I really liked this game, made me feel like a real genuine badass when playing. Have a little review of our own here http://www.i-am-geek.net/review-metal-gear-rising/ please check it out and let us know what you think! Keep up the good work guys!
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Review
Game Emblems
The Good
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a brutal, vicious, action-packed, thrill ride.
In an impressive show of style and technical brilliance, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance takes a turn for the brutal and rarely looks back.
The Good
- The fast-paced combat excites your reflexes
- Depth and complexity coexist in harmony
- Decimating environments is a guilty pleasure that never gets old
- Raiden's intriguing personal story justifies his return to the spotlight.
The Bad
- Occasional camera issues can be distracting
- Most environmental palettes lack variety
- The predictably political plot fails to excite.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance sees the cybernetically enhanced Raiden severing his ties to the stealthy gameplay of old, charging headlong behind enemy lines with a fresh pack of batteries and a thirsty blade by his side. His newfound lust for battle fits nicely into the quirky Metal Gear universe, thanks to the persistence of the Sons of the Patriots plotline and other carefully laid traces of time-honored traditions. Still, despite these ties to the past, Revengeance is ultimately a departure from the old way of doing things. Almost every scenario demands conflict rather than silent infiltration, and instead of conforming to his environment, Raiden can transform it in a matter of seconds.
Four years after the conclusion of Metal Gear Solid 4, Raiden's cyborg strength is under the employ of a private security firm hired to protect a peaceful and influential African prime minister. His convoy is intercepted by two cyborgs representing the disruptive Desperado Enforcement, and they quickly make a mess of things by kidnapping their target, disabling Raiden, and slipping away unharmed. Not one to stand idly by, Raiden pursues his assailants after receiving the latest cybernetic upgrades from his comrades at Maverick Consulting.
It's a brief yet satisfying ride through a fast-paced action game, and dozens of unlockable rewards continually entice you back into the fray. Though Revengeance has addictive combat and a killer sense of style, it's unfortunate that the simplicity of its underlying story fails to hit many high marks. Outside of a few memorable antagonists (Sam, for instance, is a sadistic delight), you won't walk away with fond memories of the overall plot, but Raiden's personal transformation reaches an atypical and invigorating conclusion. He's perfect for the role of the antihero, and through his transformation, Revengeance emerges as a fantastic action game set in the Metal Gear universe.
Raiden faces hundreds of cyborg soldiers and biomechanical contraptions while searching for the Desperado elites, and despite a mostly mundane selection of environments, the excitement of taking on sword-wielding, rocket-launching foot soldiers holds your attention from the very start. Enemies don't waste time during battle, and though Raiden is no slouch, it will take considerable practice to completely realize the potential of his various attacks. He's fully capable of bolting through a crowd without taking a scratch, but he's bound to falter in the hands of a novice. Yet regardless of your initial skill level, Revengeance is an accessible action game that emphasizes entertainment without overshadowing the importance of depth and nuance.
Beyond the flow of combos and timely parries, Raiden can enter a heightened state of awareness known as blade mode by siphoning electrolytes from his enemies. You can choreograph precise slices that tear through weakened objects and enemies with as much accuracy or desperation as you desire. Tapping light and heavy attack buttons unleashes a flurry of horizontal and vertical slices, with the right analog stick dictating controlled cuts along a projected vector.
Hitting an enemy's sweet spot, indicated by a pink icon, initiates Raiden's Zandatsu technique. Reaching into his opponent's torso, he tears out the spine-like repair unit, crushing it in the palm of his hand with a push of a button. It not only replenishes his health and electrolyte reserves, but it pronounces his deep-seated ferocity.
Performing the Zandatsu doesn't require a lot of effort on your part, but if your initial trajectory isn't quite on point, small adjustments with the left analog stick may be required. It's usually a simple procedure, but some boss battles require you to find the right pitch and angle under considerable pressure, and it can be a bit of a headache, and frankly a bore, to attempt these same sequences over and over again if you should fail. Such precise demands slow down the pace of combat, one of the game's strongest characteristics.
The merits of speed wouldn't shine if it weren't for the game's consistent frame rate. Outside of loading sequence stutters, Revengeance almost never skips a beat. Deforming models in direct relation to your strikes calls for heavy calculations on the fly, and it's nothing short of a technical marvel that the game's high frame rate doesn't choke in the process. Raiden can capably whittle his way through most objects, from chain-link fences to armored plated tanks, but your happy-go-lucky slicing eventually collides with the cold reality that not everything is destructible. You can thank Revengeance's linear design for these boundaries, but the limitations are only a minor distraction from the enjoyment of decimating foe and prop alike.
