It has been a hot topic of debate for weeks now: The surprisingly short length of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes .
Granted, it's an introduction, a prelude of sorts to the main course, The Phantom Pain . However, the latter may not be out until later next year, and the pricing for Ground Zeroes (despite a $10 price drop for the physical PS4 and Xbox One versions) still isn't agreeable to most gamers. That's because of the reported length: Some are saying the game can be completed in less than an hour now. That's not good news.
Personally, I've always felt that critics put an inordinate amount of emphasis on a game's length. I understand the concept, of course; you want as much bang for your buck as possible. Not every game can be Journey , but I think that's an example of how length is essentially irrelevant when determining the overall quality of an artistic product. Even so, a lot of people are upset about the length and price of Ground Zeroes , and that could be reflected in the review scores we see this week.
The million-dollar question is, of course: Is that fair?
Related Game(s): Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
Ground Zeroes is just a maeketing strategy. Is like saying "don't foget Snake and his new game due in 2015".
Maybe Konami needed money to fund Phantom Pain, and pushed Kojima to release an "introduction" to the main game.
I really want to read the reviews before paying for the game, I'm not concerned for the play time, I am for everything else.
I seriously doubt we will see Phantom Pain until 2016 at the earliest. Koji is a perfectionist and his comments make it seem like the game is so big it'll never be done.
pavlovic, i dont know what that means but watch this video for Info on why Ground Zeroes is released to the world
youtube . com / watch?v=yEFGCmGO7mU
and watch this video on how Phantom Pain will be
twitch . tv / konami / b / 510717661
Last edited by Kiryu on 3/18/2014 8:51:02 AM
Remember almost every Metal Gear game has a prologue and Ground Zero was too big to be included in Phantom Pain. So dont rate it yet. Think as only one game in 2 disc.
For $90
But game can be completed in less than an hour I'm sure it would fit 😛
@Oxvial:
But if 'The Phantom Pain' is already huge in comparison, and completing 'Ground Zeroes' in an hour is only 1/10 of the whole experience, then it could easily be quite massive together.
Besides, I believe releasing 'Ground Zeroes' now is more of a time issue than a space issue. 'The Phantom Pain' will likely take some time to release, so Kojima is trying to whet the appetite of the fans while we wait. My understanding of the situation, anyway.
World you cant spare 90$ for two games that will basically be Epic games which will be released in a span of 12 months?
I believe World is doing some post-secondary now. I've been working 5+ years and could afford it, but it's still too much for me to want to pay. And if I was still a student? Yeah, forget about it altogether.
Wasn't talking to you underdog
Well then… far be it from me to assume you'd be interested in a reasonable explanation.
Thankfully I made some good money that I stashed in the stock market before getting back to finishing my degree. Can't do manual labor any more though (back ruined), which used to bring in cash.
I thought the original price was kind of high because it's only a tiny portion of the finished game, but that's a different issue. The game should be judged on quality and not quantity. If you say the game is awesome but short, that's fair enough. Allowing the length of gameplay to affect the review score is not fair, in my opinion.
I think it's a balance of the two. What's the point of quality if it's so brief it doesn't truly allow for a full enjoyment of the product?
If there were any type of deception going on, I could understand people being upset. However, we've been informed upfront that it's a prologue. I don't see any good reason for someone to buy a game and speed through it as fast as they possibly can. It's almost akin to eating like a pig and complaining that you couldn't taste the food.
I would disagree as I feel the length of the gameplay should be a factor when rating the game and the cost should play into that as well.
Gameplay for 1 hour in a $10 title is far more accepting than 1 hour in a $20-$30 game.
Even though I disagree with allowing the length to be a factor in a review score, I'd accept it before using game cost as part of the critique.
The person that stated the game was one hour said it was 9% complete when they made it to the end. So they skipped 90% of the gameplay. If they beat the game and reach 100% completion in one hour, then they might have something to say that's worth listening to.
Konami game testers went from start to finish in five minutes, but what's the point in buying any game and doing that.
Here's the thing, if the gamer plays most of what is available in it and at the end goes "That's it?" then you've got yourself a problem. You can't hide behind the artistic stuff at that point, it means you've failed the audience.
Not saying that will definitely happen here, but it could. And that would hurt some scores. It's a calculated risk to do this, since it could damage the brand before Phantom Pain comes out. But hell, it's MGS so people will buy it and love it no matter what.
Be sad if this becomes yet another series to become lame when it goes multiplat.
If you are gonna rate this game, rate it on its good and its bad NOT its length, buts seeing how review are done here, the scores might be doomed. Either way i will love this game!!
Last edited by Big_Boss90 on 3/17/2014 11:41:15 PM
I'm really not sure how you can say you'll LOVE it without playing it but each to his own. I can see how you might claim you'll enjoy it regardless if the IP is something you have a fondness for.
Beating this game only gets you at 9%, so if your only going to do story then you are not really getting the full experience..
big issue Metal Gear games was always about the single player campaign, I didn't enjoy what he did with Peace Walker, that was like Monster Hunter.
If you didn't like Peace Walker y don't you go play mediocore splinter cell instead buddy 🙂
because I don't like Splinter Cell.
All I'm gonna say on this one is that price should should only lower a games over all score by 1/10 max. I'm sure I'll enjoy MGS V: GZ for what it is.
