Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Blog Post: How is This the First Action Game to Incorporate Cutting?

wittlescwappy — Thu, 16 May 2013 03:02:00 GMT

I love MGR:R, the cutting mechanic adds an entirely new level of combat finesse and fun to the action/stealth mix. Also, the bad guys/boss fight s in this game kick ass- they will astonish and frustrate you, but are very satisfying to eventually beat.

Blog Post: DownPlay Reviews #10 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

ManManDoo — Thu, 16 May 2013 00:18:00 GMT

The Metal Gear franchise has had a place in my heart for a long time. Back when I was young and naive and still purchased all of my games based on how cool the box art looked, I picked up Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater because there was an explosion and a burly man with a gun on the box art and I was 7. Now that I’ve matured and had a chance to play the other games in the series, I have mentally prepared myself for whatever Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance has to throw at me. The latest installment in the Metal Gear series has again supplanted Raiden as the main character, this time fully embracing his cyborg ninja persona from Metal Gear Solid 4 with an entirely new cast of antagonists and supporting characters. The gameplay has also taken a complete turnaround into a hack-and-slash action game with the driving mechanic being the ability to slow down time and slash any target at any angle any number of times, and if you’re thinking that this sounds friggin’ awesome, that’s because it pretty much is. So the game opens as Raiden is now employed by a PMC and is charge of providing similar cyborg ninja training to some generic African nation in order to promote peace. But his work is sabotaged by a rival PMC promoting war in order to stimulate business. They assassinate the president and make a fool out of Raiden, resulting in a touching bit of characterization. Its unfortunate the decent characterization has to end there, but that’s a much bigger issue which we’ll get to later. So Raiden returns seeking revenge...eance with a brand new cyborg ninja body. This is the point where the story kind of breaks down, unfortunately. After a pretty straightforward attempt stop a coup (simultaneously setting the record for the shortest time between the introduction of an antagonist and them being killed off) the game just continues introducing new plot elements in order to keep the game going. I can’t call it padding because all of the new plot points are still interesting and fun to play, but it just can’t keep a consistent tone. One moment we’re on wholesome, violent revenge, and next we’re harvesting organs and brainwashing and assassinating the president. The game continues to throw out moral standpoint after moral standpoint without enlightening the player on the subject. Simply saying you have an effective message in your game does not make it actually effective. Speaking of saying, Revengenengeance continues the time-honored Metal Gear tradition of having some of the silliest writing I’ve ever heard. And to be honest, it’s quite endearing, and I actually found myself wholeheartedly laughing at much of the dialogue. It’s still unclear to me whether or not the game intended for it to be taken seriously, but if that was the case, it certainly failed. Examples include the taking a DOOMP conversation (no seriously) and a lengthy altercation on the subject of brains which essentially made me laugh until I puked, another random thing you can make Raiden do in this game. The thing that disappointed me most about Revengeance’s story is the utter disregard for characterization. Previous Metal Gear games have succeeded in making us sympathize with both the protagonists and the antagonists, but Revengeance fails on both levels. Raiden’s character developement is like a man gracefully hurdling over a wall only to run face-first into a different wall, but instead of backing up and trying again, he just continues running into the wall hoping that it will give in. This is particularly evident when Raiden undergoes some crazy philosophical flashback PTSD nonsense that was so poorly executed, it made me want to throw down the controller and say, “Raiden! Stop character developing! It’s too late!” What makes this even more depressing is the fact that I want to like all of these characters, even Raiden. All of the characters of both sides of the ethical spectrum have unique and interesting personalities. It’s just that they apply them in uninteresting ways. Your friendly racial stereotypes at HQ only serve to question Raiden’s actions and the villains are too busy trying to give Raiden a Philosophy lecture to have anything worthwhile to say. These bosses’ speeches attempt to convey some deep message, but they just get tedious when all of them have essentially the same thing to say. The gameplay, being completely revamped from the ground up, is undoubtedly the highlight of the game. It focuses on hack-and-slash action similar to Platinum Games’ other title, Bayonetta. But with only one heavy attack and one light attack, there’s a lot less freedom for insane combos as there are with other games of the genre. Surprisingly, for being such a dialogue-heavy game, it’s very reluctant to tell you how the parry works. And what makes this even more inconvenient is that the parry is literally your only means of defense, and its near impossible to tell which attacks you can and cannot parry without resorting to trial and error. While the first three or four chapters can be completed pretty easily without it, the later boss fights will make mincemeat out of you if you haven’t gotten it down. Speaking of mincemeat, the combat is also quite unbalanced at time. Many enemies have ranged attacks that can’t be parried and a lot have unblockable stun lock attacks that force you to insipidly wiggle the analog stick back and forth, essentially like putting your thumb on a grindstone. I can’t tell you how many times I would break the stunlock of one enemy, only to immediately be stunlocked by another enemy, sometimes even the same enemy! One of the boss fights in particular made me nearly explode due to a seemingly infinite sequence of stunlocks. At least all the other boss fights give you the option of slicing the bad guy into a million tiny slices once you beat them (except for that guy again who literally just falls to pieces once you beat him) and it feels incredible. The blade mode aspect in general is a ton of fun and is worked excellently into the combat. After doing enough damage to an enemy you’re given the option to either hack them mercilessly into pieces, or aim precisely at the full restores they all store in their chest cavities. But, wail on them for a little more and you can activate one of Raiden’s “Zandatsu” finishers, which are, again, totally awesome. Sometimes though, the game forces you to be stealthy, which is a kick to the balls when it comes to the pacing of the game. The stealth works fine, but the combat is really fun now, and attempting to subtract the highlight of the game for the sole purpose of recognizing the core gameplay of the rest of the series is just foolish. Overall, I feel that this game had a lot of misplaced potential. The combat was crying out for a dodge function that it didn’t have. The parkour-style Ninja Run mechanic would work insanely well for freerunning movement if it weren’t almost entirely on-rails. The camera was insane, the story was unfocused, and little to no effort was put into character development. These are simply minor issues, as the combat is awesome, the boss fights are awesome (mostly), and the majority of things that you can do in this game are just awesome. Hurling a Metal Gear RAY 30 feet in the air and running up the side of it simultaneously slicing it into pancakes is just one of the many frickin’ sweet things you can do in the success that is Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, DownPlay Reviews Next Week on DownPlay Reviews: ???

