8.5? lol.. this game deserves 7.5. its so exaggerate,. very short too ended the gane in 6 hours
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Review
Game Emblems
The Good
The sword runs hot in a tale of revenge and vengeance and revengeance. Raiden's tale is a fun, but flawed experience.
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In an impressive show of style and technical brilliance, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance takes a turn for the brutal and rarely looks back.
Your accuracy and timing in blade mode is somewhat dependent on the camera's position, and though you can usually rely on it to serve your needs, it occasionally misses a step and loses track of the action. For example, locking onto enemies in a cramped environment doesn't always produce the best results, and the same can be said for the one rare Zandatsu out of a hundred when the camera abandons all logic and orientation. It's frustrating when it occurs, but it doesn't represent the camera's overall positive qualities. Given that Raiden is invulnerable during these animations, it's worth having complex shows of technique in spite of the rare temporary defect.
Raiden performs these brutal acts in the name of justice, while his enemies simply lust for war and profit. The intriguing twists that made other Metal Gear plots increasingly interesting are almost nowhere to be found, but Raiden's personal transformation manages to keep the ship afloat amid the sea of narrative mediocrity. Outside of providing for his family, he views his violent line of work as a means to protect the weak, but in a world where absolutes are a myth, there may be more to his motivations than even he realizes. His opponents repeatedly challenge the notion that justice is his sole desire, questioning whether his stated motives are nothing more than controlled excuses to commit violence. Could it be that he's unwittingly perpetuating the lessons he learned as a child soldier under the guise of justice?
This is the biggest question Raiden must answer throughout the course of Revengeance. During the best moments, his internal struggle is matched in tone and pace by the gameplay to great effect. With his confidence shot, he's like an injured animal struggling to find a foothold. Conversely, when his violent tendencies emerge, his tone shifts and the game thrusts you into visceral moments filled with rage, torment, and unrestrained dismemberment. His satisfaction with committing such brutal acts stands out, and the moment he wrenches the repair unit from his foes, he turns into a seething, bloodthirsty predator. It feels natural to share in his pleasure of putting the exclamation point at the end of a hard-fought battle.
Your battles against the heavyweights, the four members of the Winds of Destruction, take place in large outdoor arenas. On the normal difficulty setting, these face-offs are fairly easy to navigate on your initial attempt, but they're entertaining diversions nonetheless. Each boss battle concludes with a mix of cutscenes and quick-time events, ultimately throwing Raiden into blade mode to deliver the final blow. These moments of excess occasionally elevate the thrill of victory, but they usually diminish the sense of accomplishment by serving the boss to Raiden on a silver platter.
The best face-off occurs between Raiden and his rival the Brazilian cyborg samurai Samuel "Jetstream" Rodrigues. It's this relatively simple clash of swords that culminates in the most straightforward yet rewarding conflict in the entire game, and despite Sam being a rather unexciting rival, he manages to leave a lasting impact on Raiden's psyche.
Trademark elements of the Metal Gear Solid series survive Revengeance's otherwise revolutionary transformation. Even the stealth meter managed to sneak its way into the game, and while it may not carry as much weight as it once did, it allows Raiden to silently dispatch unaware enemies. You can still kill time perfecting your skills in VR missions, or if you prefer, by engaging your Maverick cohorts in sprawling codec conversations that take entertaining turns into unsuspected directions. They're examples of the palpable Metal Gear spirit that permeates an otherwise unconventional entry in the legendary stealth series.
Revengeance may not play like a typical Metal Gear game, but Raiden's character arc justifies almost every change to the old formula. It's a beneficial dynamic, and the game's biggest success overall. It ultimately tests the hypothesis that there's more to the series than just Snakes and sneaking behind enemy lines, and for the most part, it passes the test. The story may not wow you with its political trappings, but Raiden's transformation and the gameplay that springs from it are the most alluring reasons to give him another shot as the leading man. If you're even vaguely interested in the Metal Gear series or intelligent hack-and-slash games, do not pass up a chance to play this exciting and addictive hybrid.
By
Peter Brown, Editor
Peter Brown has been writing about video games and hardware since 1999. He grew up with the NES and has an unwavering love for retro and arcade games. Though he's a New England native, he's called the Bay Area home since 2004.
