Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes' story will take the average player only two hours or so to complete. This in and of itself is disappointing, but what this game's purpose is to give you a glimpse of what's to come in the massive 100 hour plus experience that is dropping next year: MGS V: The Phantom Pain.

That being said, Ground Zeroes' very existence is questionable. Why release this game when you have so much more to show us when The Phantom Pain is only another year or so away from being released?

There are also 6 or 7 side missions that are fantastic for the most part, but when you play through Ground Zeroes, you feel like you get an underwhelming experience overall from a story perspective.

But from a game play standpoint, this is arguably the best MGS game to date. CQC has been revamped a bit to function as smoothly and as satisfying as ever. The gun controls are extremely functional and well coded. The design itself of the one level you play in is absolutely massive. The openness of the world leads to the toughest infiltration in any Metal Gear game ever.

Because the level is so open, you have to contend with so much more than just guys walking around. There are also vehicles driving around that monitor the area, and you can even high jack these vehicles as well, a new first for MGS.

The binoculars are for the first time in the series, very useful and not cumbersome to use. Pressing the R2 button on the PS3 brings it up, and allows you to tag enemies so that you know where they are on your radar.

This is extremely helpful for plotting your next move.

The exploration of this finely constructed level is exhilarating. You never know where enemies are going to be, and you have to plot out your next move very carefully. The level is so open, and there are so many ways to explore it, that Ground Zeroes is highly replayable, even if it is short.

The story picks up directly after Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Chico and Paz have been captured by a clandestine special force known as XOF that may or may not have ties to Cipher. At the same time, Mother Base is being inspected by the UN while Big Boss is sent to the base to retrieve his captured companions.

This premise is simple enough and for the most part, it's handled pretty well, particularly the opening cinematic. Kojima continues to step up his filmmaking in many respects. Although he falls way too in love with slow motion that really takes the players out of the moment in the final cutscenes.

What should have been really powerful comes off as cheesy and a bit overextended because of the heavy reliance on slow motion when it wasn't really needed. it takes you out of the action. Kojima has used slow motion at times throughout Metal Gear, but it always felt appropriate. Here, it just feels shoehorned into the presentation and feels incredibly arbitrary.

So the story and presentation, while impressive, are not without their creative faults.

The graphics are incredible. Fans of visuals and hyper realistic textures and lighting should take note here. GZ is one of the best looking games I've ever played. The character models are tremendous, the particle effects and shaders are of the highest quality. The lighting itself is the best lighting I've ever seen in a video game. The tradition of excellence from art director Yoji Shinkawa is in top form here. Although one nitpick would be the blood on the screen when you get shot, looks terrible (why do developers continue to do this?), other than that, this is one of the best looking games ever created.

The voice acting is solid. Keifer Sutherland at times does a good job as Big Boss, particularly in the opening cinematic. But there are times when he seemingly breaks Snake's character and goes into Jack Bauer mode. This only really happens in the final couple of cutscenes, but it will be interesting to see how he fares in Phantom Pain. The jury is still out for me on Sutherland over former Solid Snake and Big Boss VA David Hayter, who is sorely missed.

The rest of the Peace Walker cast is back and they do a very good job. Robert Atkin Downes as Kaz MIller has a few terribly cheesy line deliveries but for the most part does a fine job. Tara Strong as Paz does well and Anthony Del Rio takes Chico into some new and brave territory for the little soldier.

The mysterious antagonist Skull Face (please I hope that's not his real name), sounds like someone out of a bad pornography film. For a character that seems very interesting and is actually well written for the most part, his voice actor makes you not take him as seriously as you want to take him.

The voice acting is a decidedly mixed bag this time around because of some of Sutherland's and Downes performances, as well as the entire performance of Skull Face's James Horan.

The best thing about GZ is that it continues the masterful design doctrine that Kojima introduced in MGS4. Play however you want (action or stealth) and go through a level anyway you want (non linear), but get to the same conclusion.

It's hard not to be excited for Phantom Pain after the taste the Ground Zeroes has given us.

