Earlier this week, news broke that the main campaign of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is less than two hours long. Series creator and director Hideo Kojima took to Twitter to address the commotion over the reported short playtime.
Kojima emphasizes the game’s open-world nature will result in longer playtime. “MGSV Ground Zeroes includes the main mission alongside 5 Side Ops. All missions include elements such as ‘Trial Records,’ where players can compete against each other online. This is not a linear game like the past."
Likewise, he explains that gamers will want to replay missions in Ground Zeroes due to the variety of approaches each mission allows. “GZ offers freedom of approach & player style, which we hope players will enjoy over & over without boring. I believe people will be satisfied with the ‘Play Time’ of GZ and will not stress the ‘Clear Time,’ which is a standard for linear games."
Ground Zeroes serves as a prologue chapter in the Metal Gear Solid V story and will release for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 on March 18 in North America and March 20 in Europe and Japan. The main MGSV game, titled The Phantom Pain, is said to be "hundreds times bigger" than Ground Zeroes. Recently, The Phantom Pain’s estimated launch window was revealed to be anytime during late 2014 or early 2015.
Does Ground Zeroes total playtime concern you or has Kojima put those worries to rest? Let us know in the comments below.