7 Ways Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes Is Better Than Phantom Pain

7. It's A Single Continuous Mission, Not Fifty Bite-Sized Ones

Granted, almost all critics pointed to the ridiculously short length of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, versus its retail price. One of the few bonuses of being so condensed, however, is that it's just one mission, one map. There€™s a single menu to get the game going and that€™s it. You€™re put straight on the island's edge, given a direction to head in, have an oversight of the entire military base you€™re about to infiltrate - and become extremely familiar with - and you're playing a brief tutorial whereby you're engaging enemies within minutes of the game beginning. The feeling of anticipation as you listen to the first briefing and plot your moves towards the first guard tower - before learning how to throw an unwary soldier to the ground some ten feet above - are marvellous. You know it's you against the entire base, and you're excited for what's to come. With The Phantom Pain, you're booted into a Prologue that takes over an hour to wade through in a knock-off, survival horror "I have no weapons!"-type situation, then you're playing Red Dead Redemption for ten minutes as you slowly relearn the controls and take part in a little stealth action. At its core, Ground Zeroes started quickly and immediately, whereas The Phantom Pain most definitely did not.