Analog Reviews - Metal gear rising revengeance

Hey this is Nathan with Analog Reviews and today we're having a look at Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. The game is a collaborative effort between Hideo Kojima and Platinum Games, with Kojima handling the story while Platinum Games is in charge of the combat and overall gameplay. The game is set four years after Metal Gear Solid 4 and you assume the role of the cyborg, Raiden who has developed more as a character and is quite a bit more likeable since his initial appearance in Metal Gear Solid 2. Revengeance strays away from the typical stealth game that Metal Gear is known for and instead plays like a 3d hack and slash, similar to Devil May Cry and God of War. The story begins with Raiden, now a member of the private military corporation by the name of Maverick. Maverick is made up of members from multiple backgrounds with varying areas of expertise. They all offer their aid to Raiden during the mission and are usually available to call with the codec. Maverick’s latest mission has them assigned as a protective detail for Prime Minister N'mani, a man in charge of an unnamed African nation. The nation is on the road to peace and just when everything seems to be fine, N'mani's car is attacked. Raiden is then forced into a chaotic situation where he battles through cyborgs along with a Metal Gear while he attempts to save the Prime Minister. Raiden ultimately fails in his mission, overcome with guilt; he decides to set out on a path of revenge where he travels the world, visiting multiple distinct and varied locations while trying to hunt down a rival PMC by the name of Desperado. The story doesn’t take itself too seriously unlike other Metal Gear games, while not overly immersive; it can be somewhat humorous and entertaining. The majority of the story is told through the numerous cutscenes as well as codec calls. The codec calls while optional, are quite lengthy, providing tons of additional backstory in terms of the characters and mission. A lot of the codec calls go into a little too much detail however, as a lot of the extra information doesn't contribute much to benefit the story or elaborate on the mission. The highlight of Revengeance is the combat, featuring lightning fast attacks as well as the new ability to aim your strikes, allowing you to cut anywhere. Kojima and Platinum Games have done something new and innovative with this mechanic, allowing you to slice exactly where you aim. The enemies and objects react to your swings, allowing you to literally slice a car into a hundred pieces. If you’re like me, you’ll often go out of your way to chop up the various objects in the environment. While at first glance, this feature does feel a little bit gimmicky, it works well and is a welcomed addition to the game. The combat itself is great, featuring multiple secondary weapons as well as plenty of unlockable moves and abilities. The combat is among the best the genre has seen thus far, you can quickly swap between your weapons on the fly, integrating them into lighting fast fluid combos. The game takes a different approach to defensive maneuvers to what we’re accustomed to from other Platinum Games. The majority of the time, you’ll be parrying opposed to dodging, allowing you to keep up the pressure while remaining on the offensive. The majority of the enemies you encounter are cyborgs or larger unmanned gears, while the enemies are fun to fight; they lack variety when compared to some other games of the genre. Revengeance more than makes up for this by including amazing boss fights. The bosses are lengthy, challenging and will most definitely hold your interest as the majority of the bosses have multiple stages. While I’m not trying to spoil anything, I’m going to go ahead and say that the final boss is absolutely amazing. The graphics in Revengeance are great considering the age of the current consoles; many of the cutscenes come to life with the help of the animations and voice actors. Unfortunately, you can find the odd low-res texture if you look hard enough. The music in Revengeance is decent, and the game features a varied soundtrack with all of the music serving their purpose; to build adrenaline during the high paced action scenes. Unfortunately, the music just isn't up to par when compared to Harry Gregson William's soundtracks for the earlier Metal Gear games. The game in itself is quite short, clocking in at around 5 or 6 hours. Although the game does feature multiple unlockable terminals which add additional VR missions to the game, it still doesn't offer much in terms of exploration as you will constantly hit walls and blue boundaries, making the game feel very linear. The game does have the odd optional objective, but it's in no way comparable to what one would expect from a Devil May Cry title. The unlockable VR missions do offer more content and they mainly consist of completing various objectives while constraining to a time limit. The missions will have you dispatching enemies in various ways, such as eliminating enemies stealthily or with specific attacks. While other missions will have you race to a checkpoint as quickly as possible. The VR missions are fun, but they aren't enough of a substitute for the game's short campaign. Ultimately, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a fun game and it's worth playing if you're a fan of either Metal Gear or “hack and slash” titles but the overall lack of content prevents the game from achieving greatness. Although the VR missions add to the experience, and the amount of content included in the codec calls numbers in the hours, having a much more open world to explore along with a longer campaign, could have propelled this game among the best of the genre. 7.5/10