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.
188 comments
@sheytoonak If you're into hack and slash esque games then buy. The stealth is there as (what I feel) an optional thing.
I just bought the game yesterday. Played it for about an hour since. So far, so good. I'm not a fan of hack and slash games but MGR changed my perspective. Let's see if the "fun" times would dwindle as I play the game more. :-)
I liked the game at first. The challenging boss fights and the intense gameplay that requires the right amount of finesse to execute to its fullest were very alluring to me and kept the title from getting repetitive. However, the $60 price tag for a 4 hour story (my official clear time was 4 hours and 5 minutes) was hardly worth it. I was satisfied with the game until it ended after so little.
1 Like A little short and easy, yes, but realy fun. Infact, so fun that you'll want to play it again and again and again. I recommend it to both Metal Gear fans and newcomers alike. It was an exciting experience with some truly memorable moments.
Can't wait to play the sequel!
A few minions, a few minions, boss. A few minions, a few minions, a few minions, boss.
Boss fights are awesome (nothing new, but really cool).
Ken's Rage has more moves, more available characters, more customization and a better story (too bad you already know it) and it has never been reviewed here. (I'm not saying Ken's Rage isn't boring, just that it has more stuff than MGR).
Many people accuse Lollipop Chainsaw of being boring, repetitive and so on. I managed to finish it because it was self ironic... instead I couldn't play MGR for more than 2 hours before getting bored.
MGR got the same score as No More Heroes 2... imho there's no comparison. If NMH2 is worth 8.5, MGR worths 7-7.5. Most of MGR's score comes from the graphic, otherwise it would worth 6.5 at best.
Thank you Konami for making another beat'em up, we really needed more. Next time please make an FPS or a 3rd person adventure, keep helping the genres the other companies have forgotten.
it's funny how 360 users complains "thisis not a MGS game" when so far MGR is the only MG game available on 360 lol
@kratospete Just cause they are 360 users doesn't mean they never had a Nintendo, MG's original home. Even the original XBox got a pretty hefty port of MGS2. However, I haven't plaid through MGR yet. I loved the demo though and plan on getting it.
DMC may have had a decent story and strong campaign, but when it comes to the combat i have to say that MGR tops it. platinum games just knows how to make amazing action games, i think i even like it better than bayonetta! sure the story and environments aren't top notch, but i'm happy that the combat mechanics and frames per second are so solid & great. i've been playing on normal since i bought it, and i have to say that i've spent probably 8 hours on the game..and i just got ripper mode. not sure how much longer the game is but i think i have two bosses left to fight. if you choose to skip out on content, then of course you're gonna get the impression of a weaker, and more transparent type game. i've barely even touched the codec, but now i'm interested in replaying w/ regular codec conversations because the few i've had so far seem to match the MGS tone and aesthetics. don't condemn the game about lacking narrative depth or the spirit of MGS if you're just gonna cruise through without looking underneath the surface.
4 Like Ultimately, the only two things that bother me in incredible proportions about Metal Gear Rising are the tedious camera and the hordes of imbeciles still not being able to understand that this game is not metal gear solid, but metal gear rising (a solid yet very short beat them all).
I am convinced most of the rage oozing out from those countless threads on the internet is related to furious gamers who cannot read or who you have pretty high ambitions... about a game that is NOT what they think it is... that is to say, NOT A BLOODY METAL GEAR SOLID GAME, BUT JUST A METAL GEAR RISING REVENGEANCE BEAT THEM ALL GAME, Jesus lord almighty... How tiresome it must be...
Short and mediocre. Feels more like an DLC than a full game. Nice try Konami but this isnt worth more then 20 buks
4 Like 8.5 is their goto score when they are on the hook for advertising revenue with big publishers. they did it with Diablo 3 as well. only Kevin Van O has the balls to stepup and put a game in its place. The rest of the clowns are hacks. If i had to guess, i would say publishers specifically request a reviewer cause I know damn well they realize the game is a cash grab POS before it goes to press and don't want KVO pulling the sheets off their secret.