File: Jetstream DLC screens

Joe Juba — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:00:00 GMT

Jetstream DLC screens

File: Jetstream DLC screens

Joe Juba — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:00:00 GMT

Jetstream DLC screens

File: Jetstream DLC screens

Joe Juba — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:59:00 GMT

Jetstream DLC screens

File: Jetstream DLC screens

Joe Juba — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:59:00 GMT

Jetstream DLC screens

File: Jetstream DLC screens

Joe Juba — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:59:00 GMT

Jetstream DLC screens

Blog Post: Platinum Slices A Bit Under The Mark

M. Mansour — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:35:00 GMT

As a long time Metal Gear Solid fan I've been dreaming of a Metal Gear game where I'd be able to play as one of the recurrent cyborg ninjas that sliced and severed their way to my heart. Ever since Gray Fox's brilliant introduction scene in the first Metal Gear Solid, running around with a measly firearm instead of a katana just didn't seem to cut it (pun totally intended). I'm sure there's about a billion people that agree with me there. That's probably a good thing because if you're a fan of this game then that's about all we're going to have in common.

Okay that last line may sound a bit harsh in retrospect, but it's not any less true. This is a decent game at best. It has a handful of highlights but a whole bigger handful of flaws. It is really hard for me to personally accept Revengeance as an official Metal Gear game. And not just because it has, arguably, one of the worst video game titles in history. It's simply because it doesn't feel like a Metal Gear game. Yes, I know it's not meant to be a stealth game and honestly, that isn't what bugs me. Raiden's character has been altered dramatically (not for the better, in case you're wondering) and the only resemblances to the previous Metal Gear universe are the names. Had this game been released under any other name with a different protagonist I wouldn't have been disappointed with the atmosphere of the game. I would, however, feel exactly the same about the gameplay, so rest assured that this review is not biased because of my personal feelings toward Revengeance. It's the entire thing that disappointed me.

Man, I really take a long time to get to the actual pros and cons section when reviewing games. I'll really think about fixing that just as soon as I tell you about how I felt when I had first heard about Metal Gear Rising (before the word "revengeance" was invented). I was excited! It looked exactly like what it should have been: a Metal Gear game where you finally play as a ninja. But then something happened with development and Platinum Games was brought in to take over the project. I had utmost faith in Platinum after MadWorld made it to my top 5 favorite games list and after realizing that they could make a game where I could play as a character that I absolutely loathed and still have fun. I was actually talking about Bayonetta in that last line, if I was too vague. Unfortunately, Platinum just made Revengeance into another flashy action game without any real depth.

Story-wise it doesn't stray too far from the familiar; it's all based around war, taking place after MGS4. This time around it is a lot more based upon real life events which oddly enough doesn't make it any less dull. The original Metal Gear story arc was a very confusing one. There were so many twists, turns and false ending sequences that if you weren't truly invested it would just come across as nonsense. It was smart nonsense though. Every variable was explained and every event stemmed from a previous entry in the series. Saying it was just intelligent doesn't do it justice. Revengeance's story legitimately feels like a spin-off that doesn't need to exist. It really makes you wonder what it would have been like had it taken place between MGS2 and MGS4 like it was originally intended. Nevertheless, the story suffers for it.

It certainly is a fast game though! The combat is so quick and gruesome that until you notice the problems later on, it really controls the way a cyborg ninja should. It's a button masher, but a button masher with an impressive amount of different moves. So while it may feel like you're pressing the same buttons over and over again, the gameplay looks as fluid and smooth as one could ever hope. The inclusion of "blade mode" has to be one of the coolest additions to an action game in recent years as well. It allows you to cut enemies or objects with deadly precision resulting in some interesting and pleasantly unpleasant dismemberment. It can be difficult to aim at times but is immensely satisfying when pulled off. Nearly everything in Revengeance's environments can be sliced up by Raiden's sword. As juvenile as it sounds, some of the funnest moments I've had while playing Revengeance were running around and cutting up everything in sight. It is this reason that it's probably a good thing that I don't have a sword that can easily cut through concrete. Or any sword for that matter. One last thing I should mention about the whole cutting aspect of Revengeance is how realistic and downright impressive the cut physics are portrayed. Since you can cut in any desired direction in blade mode, it's incredibly fascinating to look at how many different angled triangles you can make while slashing up an enemies body. This was easily my favorite part of the game.

But where blade mode takes action gameplay to an intricate and creative level, the rest of the gameplay throws it way back to the stone age. Without question, the main component of gameplay that I can't seem to wrap my head around is the block/parry system. Both are executed by pressing the light attack button in combination with the direction of the attacker (the parry is achieved by waiting longer to block). This ridiculous system would be at least tolerable if it weren't for the other two components that make the game increasingly frustrating: the uncooperative camera and lack of a dodge button. For some asinine reason the camera can't seem to get enough of Raiden and thus focuses mostly on him during hectic battles. This may not seem too bad but let me give you an example. During one segment of the game I was engaged in a battle with one (just ONE) larger sized enemy near a corner. Because the camera would only focus on Raiden instead of the enemy (this happens in larger areas too) I could not see the flash prompt on the enemy that lets you know when to block, so I was knocked down. As soon as I was knocked down, the camera immediately faced Raiden's body lying on the floor. After getting up I didn't have time to fix the camera before the enemy knocked me down in the exact same fashion. This continued to happen far longer than I care to remember. It is situations like these that a dodge function is needed and the absence of one is very noticeable. It leaves a giant void in the combat.

