Written by Nathan Goufas
After a five year wait and a switch in developers, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is finally here. And while it’s usually a cause for concern when a game needs to be handed over, fear not; Bayonetta and Anarchy Reigns developer Platinum Games have taken Rising and made it their own, bleeding with Platinum’s style.
Metal Gear Rising takes place four years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4. Raiden, now a full-body cyborg once again, is now part of a private military company (referred to as PMCs) who call themselves Maverick. Raiden is hired to protect N’Mani, an African Prime Minister. After an attack on the Prime Minister, Raiden finds himself fighting against a rival PMC that goes by the name Desperado that’s led by four very colorful and unique characters who you’ll end up fighting as bosses, in some truly fantastic fights. Anyone familiar with the Metal Gear franchise should probably know what they’re getting themselves into concerning the story. It can get a little crazy like a Japanese anime, but takes itself more seriously than a daytime TV drama.
Rising takes a bit of a different approach to the standard outline of a Metal Gear plot – putting more of a focus on the over the top anime feel rather than anything else. Rising still has some Metal Gear musts like codec sequences, and long-winded dialogue. None of the dialogue sequences are mandatory like they are in the main series, but they’re there and provide for a lot of back story if players are interested. It is a perfect companion piece to the gameplay which is fast, fun and frantic – less talking and more cutting.
Combat in Rising is mostly similar to your typical hack and slash, akin to something like Ninja Gaiden. Gameplay consists of using your katana blade to dish out light and heavy attacks in order to rack up huge combos on enemies. However Rising also brings a new feature called “blade mode” into the mix, which lets you control the direction of your katana slices. It doesn’t sounds like anything to rave about, but being able to cut virtually anything you want, in any way you want, is not only technically very impressive but easily the most fun I’ve had in a game in a while. Something this powerful has to have a catch though right? Well yes, it does. Blade mode is governed by a meter that drains while Raiden is using it. But while you’re in battle it fills with each hit you connect, and rewards skillful cutting by giving you a full charge of energy whenever you dismember enemies in certain areas. So it’s never an issue once you’ve got your bearings down.
Rising offers five different difficulty levels that range from easy to near impossible for the hardcore. Casual players who just want to experience the next chapter in Raiden’s tale can do so with no problem. On easier difficulties it’s possible to just mash your way through the game and enjoy the spectacle of cutting giant robots in half. However the real meat and potatoes of the game comes from playing on the harder difficulties; where a timed parry leading to a monster combo finishing off with a more advanced zan-datsu kill is one of the most satisfying and well deserved victories you’ll get.
It took me about 8 hours to complete the game main campaign. Metal Gear Rising does also include 20 VR Missions which are essentially time trials. So if you find yourself wanting more, don’t worry as you can always go take on these challenges as well. You can finish the main game in half the time by skipping cut scenes and continuously improving on your slicing abilities, but at no point does Rising actually feel short. It features incredibly fun, fresh gameplay and is packed with more replayability than most games on the market.