Kojima On How Metal Gear Solid V Makes The Most Of Next Gen Consoles

Clearing Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes may not take long, but Metal Gear series director Hideo Kojima recently explained that it’s not about the "clear time," but rather the game’s "play time." Kojima talks about that, and how the PlayStation 4’s next-gen graphics will come into play, in this week’s Famitsu.

Famitsu starts the interview by asking what kind of games are Metal Gear Solid V and Ground Zeroes. Kojima starts out by reiterating his previous explanation to describe the two, with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain being the main part and Ground Zeroes as the prologue, similar to the opening 15 minutes of a Hollywood film.

“It’ll still still be a while until the main volume, that is The Phantom Pain, will be completed,” adds Kojima. “Now that the PlayStation 4 will be released, I thought it’d be a good timing for everyone to get a good taste of the next generation consoles, so we decided to go ahead and release the prologue first.”

“Metal Gear Solid V is an open world game, and the map of The Phantom Pain is very vast, about 200 times larger than that of Ground Zeroes,” he continues. “I believe that some of you might feel a bit lost if you were to play The Phantom Pain right off the bat, so try giving Ground Zeroes a shot to enjoy the new systems of Metal Gear Solid.”

Next, Famitsu asks about how Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Ground Zeroes will be putting the PlayStation 4’s next generation specs to use.

“The PlayStation 4 has plenty of memory, so it’s now possible to have the map load while in the midst of action,” says Kojima. “For example, if you see a faraway mountain, you could ride on your horse and eventually get there. Things like that are now possible. The challenge for us now, is getting such a stage and making it into a fun game of hide-and-seek.”

Finally, Famitsu shares their excitement for the release of Ground Zeroes and asks him to share some final thoughts.

“While Ground Zeroes is just the prologue of Metal Gear Solid V, there’s plenty of ways to play around in it,” shares Kojima. “It’d make me happy to see you guys play it and think ‘wow, video games have come this far,’ as you experience the next generation consoles’ power of expression.”

“Again, it’ll also connect to various devices, where you’ll be able to communicate with other players and do plenty of exploring. I hope you guys can take this opportunity to what fun the future of gaming holds. Once you try it out for yourself, I believe you might think ‘oh so this is how it’ll be like’ as you look into the future of gaming. Please look forward to it.”

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes will be available on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on March 18th in North America and March 20th in Europe.