MGS: Ground Zeros will blow your freaking mind

A few days ago, there was confirmation on a new Metal Gear Solid game for the current generation of consoles. The game was revealed by Konami at their celebration of the series 25th anniversary. At the event, a 14 minute demo was shown that featured a few minutes of actual game-play at the end of it.

From the information that I have gathered, it is almost certain that the protagonist in this game will be Big Boss. He is wearing a badge that says Militaires Sans Frontieres which was Big Boss's PMC in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The protagonist also has an eye patch covering his right eye which is the defining characteristic of Big Boss, thus proving that Big Boss will be the protagonist in this game.

As for the time period that the game will take place in, it must be post Peace Walker because the gun Big Boss is equipped with in the demo is a FN FNC, a Belgian assault rifle created in 1979. If you haven't played Peace Walker, it takes place in 1974 so this new game would have to take place afterward in order to be historically correct. The setting is unknown as of now, there is a common speculation that it will take place in Africa.

I wonder who this will be...

As stated earlier, the demo consists of around 9 minutes of cut-scene and around 6 minutes of game-play. Just from the cuts-scene itself, you really get a look at what this new engine is capable of. Individual rain drops can be seen splashing the ground and the soldiers uniforms and bodies glisten in the rain. Facial animations are extremely life-like, so much so that it feels like you are watching a movie. Never in my life have a seen a game that has looked this incredible, I was especially wowed when the helicopter was taking off and you could see the waves of rainwater being pushed from the force of the propeller blades.

The trailer starts off with a man in uniform talking to a young boy in a cage. They are obviously on some sort of military base. The soldier gives the boy some sort of music playing device and then walks away. The man then gets in a car with another soldier and they drive to the helipad for extraction. Later you see the face of the man and find out that he is horribly disfigured, most likely from burns. The man talks throughout the demo until he says the line "from FOX two phantoms were born." This line could be a reference to the clones Solid Snake and Liquid Snake. It could also be referring to members of FOX unit like Big Boss, Gray Fox, and Major Zero. The camera then pans down to the side of a cliff where a figure, who we soon find out to be Big Boss, is climbing.

Notice the eye patch and MSF badge

After that, Big Boss crawls around on the ground for a bit until he says "kept you waiting, huh?" after peeling off his goggles. He then stands up and crouch-walks closer to the military base while two helicopters soar over him. The game switches into game-play mode shortly after and Big Boss slowly makes his way closer to the base, dodging spotlights that are being manned by guards. The most amazing part about this engine is that there is hardly a difference between the visuals in the cut-scene from the visuals in the actual game-play. While Big Boss is creeping up to the base, you can hear a Konami representative explain the the game will be open world so you can approach your objective any way you would like.




He then mentions that you will be able to steal and pilot vehicles in the game, a game-play element that has not been incorporated in MGS games in the past. Once he successfully reaches the perimeter of the base, Big Boss pops a round off with a silenced gun, leaving a cloud of blood spraying from a guards head. He then shows off the driving mechanics of the game by having Big Boss hop in a vehicle and drive it around for a moment. After that, Big Boss uses a flare to call in a helicopter. Apparently this helicopter can be used for covering fire or extraction, similar to the game Mercenaries. The demo ends with Big Boss being extracted from the base, looking over it while the helicopter carries him away.

From what has been shown so far, there is no doubt that this game will be one of the best upcoming games for the current generation. The game looks so good that I originally thought it wasn't going to be released until the next generation. Konami will be using the new FOX engine for the next generation and if it looks this good on the current gen, I can only imagine how good it will look on the next gen. There is no information on a release date yet, but I'll be sure to keep you posted once more information is released.