Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes can allegedly be completed in “just under two hours”

During the PlayStation 1 and 2 eras, the Metal Gear Solid series was one of my favorite franchises – specifically Metal Gear Solid for PS1. I couldn’t even tell you how many times I played through MGS, and not even to unlock everything (which I mostly did) – I just loved the flow of the game, the stealth-based gameplay and the outlandish characters like Psycho Mantis and Vulcan Raven.

Then Metal Gear Solid 2 came out and I was less enthused about the series. I didn’t like Raiden and the whole story was getting to be a little too convoluted for my liking. But when Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater came out, I was pulled back in with the fury of a thousand suns. MGS 3 was like the original MGS, but with everything turned up to 11. The bosses were crazier, the sneaking tactics and strategies were amplified and the story of the man who became Big Boss tracking down and killing his mentor was incredibly heart-felt.

But then I switched to Xbox and Xbox 360 and never got to play Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots or any of the portable titles (was there more than just Peace Walker? I’m not sure). I’ve always wanted to give MGS 4 a try but a majority of what I heard from friends who played it didn’t really excite me. Since it was trying to incorporate confusing story and thematic elements from the three previous console titles, I’ve heard that MGS 4 is incredibly convoluted and confusing – which is saying something for a series that’s about clones and giant nuclear-warhead-launching-walking-tanks. But more than that, I didn’t like what I heard about the amount of cutscenes in MGS 4. A friend told me that the final cutscene of MGS 4 is over AN HOUR AND A HALF LONG. One cutscene in a video game should not be as long as a full-length feature film. I like watching movies but when I’m playing video games, I like to play video games and not watch movies.

But now that the next generation of consoles are here (which I guess means they aren’t “next gen” anymore but, I dunno, “now gen”) I’ve switched back to Sony’s console. Which really doesn’t mean anything, since Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and the subsequent release, The Phantom Pain, are on both Xbox One and PS4.

The next MGS game coming out, MGS V: Ground Zeroes, is scheduled to be released in America on March 18. But hold your horses, MGS fans, because Ground Zeroes is actually just the prologue for the following MGS game, The Phantom Pain. And allegedly, Ground Zeroes can be finished in just under two hours.

According to a recent article on Joystiq.com, which references a Game Informer preview, the main campaign mission of Ground Zeroes can be completed in a little under two hours time. And that news taken at face value sounds pretty bad. When I told a friend this news he replied, “So it’s going to be 30 minutes of actual gameplay and an hour and a half of cinematics?”

Here’s the catch – Ground Zeroes will be the first MGS game in the series to be entirely open world. Considering that there will also be side missions to complete, I would imagine that campaign which is “only two hours” can be extended pretty significantly. Take Fallout 3 for example. The main mission of that game can be completed in just a couple hours but the exploration and side quests can add tens, if not hundreds, of extra hours of playtime.

But if you’re still worried about the overall length of Ground Zeroes, also consider the price. Digital downloads for PS3 and Xbox 360 will be just $20 with the PS4 and Xbox One versions being priced at $30. However, a physical copy of the game for PS4 and Xbox One will run you about $40.

I’m going to reserve judgment about MGS V: Ground Zeroes until I can actually play it myself – it wouldn’t be fair to base my perceptions of the title on a game I never even played personally. I’ve been a fan of the series before and hopefully Ground Zeroes will be able to recapture the magic that made MGS and Snake Eater so special – but we’ll have to wait until March to find out.