It pains me to continue but that isn't where the flaws end. Most of the alt-weapons obtained throughout the story are forgettable and the weapon/item equip menu is so slow and irritating that I rarely used sub-weapons (rocket launchers, grenades, etc.) at all. One other complaint I have is during some of the action-packed chase sequences, there is so much going on that there is no clear path to where you should be running. Many times you just end up dying and you don't really know why. That brings me to "The Bridge of Death" (or "The Bridge of Fail" if you prefer). This is a chase sequence very early on in the game where you are being chased by choppers while crossing a crumbling bridge. The objective is pretty simple: run. Wrong! Not simple. I died at least 30 times on the exact same part for no apparent reason. My frustration led me to the internet to try and figure it out. That bridge is something of a phenomenon being that many people just ran across it no problem. Others-- like myself-- died repeatedly on the exact same part then inexplicably passed it while doing absolutely nothing different. I mention it here because that is a huge bug that should not have been left in the final game. No patch has been issued for it nor do I think there ever will be one. Be warned, if you die at least 3 times in a row during that segment and you don't know why, I recommend turning off the game and trying later before you smash your TV.

The voice overs are some of the worst this generation has seen. Raiden's in particular is truly difficult to sit through. Throughout most of the game he can't decide on which personality he likes best so he switches voices every other scene. The most hilarious though is one of the younger characters. The kid who is supposed to be no older than 13 or 14 is clearly voiced by a grown man with little attempt to hide it. The same character also has one of the most unintentionally racist accents I've ever heard. I'm still surprised just thinking about it. As for the music, I have one thing and one thing only to say about it: if you don't like power metal then prepare to be very disappointed. The only redeeming quality about the sound in Revengeance is the familiar roar of Gekkos just before they attack.

What more can I say about Revengeance? There are some entertaining throwbacks to previous Metal Gears. The graphics are good despite the uninteresting level design. The boss battles can be infuriating as well. I can write an entire page on how unfairly difficult the final boss battle is. That fight alone encompasses every combat flaw within the game, effectively making it the most difficult boss battle I've ever encountered in an action game this generation.

I'm certain many action gamers will have a blast with Revengeance because where this game shines, it shines bright. I think only hardcore Metal Gear fans will be truly disappointed that this moderate hack-n-slash title is all that's left of our beloved cyborg ninja. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance instills a pain that even Gray Fox wouldn't enjoy.

Blog Post: Cutting with Style...but Shallowly

The Destroyer — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 21:50:00 GMT

I had never played a stylish action game before Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. The genre was never something that really caught my eye, but my love of the Metal Gear universe got me interested in this game. Plus, I was really looking forward to seeing how Raiden's story was continued, as well as trying out his abilities with his High-Frequency blade in combat. While the final result doesn't completely meet my expectations for the game, it is an overall enjoyable experience.

Rising's presentation is outstanding: cutscenes are very crisp, enemies' limbs sever where I cut them, and the environments are almost always interesting. This is one of the best looking games I've played in awhile, with the only real drop being the holographic Codec screens, which look really bad. Besides this, the game doesn't really falter with showing you Raiden slicing through enemies, except for some expected camera issues, which are really only a problem if you get too close to walls, which isn't often.

By far though, my favorite aspect of this game is the soundtrack. I have been listening to the themes of each of the bosses, and they are really well done by the vocalists. The actual voice acting within the game itself is passable, with some characters doing better than others; Raiden does well in cutscenes, but hearing "DEAD ON", and "BULLS-EYE" every few minutes may get to you.

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkzixziH5qc]

An example of the excellent OST.

The real main draw of the game though, is the player's ability to control the cyborg ninja Raiden, and execute gruesome kills, with style. As I stated before, it all looks good, but sometimes the gameplay can be frustrating. The main gripe I have is more of how much of a learning curve the game requires. Sure, they tell you how to block early on, but it wasn't until the last couple of hours that I really got how to work it effectively. Also, the game never tells you there is a lock-on button, which hindered me for one of the early boss fights-I spent awhile fighting it, only to realize(by pushing a random button) that I could lock-on to them which made blocking significantly easier. I know that hand-holding is something that is frowned upon in games today, but I'd have liked to have been notified of this crucial feature.

Another gameplay complaint I have is the drawing gameplay mechanic, Blade Mode. While it is awesome to cut through enemies, tilting the "cutting plane" is difficult, and resulted in more than a few deaths altogether, since they were required for certain bosses.

The story and set pieces are a hit-and-miss, like the combat. While some set-pieces are amazing, they are really the same-that Raiden ends up cutting something in half. The story is also lackluster because the whole premise-that Raiden is getting revenge on those who killed the African president-doesn't strike a chord with me. I wasn't made to see how much of a relationship the two had, as that moment happens less than an hour into the game. Not having any meaningful motivation for the player takes me a bit out of the experience.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is falling into the same way Dead Space 3 did for me-I loved the game itself, but there were some sequences that were just really frustrating, and hampered the overall experience. Aside from Blade Mode issues and some camera faults, I enjoyed my time with Rising, though it isn't for everyone: you are going to need some patience.

I wish I'd found the watermelons, though...

Blog Post: The Game Informer review reads like it was hastily assembled at the last minute...this game is the definition of a classic.

