Ben-DutkaYesterday, it came to light that the anticipated prequel, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes , is only about two hours long .
As we said at the time, that could be an exaggerated number, and player style also impacts a game's length. Even so, it still seems a little on the short side, doesn't it? Well, not according to Kojima Productions designer Jordan Amaro, who says the issue has been blown out of proportion :
"Are Journey and Dear Esther long? [Voltaire's 18th-century writing Candide] is like a hundred pages at most. Yet they are masterpieces of video game and literature. This smearing will not stain and affect what we're aiming to achieve with MGS, the game industry in Japan, or video games as a whole."
While it's certainly true that Journey is no more than two hours long, there are several other factors to consider. Firstly, it only cost $15. Secondly, it's not a game people expected to be very long and in fact, the developers only needed a few hours to relate their full and complete vision. That's part of the reason it was so amazing. Thirdly, it's the type of game that doesn't have to be long; there simply isn't much in it.
Still, Amaro says we shouldn't worry too much.
"I want people to celebrate the new MGS like we used to. I'm not dismissing their concerns. But this [issue surrounding the game's length] has been trumped-up."
Related Game(s): Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
As much as I enjoy the MGS series, I will not shell out $40 for this. I'll wait until it goes to the bargain bin or gets bundled with the main MGS 5 game.
Bingo. After all the day-one purchasers spend forty bucks on a game they wrap up two hours later angrily sell those discs back the next day, I'll start looking for steep discounts.
And here I was getting optimistic the Japanese gaming industry was going to curb the insanity this gen…
He's insane! As Ben notes, Journey was $15 at launch (I'm pretty sure I paid $10, tops), not FORTY FREAKING DOLLARS! I seriously am one of the biggest MGS fans in the world but this is nuts!
False comparisons. This is a tutorial and piece of a larger game that has been split off to make more money so it's different.
If you do everything in Bioshock Infinite's first Burial at Sea episode you can last 3 hours and people thought that was short for $15 even though it's AAA quality.
Maybe they should have a season pass of sorts, which made the Burial At Sea deal much better, where you plunk down a more reasonable chunk of change and get Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain. Might soften the blow.
Agreed journey was a complete package, while you know ground zero will definitely have an opening ending for mgs5. On top of that itll suck if the 2 hour include the lengthy cutscenes too
In games I am the explorer so I'm sure it'll take me awhile to complete the game. Now for those who play in a very linear manner… they'll probably finish it fast.
It's what you make of the experience.
Excuses for length on a Metal Gear Solid Game!?!?!, why they can't just admit it's a demo, oh yes because they are charging us for it which sounds even more awful xD.
Last edited by Oxvial on 2/5/2014 1:15:24 PM
i'll just slowly crawl everywhere on The Boss extreme difficulty,should triple the playtime against the very easy setting it was most likely reviewed on.
yeh hehe euro extreme syle!
Should have just been part of the game or a long demo. No way I'd ever pay $30 for a 2 hourish game. Just ridiculous.
I'm hoping they include it with the full game, if not then I might wait for a goty edition and see if it's included then.
No sorry this is BS. They dropped the ball here unless they intent to sell it for around $15. I certainly won't be purchasing this now.
I guess Al those people waiting to purchase a PS4 for this will most likely wait for the next installment.
This if the fault of the XboxOne! 😉
Well, at least he's not saying that it takes more than two hours to get through the story. My issue is that this isn't Journey. Ground Zeroes is going to offer up a full suite of stealth and combat mechanics. It is, by its very nature, designed to be a full game, and yet it's a snapshot of a full game. A glorified demo and Konami expects us to pay a near premium price for that? I'm sorry, but that is wrong.
It doesn't matter if it is the most amazing game going, the fans will be getting shortchanged with this. It's a joke.
Can't you blast through the first Metal Gear Solid on the PS1 in about 3 hours? That was $40 in 1999 dollars, I'm pretty sure.
It was $50 at launch (I think) and your first playthrough of that game was easily 15 hours, probably closer to 20+. If MGS: Ground Zeroes really takes 2/two and a half hours on the first playthrough, that is a HUGE disappointment (and probably implied you can blast through the campaign in 15 minutes once you know what you're doing!)
Oh ok, that makes sense. It's been awhile since I played MGS1, but I remembered reading about people flying through it in about 3 hours.
Yeah, if it's that fast the first time through, then it will definitely feel crazy short. Dang. 🙁
Yeah man, a big disappointment to have such a high price for such a small sliver of game. I for one have no problem waiting three days for Infamous Second Son to come out…
Wtf?
Comparing MGS to Journey?
So they admit it's 2 hours long.
Last edited by Snaaaake on 2/5/2014 3:54:40 PM
Keep it up guys… I think there will be some worried game execs scrambling around at the moment. They keep pushing the limits of what the gamer will tolerate and unless there is pushback they will keep it up. DRM, microtransactions, demos at high prices, botched day 1 releases and buggy online.
They don't hear if there is no pushback. Protest loud and protest with your wallet.
Storm the barricades!
Gotta vote with your most valuable tool — your wallet. I agree completely, even if I had 30 bucks burning a hole in my pocket and i just really, REALLY wanted to play some new MGS the day this comes out (and realistically, that's exactly how I'm going to feel) I simply cannot support this kind of practice financially. Time and again we hear how this "Prologue" is "for the fans." Make no mistake, this is a pretty clear indication about what the executives at Konami think the fans will put up with. That, I cannot abide.
Well think about how quickly you can beat the Tanker mission in MGS2… I've managed it in under 15 minutes so I am sure many out there have done it under 10. I don't see this as a concern.
This is a prologue to MGS5, they have not hidden this ever since we knew of its existence. I don't see why we have to compare it to indie games all of a sudden. I'm actually grateful to have it so early. The Phantom Pain is still a while off and as this part of the story is set before the coma the separate release makes sense… it's cheaper to compensate for this. I have got it pre-ordered at half the retail value of a normal game and am ever so pleased.
I regularly beat Mirror's Edge in 2 hours. Doesn't stop it from being my favorite game.
The guy is missing the point… To me it's not about the length it's about charging people $30 to $40 for this glorified demo on the PS4. And that's why the comparison to Journey is heavily flawed when you consider it was $15 when it first came out.
what a moron!
firstly this is a MGS game, MGS has always been famous for being quite long and in depth.
secondly this is allot more expensive than journey!
EB has the next gen version of this set at full retail price!
90 bucks!
you know what, id rather eat 90 bucks than spend that on a 2 hour game!
thirdly if its so short, whats taken them so freaking long!?
MGS4 released in what, 08?
takes them 6 years to build the fox engine, and create a 2 hour game did it?
fourthly people wouldnt care how long this was if phantom pain was close by, but there saying its at least another year or so away!
so we have to wait 6 years for a 2 hour game, and another year or so for the proper MGS experience?
yea, good luck with that!