black site being run on US-controlled soil ever got out, tells you kind of everything you need to know about Kojima's approach to politics.
The most anti-American game ever made.
Kojima charged Americans $30 to play through a guided tour of Guantanamo Bay that ends with a shot-for-shot recreation of 9/11 - except America is doing it. I mean look at this fucking shot. It's unmistakable.
Kojima charged Americans $30 to play through a guided tour of Guantanamo Bay that ends with a shot-for-shot recreation of 9/11 - except America is doing it. I mean look at this fucking shot. It's unmistakable.
El prologo al capitulo perdido de esa saga que medita sobre la dualidad.
Inesperado plot twist. Ground Zeroes es un reflejo del primer episodio de MGS2, pura pornografia de accion y espionaje que deriva hacia un final turbio y extraño que parece enganchar la fantasia con la realidad. Tambien es, como MGS2, un reflejo sobre la imposibilidad de desligarnos de las nociones de lo que es "un buen videojuego"
Jugar con la linea que separa la explotacion, la parodia y la autocritica parece estar prohibido en los videojuegos, la necesidad de brindar un punto de acceso asequible para el jugador por medio de un centro moral facil donde se acepta antes la accion cartoon que la posibilidad de manejar la pornografia estetica y la abstraccion. Casi todos los acercamientos formales parecen basarse en la calidad del apartado, el tejido en si, por encima de la expresion y el retrato, confundiendo forma con materia y calidad con profundidad que, partiendo de ahi, ese razonamiento se arrastra hasta lo narrativo, lo literal y lo moral. la sustraccion selectiva a la que juegos como MGSV se ven sometidos es prueba de lo poco que en ocasiones entendemos realmente (me incluyo, por supuesto), ya no de videojuegos, si no de posibilidades. Con Sustraccion selectiva me refiero a la focalizacion de aspectos concretos que nos hacen salvar o condenar un videojuego concreto, en MGSVgz:
-La bomba en la vagina como condena.
-La jugabilidad como redencion.
Para mi ninguno tiene sentido.
La cuestion de la misoginia interiorizada de Kojima es evidente y una absoluta lastima, tan evidente que el mismo la reconoce de forma casi abierta. ha intentado varias veces de manera honesta tratar la sexualidad como parte de sus mundos, siempre una mix entre la nocion japonesa y Norte-americana del sexo y los cuerpos, el exhibicionismo y el empoderamiento, tanto para hombre como para mujeres, aunque claramente al ser MGS una saga que maneja la masculinidad y el mito del heroe, la peor parte se la lleva el genero femenino.
Dicho esto, el asunto de la bomba me parece mas una super-dramatizacion de un acto atroz que sadismo sexual en si. Quiza me equivoque, pero no veo mas atencion en ello que la incomodidad y el retrato de una tragedia de guerra, crafteada dentro de un momento intencionalmente incomodo, Y Quiet me hace sentir demasiado incomodo, entiendo que forme parte del punto de TPP, me gusta la teoria, pero no comparto las formas.
La cuestion de la jugabilidad es el punto de sustraccion selectiva mas grande y en la que mas "Criticos" caen: Apuntan a una ausencia de autocritica mientras alaban las posibilidades del gameplay cuando ven un video de Dunkey, sin pensar en disociar o hilar lo que sucede con nada que no este dentro del videojuego, siempre desde la relacion avatar-jugador. lo que vemos es lo que hay y los videojuegos son literales.
Es un modo de ver las cosas con el que cada vez concuerdo menos.
Aparte,hay algo mas anti- americano que ofrecerte guantanamo como un campo de juego para despues desatar un 9/11 sobre el hogar del avatar/protagonista??
Bastante genio.
La posibilidad de crear mundos digitales donde el autor pueda integrar personificaciones de sus predilecciones, preocupaciones y, por que no? Fallos y problemas personales como un mashup se ve lapidada por las cuestiones de tono, necesidad de un ancla moral y la necesidad de satisfacer al jugador, claro, un juego se supone que debe ser divertido.
