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Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

14 for 2014: Metal Gear Solid V

The Phantom Pain. Ground Zeroes.

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Two names that have been merged together and split apart and merged again over the past year as Kojima Production's scope for the future of the stealth series broadened and surprised with each new reveal.

What we now know: Ground Zeroes will be the prologue to The Phantom Pain, releasing in March next year and whose events will lead into The Phantom Pain, whilst also introducing several new elements into the series, such as open world environments, and day/night cycles. Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima is filling in the gaps of Naked Snake's latter years, post Peace Walker, before he assumed the role and name of Big Boss. Long-standing Snake voice actor David Hayter is out, Keifer Sutherland is in (the Hollywood actor is providing motion-capture for the character as well). We'll be seeing a mix of new and familiar faces in this new multi-part adventure. Both games will run on the FOX Engine.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Both PS4 and Xbox One versions of Ground Zeroes will be getting exclusive content. While the game deals with Snake's infiltration of Camp Omega and his rescuing of key prisoners, the PS4 version will offer a Snake reskin that adopts the low-res character model of Solid Snake from the PSOne original and Camp Omega will be remade to resemble Shadow Moses. Xbox One owners will also get a special mission, this time while playing as Raiden.

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The length of Ground Zeroes is currently unknown, though the reduced RRP and the repeated emphasis on it being a prologue to the events of Phantom Pain suggest a teaser sampling of what's to come. As with Ground Zeroes, Phantom Pain is due out on Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One and PS4 (a PC version is being worked on as well), and follows on from the prologue as Snake reawakens in hospital after being put into a coma for several years after the events of Ground Zeroes.

Much of the game(s) remains a mystery, which is not unexpected considering its creator. A stunning E3 trailer (which you can watch below) just heightened our anticipation. But already there's speculation about what may occur before the title's final credits roll. Given how the era MGSV is set in brings it awfully close to the events of the original Metal Gear (the NES classic that introduced Solid Snake as he infiltrated Outer Heaven to confront Big Boss) its feasible that Kojima is finally bringing the two strands of his series - Naked Snake and his change to Big Boss, Solid Snake and the future battlefields - together at last to make the biggest, most cohesive stories in gaming history.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

The question then is whether Hayter's much-publicised step down from voicing both Snake characters is in fact a bluff; and a different actor's being brought on to voice Snake/Big Boss only to differentiate him if/when Solid Snake (again voiced by Hayter) is reintroduced into the series... maybe via a remake of the 1987 original Metal Gear as a closing mission to The Phantom Pain.

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Of course, this is pure speculation. But that's what this series breeds in us. We'll only be a few years shy of the franchise's thirtieth anniversary anyway come The Phantom Pain's release, and we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate if Kojima brings his grand opus full circle, back to where - and when - it all began.

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Metal Gear Solid V: Ground ZeroesScore

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

REVIEW. Written by Gillen McAllister

"For a game of this size we'd have needed more content, or a much lower price point, to make this a recommended must buy. Have some patience, and wait until The Phantom Pain releases."



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