Review: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Platform: PS3)
Metal Gear Solid is known for its stealthy missions and enemy infiltration going as undetected as possible. Kojima studios took a break from this formula in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. It’s a high-speed, action-packed, cyborg hack and slash, where instead of sneaking up on enemies, you rush head on into them and use a high frequency blade to take them down. The protagonist, instead of Solid Snake or Big Boss, is Raiden, the protagonist from MGS 2: Sons of Liberty.
Taking place sometime after the events of MGS 4: Guns of the Patriots, Raiden is now part of a protection group known as PMSC Maverick. The world has spiraled out of control and new nanomachines and cyborgs are the norm. The game starts out with Raiden protecting Africa`s prime minister, when they are attacked by two cyborgs named Sundowner and Jetstream Sam. Raiden fails to save the prime minister, and is almost killed himself. Raiden realizes he must adapt to the changing world, and his damaged body is repaired with nanomachines, making him a cyborg. He then sets out with his team behind him to stop the group known as Desperado from plunging the world into total war.
The gameplay is very high-octane, and will keep you on your toes most of the time. One of the good things about it is that the enemies get tougher, forcing you to change tactics to defeat them. Believe me, there are a ton of enemies. Unfortunately, swarm after swarm of them can feel tedious at times. Sometimes you just want move on to the next part of the game, but the same baddies just keep coming. All the while you are battle, power metal music plays, which is pretty fitting. The boss fights are pretty epic as well. You have to use skill and timing to beat them, instead of just wildly swinging. It is actually very satisfying to take them down.
Metal Gear Rising is, overall, a crazy thrill ride through a Terminator-esque world. However, it is not for everyone. It is targeted to an older audience, with its war content and battles. You must also have some level of gaming skill in your refluxes to survive here.
Even after you beat the main game, there is a plentiful bounty of VR-Missions and DLC content, including a Blade Wolf and Jetstream Sam mission levels. There is also interesting bonus content like a costume for Raiden so you can play as Grey Fox, the cyborg ninja from Metal Gear Solid. All of them are worth checking out and most are free. As a side note, a sequel to Metal Gear Rising was recently hinted at. It will be some time before that comes to light. Metal Gear Rising is definitely a title to check out if you are a MG fan. It stands apart from the rest of the series, but that’s just what it needs to be successful.
Posted: Monday, May 4, 2015