Pues No.
No necesariamente.
En que punto perdimos la capacidad de entender que el contenido ideologico cuestionable que un autor incluya en su obra no tiene que ser una personificacion 1 a 1 del mismo? Ni idea, pero en videojuegos es algo extendido. Quiza porque gozan de menor reconocimiento cultural? Por sus cualidades inmediatas? Porque son divertidos?
En ocasiones uno debe separar para ver con perspectiva, encontrar ese algo especial, pero habria que empezar a pensar como separar mejor para reencajar mejor todo.
Inesperado plot twist. Ground Zeroes es un reflejo del primer episodio de MGS2, pura pornografia de accion y espionaje que deriva hacia un final turbio y extraño que parece enganchar la fantasia con la realidad. Tambien es, como MGS2, un reflejo sobre la imposibilidad de desligarnos de las nociones de lo que es "un buen videojuego"
Jugar con la linea que separa la explotacion, la parodia y la autocritica parece estar prohibido en los videojuegos, la necesidad de brindar un punto de acceso asequible para el jugador por medio de un centro moral facil donde se acepta antes la accion cartoon que la posibilidad de manejar la pornografia estetica y la abstraccion. Casi todos los acercamientos formales parecen basarse en la calidad del apartado, el tejido en si, por encima de la expresion y el retrato, confundiendo forma con materia y calidad con profundidad que, partiendo de ahi, ese razonamiento se arrastra hasta lo narrativo, lo literal y lo moral. la sustraccion selectiva a la que juegos como MGSV se ven sometidos es prueba de lo poco que en ocasiones entendemos realmente (me incluyo, por supuesto), ya no de videojuegos, si no de posibilidades. Con Sustraccion selectiva me refiero a la focalizacion de aspectos concretos que nos hacen salvar o condenar un videojuego concreto, en MGSVgz:
-La bomba en la vagina como condena.
-La jugabilidad como redencion.
Para mi ninguno tiene sentido.
La cuestion de la misoginia interiorizada de Kojima es evidente y una absoluta lastima, tan evidente que el mismo la reconoce de forma casi abierta. ha intentado varias veces de manera honesta tratar la sexualidad como parte de sus mundos, siempre una mix entre la nocion japonesa y Norte-americana del sexo y los cuerpos, el exhibicionismo y el empoderamiento, tanto para hombre como para mujeres, aunque claramente al ser MGS una saga que maneja la masculinidad y el mito del heroe, la peor parte se la lleva el genero femenino.
Dicho esto, el asunto de la bomba me parece mas una super-dramatizacion de un acto atroz que sadismo sexual en si. Quiza me equivoque, pero no veo mas atencion en ello que la incomodidad y el retrato de una tragedia de guerra, crafteada dentro de un momento intencionalmente incomodo, Y Quiet me hace sentir demasiado incomodo, entiendo que forme parte del punto de TPP, me gusta la teoria, pero no comparto las formas.
La cuestion de la jugabilidad es el punto de sustraccion selectiva mas grande y en la que mas "Criticos" caen: Apuntan a una ausencia de autocritica mientras alaban las posibilidades del gameplay cuando ven un video de Dunkey, sin pensar en disociar o hilar lo que sucede con nada que no este dentro del videojuego, siempre desde la relacion avatar-jugador. lo que vemos es lo que hay y los videojuegos son literales.
Es un modo de ver las cosas con el que cada vez concuerdo menos.
Aparte,hay algo mas anti- americano que ofrecerte guantanamo como un campo de juego para despues desatar un 9/11 sobre el hogar del avatar/protagonista??
Bastante genio.
La posibilidad de crear mundos digitales donde el autor pueda integrar personificaciones de sus predilecciones, preocupaciones y, por que no? Fallos y problemas personales como un mashup se ve lapidada por las cuestiones de tono, necesidad de un ancla moral y la necesidad de satisfacer al jugador, claro, un juego se supone que debe ser divertido.