Ebolatastic — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:39:00 GMT

From what seemed to be a questionable and drawn out development cycle rises a game that impresses way more often than it disappoints, and further sediments the Metal Gear franchise as here to stay. Rather than bog down the game with hallways filled with nothing, backtracking, and mindless fetch quests, Revengeance maintains a constant forward momentum. The game urges the player to blast through it at lightening speed over multiple playthroughs, while endlessly punishing them for acting too quick or attempting to mash their way out of trouble. Butthurt fanboys and lazy review writers will likely chastise the game for its short length, but any classic gamer will instantly recognize its obsession with quality over quantity. In nearly every moment where the game could have gone wrong, it excels, surprises, and excites. Most importantly of all: it never wastes your time.

One big surprise is the attempts Platinum has made to establish a heavy emotional core to the story and its cast. The story is simple and direct: abandoning his government ties, the child slave turned warrior (Raiden) sets out on a quest to find those responsible for using child slaves to harvest and create cyborg warriors. Its campy and awful, as anyone would expect, but there is an obvious effort to write Jack as a believable and real person. Furthermore, the colorful cast of villains fall perfectly in line with classic Metal Gear staples: self awareness, philosophical musings, and the endless debate of "which side are you actually on?". The codec cast is the stories biggest problem, with seemingly flat and uninteresting characters all around. However,one supporting character who is introduced stands as an awesome additon to the Metal Gear universe. He has presence and gravitas, and most players will find themselves disappointed in how little a role he plays in the game. This is something that the past two Metal Gear entries have completely failed to do

Adherence to classic Metal Gear themes is actually the games strongest element. Whereas the game could just pass itself off as another action title, players can stealth through over 75% of the entire game. Items like the cardboard box and grenades are not just useful, they are seemingly mandatory as you progress towards the harder areas of the game. Stealth gameplay delivers a nostalgic and satisfying feeling all the way up until the games conclusion. Oh, and not only can you roll inside the drum can, it makes Raiden puke after excessive use. The game is filled with clever touches like this that constantly fill it with personality and nostaligia, while never damaging its integrity.

The games core mechanic, blade mode, is not only flawlessly implemented, but also insanely addictive. Slicing enemies into tiny bits just plain never gets old, and Zandatsu - the act of slicing a targeted area and then absorbing enemy health/special meter - always leaves the player with the feeling of true skill and execution. Even if players get bored with Zandatsu (they won't), they can just slice the legs off an opponent and watch them continue to advance crying: "you aren't getting away" or "you can't kill me". Personally, many laughs have been had at the expense of legless cyborgs crawling towards me. I often move just an inch out of the way as they take their pathetic strikes.

I taunt them and laugh. Its beautiful.

At every turn, the game rewards players for skill and precision, and punishes them for mindless hacking away. While last minute written reviews may claim that Raiden's defense is weak or that offense is key, the real truth is that the harder difficulties of the game demand absolute perfection. This game is fn hard, but not boring hard. Its awesome hard the same way that games like Dark Souls are hard. Its all about execution and timing. Even on the hardest difficulty, you can still wipe out a room full of enemies with just a few perfectly executed moves, and they can wipe you out just as quickly. This is in stark contrast to games like DMC or Ninja Gaiden, where endless blocking, dodging, and slashing bog down the pace and ultimately dry out the games fun on harder difficulties.

You are not given a block in the traditional sense, instead you must press forward and attack to parry. This forces players to use flawless timing and think about what they are doing. Perfect parries and dodges always take precedent over completing combos or heavy attacks. This is especially true in later difficulties or various boss encounters. Pattern recognition coupled with clever improvisation are often required to survive. Anyone who complains about he defensive mechanics of this game are simply just not good at them, and should probably retreat to other, more slashy-slash, mashy-mash type action games.

The games length may seem like an issue, but the truth is that this game hearkens back to the classic design philosophies of the eight and sixteen bit eras: where shorter and more difficult games demanded absolute mastery. These games were totally unforgiving, and left the player always wanting more. Multiple playthroughs are pretty much mandatory, especially if one wishes to acquire all the different blades, weapons, costumes, and items. The weapons costumes and items all have their own personalities, as well. The only real major design flaw with the weapons is there is no button assigned to swapping out your secondary weapons or items ala Devil May Cry. This mechanic is decidedly absent, and probably one of the biggest missteps in the games design.

The game controls like a dream and every moment and action feels fluid and within the scope of the players control. The only real problem is Ninja Run, which is needed throughout the game but just never feels fully fleshed out or complete. Players will watch Raiden endlessly hopping in the same spot as he attempts to run up a wall, or derping out completely when hitting certain ledges.

Let us also not forget that the camera (as with every action game) is a bloody nightmare, and probably the greatest single villain. Get too close to a wall, and players will find themselves constantly fighting a camera that will not oblige. After Zandatsu, the camera will realign itself in seemingly mindless ways, disorienting players and often leading to unnecessary health loss while surrounded. These design flaws are standard is most all action games, let alone 3D games in general, but its an issue that had better be seriously addressed in forthcoming sequels. Ironically, a series that was built on fixed camera angles now finds itself constrained by the cons of free form camera movement.

The environments are not particularly memorable, with wide corridors, hallways, and streets being the primary battleground throughout the game. Yet, because of the games excellent pace and constant forward motion, this never stands out as an issue. The attention to detail is purely fixed on beautifully fluid animation, unique enemy types, and awe inspiring set pieces. It is in this way that the game excels at every turn. Rather than ten hallways filled with the same four enemy types (ala DMC or Ninja Gaiden), the game is constantly throwing the player into new situations with new enemy types, new bosses, and new patrol layouts. This is especially true when transitioning over to the harder difficulties. It is rare for the same situations to ever occur more than once. Quite frankly, gameplay has more going on in ten minutes than most other action games have in ten hours. I was a little surprised not to see swimming or mini games, as well.

