I’m going to keep this short and sweet. I paid $20 for my copy of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and I am having a grand old time playing it.
I’ve heard a lot of criticism and read some pretty sharp, almost scathing reviews of this “glorified demo” — and to each one’s own — but for me this is a damn fine product. I spent at least two hours slinking around on my first playthrough. Yeah, my first playthrough.
This game — and I call it a game — is full of content outside of the main story mission, which I immediately delved into once I completed it to grab the collectibles and free those other tormented captives.
For me, $20 is more than worth the price of admission. I’ve paid more than that for longer games that weren’t half as fun, let alone half as polished. This game looks gorgeous, hands-down one of the better-looking Xbox 360 games. And the gameplay itself — the most important factor — is solid, engaging and fun.
Perhaps it’s because I’m not a Metal Gear fanboy — because I don’t pore over these games, creating timelines and working through conspiracies or decoding bits of dialogue — that I don’t feel some self-prescribed sense of betrayal by the game’s short run time. I can just enjoy this as a fun stealth/action title.
Finally, the bargain bin puts me on the receiving end of the bargain.