1079 comments
@kratospete Yea it's frustrating; it seems gamespot is super inconsistent with applying their emblems correctly. This definitely deserves the brutal emblem and he even mentions that the game is brutal in the review!
I know most people understand not comparing it to Metal Gear Solid - but if you are craving a more complex story - they really fill it out in detail via codec. It's closer to the MGS2 codec where the dialogue just goes on forever. You'll hear more about the Patriots and the last evens in MGS2 than anything. Snake is literally only talked about during one call with Kevin. Also...cardboard box = adorable.
Very impressive for a first installment. Environments are a little flat but the gameplay makes up for it. A wonderful experience :)
luv the game , but it felt a little short lived . as soon as i began to enjoy the game it was over. which is a shame since the gameplay and graphics r so enjoyable ....
I have to disagree with this review. While on a TECHNICAL level of graphics, controls, and presentation, this game is absolutely stellar, on a more creative level, like fun, difficulty, etc this game fails. Regular enemies are way too easy while bosses are way too cheap. The camera makes this 10X worse than they need to be and the parrying/blocking system is so difficult to pull off successfully (on purpose, less you like me just tap the L analog a million times in the hope you get lucky), you have to be some kind of jungle cat on steroids in order to have the reflexes required from bosses who throw like 20 strikes in 1 second's time (many off camera); also have standard special attacks that are guaranteed to break your block and parry every time. The story is also incredibly silly and lame, environments are plain, and there just isn't much in terms of overall FUN. While I appreciate the game's attempts and ideas (being a HUGE Metal Gear fan), the freaking thing is just too cheap and repetitive.
I caved in an turned on parry assist - it's like the game knows that wasn't the best mechanic.
1 Like @metalgrinch Not to start any game flame war or anything(though I'm sure that will be the inevitable result of this), but I got a chuckle out of complaints of a silly and lame story being lamented by someone with a DmC avatar.
It is easier to think this game as P+ game; like Kojima said, this is a stand alone spin-off game; comparing this game with previous Metal Gear titles will only increase frustration. I must admit that even though the gameplay was very entertaining, better than what I expected; but there were few problems in gameplay mechanism, examples being camera angle and difficult parry system. The plot written by KojiPro was a disappointment, since I felt that there were no deep meanings in the plot with all those cheesy dialogues and story development, instead almost like stories from any other P+ games. I had high expectation on the plot element, but I guess that can be understood since Kojima wasn't the writer for this game. But it also means that anybody can relax, and enjoy the game without thinking too much about these complex philosophy Kojima has in his games. Forget that this game is a typical Metal Gear game, instead think of it as another action packed hack n' slash game by P+. I will recommended this game to anyone whom wants to be a ultimate bad ass, chop gigantic robots into pieces and have fun without thinking too hard.
Like I said before - there are some gems in codec, but overall it relies more on its themes than it's actual story...which is a bit sad. It was weird to see a certain character later on, too, because I thought for the first few hours I was playing that this was a prequel...I think I would have preferred a prequel. They really could have used this opportunity to fill in the gaps between MGS2 and MGS4 with a Ninja Raiden origin story.
But still - over all - it was really enjoyable and I played through twice.
2 Like Ok, for all the folks bitching about " the Metal Gear Solid franchise as we know is dead", and I also refer to the reviewer of the game in the first 20 seconds of his audio review: HAVE YOU EVEN READ THE NAME OF THE GAME?? It does not say "SOLID", but "METAL GEAR RISING"!!!!
Mr. Kojima decided to change the name nomenclature so that it is not confused with the Metal Gear Solid series that have a gameplay very focused on stealth and sneaking around. This game is very focused on hack-and-slash, which is a total departure from the gameplay we have been enjoying since MGS 1,2,3,4, MGS portable ops and MGS Peace Walker. Identically, the Solid name has been dropped from the MG Acid games to reflect a gameplay that is based on cards/strategy/turn-based. The only exception to the naming rule are the 2 original MGs on NES, and that was before Mr Kojima figured out that some naming rules needed to be applied to keep things straight.
Myself, I have been very intrigued by Raiden since his appearance in MGS4 and the fights with the Gekkos and Vamp (amazing cinematic BTW). Never liked winy Raiden in MGS2 so I'm glad Mr. Kojima put forward a game based on that amped-up version of Raiden. Since the hack and slash was so far from his primary artistic view, he passed down the game production from his company to the guys who did Bayonetta. You may recognize the frantic gameplay and play-style now.
