Parents' Guide to

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

By Chad Sapieha, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Exceptionally dark and violent war game is joyless, brief.

Game PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , Xbox 360 , Xbox One 2014
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

  • Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Game: Screenshot #1
  • Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Game: Screenshot #2
  • Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Game: Screenshot #3

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age 11+

Based on 8 parent reviews

Mauricio Fernando
Mauricio Fernando Adult
December 16, 2020
age 15+

BRIEF GAME, WITH VIOLENT CONTENT

MGS V Ground Zeros, despite of it overall quality, is a brief game with some mature scenes. Violence: The player can choose between violent or non-lethal ways of dealing with enemies, but there is violence in the cutscenes. A bomb is taken off a girl stomach (blood and guts are visible), a intense gunfight with a lot of blood and explosions. There's some profanities (B..t, F..k), and a character smokes a cigar in the main menu.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much consumerism
BitePillow
BitePillow Adult
March 20, 2020
age 4+

Contains a lot of smoking and other drugs.

A drug called 'The Phantom Cigar' is constantly used to make time go fast. This maybe an issue to some kids but fine for others if they know SMOKING = BAD

This title has:

Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
See all 8 parent reviews

What’s It About?

METAL GEAR SOLID V: GROUND ZEROES is a precursor to the next big game in the series, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. It focuses on a character named Big Boss who, disillusioned and at odds with the American government, raids a secret U.S. prison camp guarded by Marines in an effort to recover a pair of tortured comrades. He must use stealth to find them, listening to and occasionally torturing them for information. Players have the option of engaging in full-fledged gunfights as they carry out their mission or operating in complete silence, avoiding guards and cameras and shimmying through bushes and gutters. The game is composed of only a single, hour-long mission, though players can unlock an additional five bonus missions set on the same map with new objectives.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (8 ):
Kids say (11 ):

There's not much to recommend the curious and ultimately failed experiment that is Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. At just more than an hour long (plus bonus missions), it feels like little more than an expensive, hyped-up demo for a much, much bigger game yet to come. It provides just enough time to become acquainted with its quirky controls and surprisingly combat-oriented action -- it's pretty easy to run up a body count of a dozen or more guards, which seems directly at odds with the game's stealthy premise -- before wrapping things up.

Perhaps worse, its narrative grapples with some deep, dark issues that the writers don't seem to have the chops to properly tackle. Clumsy and disturbing attempts to establish character motives -- including what sounds like an horrific torture rape in an audio log -- don't come with the backstory or resolution necessary to validate their presence. This is a game that clearly isn't meant for kids, but it's hard to imagine that many mature players will have much fun with it, either.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the impact of violence in media. This is a rare game in which the player's mission involves killing U.S. soldiers performing their duty. How does this make you feel as a player? Does the narrative support the action?

  • Families also can discuss storytelling in games. Games relate narrative much differently from other media, making players active participants in situations rather than simply observers of them. What impact does this have on those who play?

Game Details

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