Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Review!

Metal Gear Rising, a game announced in 2009 has changed drastically from its original conception. What was once sword focused stealth action game has unabashedly dropped the stealth component and gone full action. Asking Bayonetta developer Platinum Games for help was a great choice on Kojima’s behalf because the resulting game turned out wonderfully.

Story:

When Kojima requested aid from Platinum Games to essentially rebuild the mess of a game they were working with, the agreement they struck stated that Kojima would solely work on story and that Platinum Games would stick to gameplay. From the second you hear the games’ first drawn out monologue early on you’ll realize this story is very “Metal Gear”.

Raiden’s first goal is to protect an African political leader and after that goes horribly wrong he moves on to other missions such as rescuing kidnapped children’s brains so that they don’t become cyborg child soldiers like him. If it sounds ridiculous, that’s because it is. Quirky characters, long but beautiful cutscenes, and basically everything else you expect out of a Metal Gear game are present. That being said, if you didn’t like the story portion of previous Metal Gear games, you should probably stay clear of this entry.

Gameplay:

Rising’s gameplay consist of fairly standard action game mechanics such as a light attack using the Square or X buttons and a heavy attack using the Triangle or Y buttons. As you progress through the story you’ll gain BP (experience) and with those points you’ll be able to upgrade your moves between missions.

There are a few things Rising does to set itself apart from its competitors. First Raiden has a sense of style to his attacks that is rarely seen in games from this genre. His starting weapons are the HF Blade seen in Metal Gear Solid 2 and 4 and a blade that extends from his heel. As the player defeats bosses they’ll unlock other weapons to use that mix up gameplay quite a bit. The cool thing about the way combat works is that once you get used to the controls, there will seldom be a gap in Raiden’s moves. Combos are completely seamless and to put it bluntly, just awesome to watch.

There are many bosses in Metal Gear and they’re all quite unique and sometimes even funny. They really make you think about what you’ll need to do to defeat them and they provide a decent challenge. One part of the game that always made me laugh was that after you chop up bosses into a small pile of pieces, they somehow manage to talk to Raiden during their dying breath.

The most unique feature that Rising brings to the table is the aptly name blade mode. Once Raiden dismembers enough cyborg baddies you’ll see a bar at the top of the screen glowing blue. By holding the L1 button, time will slow down and you’ll be able to control Raiden’s blade with the right thumb stick. If you cut an enemy in half at a point represented by a square across their midsection, you’ll be able to rip out their spine and your bar, and health will instantly be refilled. Throughout the story you’ll find yourself cutting up cars, tanks, gorilla cyborgs, helicopters and more. The coolest thing is, it never gets stale. Raiden can also use one secondary weapon such as a grenade or rocket launcher at a time, but the execution of these weapons is awkward. Still, it’s not necessary that you use these weapons so discounting Platinum Games for their inclusion wouldn’t be fair.

Graphics:

Metal Gear Solid 4 and Bayonetta are two of the best looking games to come out of the current console generation, so it could come as no surprise that Rising looks great. The most astounding thing about it though, is that the game runs at a steady frame rate literally 100% of the time. In my playthrough, I experienced virtually no slowdown, and after the frustration that the recent DMC: Devil May Cry provided in the graphics department, it’s a welcome feature.

Raiden looks like a total badass and so do pretty much all of his enemies. Lip-synching is generally pretty good but sometimes it’s a little off during the codec conversations for some reason. Cutting people and machines into pieces has a satisfying aesthetic to it and explosions and fire are all over the top and great looking. There were a few sports where I stopped to marvel at the games’ awesomeness, but the true relief is that it looks AND runs extremely well.

Sound:

Sound is definitely one of Rising’s high points. Slick metal guitar solos fill the soundtrack and they fit the tone nicely. During cutscenes the fast paced orchestral classic Metal Gear songs are present so don’t be surprised if you have the feeling to slide the “Music” all the way up in the options.

Raiden’s voice is just as annoying but somehow cool as it was in Metal Gear Solid 2 and 4, and a solid cast of characters backs him up. One boss turned friend has a decidedly robotic voice and listening to him smartly wisecrack at Raiden is always fun. The audio is also fluid and I didn’t experience it glitching or cutting out at all, so that’s always good.

Verdict:

The fact that Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is so good is truly a reason to let out a sigh of relief. The team up of Kojima and Platinum games sounded a little weird at first, but it worked out surprisingly well.

The swordplay is somewhat standard but it works very well, and everything else is fairly above average. The story might turn off non-Metal Gear fans off, but the game simply revels in its absurdity so taking it as a joke might help these players out.

Whether you take the game seriously as a part of the Metal Gear saga, or just as a silly action game to fill the time, there’s no doubt that you’ll have fun playing it. For $60 you’re getting a technically solid game that looks and sounds great and provides a 7-8 hour story with a great amount of replay value. All in all, you really can’t go wrong purchasing this game.

Written by Guest Reviewer: RandomHero1270