It's perfectly fair to use a game's length as part of the overall score. I'm not saying it should be a huge factor but it has to count for something.
No one wants to pay $13 to go see a movie with insanely awesome drama, dialogue, and special effects, not to mention grade A acting, only to have it end within 20-30 minutes.
No one wants to pay large amounts of money for something that can't even be called feature length…
Games are not like Movies where every time you watch it the same thing happens for 20 mins u idiot.
Last edited by Kiryu on 3/18/2014 8:27:04 AM
Kiryu, you calling underdog an idiot is pretty ironic considering you totally missed the point of what he's saying. Also you can disagree with someone without being a dick.
Last edited by matt99 on 3/18/2014 8:52:44 AM
Hmmm… was your father abusive? Or maybe your mother was emotionally unavailable… maybe both?
In either case, I'm glad I can serve as an outlet for your pent up frustration.
At any rate, I wasn't talking to you, Kiryu. 😉
Last edited by Underdog15 on 3/18/2014 8:56:52 AM
Games are not like Movies Mr.UnderDog so please don't try to compare the two .
Thanking You
Yours Respectfully
Kiryu
🙂
Last edited by Kiryu on 3/18/2014 9:03:45 AM
Yeah, it doesn't look like it'll click, Matt.
I don't think length is ALWAYS a problem or benefit — plenty of games seem to drag on to me. Journey would have been unbearable if it lasted 50 hours. I think it's perfectly to say, in this context, at this price point, GZ's length is problematic. As a big fan, I just love the sound of this so much and am thankful to have a chance to play a sliver of the new MGS a year or two before the full game. But I totally get why others aren't ok with this.
Yeah I agree, Telly. Journey wasn't a problem for me because the price point matched the length and quality.
One hour? oh boy! Kojima maybe it's following the Peace Walker format which was my least favorite Metal Gear Game 🙁
I think it is fair to judge it partially on length. We're paying for gameplay, art style, or whatever we deem worth paying for. Time is part of it, a game lasting 15 minutes could have amazing quality, but no one is going to pay $60 for it. You have to balance everything being provided with the price of admission.
Some people are willing to pay more, but it seems clear that not everyone is willing to pay what they are asking for this preview.
It depends on a lot more than just how long a speedrun can be done. I've completed 'Guns of the Patriots' on The Boss Extreme in 4 hours and change. But my longest playthru of the game lasted over 40 hours (including cutscenes and Codec conversations). So as long as there's lots to do overall, I can't imagine complaining about the length.
Jalex finish MGSV :Ground Zeroes and it takes long time to complete the whole game a 100%.
and don't forget the Ending of Ground Zeroes is a shocking turn of events. Kojima is a genius
Last edited by Kiryu on 3/18/2014 8:13:05 AM
Just checked there are already reviews some even rate it with a 4… I'm kinda happy because I don't want other company's selling us demos.
Btw other stuff not length related I catch after reading some of the reviews, looks like Sutherland kinda failed at replacing Hayter, the main game it's just one mission that can be done in less than 30 min. after that you can do the side missions also the plot it's confusing but maybe it was intentional but that makes it a very awkward way to introduce players to Phantom Pain.
Last edited by Oxvial on 3/18/2014 1:27:30 AM
Lets get one thing straight:
If you play a stealth game like a first person shooter, you're going to finish it quickly. If you try not to be seen, it will be longer.
MGS is a stealth game so play it as that and explore each area and not rush to the main objective. People need to stop panicking over something so trivial.
actually it both stealth and action, the choice has always been yours, but lets not try to justify its length by saying you should complete it through stealth to make it that much longer.
So I'm basically looking at this as I'm paying $30 for a nice demo. I would have to be crazy to pay $30 for a demo.
idk but i won't be getting it i got too much on my plate this year and atm for sure. a little PC gaming is all i can squeeze in atm
happy gaming =)
I smirked at the title of this article. I'm sorry…
why?
Sorry, to be more specific, it was the article description that states that length is a serious issue. I saw a dick joke in other words. I'm not proud of it.
ah I see now. mwahaha excellent.
of course its not fair, a game should not be so heavily marked down just because its short!
another example of whats wrong with journalists these days, reviewing games for what they THINK it SHOULD be, rather than what the game actually IS!
ok it needs to be longer, you can totally understand that.
journey a perfect example, that was like jumping in a spa, turning the bubbles on, going ooooooooh this is so relaxing, than someone yanks you out.
you just start to enjoy it and they take it away from you, so yea it should be longer, but that does not mean it deserves to be marked so harshly.
this kinda does highlight the flaw in the pricing system though, its really not fair to pay 80 bucks for a 1 hour demo, but then pay 80 bucks for a 100+ hour game like watch dogs!
we really do need a pricing committee who sits down and plays the entire game and decides how much its worth based on how long it is, and also its quality.
no more paying 80 bucks for 1 hour good, no more paying 80 bucks for 1 hour crap, and no more paying 80 bucks for 100 hours good either.
afterall put it this way, is TLoU really worth the same launch price as something like ACM?
no, dident think so, so why is it priced like it?
Australia really does get treated unfairly and should be the only country that's given a case by case evaluation when it comes to game prices. I can't believe they expect y'all to pay full price for MGS5:GZ. You should only have to pay half the price like everyone else.
On a less juvenile note on my part, I saw that ign gave the game an 8. So there's that.