So if hack-and-slash is not your thing (and it's my case), and I respect that, please be patient and be ready to have your mind blown by the next Metal Gear Solid: Zeroes, or go replay MGS3 HD. But please just do not diss a game by comparing it to a long running series, with which it has noting to do (other than some story elements) to start with.
The game's still MGS though because of the sneaking, the cardboard box and the characters. Impressively the game has great backstory, a plot that fits the Metal Gear story as a whole and explanations about past games in the codec, like who the Patriots are, the effect on the world as a whole, how Otacon is doing now and so on, so that's enough reason to play the game. I actually spend 2 hours playing the game's codec because they have so many details to them, especially Doctor. And the game itself is so awesome, I replay the game 3 times in a row without changing to other games, and I upgrade my sword till I am able to slice a giant robot with 1 button press.This game is awesome.
1 Like Now playing through the game a second time. It's so awesome to upgrade the blade. Now my blade is so strong, that I can just cut a giant robot with 1 slice. Overall this game is like Tenchu + Ninja Gaiden + Bayonetta + every samurai movie where people get sliced apart. Fucking awesome.
Interesting looking game. Looks like it took inspirations from other notable games such us Ninja Gaiden, Bayonetta, even God of War. Might as well give this one a try being more action an oriented, seems like a nice change of pace from the normally heavy story-driven pacing of the previous MGS games.
1 Like For the one bellow that i posted
SPOILER ALERT
SPOILER ALERT
But it really has to be seen. This game is so badass and insane and yet poignant too. The plot makes sense and the battles are awesome. Not as huge as Asura's Wrath but its still equally awesome. If you want to check it out, go ahead. If you dont, then play the game or see the playthrough because this game is one of a kind and its full of references from the old mgs. It even has sneaking and cardboard box to hide in and do stealth kills. Awesome game. 90.
@Kaz32 Didn't read the comment, but I wanted to thank you for taking the time to actually put spoiler warnings before posting something spoiler-ific. Wish other people on the board who wanted to discuss something to do with the integral parts of the game's parts were as considerate.
3 Like 9.0/10 i'm not a MGS fan since i haven't played any of them...yet, but MGR is worthy of your time and money if you're fan of the fast paced action games (ninja gaiden, bayonetta,)
This comment has been deleted
@Kaz32 it wasn't funny at all, that and th fact that this is major spoiler for those who haven't played it
1 Like @kratospete @Kaz32 Its only a spoiler if you click on the video, it's your choice, you knew you were going to watch a clip of something that would give away a part of the game. You spoiled it for your self, no one forced you to watch it.
@kratospete
You have no sense of humor. This is a sneak preview of the final battle, only 1 part out of 4. Want to find out the rest? Either see the playthrough from beginning to end or play the game and find out!
1 Like Have you played it? You should know that the game is very straightforward and not that much of a mindbend like previous MgS games. In fact this boss is actually really expected to show up. This is only 1 part out of 4 epic final hillarious battles. Either see the playthrough or not is your choice. It has to be played though, i wont spoil the rest of it cause this part is nothing compared to what's coming next. The final battle is officially the best boss battle Platinum or any action game, except Asura's Wrath, has ever made, and coming from Bayonetta, that's an excellent achievement.
A really good game I like the combats of it and the defence system, the final boss is a real badass !! couldn't beet until now.
also one negative thing that i feel the game is really short !
Why does Sony keep losing all its exclusives? Games just keep getting more watered down for the mass market
@Soulreavercross Want to lengthen the experience? Play it on hard. It doubles the length of the game which is about 7 hours.
@raiden-94 @Soulreavercross I recommend finishing it first on normal .. 2nd play is so enjoyable .. I never play games twice .. i cant stop playing
I can't figure out why they made his voice raspy like Snake's. Raiden didn't sound like that in MGS4, but then again I am not far in yet.
@Rod90 @Rat_King But....ever since the very beginning FF has had a strong Japanese animation art style. The only thing that makes it not anime is the fact it's a video game. If it were any other medium, comic/show/novel/etc, it would be unanimously agreed to be anime.
So he looks like any anime animation based character ever. Best thing to do is get over it cause it's not going away.
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Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
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- Publisher(s): Konami
- Developer(s): PlatinumGames
- Genre: Action
- Release:
- ESRB: M
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