Pues No.
No necesariamente.
En que punto perdimos la capacidad de entender que el contenido ideologico cuestionable que un autor incluya en su obra no tiene que ser una personificacion 1 a 1 del mismo? Ni idea, pero en videojuegos es algo extendido. Quiza porque gozan de menor reconocimiento cultural? Por sus cualidades inmediatas? Porque son divertidos?
En ocasiones uno debe separar para ver con perspectiva, encontrar ese algo especial, pero habria que empezar a pensar como separar mejor para reencajar mejor todo.
konami: slices out a piece of MGS V that has basically identical level design and mission design principles to the rest of the game and sells it before it's done cooking
some dude looking for a take: Ground Zeroes is superior to the Phantom Pain
some dude looking for a take: Ground Zeroes is superior to the Phantom Pain
With this being my first Metal Gear game I was very confused by everything from the story to the length.
A game can’t get more cynical than this, there’s a lingering sense of dread everytime I open this game and it’s so effective.
"They played us like a damn fiddle!"
Its a good prologue i will admit. It sets up The Phantom Pain nicely and its very fun but the replay value is very small there's not really much to do. Deja Vu is one of my fav side missions in a video game ever though.
Its a good prologue i will admit. It sets up The Phantom Pain nicely and its very fun but the replay value is very small there's not really much to do. Deja Vu is one of my fav side missions in a video game ever though.
Bought as part of MGS5: The Definitive Experience. Yes, the first mission is short, but wow... the atmosphere and game mechanics are so immersive it's phenomenal. Replayability is high, as several new side missions unlock once the first mission is completed. Awesome fun -- even the ludicrously long (with tons of slo-mo) cutscenes. Kojima, you madman -- I'll go wherever you lead.
mf's charged 40 dollars for a demo
I absolutely would've hated being a Metal Gear fan when this game first came out, but with the price drop, this is now worth the price it's at very much. It's quite strange to see an entire prequel game, basically a demo of the main game, be sold separately and still be vital to the plot. Regardless, what's here is a very solid, if short, definitive Metal Gear experience.
I actually think I like this type of stealth gameplay the best out of every game. It's not completely linear like in the first four MGS titles, but it's not completely open world like MGSV. What you have is a prison camp that you're free to roam around in and complete objectives with whatever means you see fit. Take any route, use any weapons you find, it's up to you. This isn't saying that the other MGS styles of stealth are bad, not at all, but I think this open world type gameplay contained in a decently large map is perfect.
There's a surprising amount of content beyond face value. You've got your main mission, which shouldn't take you much longer than an hour if you just want to play it for the story, five shorter missions, and two non canon missions. I want to address the elephant in the room now with the main missions and the story present within it. The story is simple and is as follows: Paz is still alive after the events of Peace Walker and is being held at the prison camp, along with Chico, who attempted to rescue her on his own. Big Boss rescues them both, but unfortunately, Mother Base is attacked and brought down by Cipher in the process, resulting in only a few soldiers, Big Boss, and Miller surviving. A helicopter crash results in the death of the remaining survivors except for Big Boss and Miller. The story is then continued in TPP. Nothing crazy, but provides good setup and is interesting enough for a short game.
There's some uproar online about the depiction of Paz being incredibly misogynistic, and while I can see where the arguments are coming from, I can't say I completely agree. For those unaware, there are some cassette tapes you can find which depict interrogations between Skull Face (the main villain), Chico, and Paz. One such interrogation depicts stuff that I'm probably not allowed to spell out here, so I'll redirect you to this screenshot of Paz's page on the Metal Gear wiki so you can read for yourself. Yes, what happens to her is horrible, but also, this is a series where horrible things happen to good people all the time. One of the main themes throughout the whole series is that war is fucking awful, and its depicted here in its fullest.