The games sound design and music is another element that seems sketchy at first but eventually wins a player over completely. In tandem with the games breakneck speed, thrash metal is faded in and out during battles, and refrains transition in as boss phases progress. The soundtrack meshes with the gameplay well, and all of the sounds feel genuine and have weight. This is especially true when a cyborg unexpectedly dropkicks Raiden in the grill and sends him flying. The hits feel like they count on both sides of the fence. Players will also be hard pressed not to find themselves crying "BULLSEYE!" or "DEAD ON!" when they nail a Zandatsu.

Its been a long road for this game, and I can honestly say that my low expectations coming in are a driving force behind my total satisfaction coming out. Rather than a bland, one dimensional action game filled with sketchy mechanics and underwhelming moments, the game feels tailor made for fans of both the action genre and Metal Gear. This game truly is a Metal Gear game, and yet maintains its own identity throughout.

The game is short, its true, but since every Metal Gear game actually winds down to roughly four hours of actual gameplay, it keeps perfectly in line with series precedent. Sure, it feels like entire sections of the game did not make the final cut, but its seemingly to the games benefit. The developers have obviously scrapped the weaker elements of the game, and strengthened what works really well. The game never dares sacrifice its pace, freshness, or depth.

Rather than constantly wasting my time and slowing my progress with backtracking and hallways filled with nothing (as Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden both love to do), this game throws it into overdrive and does not let up on the gas until the end credits roll. The hack and slash genre has done literally nothing new in almost ten years, and each of the flagship series continue to stagnate while they fumble around looking for gimmicks or new characters to revitalize them. This game is a breath of fresh air, and a load off the shoulders of Metal Gear fans the world over. "All we're trying to say is...give war a chance!"

BULLSEYE!

P.S. Whoever wrote that garbage review of this game for GI should receive a corporate write up and be threatened with subsequent write ups that lead to termination. It reminds me of the Gamespy review for Starcraft 2, which was almost definitely written by someone who dumped maybe four hours into the game before quickly writing it. News flash, Game Informer, you are no longer on top of the gaming world, and you better trim fatties like that off before you wind up going extinct like Gamespy. This has been the Great American Virus reporting.

Ta.

Blog Post: Slashing your way to Fun!

Refle18 — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 04:45:00 GMT

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a game that can be summed up in one word Fun! The game starts off with a bang with a mission that is one of the most over the top missions I have played. While the first mission is full of over the top action it definitely does dull down a little. The game though still manages to be action oriented and really fun. The gameplay is fairly simple and mainly involves just cutting people apart but thats the point of the game and it does it well. Blade mode is extremely well executed and is a neat idea. Killing a enemy with blade mode and then stealing there energy never gets old. The combat is fun but does have some flaws. Parrying in the game is something you must get used to using and takes time to master, also there really is no dodge move that is effective. I spent most of the game mashing the attack buttons because I knew I was going to either have to deal damage faster than the enemy or try to dodge and get killed. Overall though the combat is a blast and never really gets old. The game looks very nice and is your typical Metal Gear style game. Boss fights are unique and fun to play. Once you manage to master the parrying you should have no problem with any enemy including bosses. The story is the worst part of the whole game and manages to confuse most players. It seems to jump from one theme to another and never seems to connect the dots between them. Overall Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a blast to play and is a hack n slash game you don't want to miss. It may not be the most interesting game but you will be having way to much fun to think about the story. I can't wait for another installment in the series.

Blog Post: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance : Over The Top Action Game

jenifferhomes — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:14:00 GMT

REVIEW

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance may be a controversial and confusing game to some, but it makes perfect sense to me.

It was first announced as “Metal Gear Solid: Rising”, an official part of the Metal Gear timeline positioned between the events of Sons of Liberty and Guns of the Patriots, but after a few tech demonstration-type showings it fell completely out of the spotlight. Now it has resurfaced, minus the “Solid”, and plus the “Revengeance”.“Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance”, an over-the-top action game now being developed by Platinum Games, the creators of Bayonetta. Kojima hand-picked the company, which no doubt set the game on its new rock-and-rollercoaster ride.

The reaction towards the game was always one of confusion, but people didn’t mind. It seemed cool to be able to cut up things at precise angles and, as ever, the Metal Gear brand name is enough to keep the media hopeful. Being multi-platform (PS3, 360, PC, and Vita) meant that it would be hitting a larger audience than ever, too. The fact that the project wasn’t actually being led by Hideo Kojima didn’t hinder the typical hype process that surrounds shiny new things in the game industry, fortunately. Even the silence surrounding the project at major trade shows and exhibitions raised few suspicions.

Graphically I wasn’t that impressed with the game. Playing onPS3, whilst I didn’t notice much difference in the actual gameplay, the cut scenes are highly compressed, and at times look rather low-res and pixellated, far from the pristine image quality you will find in the Playstation 3 version, which of course has all that extra Blu-Ray space to handle the cut scenes. Particle effects look great, especially when weapons are clashing together and the detail on Raidens armor can look really good, but other than that there wasn’t anything that really made me pause and take a minute to admire the beauty.

I also noticed some framerate drops throughout. Interestingly enough these drops would most noticeably occur whenever a codec conversation would begin, and for the most part the framerate would stay steady during combat, which I guess is the main thing. I would also like to note that the game did crash on me once. Whether this was just a random crash, which may have had something more to do with my actual Xbox than the game, remains to be seen, but it definitely happened.

Luckily the game does checkpoint quite often, even during the boss battles, which was most welcome as some were quite challenging.

