Return To Camp Omega - A Re-Evaluation Of Ground Zeroes

thegamer.com:

Metal Gear Solid 5 has been marred with many controversies over the years. Series creator Hideo Kojima’s very public fallout with publisher Konami and The Phantom Pain’s subsequent unfinished nature were at the forefront of them, and the effects of both can still be felt to this day. However, the game's first major controversy dates back to the launch of its prologue: Ground Zeroes.

To be as blunt, Ground Zeroes is a $30 demo of The Phantom Pain. Word is, because Phantom Pain was taking so long to finish, Kojima decided to split the release into two games, with the game’s original prologue section being launched as Ground Zeroes so that players could get a feel for the new gameplay of MGS5 (and likely so Konami could recoup some of the game’s famously high development costs). Once word got out that the main storyline lasted around 90 minutes, Ground Zeroes’ $30 price tag garnered an overwhemingly negative reception from fans.

Related: Metal Gear Solid Being Unavailable On Consoles Is An Insult To Our History

I wouldn’t say Ground Zeroes was panned; quite the contrary, the game received relatively high review scores at the time, with the only two major complaints being the aforementioned time and price - but with so many games out there competing for your wallet, those two things matter. Even to this day, the prevailing feeling about Ground Zeroes is that it was nothing more than a chunk of a larger game removed and sold to us separately. Like an inverse version of post-launch DLC.

However, looking back on it after Phantom Pain, it’s clear Ground Zeroes was one of the best parts of Metal Gear Solid 5. It’s just a shame it was sold separately.

Ground Zeroes takes place in 1975, one year after the events of the woefully