The master of stealth Jack Bauer is back. Sorry, I meant Snake. Whatever the case, Snake is once more entering a cardboard box near you in the form of the PC release of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, which is arriving on December 18th, just in time for the holidays.

Snake isn't a man known for tucking into roast potatoes and pigs in blankets though, preferring to spend the holiday season on a desolate rock, gutting unwary guards and hijacking a tank, before settling down and roasting some chestnuts on an open fire. MGS: Ground Zeroes caused quite a stir when it arrived earlier this year, providing some of the best emergent gameplay yet seen in what was an all-too-brief experience. In terms of tickling the taste buds in anticipation of MGSV: The Phantom Pain, which is coming next year to PC, it's gloriously hard to beat. To find out whether your PC's going to wet itself during a holdup or prepared to commandeer a tank and blow the place to smithereens, read on to check out the official MGS: Ground Zeroes system requirements.

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes Minimum System Requirements

• OS: Windows Vista 64-bit
• CPU: Intel Core i5-2300 2.8GHz or AMD FX-6350 3.9GHz
• RAM: 4GB System Memory
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 or AMD Radeon HD 6790
• HDD: 4GB Free Hard Drive Space
• DX: DirectX 11

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes Recommended System Requirements

• OS: Windows 7 64-bit
• CPU: Intel Core i5-2500 3.3GHz or AMD FX-8150 3.6GHz
• RAM: 8 GB System Memory
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 or AMD Radeon R9 280

Running on the new Fox Engine which is also powering the next-generation of Pro Evolution Soccer, Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes is a pretty nifty looking game, but it's definitely not going to blow your socks off. In this respect the MGS:GZ requirements are actually pretty decent, with Konami shooting straight for the mid-tier here.

The processor demands are comparatively high but these parts have been around for a good few years now so we'd expect most gaming rigs to be capable of this. Ground Zeroes also cropped up on last-generation consoles so it should be extremely scalable, and we wouldn't be too surprised if you can in fact get away with a lesser processor. 

8GB RAM is more and more becoming a standard now so this shouldn't cause too much concern, while the graphics card demands are fairly reasonable. The recommended requirements are certainly towards the higher-end of the market but both the GeForce GTX 760 and the Radeon R9 280 required to get Ground Zeroes looking its finest are both reasonably priced cards.

The official download size has yet to be revealed but the size on PlayStation 4 was 3.6GB so we would expect it to be a similar size on PC. The actual size of the MGS:GZ is pretty tiny, set on just a single island that can be traversed in minutes, which explains the unusually small download in this day and age. 

Remember, you can always check out how well your PC can run Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes System Requirements here, where you can check benchmarking and performance from other users. Compare your graphics card to Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes benchmark chart. 

If you want to quickly see how Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes will run on your PC then remember you can now take GD with you to check any website against any PC using our Chrome GD Anywhere Extension.

What do you make of the MGS: Ground Zeroes system requirements, think they're reasonable? Let us know!