Author: Mo Alexander

 Sony recently released “Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeros” prequel to the up and coming “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” full game released this September.  (Think of it as a teaser for the up and coming game..)

At any rate, after playing through the “mission” that was involved, I am totally confused.

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!!

So apparently Snake (the main character of the Metal Gear series), used to work for the US Government, only to decide to venture out on his own and create his own espionage organization.  In this particular prequel, Snake is tasked with raiding a US Military prison / base to rescue two of his comrades; One being a kid with a head phone jack in his chest (I sh!t you not..), and one being a young lady with a bomb in her guts (yeah it gets better…).

At any rate, Snake starts out on the outskirts of the prison, and works to infiltrate the fence-line, using new technology and weapons.  Sniper Rifles, Suppressed Automatic Rifles, and even a sleep dart gun; Snake can use them all.  Somewhat of the goal for this particular objective is perform the rescue with a bit of “silence” and stealth.  Fortunately for me, those two words don’t really exist in my gaming vocabulary, so of course, my first go at this prequel mission was to go in, guns blazing.

To an extent my methodology worked, however, at the end of the mission, you are graded on your performance.  And of course, mine sucked (got a C).  I of course gave the demo a few more shots.  I guess next up will be the full game coming out in November.

Graphically, the game is awesome.  Rainfall actually gives the impression that this is truly a dark and stormy night that this mission is taking place.  Gameplay and control of Snake and his weapons are spot on, unlike previous versions of Metal Gear.  This iteration also threw in additional mechanics (such as firing an AA gun at some of the guards, piloting and shooting a tank with another tank), which gave the feel as a “tactical / military” shooter a bit more flare.

Acting / Story line / Plot have a bit more work to do.  Sometimes this is due to the game’s story line being “lost in translation” from a Japanese translation to English translation.  Not that its a bad thing, but sometimes you just get a chuckle out of how some of the guards talking to one another.  I don’t want to spoil the small ending here, but you really do stop and have to scratch your head and ask “OK, what the hell just happened here…”

All in all, for a free title via the PSN Plus network, its worth a view.  Give it a go, if you got a PS4.
And be sure to keep an eye out for the full game from Konami “The Phantom Pain“, coming this November.