Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Metal Gear Solid V Ground Zeroes is the prologue to Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain, the last Metal Gear game to be directed by Hideo Kojima, the founder of the franchise. Unfortunately, though, Ground Zeroes is an overpriced demo masquerading as a game worthy of it's 40$ price point. It's not. The main mission can be beaten in 6 minutes, or even quicker if tried hard enough. The side missions are laughable at best, providing no substance to the lore, only there to pad out the runtime, and rationalize paying money for this thing. Each platform version of Ground Zeroes provides a console exclusive mission. If you buy Ground Zeroes on the Xbox One, or Xbox 360, you will receive a mission where you play as cyborg ninja Raiden, as he kills Body Snatchers. If you buy Ground Zeroes on the PS3 or PS4, you'll receive the Deja Vu mission, where you play as PS1 era Solid Snake recreating events from MGS1. But even though the content of Ground Zeroes is laughable, the gameplay, graphics, and voice acting are excellent. The Fox Engine is really impressive, Snake controls really well, and everything runs at a buttery smooth 60FPS. Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain has the potential to be GOTY material, if it's more of what we're seeing in Ground Zeroes. Overall, Ground Zeroes is an overpriced demo, but with with great gameplay, graphics, and cutscenes. Don't buy this, wait for a price drop, or save your money for The Phantom Pain.