Raiden and his sword
The main plot of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance puts us in a more or less current, with developing countries as the focus of international controversy and Raiden working for a company that protects the prime minister of one of them. The situation soon goes awry when a series of cyborgs begin an assault to kill the prime minister, a symbol of peace and global balance away from wars between countries. The goal is met before a Raiden that looks entirely overcome by his enemies. The Patriots are no longer, so the title is placed chronologically after Metal Gear Solid 4 – and the war economy, that always defended, is on standby. Something I do not like certain organizations that want to regain the past.

Hitting and cut
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance is a pure Hack and Slash Euphoria game where the most important thing is to kill all the enemies that we encounter along the way. We find no major platform-stages that are slightly-not puzzle over puzzle where thinking as we move forward. Here everything is much simpler. This is our katana and us. And it applies to any need. To kill armed soldiers to break fences or to eliminate major foes. The highlight is definitely the simplicity of control offered by the game, house brand of video games in this genre. With the left analog move, the right move the camera, with two attack buttons with normal or stronger, a third and a fourth jump to perform actions. Nothing new here.

Take it from Bayonetta: When you can't even tell what's happening on the screen, you're doing something right

The reason why the Metal Gear series isn’t grounded anymore — the reason why it’s okay to let the series spiral into oblivion — is because people like him never understood the games to begin with. Kojima has wanted to let the series die or change direction for a decade, but he’s been a prisoner of it. If having freedom comes at the cost of destroying what people love, that’s a fitting “Revengeance”.

See more:Reviews at PlayStation Official site (US)

Blog Post: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

John Wrek — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 15:44:00 GMT

Raiden was, for the longest time, always a disappointment and an aside from playing as Snake in the Metal Gear games. When players first controlled him and saw his actions in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, they were immediately horrified, as thoughts of "What have they done with Snake?!" filtered through their minds. Things only got better from there on however, as Raiden underwent a rapid and impressive transformation from virtually an unsure schoolboy to the badass ninja of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. For once, Raiden was actually cool...or at least,a little bit more so than before. Flash forward several years to the long awaited Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, and we see the cyborg ninja for the ultra-entertaining, slicing and dicing maniac that he is. Raiden is a beast, and deals out a solid hand of death to virtually anyone he encounters...and that makes for an epic action game, don't you think?

While Revengeance is certainly a far cry from the world of MGS, and the stealth elements that the series has normally employed, it is a transition roughly without circumstance and with only minor hiccups troubling it. After all, as over-the-top as Revengeance proves to be, remember that MGS has always been as well, and certainly cannot be called conservative in terms of shock value. Taking all of it's cues from Platinum Games' other excellent over-the-top action saga (Bayonetta), Revengeance combines the best of Metal Gear with the fast-paced, intense action set pieces of Bayonetta with mostly grand results. Raiden slashes through unending hordes of cyborgs, slices up machines with his razor sharp blade, fights some of the strangest boss battles that I've ever seen, and generally looks like a badass while constantly doing the impossible...over and over again. Every aspect of a decent action game title is present in MGR, however, that is all it can be called: a decent action game. For all of it's Metal Gear pedigree, Revengeance just barely misses the mark of above-standard presentation, and, for all of it's enjoyment- it falls a tad below par.

The entire game literally revolves around combat, with almost little to no regard for story or overall pacing. This may sound like a major inconvenience, but even a story-lover such as myself can easily get over this once you realize just how brutally interesting the stylish combat sequences are. I guess this is a perfect example of quantitative presentation in terms of what you can do, versus the qualitative presentation of said story. In other words, forget the story and get right to slashing guys in half- it's much simpler on the mind anyways.

The graphics look great for the better part of the game, with only a few minor mashups here and there, and the framerate stays constant for the entire time as well, which is a relief. Freezing in the middle of combos or lagging would be very, very bad indeed. I may be spoiled by demanding games such as Dark Souls in saying this, but I'd kind of hoped for more of a challenge than what I received with Revengeance's combat at present. All of Raiden's moves look excellent and deadly, however, the lack of a true variety in both moves and enemy encounters means you can essentially forget any combos and just go into every fight mashing buttons a la Street Fighter (except in the boss fights). While there are a few different types of awesome special attacks, there is virtually no need to utilize them unless you're really low on health or suck at the game. You're pretty safe in most encounters by simply slashing away until an enemy attacks, trying (and probably failing) to block or counter their attack, and then promptly returning to slicing and dicing them once more. The only exception to this rule would probably be the insane boss battles, which are...well, insane.

This brings us to another issue however, which may very well be the most annoying failure of the game, as well as it's most potently visible Achilles heel: blocking. Once more, a la Street Fighter (4 mainly comes to mind), your method of blocking is hardly explained at all, and also not limited to one single, easy to sue button either. Instead, the poorly executed mechanic is to tilt your control/directional stick towards your attacker and to swipe the attack button again. What usually ends up happening however, is you swipe a blade through the air, completely failing to block any attacks, and open yourself up to forty points of retributive damage. You can't even be moving while you do this, or you'll simply attack them instead. Now, you may feel inclined to use your dodge-rolls/attacks instead of blocking, but even they are worse and take longer to execute, meaning you basically have no defense whatsoever even though you mop the floor with people on the offensive. It's simple to get the hang of blocking after awhile, but the mechanic never improves even with your skill level doing so...

