The following blog post will be my
impressions, understanding and analysis of the PAX Metal Gear Solid:
Ground Zeroes trailer. I am a huge Metal Gear Solid fan, and what I
hope to do is include previous game lore so as to make the trailer
make more sense and comment on the graphics, gameplay and general
feel of the trailer. There is not much gameplay to be had in this
trailer, unlike the extended one released earlier today – so I will
cover the gameplay in a separate blog post.
I'm going to approach this by
dissecting the trailer in time slots – it might make sense, it
might not, but since I don't have filming equipment to explain what I
see this will have to do.
Time 00:00 to 1:00
Logos and more
logos! Your normal set – no rating, Kojima Productions etc. But
wait! Fox Engine! Why is there so many exclamation marks! Well, this
is the first in game trailer, to my memory anyway, showcasing the Fox
Engine to the masses. It has been built inhouse[1], with the specific
idea that the company could use it to make multi-platform games
quicker. Not shown in the trailer is what system said trailer is
running on, but it has been mentioned on a high end current
generation PC with PS3 specifications [2]. This points to a current
generation release, and not for next generation consoles.
Taking this into
account, excuse me while I blink a few times and pinch myself. How
are those graphics achievable on a PS3? The lighting and rain effect
are incredible – simply miles ahead graphically to the previous PS3
MGS – MGS4. As the trailer runs on, we get to see some incredibly
realistic dogs - major improvement over the dogs previously seen in
the series. Comments can be made on the smoothness of the human
avatars movements, although praise will have to be held until we see
the player control a character. As far as the storyline goes, we are
following soldiers entering “Camp Omega” - a “High Security”
American encampment. Many POW can be seen with soldiers guarding over
them.
Time 1:00 to 2:00
The soldiers enter
the camp and we follow them over to a prison cage. The camera swoops
in and focuses on one of the soldiers heads. What's so impressive is
the soldiers headgear – plenty of imperfections and gritty segments
on it – showing that there will be no more pristine military gear
on show. As the soldier arms his weapon, the high resolutions on the
weapon impresses and we are treated to the soldiers stare. You can
clearly see the persons eyes and even eye colour; blue. The focus
switches down to a POW, and we hear the first words of the trailer
(thankfully, with subtitles!”.
The story is made
a little clearer for us. We learn that a female POW told the leader,
we can assume, everything he needed to know and that he held his part
of the bargain by not making her suffer too long. He throws in the
tape-player...
Time 2:00 to 3:00
We finally get to
see the POW face. A young boy. The camera pans up and we get to see a
face which looks badly burned – reminiscent of Two-Face from The
Dark Knight film. The man asks the boy what it feels like to play the
traitor, suggesting he has told information – possibly to save the
girl who was tortured life, by betraying his boss. The boy finally
shows his face fully to the camera; the graphics are stunning,
showing a baby faced boy with real expression; there is even high
clarity on the headphones in the boys ears. Of note, he seems to have
a bandage on his left eyebrow. He removes the 3.5mm jack from what
appears to be his flesh – perhaps a wound in which hes keeping his
jack dry or, hopefully not, some sort of socket. The disfigured man
remarks that he wants his regards sent to his Boss when he gets home.
From this, we can gather that the Boss is infact Big Boss and it
would seem that he believes he will soon be released – perhaps
rescued?
The sound effects
from the video take a backfoot as “Here's to you” plays. The men
begin to leave the camp and once again we are treated to some animal
shots. Rats are seen running at the feet of the men as dogs are held
back from attacking. There is a real sense of momentum from the dogs
on their leesh. The camera pans out to show a helicopter.
Time 3:00 to 4:00
The men leave in
jeeps. The graphics are once again stunning, showcasing creases on
the backpacks of the soldiers and more imperfections on the soldiers
gear. The jeeps are shown to kick up spray from the ground and there
is a sense of dynamic light. The storyline continues. We can assume
at this point it is Kaz, better known as Master Miller and Big Bosses
right hand man, speaking. He reports that Paz, last seen attacking
Mother Base, is alive. As the talk happens, we get another face shot.
You can see the rain droplets falling down his face, as well as the
creases on his clothing. The talk between Big Boss and Kaz continues,
with Kaz believing that Paz is acting as a double agent. If we recall
the events of Peace Walker, Paz was shown to be deceiving Big Boss
and was acting as a spy for Cipher.
Time 4:00 to 5:00
Kaz states that
Paz is being held for interrogation at a camp on the southern tip of
Cuba. Now, we can almost certainly assume that the interrogation camp
is the one shown in this trailer. This means the girl mentioned
earlier – who was interrogated by the disfigured man, is Paz. Had
Chico tried to protect her? Apparently, there is a UN inspection of
Mother Base due to occur shortly – they assume that Paz has talked;
disclosed information that Mother Base has it's own Metal Gear and
nuclear weapons and that has prompted an inspection. As this is
stated, we are treated to the jeeps driving to a heliport. The
helicopters shown look, once again, incredible. The jeeps stop, with
the mirror adjusted to show a Fox emblem. Or is it? It shouldn't say
Fox in the mirror, since it's inverted, and the F is pointing the
wrong way. This means the logo says XOF. This must be the
organisation the soldiers belong to. Big Boss and Kaz conclude they
need Paz on their side.
