PixlBit

In 1999, I bought a Playstation after seeing a fried of mine playing Final Fantasy VII. I was so impressed at how it looked and he was giddy about having spent 50 hours playing and not being close to finishing. I'd played on a Playstation before, but hadn't been taken with it until that point.

I bought the console and FFVII and immediately spent about 10 hours playing. It wasn't until a few days later that another friend of mine loaned me a game he was anxious for me to try out. It had a very simple cover, white with the words "Metal Gear Solid" printed in metallic ink. I was sceptical, but since I wanted other stuff to play, I took the game and thanked him.

A few days later, I popped open the Playstation and dropped the disc in.

I haven't looked back since.

This past Tuesday saw the release of the first Metal Gear Solid available for the new gen, Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes. I was excited about it for quite a while and while it IS short, it is more than enough for this MGS fan.

Let's get that out of the way, the core mission took me just under 90 minutes to complete using stealth in my first go. If left at that, I can understand all the vitriol that casual gamers and fans cast at the game. There is much more to Ground Zeroes than just the core story.

The story is interesting, especially viewing it as a teaser/prologue to the full game, The Phantom Pain. I'll stop there to avoid spoilers.

Ground Zeroes also showcases the new controls, which are astoundingly clean and sharp compared to the increasingly more involved controls of the last couple of games. It really feels like Hideo Kojima and crew spent time looking at how to streamline what the player has to do in order to do it in game. This could just be due to the game having such a tight focus, but if it carries over into The Phantom Pain, it could make that upcoming game shine.

This game is beautiful. Like the other new gen games I've played, I'm astounded at how much of a difference lighting can make in getting me into the game. Aside from the annoying, but rare, lens flares ala anything by JJ Abrams, Ground Zeroes has some of the best lighting I've seen in a new gen game. It reflects, highlights and scatters in believable ways, making colors look more natural. The sky, something I have a weird obsession with in video games, looks like it would in reality. It's bright and blue, yes. The sky is more than that though, it has depth and some unevenness to it's hues, which are captured so well in Ground Zeroes.

Once the main mission concludes, it unlocks several side missions which range from more stealth to all-out assaults on the game's location, Camp Omega. These and the main mission have higher difficulties and are ranked online so you can see who is the most like Big Boss in the world. This has kept me and no doubt others coming back to this "demo" to see if you can beat your own previous score as well as others.

As a Metal Gear fan, I am immensely happy with Ground Zeroes and am excited to have this glimpse at what the game is becoming. As a gamer, I can recommend that game for the experience. Maybe those unfamiliar with the franchise can wait to play it, but it still shouldn't be missed.