The other major failure of Revengeance is it's grand arsenal of fun-to-use weapons. You get a few weapons that you can use specially throughout the story, however, there are some extremely annoying gimmicks involved in being able to use said weapons. Since the item selection pause screen only opens when you are on the ground and not in combat, and you cannot switch weapons on-the-go or hotkey them, you cannot pull together combos with the various weapons at your disposal, and are limited to using one at a time. Most weapons and tools cannot be equipped with anything other than the essential sword, which, while good and easy to use, is also a nuisance. Basically, even at full-power, you cannot experiment too far out of the realms of what Platinum and Konami thought up for the weapons and their uses, so there is really no point in using them unless you are forced to in certain circumstances.

Since I've mostly touched on the beautiful and exciting, yet heavily flawed combat modes, I'll also briefly touch on the completely forgettable story as well. Not only is it absurd and completely unheard of, but it makes even less sense than you'd think a MG game could manage. Let's boil it down to the essentials here, without giving away too terribly much. Virtually no characters except Raiden return from previous Metal Gear games, and the game in fact has virtually nothing to do with Metal Gear lore at all, or previous tales in the series. The game doesn't answer a single burning question from the previous titles, and opens up more cans than it seals off, especially with it's terribly forgettable cast of supporting characters. (Although a cyborg cop who looks like Sylvester Stallone appears, which was literally my highlight for those characters throughout the game. Naturally, this was about five minutes in, and he also meets his doom thanks to Raiden's sword about thirty seconds later. Oh well.) The plot literally answers nothing about Raiden's choices from the previous titles, or why eh is even doing all this crap again. Basically, as I mentioned earlier, at least you can scrap the crap and get on with hacking arms and legs off of people in slow motion.

This brings us to the so-called 'Blade Mode', which is by far the most enjoyable little gimmick that this flawed game has to offer players. It's a basic little minigame that is easy to get the hang of, and that also only gets sweeter as the enemies get bigger and bigger. Wait until your enemies get covered in static, enter blade mode, and watch the parts fly- literally. You can hack through any materials during this mode, such as chopping cars in half, dicing soldiers, and slicing through robotic legs as well. It's simple, repetitive, and awesome the entire time. Sure, a little depth would have been nice, but I can't really complain about what they gave. It is especially epic to use these methods of dismantling your enemies piece by piece upon the bosses, who make you want to do it over and over just for the sheer amount of hatred you will feel towards them after their battles.

I'm not a die-hard Metal Gear fan- although I am a fan of the series, so I wasn't exactly completely impressed with this title. Despite my misgivings however, I do realize that it is a very fun and energetic game, along the lines of Platinum's Bayonetta, and I think the partnership between them and Konami turned out a pretty good result. If you were hoping for some closure or answers to questions in the Metal gear universe, you'll be sorely disappointed, but if you're looking for a good action title hack n' slash, then you're in for a treat. It's great fun, but could have certainly been a lot better...

Concept: Flesh out Raiden's story even more in an action-oriented title that is a far cry from the stealth adventure tales of previous Metal Gear games.

Graphics: The framerate virtually never changes during combat or out of it, and the graphical detail is very impressive, though the moves showcased are quite repetitive.

Sound: Raiden's voice is bipolar, and sounds off in every scene. Everyone else seems to notice yet doesn't care about anything other than killing him.

Playability: Attacking is easy and responsive, but dodging, blocking, and switching weapons is far from responsive at all. Easily the most annoying part of the game, other than a lack of substantive story.

Entertainment: Combat is brutal and fun, and the blade mode is a welcome facet of the game as well, and worth the extra juice.

Replay Value: Moderate

Overall Score: 8.25

Blog Post: Metal Gear Rising review

Nick — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 00:10:00 GMT

Well finally, after about four years I got to play Metal Gear Rising, and while I can't say it lived up to my expectations, it did prove itself to be a passable action game.

You play as Raiden, the once considered worst thing to happen to a Metal Gear game, only now he's been given a Badassectomy, and a fancy sword. The story's pretty basic, not to mention a little far fetched even for Metal Gear standards; You're fighting from what I gathered a group of war mongers looking to....well, start up a war! It works for what the game is, though I wish the writers could have done a better job with character development. Like it states in the GI review, none of the new characters are all that interesting, and the only bad guys that seemed fleshed out are Sam and Sundowner....And I'd bet you don't even know who they are!! Sam was the long haired Samurai dude and Sundowner was the big bald brute that killed the Prime Minister in the trailers. The final boss is probably one of the most ridiculuous guys I've ever seen in a game!

I should also point out that Raiden IS bad ass in this, but he has some real weird mood swings....like he's calm one minute, and just insane the next! Maybe get him some cyber-xanacs or something for another game...

Gameplay is functional, and the "cutting" mechanic is a lot of fun. You do get some special sub-weapons, but I only found one of them being of any real use. Maybe I just didn't try the others hard enough, but still. The blocking or parrying is the worst I've ever seen. I honestly don't see why the developers didn't just give you a button to push instead of "push the square button and push the left stick toward an enemy" nonsense (I played the PS3 version btw). The action, however, was pretty good, even if it was just simplistic hack and slash gameplay.

Personal thoughts: I did find the game enjoyable, and recommend it for anyone that loves a good action game. The story was okay, nothing that'll be called epic, but the action was great and the over the top moments were awesome. I would have liked to see the original plot for the game, though, which would have made this game a prequel between MGS2 and 4. Maybe we can get something like that in the next game, or at least some answers to the obvious questions, like why's Raiden a cyborg, why is he so crazy at times, and what about some more insight on the guys at the end of MGS 4.

Blog Post: Hmmm

Blue blood outbreak — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 22:14:00 GMT

I kinda had my doubts that this game was going to be good. I am pretty sure Metal Gear Ground Zeros will be the next true Metal Gear...s

Blog Post: I got the game that I wanted

banditking42 — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 20:11:00 GMT

When I bought the Zone of the Enders HD Collection with the demo for this game, I stopped for a moment before test playing it and told meself:

"This is not gonna be Tactical Espionage Action by any sense whatsoever. This is gonna be exactly what we saw with Riden's cut-scene in MGS4."

