MGS V Ground Zeroes Details Blow Out

As Ground Zeroes release draws close we're starting to receive lots of details about the game and how it works with the main game Phantom Pain. Kojima seems to be trying more than just a sequel. So lets take a look at some of the recent details.

Price and Release
Ground Zeroes recently revived a price cut. The next gen versions are currently £28 and last gen versions £22 on Amazon. Prices in stores are slightly high £30 and £25 respectively and digital copies will be cheaper (probably only on last gen systems)
Ground Zeroes will hit stores March 21st and no release has been given for Phantom Pain though it is expected to hit around Christmas.


Length and Content
First up length Ground Zeroes main mission will take around 2 hours to finish but will also feature 5 side-ops that unlock after you finish the main mission. There is also a bonus preorder side-op that's unique to each platform (more on that shortly). Hideo Kojima is worried that the main game Phantom Pain is in fact too big as it is 200x the size of Ground Zeroes. I'm unsure if this means geography or game length which would clock in at 400 hours. During an interview with IGN he said "The Phantom Pain has the risk that people won't be able to finish the story as it will be more than 200x bigger than Ground Zeroes" which dose lean more to story duration. VIP's, Prisoners and Mother Base resources will transfer across to the Phantom Pain. So it seems Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker's base with it's staffing and equipment building will return which outside the Co-Op was my favourite feature from PW

Xbox users get Veja Vu which sets players as cyborg ninja Raiden (Woo...) as he hunts down body snatching aliens (nice to know MGS is still weird). Raiden will have a unique skill set and abilities.
Playstation users get Deja Vu which gives them an younger looking Snake in an Shadow Moses look alike. The gameplay will be the same but will feature new area. So multi console owners have a choice do they want more play styles or more area?

Companion App
Like almost every major AAA release Ground Zeroes will feature an companion app. The iDroid (see what you did their Kojima) will be released for Android, iOS and will be built into Smartglass for Xbox One. The app will Mirror snakes communication system from the game. it will offer a map, communicating with mother base and the ability to call in support (air-strikes). Sound like it'll work much like Dead Rising 3's Smart Glass companion.

Sensitive Content
Kojima wants to push what you can do in video games. Likening them to movies and books if you dont push the boundaries you limit what a narrative can do.

In his words "If we don't cross that line, if we don't make attempts to express what we really want to express, games will only be games. If we don't try to go beyond that, we won't be able to achieve what movies or novels have achieved. I didn't want to stay away from these things that could be considered sensitive. If we don't go that far, games will never be considered as culture. In games we have to go to the limit; we want to stay within this limit of how far...pushing the boundaries of conveying our message. We look around and we don't see too many games like this; that is unfortunate. One of the main topics of Metal Gear Solid V is this chain of revenge. That is something that I really didn't want to step back from, I really didn't want to go around it." It seems he is preparing for a backlash "I know that I will probably face a lot of criticism because of it but I really wanted to portray that accurately."

Great pains are being taken by reviewers to not spoil these sensitive elements, however I feel that it may of all ready been spoiled in a trailer for phantom pain

That was a lot of text so here's a picture of Snake seemingly exploding a man's face with his fist

Multiplayer
This came as a surprise to me despite being a parts of the series since metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence. Despite gathering a large following in Japan the Metal Gear Online never really stuck with western gamers. To hopefully combat this divide Kojima has transplanted the core MGO team to Konami's L.A. studio.
It's going to be some time before we see if this has worked as Multiplayer will be shipping with Phantom Pain