I can see why people think this is misogynistic, but make no mistake, not every instance of something bad happening to a woman is misogynistic. Compared to previous torture sequences, (which are literally minigames) this is treated as dead serious. What happens to Paz could be argued as the worst thing happening to anyone in this series, but similar things happen to other characters (namely Hal, whose stepmother seduced him when he was just a kid). But just because the worst thing happens to a female character does not make the game misogynistic. What if something even worse happened to a male character? Would it be sexist then? Of course not, that's stupid. It should also be noted that in these games, men and women are treated equal on the battlefield. Female characters save male characters just as much as the other way around.
Another argument I see is that this is only done to "develop" the villain, Skull Face, in a very lazy way. This is also wrong. This is not done as a replacement to his development, it's done in tandem with it. We understand him much better in TPP, most notably the jeep scene, so no, this torture sequence does not attempt to develop his character in any meaningful way. If anything, it pushes the extent of his cruelty, as a similar situation happens with him and Code Talker later on. He interrogates Code Talker by using a bell to ring every time Code Talker refuses to give him info. At the ring of this bell, he essentially kills one of Code Talker's people, which is the last thing he wants because he wants his bloodline to endure. He's basically playing with human lives, even throwing the bell down the stairs once he's done. And, in the end, he wasn't actually killing any of Code Talker's people, showing that simple interrogations like these mean nothing to him in the grand scheme of things and are a simple game for him to play. In short, this scene alone does not attempt to develop Skull Face, and if it did, there's other similar scenes that work with it to show us the extent of his cruelty.
Feel free to disagree with me, that's just my take on it. Maybe I'm wrong, but the cool thing about art is that I'm allowed to interpret it however I want. Anyway, the actual missions do depict another interesting side to Big Boss' escapades. They're all set before Ground Zeroes' main mission. Each mission shows Big Boss and Miller being played for fools repeatedly, which is similar to the ultimate downfall of Mother Base. A sniper duo that apaprently terrorized the warzone are actually two men haunted by their past. Most notably, after destroying anti-air crafts to help an outsider take control of the camp, the whole camp ends up getting bombed due to a coverup by the US. Not the most interesting of stories, but it adds some insight into the fate of the main cast.
Two extra missions are unlocked if you find all the XOF patches in the main mission, which isn't the hardest thing ever, but you will probably need a guide. I found quite a few on my own, but there's only so much ground I'm willing to cover to find a needle in a haystack. The first of these is Deja Vu, where Big Boss is set to recreate scenes from the first MGS. This mission is way more fun than it should be. Each time you recreate a scene, Robin Atkin Downes (Miller's voice actor) does an impression of a character from the first game, including Meryl, which had me dying. What's crazy is his impersonations aren't even bad. You could easily fool me with his Psycho Mantis and Liquid Snake voice lines. What's also funny is Kiefer Sutherland basically talks more in this mission than he does in the entirety of TPP.
This isn't as simple as just running up to an object and looking at it a certain way, either. Some of these require some extra footwork on your part. Like the car scene, where you have to take a car underneath a bridge, similar to the escape sequence in MGS which took place in a tunnel. As a reward for getting every scene, you'll be faced with an MGS quiz at the end of the mission. If you get all the questions right, you'll unlock a PS1 Solid Snake skin in all of its polygonal glory. Using it during the Deja Vu mission will also have certain other characters in PS1 models. Overall, a nice nod back to the series' breakout.
Jamais Vu is the other mission and it had me pissing myself with excitement. In this mission, you play as Raiden, who traveled from the future to help Big Boss exterminate some body snatchers, who attached themselves to soldiers at the base and could spread if not dealt with. Raiden (unfortunately) refuses to use his sword and instead uses basic firearms. The main difference between him and Big Boss is that he runs WAY faster. It's insane how much ground you can cover, and you'll need it because of the constant swarms of enemies that show up. I found it funny they didn't change his run animation to fit MGR so it looks goofy as hell. They also swap out the music for Metal Gear Rising tracks. Sadly, none of the lyrical ones are present, but you still love to see it.