And with that mindset, I thoroughly enjoyed the demo, and now game for what it is; a full on action/ cut-em-up/ slice 'n' dice bloody good time. I am of course more excited for Ground Zeroes, but this game offers a nice change of pace for now. I am happy to have it in the Metal Gear library.

Also I got the CE and the plasma lamp is more than what I expected it was gonna be, which made me that much happier. It's freakin' sweeeeeet!

Blog Post: Metal Gear Rising

Zarius Mcducez Williams — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:35:00 GMT

Were i see it metal gear rising is a pretty great game. its better than any other metal gear game that i played.

Wiki: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Guides

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:56:00 GMT

Guides for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Blog Post: well expected

Canis_Major — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:32:00 GMT

i don't think it's as bad as you make it seem Joe. although you fight the same enemy all the time, it can be easy to slip up. i like the metal gear series,but this is a branch off game so i expect it to not be as great as the series. if i could spruce up some thing about the game it would be the how difficult it is to beat your foes. i prefer it to be as hard as ninja gaiden for the first xbox.

Blog Post: Clouds Gather Over Raiden's Day In The Sun

Joe Juba — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:01:00 GMT

Raiden has come a long way from the inexperienced wuss who disappointed fans everywhere. His transformation into an unstoppable cyborg ninja was revealed in Metal Gear Solid 4, where he dispatched enemies with improbable cinematic flair. After that, fans forgave him for replacing Solid Snake in MGS 2, and the unthinkable happened: Raiden became cool. Players wanted to control him. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance finally puts his stylish and brutal repertoire at your fingertips, but this cyborg ninja continues to linger in the shadow of his betters.[Excerpt]

Revengeance capitalizes on over-the-top combat in the vein of Bayonetta and Devil May Cry. Raiden faces off against hordes of robots and cyborg soldiers, chops them into bits with a high-frequency blade, and generally looks awesome while doing so. He fights weird bosses, gains new weapons, and purchases new moves and upgrades. I know all of that sounds perfect, but the pieces don’t fit together properly. Revengeance seems engineered to look like a great action game from a distance, only to fall apart upon closer inspection.

Combat is entertaining, but “style over substance” is the defining theme. The graphics are fantastic, the moves look cool, and the framerate is smooth, but battles aren’t demanding. Raiden has a decent selection of special attacks, but the lack of variety in enemies and encounters means that you aren’t required to master them. Basic button mashing is usually fine, since few foes need to be approached with specific tactics. The formula for success gets old quickly: slash away until you see an enemy telegraph an attack, block, and resume slashing.

Blocking is easier said than done, since it isn’t assigned to a single button. You need to tilt the stick toward your enemy and press attack simultaneously, which causes Raiden to throw up his defense. If your timing is off, he swipes his sword at thin air, which is the worst possible alternative to blocking. You can’t just hold a direction while performing regular attacks and expect to block; each one requires the stick to be moved from a neutral position. With practice, you can master this clunky mechanic and make it work reliably, but that doesn’t make it good – especially since it’s your main way of avoiding damage (despite a cumbersome dodge-attack move).

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Above: Watch our episode of Test Chamber on Metal Gear Rising.

Since you have limited control over your own defense, staying on the offense is important. You earn multiple special weapons, but you have to pause the action to bring up an item selection screen (which does not open if you are jumping, attacking, or being attacked) in order to use them. Since you can’t swap out weapons on the fly mid-combo, they don’t ever get to work together. For instance, Raiden gets a weapon capable of a long-range grapple (like Dante’s angel pull in the latest DMC), which grants increased mobility. However, you can’t simultaneously equip that weapon with anything but Raiden’s basic sword. The same thing goes for the high-damage pincer sword or the area-clearing polearm. This keeps Raiden’s arsenal segregated, preventing players from experimenting with combinations and harnessing his full power.

The big gimmick, Blade Mode, allows Raiden to chop off pieces of his foes. It’s a rewarding slow-mo flourish that punctuates your kills, and seeing your enemies fall apart exactly where you cut them doesn’t get old. However, the mechanic doesn’t evolve; you attack enemies normally until they get covered in blue static, and then you slice them up. If you can hit a specific area, Raiden gets all of his health back. The limb-severing technology is impressive, but I wanted to see it used in more interesting ways than what amounts to a brief minigame.

Narrative in this genre rarely rates better than absurd, and Revengeance is no exception. However, this game bears the Metal Gear name, which carries certain expectations. If you have any hopes for this story building on Metal Gear lore or giving you a chance to reconnect with characters you care about, you will be disappointed. The new characters are uninteresting and poorly developed, and the old characters are practically non-existent. The plot doesn’t even address the most basic questions a Metal Gear fan would have, like why did Raiden leave his family to become a cyborg again? What is Otacon up to? Is Snake really dead? We get no satisfying answers. On the other hand, the weak story means that your time with Revengeance isn’t consumed by lengthy cutscenes or codec conversations. The combat, though imperfect, is always in the spotlight.

I’m a longtime Metal Gear fan, and Bayonetta is one of my favorite games of this generation, so I was elated when Konami and Platinum Games announced their partnership for Revengeance. However, this title isn’t Bayonetta wearing a Metal Gear skin; whether you are hoping for a meaningful expansion of the Metal Gear universe or a gratifying action experience, Revengeance falls short. Brutalizing cyborgs and hacking giant mechs to pieces is fun, but the restrictive design and lack of precision keep Raiden from capturing the best of both worlds.

This review has been updated to add a statement regarding Raiden's dodge-attack move.