As this is my first game review at IMDb, let me just state that I am not really familiar with the Metal Gear (MG) series and its story. In fact the only MG games I've played before are MGS 4: Guns of The Patriots which was a PS3 exclusive and Metal Gear Rising Reveangance, both which I liked. I got excited for this game after seeing the trailer at E3. I'll be comparing GZ with MGS4, cause MGRR is a hack and slash game. Let's get to the point then...

Gone are the camouflage, noise, psych and health meters, the whole ugly HUD from MGS4. In its place is the new minimal HUD which only shows the weapon selected and its ammo. The binoculars are tied to a separate button and can mark enemies (like Far Cry 3) and even listen to their conversations. The night vision goggles do not have a limited battery this time. Also the detection system is more like Splinter Cell: Blacklist with the arrows on your screen pointing towards the direction of the enemies who have spotted you wit the small improvement - Time will slow down for a short duration, allowing you to kill, or knock out the enemy easily.

Stealth is much more harder in comparison due to a much more open world (there is no cardboard box or drum roll or the camouflage suit this time) and you have to be careful as the enemies don't follow a set route and are pretty smart, and can call for backup anytime they spot something fishy. For example, I distracted an enemy using an empty magazine, and he radioed to others that he was checking that noise. I knocked him out before he could respond back, and then the whole group went into alert mode because they didn't hear back from him.

Also you can carry only 3 weapons this time along with some grenades. But the destructible silencers return.

Graphics wise, in comparison to MGS4, its beautiful. The lighting is superb and there a few hiccups which occur very rarely. The sound is also awesome.

Story wise, it follows after the events of Peace Walker (I listened to the lengthy audiotapes in-game to get a sense of the story). You play as Solid Snake's father or brother Big Boss, also known as Snake. The year is 1975, and Cold War is brewing. You have to rescue Chico and Paz, who was the villain in Peace Walker. These both are just kids btw. They are held at an offshore black ops camp near Cuba. Snake's second-in-command Miller wants him to rescue them cause they might compromise Snake's group MSF (Militaires Sans Frontiers, aka a military without a nation). In the English version which I played, Snake is voiced by Kiefer Sutherland aka Jack Bauer of the 24 series fame and is less talkative and more serious than David Hayter voiced Solid Snake. The cutscenes are also mercifully short (MGS4 had a 90 minute approx epilogue cutscene!!!).

Your main objective is to rescue them, but you can indulge in side activities such as finding and looting armories, freeing other prisoners, and collecting XOF badges, destroying anti aircarft systems. You can be all offensive (not a good idea), all stealth and non lethal or somewhere in between or whatever playstyle you wish to follow.

And that's it. That's the main mission. It took me 1 to 1.5 hours to complete it. And there is no boss fight. I thought Skull Face would be a worthy villain but aside from the intro cutscene he doesn't even appear later.

Following the cutscenes after the main mission, we see MSF destroyed and Snake fall into a 9 year coma and lose his left arm, around 4 side missions are unlocked which timewise precede the main mission, some combat based, some stealth based, all have the same location. One of these missions also has a cameo by Mr. Hideo Kojima, the creator of the series and the game's director, which is funny and the series fans will surely love it.

NOTE: Collecting all XOF badges unlocks two more side missions which were exclusive to PS4 and Xbox One respectively but both are available for PC. You play as Raiden from MGRR in one and MGS1 Solid Snake in the other.

So to recap there is only one main mission which is almost 1.5 hours long (for me) and 7 side missions. However this is just a prologue to The Phantom Pain, eagerly waiting for what comes next.

The short length is a let down, because MGS GZ is an awesome stealth game with a wacky but dark story and a well known protagonist and good voice acting. The early price was ridiculous but now its around Rs. 600 on Flipkart and other sites, which is worth buying.

Rating- 9/10

+ New and Improved Gameplay. + Smart enemies. + Awesome graphics and audio. + Excellent voice acting.

• Too short.

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.

When Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain caught my attention I was more than happy to see there's a prologue already released. Surely the main story line is very short (one mission, absolutely epic) but well-worth the money spent since it's replayable. The thing is despite there are also 6 missions that will unlock depending on what grade you finish the main story line. At this point I have still have 2 locked (I've played the other 4 and they are a lot of fun), what makes it even more interesting.

So it's a good way to get ready for Phantom Pain because from what I see here, it's going to be an outstanding game.