PlayStation 4 Review: METAL GEAR SOLID V: GROUND ZEROES
Wed, March 19, 2014 
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is a game you can beat in 2 hours and it's $30. Let's get that out of the way right now.
If you're a fan of Metal Gear Solid, the "tactical espionage action" game created for the PlayStation by Hideo Kojima, and I don;t mean "oh they're ok", I mean if you played the originals, the 'Solid' series, the awful Portable Ops, as well as suffered through AC!D and even trudged through Metal Gear Rising: REVENGANCE to get the "full" experience, you will NOT have minded dropping $30 for this game, and let me explain why before getting to the meat and bones of the project.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes was released as a more-or-less demo of the end of Big Boss's saga, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The game allows you to get adjusted to the heavily changed gameplay landscape of Metal Gear Solid V, which takes elements from Peace Walker and Guns of the Patriots but ups the ante to about an 11.
Coupled with breath-taking visuals, Konami integrates this into the gameplay extremely well. No longer is Snake clunky and enemy patterns easy to recognize, and no longer is there the ability to pause the game for rations or weapon and item choices.
Ground Zeroes forces players to think on their feet from both a tactical and espionage stand-point, coupled with some advanced AI that changes based on guard shifts, alert statuses, and previous encounters, even on 'Normal' difficulty, Ground Zeroes ushers the acclaimed gaming franchise into difficult and uncharted waters.
There is also no longer an on-screen map with visual cones, instead the player "tags" enemies (similar to Far Cry 3) and must observe and get input from the CODEC which is Kazuhira Miller in Ground Zeroes; but will probably change in The Phantom Pain.
In short, if you're guaranteed to buy The Phantom Pain; Ground Zeroes is a nessecary purchase as both an introduction into the gameplay, and as a crucial plot based prologue.
Ground Zeroes main "mission" is the rescue of Paz and Chico, two children that Big Boss befriends in Peace Walker (I won't go into detail, if you haven't played the games you wouldn't care).
The voice acting is powerful to say the least, from Kiefer Sutherland (24, Pompeii) as Snake to Tara Strong as Paz and Antony Del Rio as Chico.
Despite the game's short run-time; I felt more from Ground Zeroes than I have almost all year in AAA releases.
The ending leaves you breathless and leaves you wanting more, so for the hardcore Metal Gear Solid fans: this is a $30 must purchase.
And for those who complain about the 2 hour campaign, after beating it, I only had 8% of the game complete.
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