

I’ve already mentioned my appreciation for Big Boss’s voice acting, but enemies, POWs, and your support are all voiced by excellent actors in their own right.


I like the change, and thematically it makes sense (see MGS 1, 2 and 4, otherwise I’d have to go into a lot of spoilers).Īs with all Metal Gear Solid games, the soundtrack and effects are fantastic. His portrayal shows Big Boss as gruff and a man who has been through a hell of a lot but still carries some sense of compassion. While I will always think of David as Solid/Naked Snake, Sutherland is Big Boss, and he fits. This gives Big Boss far more realistic facial expressions and look. Kiefer Sutherland not only replaces David Hayter as Big Boss, but is used for his facial capture as well. There has been some controversy about replacing the series’ main voice actor. When you are spotted the game will slow time for several seconds to give you a chance to dispatch the guard – this comes in very handy in critical situations.

Very rarely did I press against a wall, duck when I wasn’t supposed to or run in an opposite direction than intended. Your character’s actions are far more fluid than previous titles, which allows for easier sneaking, CQC (hand-to-hand) takedowns, and the addition of a new dive button. The refinement put into the Fox Engine is also felt during gameplay. You may use brute force, but it’s not recommended. Guards have to check in within a certain amount of time otherwise HQ becomes suspicious, so dispatching alerted guards can also carry repercussions. At night these AI units will shine a torch in your direction and, if they suspect something, will call it into HQ and head towards you. Running within an enemies’ peripheral vision will alert them to your presence – even if you are over 10 meters away. The weather does affect the Fox Engine’s new enemy AI by hampering their visual abilities. Kojima has done away with guards’ obvious cone-shaped vision, and greatly enhanced their overall field of view. Guards are far more intelligent than in previous titles, and I’ll admit I had (and still have) quite a bit of difficulty with them. You can see it pushing the PlayStation 3 to its limits. The effects give Boss’s suit a slick feel and everything looks rain-soaked even guards wear rain coats. The game’s first mission places you into a night time scenario with constant rain. Ground Zeroes uses a single free-roaming map, so you are no longer limited to smaller areas separated by loading screens. Ground Zeroes is built using Konami’s new Fox Engine, and what a beauty it is: character models, weather effects, draw distance and attention to detail have all been vastly improved. The game tries to fill in the gaps from Big Boss’s previous outing with a text-based story outline, but you may be somewhat lost without actually having played Peace Walker in its entirety. Your mission is to rescue two characters from the previous title, Paz Ortega Andrade and Ricardo “Chico” Valenciano, who are now being held as POWs. Starting off several months after Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Ground Zeroes gives you control of Snake (Big Boss) as you infiltrate Camp Omega, a black ops US base on Cuban soil. Has Kojima continued this legacy with Metal Gear Solid V’s first chapter, Ground Zeroes? Each sequential Metal Gear Solid release has not only pushed the envelope, but would also take a different direction to the previous title. His titles feature Hollywood-level effects, superb implementation of audio and engrossing (convoluted) storylines. Metal Gear Solid cemented Hideo Kojima as a cinematic and storytelling mastermind.
