I am unlike any of my friends at college or from high school, the newest gaming console I have played on is my families Wii U. My family has mostly stayed a complete Nintendo platform only kind of family except for our PS2 which I incredibly enjoy. However most of my friends have Xbox's and PS4's so my only experience I have with these consoles comes from my friends where I spend most of my non-work time at school. One of my recent conversations with these friends started off like this:
Spencer: I only have 34 GBs left on my Xbox
A few quick notes about this, Spencer is my friend with an Xbox One, it has a 500Gb internal hard drive, and Spencer only has 6 games installed on his Xbox.
The conversation continued on about how video games now days take up incredible amounts of digital space on consoles, he recently bought Halo the Master Chief Collection which was a total of 68 GB's worth of data that had to be both ripped from the disks and also downloaded for the whole game. Granted Halo MCC is kind of a one off game where it is actually a collection of the first four Halo games remastered, yet when most games take up 30-70 GB's worth of storage there is a problem.
The central problem as to why these games require so much storage falls down to how games are played on modern consoles and how the game is actually packaged. For those who haven't played any games on these modern consoles, most games no longer require the disk to remain inside the console in order to play them. In many ways this is an incredible advancement from older consoles, no longer would you need to sort through tens of games just to look for the one you want to play. However most games require a ton of files, textures, game logic, and most importantly audio files. Textures can easily be compressed simply because they are basic images and 3d files. Surprisingly the audio files for all modern games aren't compressed, this causes these game files to remain so large even with advancements in console processors. So what's the takeaway? Well game developers need to find a way to compress the entire game, audio files included to make them easier for players to install and save space so people can install more games on their consoles, also Microsoft and Sony really need to start selling 2 TB internal hard drives for their consoles to offer more game space.
This month, Xbox's Games With Gold
program gave gold users Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes(MGS5:GZ)
for free. And while I'm not the biggest fan of the Metal Gear Solid
series as a whole, I am interested in playing the upcoming Metal Gear
Solid V: The Phantom Pain. I took this opportunity to check out what
Konami would be planning for a grand finale to their acclaimed
series. What I got was an excellent, repetitive, five hour demo.
MGS5:GZ runs at a smooth 60fps on the
Xbox One. The graphics and scenery are nice to look at, but there's
not really anything that stood out as unique or extraordinary. Most
of the time, you are looking at gray buildings or brown sand.
However, this does make sense, as for the entirety of the game, you
are pit into Camp Omega, a top secret American black site. The
weather, atmosphere, and shading in the game is fantastic and really
immerses the player into the world and the situation. My favorite
graphical part about this game is the how it looks at night. The
lighting and the darkness really mix together well in this game.
However, playing on the same map over and over get quite repetitive
and really makes you wish for something more. With the exception of a
couple of weird textures, MGS5:GZ is a great looking game, but
nothing special.
Story – 7/10
Although the game is only a couple
hours long, the story is surprisingly strong. The game's first and
only main mission has Snake, the series' longtime protagonist,
sneaking in to Camp Omega to extract two agents. As the main mission,
the story is strong here. The game shows not restraint in showing
gruesome scenes, and it adds to the realism and stress of the story.
Overall, the story shown in the first mission is good. However, the
first story is also the end of the story, with the rest of it to be
shown in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
After you beat the main mission, four
extra missions open up called Side Ops. Each of these missions follow
a single story that seems to precede the main story, but are not part
of the main story. Returning to Camp Omega(or a really good replica
of it), Snake is sent on a variety of simple tasks to reveal the
secrets that go on in the black site. The storyline for all four Side
Ops is good, with the best part happening right at the end. However,
the story for the Side Ops is not as good as the main story, as would
be expected.
Gameplay – 8/10
As a major promoter of stealth
gameplay, the Metal Gear Solid series has always been good at
allowing the player to use stealth and quick wit to complete their
objectives. The game gives you several options and paths to help you
get to your target. Firstly, you have binoculars which allow you to
tag enemies so you can know their location at all times. Usually,
marking the enemy with your binoculars is the first thing you should
do before entering a new area. Secondly, your tranquilizer gun will
be the main weapon of choice if you're going down a stealth route.
The tranquilizer will put a enemy to sleep, but the amount of time it
takes to do so differs depending on where you shoot the enemy.
Moreover, when an enemy spots you, Snake enters reflex mode, which
makes everything move in slow-motion for a couple of seconds. You are
given these options and more to complete the objectives at hand.
Conversely, you can play the game more
aggressively, but getting caught will make your life troublesome.
Even getting slightly seen will put most enemies on alert, and
getting spotted will get the guards to attack you. Luckily, escaping
the guards is not especially difficult, but it will take a long time
to get the guards back to normal patrols. The enemy AI in this game
is mediocre at best, with many predictable movements, or silly
actions done by the enemies, but it's doesn't impact gameplay that
much. Enemies are easy to dispatch, as you are given plenty of ammo
and the soldiers don't take too much effort to take down. If you
happen to kill too many, your final score will dramatically decrease,
so playing stealthy is probably the best way to play. In the end, the
gameplay is pretty solid, and is generally fun.
Other – 5/10
Now, I got this game for free as part
of the Games With Gold program, but at the time of writing this
article, MGSV:GZ is a hearty 20 dollars. With the gameplay lasting
around five to ten hours, that makes it more than most modern FPS
shooters, but playing the same level for hours at a time tends to get
stale real quick.
The main mission can be beat
in around 4 minutes. I mean it can, but it'll probably take longer
for most players.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is a
great tech demo for the promising Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain.
But that's all it is. Why pay for a demo when demos are made to
entice the user to buy the full game? Free, the game is a steal and
is definitely worth getting; however at twenty dollars, I can't
recommend it to most people. It's just too much money for not enough
content. But at least the content is pretty good.
Recap:
Graphics – 8/10
Story – 7/10
Gameplay – 8/10
Other – 5/10
Overall Score – 28/40
This is my first blog post ever, so I'm
hoping that this kept your interest for a while. If you have any
thoughts or questions about the review or my writing in general, feel
free to leave them in the comments!
