The Mog Blog

The 25th Anniversary of the Metal Gear series rings us yet another Metal Gear game in a series that game designer Hideo Kojima just simply can’t let go. In the past week, a myriad of news about the brand-new title Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes was released. This post seeks to group everything up and provide some insight as to how Ground Zeroes is linked to the other Metal Gear titles. It should be noted that this will contain some spoilers, mostly from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

A few days prior to PAX Prime, Konami hosted a private event in Japan which showcased some gameplay footage of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. This would then be followed by a panel at PAX Prime where Kojima formally announced to the public Ground Zeroes and displayed the footage there (as seen above) for all to see at PAX Prime and over the internet.

Ground Zeroes is running on the Fox Engine, an engine that Kojima Productions has been working on and teasing for the past few years. The result allows Ground Zeroes to take place in a world that looks simply amazing and probably runs super efficient as well! You may notice that the entire footage is all done with no cuts or pauses in-between, just one full cinematic that transitions smoothly into game.

We see Naked Snake/Big Boss taking the lead role and he comes with a variety of gadgets. Most notable is the map projector that he has, which displays a map without needing to pull up a side menu or cutting away from the game. Snake’s animations and transitions appear to be much more fluid, going from cover position to crouch and crawl.

What is most interesting is being able to hop into vehicles and use them. In fact, Kojima emphasizes that this is an open world game and will allow the player to take any course of action to get the job done. Oddly enough, it is stated that Snake would have no backup in this mission, yet he is able to throw a flare to call forth a helicopter that can provide cover fire or give Snake transport to other areas of the island or even other countries.

We also see a number of other characters, most are reoccurring characters from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

Chico caged up!

It sounds like Chico and Paz were captured by this army that goes by “XOF” which is obviously “FOX” spelled backwards. Having both Chico and Paz brought back is a bit of an interesting move. For one, Chico was a character that did not play a huge dominant role in Peace Walker but he is a child, a child who was taken care of in Peace Walker. Throwing him in a situation like this is something that Metal Gear would visit a few times as children who are raised through war (Raiden being an example). This can lead into some interesting developments going forward — or just bad retconning and randomly tying into events later in the time line.

He also seems to have a 3.5mm headphone jack on his chest, thus making him into a funk-o-tron robot, I guess.

Paz, however, is an agent of Cipher/Major Zero. Paz was working undercover within MSF, the army that Big Boss/Naked Snake has built. Paz would later take over the Metal Gear that MSF was building and would fight Snake. Snake, of course, wins the fight and the last we would see of Paz is her body ejected into the ocean. Further playing of Peace Walker would reveal that Paz has actually grown attached to MSF and with the army.

Coldman, maybe?

While I have some doubts in my head if this is actually who I think it is, a few people suspect this unnamed character in the footage to be Hot Coldman, one of the antagonists in Peace Walker. Really, it’s only passing resemblance that we would draw into this conclusion, as Coldman did have a tattoo in the back of his head that is not on this character.

Whoever this is, he talked to the caged Chico and mentioned that someone female was interrogated, revealed everything, and did not suffer for long. While this may lead to Paz (and it may very well be since Chico did have a crush on her), it could also very well be Chico’s sister, Amanda Valenciano Libre.

Kaz’s/Master Miller’s voice is also head as he briefs Naked Snake on his mission. Almost in the sense of how close Solid Snake and Otacon are, Naked Snake and Kaz are pretty much bros to the end. It should be noted that Kaz really only appears proper in Peace Walker and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, as he is killed off prior to the events of Metal Gear Solid.

Kojima has stated that Ground Zeroes will be a prologue to Metal Gear Solid 5. Seeing as Solid Snake/Old Snake is on his way out, we really don’t know what direction MGS5 will take and how Ground Zeroes will tie into that.

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes has been “officially” announced for PlayStation 3, with the Xbox 360 and PC versions up in the air. Though the trailer does have the Xbox 360 logo at the end, it’s interesting that no one at Konami is mentioning anything about an Xbox 360 release.