This mission is just to eliminate enemies and not die, but playing as Raiden is fun enough on its own. I wish the mission was a bit more deep than it is. Running as fast as possible around the base makes doing any other missions somewhat of a slog. I also love how it's portrayed as an actual story, just not canon. Raiden just traveled from the future and is here to help. I wish Metal Gear did more wacky shit like this. I know there's a costume of him you can use in TPP, but it's not the same as when you actually get to play as the character.
I went into this expecting it to be a short tech demo of TPP, and that's all I got on my first playthrough. Revisiting a couple months later showed me that there's quite a bit to this game hidden underneath the surface. A decent story that flows into TPP pretty well, combined with what I think is the best stealth gameplay to date. The missions are pretty basic and easy all things considered, but they're enjoyable enough. Deja Vu and Jamais Vu are two stupid fun missions and I wish the series did more fun stuff like this. It's still basically just a demo of TPP, but it's a pretty good one at that, and I'm glad I gave it a more fair chance going in again. Despite its shortcomings, I think I enjoyed this more than Peace Walker.
I actually think I like this type of stealth gameplay the best out of every game. It's not completely linear like in the first four MGS titles, but it's not completely open world like MGSV. What you have is a prison camp that you're free to roam around in and complete objectives with whatever means you see fit. Take any route, use any weapons you find, it's up to you. This isn't saying that the other MGS styles of stealth are bad, not at all, but I think this open world type gameplay contained in a decently large map is perfect.
There's a surprising amount of content beyond face value. You've got your main mission, which shouldn't take you much longer than an hour if you just want to play it for the story, five shorter missions, and two non canon missions. I want to address the elephant in the room now with the main missions and the story present within it. The story is simple and is as follows: Paz is still alive after the events of Peace Walker and is being held at the prison camp, along with Chico, who attempted to rescue her on his own. Big Boss rescues them both, but unfortunately, Mother Base is attacked and brought down by Cipher in the process, resulting in only a few soldiers, Big Boss, and Miller surviving. A helicopter crash results in the death of the remaining survivors except for Big Boss and Miller. The story is then continued in TPP. Nothing crazy, but provides good setup and is interesting enough for a short game.
There's some uproar online about the depiction of Paz being incredibly misogynistic, and while I can see where the arguments are coming from, I can't say I completely agree. For those unaware, there are some cassette tapes you can find which depict interrogations between Skull Face (the main villain), Chico, and Paz. One such interrogation depicts stuff that I'm probably not allowed to spell out here, so I'll redirect you to this screenshot of Paz's page on the Metal Gear wiki so you can read for yourself. Yes, what happens to her is horrible, but also, this is a series where horrible things happen to good people all the time. One of the main themes throughout the whole series is that war is fucking awful, and its depicted here in its fullest.
I can see why people think this is misogynistic, but make no mistake, not every instance of something bad happening to a woman is misogynistic. Compared to previous torture sequences, (which are literally minigames) this is treated as dead serious. What happens to Paz could be argued as the worst thing happening to anyone in this series, but similar things happen to other characters (namely Hal, whose stepmother seduced him when he was just a kid). But just because the worst thing happens to a female character does not make the game misogynistic. What if something even worse happened to a male character? Would it be sexist then? Of course not, that's stupid. It should also be noted that in these games, men and women are treated equal on the battlefield. Female characters save male characters just as much as the other way around.
Another argument I see is that this is only done to "develop" the villain, Skull Face, in a very lazy way. This is also wrong. This is not done as a replacement to his development, it's done in tandem with it. We understand him much better in TPP, most notably the jeep scene, so no, this torture sequence does not attempt to develop his character in any meaningful way. If anything, it pushes the extent of his cruelty, as a similar situation happens with him and Code Talker later on. He interrogates Code Talker by using a bell to ring every time Code Talker refuses to give him info. At the ring of this bell, he essentially kills one of Code Talker's people, which is the last thing he wants because he wants his bloodline to endure. He's basically playing with human lives, even throwing the bell down the stairs once he's done. And, in the end, he wasn't actually killing any of Code Talker's people, showing that simple interrogations like these mean nothing to him in the grand scheme of things and are a simple game for him to play. In short, this scene alone does not attempt to develop Skull Face, and if it did, there's other similar scenes that work with it to show us the extent of his cruelty.
