Winner: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
As a lifelong Metal Gear fan, I found myself surprised to be somewhat underwhelmed with the initial footage I saw of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. It wasn’t until the mysterious footage of The Phantom Pain that debuted at the Spike TV VGAs in 2012 where my interest in Metal Gear was reinvigorated, and at that point, it hadn’t yet even been confirmed that it had anything to do with Metal Gear or Hideo Kojima.
But I knew it; I felt it. And the mystery and hype surrounding just a mere three minute long video reminded me the psychological twists Kojima was capable of and his ability to keep a grip on the player throughout Snake’s journeys.
Since then, it was revealed that Metal Gear Solid V’s plot has been split into a prelude of sorts with Ground Zeroes that leads up to the main course helping of Metal Gear in The Phantom Pain. Together, Metal Gear Solid V looks to be Kojima’s crowning achievement in game design, utilizing the full power of next generation consoles to bring his open-world vision of Metal Gear to life and reward fans like myself with the ultimate conclusion to Big Boss’s story.
Runners Up:
- No Man’s Sky
- Destiny
- The Order: 1886
