Metal Gear Solid 5: Gameplay Previewed for Ground Zeroes Prologue

Metal Gear Solid 5 is broken up into two different games, with much of the attention being put on The Phantom Pain rather than its prequel, Ground Zeroes. But now IGN has an extended preview of the game, and it appears that the game will change many of the traditional gameplay mechanics found in the series and makes the game feel more like a Splinter Cell or Hitman title rather than a Metal Gear Solid game. Overall, this has lead to missed feelings about the game from this early demo.

Kojima Productions still refuses to elaborate on what exactly Ground Zeroes is. It could either be a separate game entirely from The Phantom Pain, a DLC prologue, or just one section of the whole of Metal Gear Solid 5 found on the same disk. In any case, series creator Hideo Kojima seems to be treating it like a separate entity. Big Boss, played by 24 star Kiefer Sutherland in what is initially a rather bland performance, still uses stealth to conquer foes, but has slow motion executions seen in titles such as Splinter Cell: Blacklist. When a player is detected, they can press a button to slow down time, allowing them to dispatch a foe without revealing their location. This means that players will not have to use stealth as much as before, as if they are detected they can simply use an execution attack to defeat the enemy. Another new feature in the game is health regeneration. Players can flee from a fight an regain lost help, making it easier to stay alive.

While some longtime fans of the series might panic over this newer, faster gameplay style, it represents an overall shift by Hideo Kojima and the team developing the game from focusing on the story of the series to revamping the gameplay and updating the franchise in that regard. Helping this transition is the fact that Metal Gear Solid 5 is a prequel to the events of the very first Metal Gear Solid game, taking place in the decades before Big Boss went rogue. This means that the story is largely set in stone, and fans of the series have a fairly good idea as to where the plot will eventually head.

Metal Gear Solid 5 may be radically different from previous entries in the series, but considering the reputation that Hideo Kojima has, and the need to update some of the older gameplay mechanics of the series should help make the game a Metal Gear Solid game for these modern times.