Solid Snake returns to give us a bit of an appetizer as we await the release of  Metal Gear Solid V. How is Snake’s first next-gen adventure? Does the amount of content warrant the price?

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is a 2014 action game and acts as a prologue to Metal Gear Solid V. It is developed by Kojima Productions and published by Konami.

Snake as he appears in Ground Zeroes.

Solid Snake has finally made his presence felt in the new generation of gaming, unfortunately this is only a small taste of what’s to come. Bur it proves to be a grand example of what’s to come upon Metal Gear Solid V’s full release.

Snake scoping out the area.

THE GOOD: Solid Snake is back, and Ground Zeroes  brings us an appetizer of Snake on current gen hardware. The addition of darker moments made the game feel as if Kojima is looking to change the overall theme of the franchise. Gameplay is the usual stealth or kill approach, with the ability to hide in the surrounding areas. The collectible tap recordings gave you something extra to do besides the linear storyline. There’s extra content such as new missions (for each console) that adds more time to the two hour game. The FOX Engine looks amazing on both current and last gen consoles.

Snake during night time.

THE BAD: While this was meant as nothing more than a prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain, the two hour run time will likely get to big fans of the series. There’s even a way to complete the main storyline in about 10 minutes, I could imagine fans who stumble upon that direction on accident being quite upset.

Snake heading towards the enemy camp in the foreground.

THE UGLY: Difficulty seemed to be pretty laxed.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Ground Zeroes gives fans the Metal Gear Solid V taste they’ve been looking for. With darker themes added to the story it really puts insight into what Kojima may be looking to do with the franchise moving forward. The same MGS gameplay is there, and the FOX Engine makes the game look absolutely beautiful no matter what console you play on. However, the two hour run time as well as the option to decrease that run time will likely upset major fans of the franchise. There was also a noticeable lack of difficulty.