Feel free to disagree with me, that's just my take on it. Maybe I'm wrong, but the cool thing about art is that I'm allowed to interpret it however I want. Anyway, the actual missions do depict another interesting side to Big Boss' escapades. They're all set before Ground Zeroes' main mission. Each mission shows Big Boss and Miller being played for fools repeatedly, which is similar to the ultimate downfall of Mother Base. A sniper duo that apaprently terrorized the warzone are actually two men haunted by their past. Most notably, after destroying anti-air crafts to help an outsider take control of the camp, the whole camp ends up getting bombed due to a coverup by the US. Not the most interesting of stories, but it adds some insight into the fate of the main cast.
Two extra missions are unlocked if you find all the XOF patches in the main mission, which isn't the hardest thing ever, but you will probably need a guide. I found quite a few on my own, but there's only so much ground I'm willing to cover to find a needle in a haystack. The first of these is Deja Vu, where Big Boss is set to recreate scenes from the first MGS. This mission is way more fun than it should be. Each time you recreate a scene, Robin Atkin Downes (Miller's voice actor) does an impression of a character from the first game, including Meryl, which had me dying. What's crazy is his impersonations aren't even bad. You could easily fool me with his Psycho Mantis and Liquid Snake voice lines. What's also funny is Kiefer Sutherland basically talks more in this mission than he does in the entirety of TPP.
This isn't as simple as just running up to an object and looking at it a certain way, either. Some of these require some extra footwork on your part. Like the car scene, where you have to take a car underneath a bridge, similar to the escape sequence in MGS which took place in a tunnel. As a reward for getting every scene, you'll be faced with an MGS quiz at the end of the mission. If you get all the questions right, you'll unlock a PS1 Solid Snake skin in all of its polygonal glory. Using it during the Deja Vu mission will also have certain other characters in PS1 models. Overall, a nice nod back to the series' breakout.
Jamais Vu is the other mission and it had me pissing myself with excitement. In this mission, you play as Raiden, who traveled from the future to help Big Boss exterminate some body snatchers, who attached themselves to soldiers at the base and could spread if not dealt with. Raiden (unfortunately) refuses to use his sword and instead uses basic firearms. The main difference between him and Big Boss is that he runs WAY faster. It's insane how much ground you can cover, and you'll need it because of the constant swarms of enemies that show up. I found it funny they didn't change his run animation to fit MGR so it looks goofy as hell. They also swap out the music for Metal Gear Rising tracks. Sadly, none of the lyrical ones are present, but you still love to see it.
This mission is just to eliminate enemies and not die, but playing as Raiden is fun enough on its own. I wish the mission was a bit more deep than it is. Running as fast as possible around the base makes doing any other missions somewhat of a slog. I also love how it's portrayed as an actual story, just not canon. Raiden just traveled from the future and is here to help. I wish Metal Gear did more wacky shit like this. I know there's a costume of him you can use in TPP, but it's not the same as when you actually get to play as the character.
I went into this expecting it to be a short tech demo of TPP, and that's all I got on my first playthrough. Revisiting a couple months later showed me that there's quite a bit to this game hidden underneath the surface. A decent story that flows into TPP pretty well, combined with what I think is the best stealth gameplay to date. The missions are pretty basic and easy all things considered, but they're enjoyable enough. Deja Vu and Jamais Vu are two stupid fun missions and I wish the series did more fun stuff like this. It's still basically just a demo of TPP, but it's a pretty good one at that, and I'm glad I gave it a more fair chance going in again. Despite its shortcomings, I think I enjoyed this more than Peace Walker.
boy am i glad i wasnt a metal gear fan in 2014
Desconsiderando o fato que foi vendido a preço cheio no lançamento, é um bom prólogo
Kojima's most cynical and scathing criticism of video game fans. The stealth 'playground' is a detention center modeled on Guantanamo Bay/Abu Ghraib, the collectable items are recordings of the horrific rape and torture of two teenagers, and you're on a rescue mission to save said teenagers because they might just spill the beans on this whole extra-governmental, Geneva Convention breaking private military enterprise you're running in the middle of the ocean.