As the 5 minute
mark hits, we can see the disfigured man looking to the left, in
front of the soldiers. You can see he is bald and has a face very
skeleton. Time for some speculation on who he is. There is obviously
a huge chance he is a new character; unknown to the MGS series to
date. It cannot be Zero – he is heading Cipher and as such would
not of had Paz detained in an integration camp. Volgin, a man last
seen in MGS3 and defeated/killed by Big Boss, would have been heavily
disfigured should he have survived but would likely not be working
for the Americans. Could it be GENE? He gave Big Boss his funds at
the end of Portable Ops, but if memory serves correctly Big Boss left
before GENE died – there was an explosion shortly afterwards. If he
survived, he'd be burnt etc. Possibly a survival candidate. I don't
believe it would be anyone from Peace Walker.
Time 5:00 to
6:00
Mr. Disfigured
dons a hat, which really should fall off in that wind – I mean,
come on, he is next to a helicopter! Ah well, the MGS humour remains.
He picks up some sort of scanning device, and removes XOF from his
helicoper. He states that the Trojan Horse is in. Now, what could
that be? It would seem that, by removing the XOF, he is either hiding
the identity of his aircraft to keep the organisation secret or him
and his unit are not really XOF. Considering his facial features, I
think it is a long shot to say he is pretending to be apart of XOF –
they would get found out. So, what was the Trojan Horse? It could
very well be the Tape Player he chucked to Chico, or the idea that he
tortured Paz. Could this turn Chico against Big Boss? Unfortunately,
this does not get cleared up in this trailer so speculation will
remain speculation.
He removes his hat
and faces the camera to talk – it would appear that his hole face
is burnt and disfigured. He declares the “pirate crackdown has
begun”. Is this a reference to Big Boss – his Mother Base as some
sort of pirate ship ready to be attacked? The men get in the chopper
and get ready to leave.
Time 6:00 to
7:00
The soldier swirls
his finger and off we go. The helicopter movement looks great, and
once again Big Boss speaks. He wants to know the other target –
confirmed as Chico. Radio contact has been lost, suggesting he has
been captured during some sort of operation for Mother Base. As this
is being talked about, XOF patches are removed from the soldiers and
chucked out the helicopter. A peculiar action, but falls in sync with
the removal of XOF from the helicopter. As they are being chucked, we
get a great view of the area from which they have just left. The area
looks magnificent in the rain. The lighting looks superb, and the
overall design is perfect for a bit of sneaking.
Time 7:00 to 9:00
The camera falls
down to the cliff, and we are treated to a nice slow mo of the XOF
badge. Clearly, it is based on the design of the original FOX logo,
with the colours inverted. Strange choice. Finally, Big Boss appears!
The close up shows his FOX logo. Now, FOX was disbanded after
Portable OPS, but the insignia was kept on the right shoulder of the
sneaking suites using by MSF – possibly as the suites were obtained
from GENEs stockpile. The trailer states that, from “FOX”, two
phantoms were born. Wikipedia has this to say about Phantom:
Phantom
may
refer to:
- Ghost, in traditional belief, a physical manifestation of the soul or spirit of a deceased person
- Illusion, a distortion of the senses
Snake continues to climb the cliff and sees the helicopters departure. He is told that he must sneak in and rescue the POWs without the help of Mother Base, which is all fine and dandy for Big Boss. The camera pams around, we are treated to a line from MGS2, and then Big Boss looks directly at the camera to show us his face.
The face we see of Big Boss resembles MGS4s Big Boss much more then before. He looks older, certainly older then in Peace Walker. This throws up a bit of doubt – just how long is this game set after Peace Walker. There are a couple points to consider here; firstly, it is stated earlier in the trailer that Paz was found 10 days ago – she was drifting in the Caribbean and was rescued. Now, after defeating Paz at the true end of Peace Walker, she falls into the Ocean. How long can someone drift before dieing? It must be set fairly soon after Peace Walker – which means Big Boss has aged a fair bit in a few weeks! Perhaps the PSP graphics could not achieve the level of age of Big Boss that he should have been. Doubtful though. The light is shining on him, making his hair look very grey. The facial detail is astonishing, with many lines and crinkles as well as a stunning level of eye pupil detail.
Snake is back from Fox! So he still calls himself snake and he is back. Woo! Two more helicopters fly overhead looking sexy and the game is declared a Hideo Kojima title and Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. He is told that Chico and Paz are held in the camp and boom – gameplay time.
9:30 to credits
The transition is amazing – the cutscenes were clearly developed using the ingame engine and real-time. There is no HUD visable, and Big Boss switches to his binoculars without showing the item in the corner. The animation of Big Boss is so much better then in previous MGS titles. The light from the guard tower pans out and back on Big Boss, bringing the gameplay to an end. Blasphemy! There is not much to comment on in this gameplay trailer; for a more detailed analysis please wait until I analyse the extended gameplay trailer.
Closing thoughts
That is it for the 11 minute trailer. My overall impression is that of a 10 year old girl who is going to see Bieber in concert. I'm excited to see the continuation of Big Bosses story – Solid Snake is done; Big Boss still has many stories to tell. The new Fox Engine looks gorgeous and there are already questions to ask of the new antagonist, the setting and most importantly, the release date!
Sources
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