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.

In Ground Zeroes, we see what MGSV could have been at it's best. Big Boss (or Naked Snake (or John)) infiltrates the Guantanamo Bay inspired 'Camp Omega', a black site for unlawful CIA operations. His objective is to extract Chico and Paz, two of his child-soldier that now pose a liability to his operations. Camp Omega has brilliant, rich level design, making it a truly rewarding experience to master it's ways. It's a far, far cry from anything but three or four places in The Phantom Pain. And that's something I'll never understand why. Why do we spend so much time riding around in the deserts of Afghanistan or in the african savanna between tiny, uninspired enemy outposts!? WHY?!?!?!!?

I don't think it's unfair to say that big open world level design, as those featured in MGSV, was never one of Kojima's strenghts. The evolution of MGS's level design from the first to the third installment shows that, while Kojima was excellent at making very tight and dense spaces, he also had an interest for the idea of making spaces that could be bigger and still dense with possibilites of player expression. It is in my opinion that one of the biggest strenghts of MGS3 is the open nature of it's level design: it hits the spot just right between linear and the non-linear. From eating snakes to feeding poisonous anfibians to enemies, the absurd amount of player expression contained in MGS3 is a great deal more effective than TPP's shallow grandiosity. Ground Zeroes gave us a next-gen taste of that, it's just plain fun to mess with all the hidden secrets Camp Omega has in storage. Also, great story. This game saw some controversy for it's allusion to rape, but I personally think it was very well-handled. At least compared to fucking Quiet.

This game is very short, but it is very good! Quality over quantity as they say. I completed the mission in about 70 minutes, but the level was really well designed, having multiple ways to get through obstacles and generally being as creative as you would expect from a Metal Gear game. The story tackles subjects that are still very taboo in the video game world, and is pretty disturbing to follow through the different tapes you get in the game! It also adds some pieces to the gigantic puzzle that is the story of the Metal Gear franchise. It's too bad that this used to cost so much money, because this single level is on par with the levels in The Phantom Pain!

This and P.T. affirm Kojima's strengths in turning what should be tech demos into something worth experiencing. Ground Zeros does a great job at linking Peace Walker to Phantom Pain not only thematically with its blend of open world freedom within carefully structured missions, but also by setting up and continuing its story and characters, similarly to how Peace Walker sourced itself from Snake Eater. After the main story mission is finished, there are several other side operations to complete that all vary in their objectives. There are even a few missions where stealth is not an option so as to force the player into taking more bombastic and action oriented approaches to get them accustomed to how this new physics engine works. The short length, static map, and severe lack of tools at your disposal can be frustrating at times and the new controls definitely take a bit of getting used to, but this is still fun and serves as an appetizer to what Phantom Pain has in store. Or, at least, what I hope to be in store for Phantom Pain because these introductory characters as well as themes regarding violence, freedom, and loyalty have me hooked for sure.