This critique was expanded and formalised in a more sophisticated way in The Phantom Pain, but damn, do I appreciate the sheer vitriol of this game, Kojima held back NONE of his contempt for the average Metal Gear fan in this one.
This critique was expanded and formalised in a more sophisticated way in The Phantom Pain, but damn, do I appreciate the sheer vitriol of this game, Kojima held back NONE of his contempt for the average Metal Gear fan in this one.
This is lowkey one of my favorite Metal Gear games. It might be my favorite level/area in any Metal Gear game. I have played through the main mission and the side missions countless times on both PS3 and PC.
I wish The Phanton Pain had levels that were as good as this one. I REALLY like TPP, but I just always come back to Ground Zeroes.
I wish The Phanton Pain had levels that were as good as this one. I REALLY like TPP, but I just always come back to Ground Zeroes.
gameplay is more than enough to make up for it but i kinda find it hard to take your story about guantanamo bay seriously in a game where you get a high score for how far you can blow someone up with a landmine
This is what should've been from the start.
Ground Zeroes started as a demo for Phantom Pain. It features signature Big Boss as he inflitratres Camp Omega to rescue Paz and Chico, the ones from Peace Walker. It's short, about 1 or 2 hours of length. Maybe 10 minutes if you know what to do.
It's just one mission. That's the entire Demo? Not exactly. The game canonically ends there, the events and the story itself that connects with Phantom Pain are all in one mission. But you still have plenty of missions to explore and complete besides the main one. These objectives are as varied as in the ones from Phantom Pain. Rescue this guy, destroy that, find intel. You name it.
The main star here is Camp Omega, an American base located on Cuba. A big base that is reminicent of the big outposts we see in Phantom Pain, but expanded and that being the whole map. I love it, the complexity in it's layout leaves your imagination to go wild and start making tactics to complete the objective the way you see feet, just like in Phantom Pain.
It's contained, it doesn't have the open world of the final game. And that's a good thing. But, this game is just a prologue for Phantom Pain. Nothing more than that storywise. The rest of the missions can be considered filler or extras, fun nonetheless.
In short, if you were tired of Phantom Pain's empty open world but loved the stealth mission were you go to a certain outpost. This is the game for you.
Buy it at a disscount though or in the Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Edition which includes this game too.
Ground Zeroes started as a demo for Phantom Pain. It features signature Big Boss as he inflitratres Camp Omega to rescue Paz and Chico, the ones from Peace Walker. It's short, about 1 or 2 hours of length. Maybe 10 minutes if you know what to do.
It's just one mission. That's the entire Demo? Not exactly. The game canonically ends there, the events and the story itself that connects with Phantom Pain are all in one mission. But you still have plenty of missions to explore and complete besides the main one. These objectives are as varied as in the ones from Phantom Pain. Rescue this guy, destroy that, find intel. You name it.
The main star here is Camp Omega, an American base located on Cuba. A big base that is reminicent of the big outposts we see in Phantom Pain, but expanded and that being the whole map. I love it, the complexity in it's layout leaves your imagination to go wild and start making tactics to complete the objective the way you see feet, just like in Phantom Pain.
It's contained, it doesn't have the open world of the final game. And that's a good thing. But, this game is just a prologue for Phantom Pain. Nothing more than that storywise. The rest of the missions can be considered filler or extras, fun nonetheless.
In short, if you were tired of Phantom Pain's empty open world but loved the stealth mission were you go to a certain outpost. This is the game for you.
Buy it at a disscount though or in the Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Edition which includes this game too.