Story
Four years after the events of Guns of the Patriots, we find Raiden has taken on a new job protecting VIPs from cyborg assassins. All of which to make some scratch for his wife and kid. His latest charge is attacked by a group of cyborgs who hope to push war back into the forefront. Raiden fails and is nearly killed in the process. Now he is back for revenge and stumbles upon a deeper darker plot that he must bring justice to by cutting everything to itty bitties.
Hated
Let's get this started where I am sure that a whole bunch of you will have issues, the "tutorials." If you can even call them that. I am talking about those little game play walk throughs that instruct us all on how to the cool moves and abilities of the game. They just weren't there. If they were, I completely missed them. This isn't normally a big deal as most are a bit self explanatory, but in Revengeance it can make or break large fights. I'd be lying if I didn't think about tossing the game aside during the first boss fight because Parrying and Dodging are required but extremely poorly explained.
Not only are the maneuvers poorly explained, but the execution of said moves don't feel all that intuitive or all that easy to pull off. Some of these are also required to be used constantly. Even after performing, or trying to preform, thousands of times it does not get any easier. Maybe it's because the time span you get is truncated as you progress, but what should be second nature near the end is not at all. It just seems too loose or requires something way to specific. This isn't a fighting game; it's a high action game. The controls should have been a bit fine tuned for that.
This last bit could just be me not getting the character, but at many times it seemed like the V/O changed for Raiden constantly. Not just inflection or tone, but at times it was as if the voice actor stopped doing the voice and then jumped back in. This led to a couple of weird moments while I was slow walking Raiden around and only listening to the conversation and I thought I heard a third person join in. Sometimes a fourth. It wasn't overbearing, but it was a little bit confusing throughout.
Loved
If you are looking for a similar amount of action as you got in Bayonetta, then MGR:R delivers and then some. This was something I was a little worried on as it deviates from the franchise's standard game play, but I was overly surprised. Even though there were a few issues with actually getting into the action with the controls and moves, it kept me wanting to keep playing. I don't want the whole franchise to go down this path at all, but the high action with the option of stealth was a welcomed deviation. Well done there.
Speaking of well done, I don't think I have ever been let down with any of the character concepts or personalities that have been in any Metal Gear game. I still am not let down with the franchise. Even with the bit of expansion on Raiden I am impressed with the detail they went into, at least as much as they could in the amount of time they had for the game. Sundowner, specifically, had me laughing with his mannerism and expressions.
Finally, and I am surprised this moved into the loved section, the cinematics for cut scenes or special maneuvers in the game. From the trailers and commercials for MGR:R I was expecting quite a bit of generic Anime scenes. Don't get me wrong, there are a bunch of those too, but most of them are not really all that generic and keep the pacing of everything at a high so the player doesn't slow down between game play sections. Maybe it's because I didn't expect it, but almost every scene had my eyes glued. If only the in game scenes would have done the same.
Overall
So where do we rank Revengeance when all is said and done? Like I said, it isn't your average Metal Gear title, so fans of the franchise need to beware, but even so I think it is a great addition to the overall franchise. It does take some time to get into the new swing of things but as long as you are ok with looking online for a few minutes on how to control things, you'll be splitting the world in twain with a big smile on your face. Even if you don't, just trying to figure out the controls and mastering them will add a bit more to the game's length.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was developed by Platinum Games and published by Konami on February 19th, 2013 for PS3 and Xbox 360. A copy of the game was purchased by the publisher for reviewing purposes.
