Metal Gear Rising's Jetstream DLC Is Completely Terrible

Jetstream Sam is the closest thing to an actual character in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, so I was looking forward to seeing what new tricks he brings to battle, and how this DLC expands on his backstory. Unfortunately, Jetstream is a disappointment on every level. Setting my issues with the Rising’s core gameplay (of which I have several), Jetstream is just a shameless cash-grab. Here’s why:

Sam the Same
The main reason to play Jetstream is to experience playing as Sam, who has a slightly different approach to combat than Raiden. For instance, he has a regular dodge roll, can charge his heavy attacks, and has a double-jump. While these are neat additions, they don’t drastically alter your approach to combat. Sam is a badass, and his quick draw moves are cool, but that isn't enough. You still want to hack away at bad guys, block their attacks, and wait for the opportunity to chop them up in Blade Mode. The moves you use may be slightly different, but it’s the same song and dance. 

No New Moves or Weapons
Sam’s arsenal isn’t very big when you first begin, and it stays that way. You don’t get to purchase any upgrades or new abilities, so the move list is the same at the end as the beginning. The only way you get stronger is through some bumps to your health and blade mode meters.

Everything Is Familiar
Remember the sewer? What about the helipad?  The pagoda? Well, you get to visit all of those places again! Along the way, you will fight the exact same enemies, including three boss fights that are just recycled from the base game – Blade Wolf, Metal Gear RAY, and the senator. 

Story
The only new parts of Jetstream are the story cutscenes, which features a few snippets of fresh dialogue from Monsoon and the senator. I had hoped that Jetstream would explain how Sam – a seemingly honorable warrior – got tied up with a shady group like World Marshal. It doesn’t. At least, not successfully. Sam initially appears to hate World Marshal and wants to take it down, but then he gets beat up by the senator. After that, he apparently joins up for reasons that are left unexplained.

Extras
Jetstream is a linear experience, but you can replay it on different difficulties to get more out of it. However, there’s no kind of New Game+, and the only notable distraction is five VR missions scattered around. All but one of the VR missions are generic “kill every enemy” affairs, however, so they aren't much of an incentive unless you love going for high scores.

Value
Jetstream only takes about 90 minutes to finish…and even less if your Revengeance skills haven’t gotten rusty in the months since the game’s release. I wouldn’t complain if those 90 minutes were any good, but it’s all just retreaded the same ground with a slightly different protagonist. For that, Konami wants you to pay $10. To make matters worse, nothing from the DLC transfers over to the main game, so you can’t use Sam in any of the real story missions. 

All things considered, Jetstream is exactly the kind of DLC that makes gamers afraid for the future; it exploits fans by overcharging them for content that they’ve already seen, without offering anything extra to sweeten the deal. It’s just plain lazy. Even hardcore Revengeance fans should steer clear of this – and should also lower their expectations for the Blade Wolf DLC that’s still on the way.