The Xbox One received a high-profile multiplayer-only game last week – Titanfall. But the world needs single-player games too, and so Konami delivers one this week. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is now available on Xbox One, 360, and competing platforms. A short game with a mercifully low price, Ground Zeroes provides a tantalizing glimpse at the future of the Metal Gear series.
Meanwhile, the already-released Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare for Xbox One and 360 just received a major free downloadable content package that adds a new map, items, and lots more changes. Read on for details, trailers, and store links!
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
The real Metal Gear Solid V won’t be ready for quite some time, but in its stead Konami has released a value-priced prequel called Ground Zeroes. Players once again take on the role of Snake (played by Kifer Sutherland), who must infiltrate a prison camp in order to perform a daring rescue. The game's environments are now much more open than before, allowing Snake to solve problems and handle enemy encounters with a variety of solutions. He can even drive vehicles.
Ground Zeroes is a very short game, with the main mission taking less than two hours to complete. The cinematic sequences last only twentyo minutes total, which is praise-worthy for this particular series. After the main mission concludes, the game offers five additional missions and the replayability of collectibles and trying for better scores. With a light 15 Achievements worth 1,000 GamerScore, Ground Zeroes should be a reasonable completion.
The Xbox One and 360 versions of Ground Zeroes feature an exclusive mission called "Jamais Vu." The bad news is you play as Raiden during the mission. We got the short end of the stick there, because the Playstation 3 and 4 versions get a much better mission starring the Metal Gear Solid 1 version of Solid Snake. But we do get a SmartGlass feature called iDroid that displays maps and other useful information. So that’s something.
- Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes – Xbox One – 4.58 GB – $29.99 – Amazon Link– Xbox.com Link
- Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes – Xbox 360 – 1.53 GB – $29.99 ($19.99 via download) – Amazon Link– Xbox.com Link
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare
Today’s version 1.31 update is called the “Garden Variety Pack.” The download clocks in at ~800 MB on Xbox One and 213 MB (as a separate download) on Xbox 360.
Major Features:
- New Map: Chomp Town – playable in Garden Ops, Team Vanquish and Gnome Bomb. Yes Crazy Dave IS riding a Chomper… Why??? Because he’s CRAAAZYYY!
- New Game Mode: Gnome Bomb – be the 1st team to destroy all three gardens or graveyards with the explosive new Gnome Bomb.
- Pirates have invaded Port Scallywag and Sharkbite Shores in Garden Ops
- New Abilities for all characters – new character abilities are tucked away in the sticker shop (hint: Crazy Pack and higher are your best bet to get them! Supremium Pack, Incredi-Plant Pack & Vengeful Zomboss Pack have the highest chances to get them)
- 125 new customization items added to the sticker shop – spread across all characters/rarities…
- Added Doom-shroom potted plant consumable for plants
- Added Barrel Pirate, Treasure Map Pirate consumable for zombies
Minor Features:
- Improved reliability for the hold (B) interaction wheel – when reviving, building turrets etc….
- Added Bonus Score for playing Garden Ops Solo or with a friend
- Added a min player requirement to each game mode
- Tweaked various hats to improve overall visibility
- Added improved audio to slow firing weapons to queue players when next shot is available
Gameplay Balance Changes and Bug Fixes:
- Head to Facebook for the full list!
Garden Warfare is an amazingly fun game, and this new content makes it even better. If you enjoy multiplayer shooters, don’t miss it.
- Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare – Xbox One – 10.1 GB - $39.99 – Amazon Link– Xbox.com Link
- Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare – Xbox 360 – 2.43 GB - $29.99 – Amazon Link– Xbox.com Link
Next week
Only one Xbox game has been announced for next week so far: the Xbox 360 version of Titanfall! Electronic Arts has yet to show the 360 game to the public, which could indicate a lack of faith on their part. Or perhaps they just want the Xbox One version to enjoy the limelight first and foremost, as was the case with Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare. We’ll find out in seven days’ time!
In much farther off news, Zen Studios has just announced Pinball FX2, Castlestorm, and Kickbeat for Xbox One! Shame we never got that Windows Phone version of Pinball FX2...