Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes came out around a year ago on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game ended up getting a mixed reaction due to its relatively short campaign as it will take just a few hours to beat (and a lot shorter once you figured out the locations of your objectives in subsequent playthroughs). With that said, we do not recommend skipping it and jumping right into Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. You can find our reasons as to why Ground Zeroes is worth playing below.
Smoother Gameplay Transition
Kojima Productions made some significant changes to Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes when compared to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Due to the new open-world setting, you can now sneak around larger areas with multiple paths to take in order to complete your objective. The enemies also have greater field of vision and, when combined with the more open spaces, makes it easier to get spotted than ever before.
Fortunately, the player has a few new tricks up his sleeve as he can use his binoculars to mark enemies, making them visible even when behind objects. Even when you gets caught, time will slow down, giving you time to take out the spotter before he can alert the other patrollers.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain features even more changes with a day-night cycle, mother base implementation, real-time weather, the ability to bring along an AI partner and more. Not to mentioned that a multiplayer mode, Metal Gear Online 3, is also included.
If you jumped into The Phantom Pain straight from Guns of the Patriots and/or Peace Walker, then you might get overwhelmed with learning all of the new mechanics. Ground Zeroes provides a perfect bridge for both old and new fans of the series as you will learn about many of the new elements being added in The Phantom Pain.
Save Data Transfer to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Of course, Kojima Productions also added some incentives for gamers who buy both games. In Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, you have the ability to rescue prisoners, important non-playable characters and even the enemy forces. These recruits won’t have any impact until The Phantom Pain, however, as they will be a part of your mother base operations. Stats and other types of data should also be transferred over to the new upcoming release.
Unlock Bonus Items
You will also get some kind of DLC pack in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. New copies of Ground Zeroes come with a leaflet containing a code that can be redeemed on the official Konami website. Kojima Productions has not yet announced what exactly the downloadable content will be but it should be a nice bonus for owners of both games.
Important Plot Points
Last but not least, you will want to play Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes due to some of the important plot points that occurred in the campaign. The game is set after the events of Peace Walker, detailing what happened to Big Boss, Chico, Kaz Miller, Paz and more. Not to mention that you can find hidden cassette tapes that will further delve into the motivations of the characters.
It quite easy to get lost when playing a Metal Gear Solid game even if you played all the previous installments. Without playing Ground Zeroes before starting The Phantom Pain, you will most likely be more confused than usual.
Fortunately, the price for Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes has dropped to a more reasonable range compared to what it launched with last year. So, if you haven’t already, you should buy the game with this page on Amazon and then play it before jumping into Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.