At least Carolyn Petit was respectful enough to discuss the scoring of Diablo 3 with me and explain the limitations of her review. essentially, her review depth ended where the issues with the game began. To her point, the reviewers are on the hook for a lot of games and can't put 100 hours into every title. I respect Carolyn enough to buy that for the Diablo 3 review. But this hack is at very clear odds with the gaming community on a title that displayed its flaws and compromises well intime to document them and thus impact the score.
it goes like this - Kevin Van O will give it to you str8 without regard to anything beyond the truth of a titles merits. With an exception here and there of course, everyone else at Gamespot is too chicken chit to score an AAA title with transparency
agree with dat, but wake up and smell the coffe m8.We dont live in the 8bit NES inocense Era anymore. Videogaming is a huge business now and its controled by big corporations dat are there for the profit. U cant relly much on theses reviewers to make ur decision in wat to buy bcuz they too have some jobs to keep. But dats why we , the community , are here for, to make a reality check and make the TRUE review on the game :D
Starts with a bang and then slowly fades, finished game in five hours on hard and i am shocked i paid for this game when it offers very little and just repeats, an insult to gamers and fans of the series and no way is it a 8.5 game.
Review of this game is bullshit, Konami must be lining his pockets with money.
poor game, its deserves a 5.
7 Like @karnage27 let me guess.. you never used the codec. oh dear, you've missed a DAMN LOT of content. At some points the game goes the same deep as RPGs like Deus Ex in terms of plot self-explanatory, characters and kojima-like attention to tiny-little details we all love about MGS.
well over-rated ,terrible flimsy combat .. awful script and voice acting don't see how this gets reviewed better than dmc... strange.
@nobbsie86 I played the demo of MGR and thought it showed some real potential. Played DMC and was left feeling bored and uninspired. Only thing I liked about DMC was the changing environments and the new setting....which, though the setting was decent, the levels themselves felt like a dated platformer to me. I feel like DMC fell behind a generation or two. Then again, never been a big fan of the DMC series. I guess I did like this recent installment a slight bit better then its predecessors.
@Frankenstrat247 @nobbsie86 i have for about 3 hours which from what i've read is roughly half the game! and thats my opinion . crap.
@lmaginaryNumber Yeah, I thought it played a little like Ninja Gaiden, but with cooler physics, better graphics, and a MG theme. Not a bad thing though. Well...less you mean Gaiden 2, really wasn't very big on that one.
1 Like This game looks like crap. I haven't played it yet but... 8.5, hmm... I cant help but wonder what Kevin VO would of given this?
1 Like @bonzaibillie Don't judge the game on screenshots. The stills may look rough, but the game really is beautiful on a decent TV. The art style is unique, and doesn't translate to still photos. You should play it. It's very good.
1 Like Do you not know how to read? 360, PS3, and PC are all listed as available platforms. Perhaps it is not out on PC yet, but if you just click that hyperlink I'm sure you can find out when it......... TBA!!! Now go bash some console gamers about how dumb they are.
5 Like MGR pushes the genre forward. People tend to mistake complexity (more often than not, unnecessary complexity) for superiority. I love the blade mode and the overall flow of combat in MGR, but what really separates it from the pack is the parry system. It's nothing spectacular but it makes swordplay feel like swordplay. It's such a minor thing if you think about it but makes all the difference in the world.
1 Like @FighterforJC the parry system is definitely a good step in the right direction for hack and slash games. finding where and when you can parry with each kind of enemy is really fun in itself.
@West123 @FighterforJC it may not look as smooth as AC combat, but at least it has some difficulty AC combat was waaayyy too easy..
7 Like Yeah! How dare they try something new with their own game franchise, bad Kojima! Very bad Kojima! And as for you Peter Brown i expect your opinion to be the same as mine from now on or i'll be very angry with you and may even question your legitimacy as a journalist.
... i feel like im forgeting something... OYEAH!11! How much money did Platinum give you for an 8.5 you paid off bastard!
@Dan11223344 i'm starting to realize that unless its KVO doing the review, outside influences affect the scoring with everyone else. when the gaming community is at epic odds with a review score, like many titles lately, there is an integrity issue at play.
Think about it. its obvious. if i was paying you 1 million to advertise my new widget then after pocketing my ad money you reviewed said widget and said it was a POS, would i use you for advertising again? hell no. same thing here.
@philMcCrevis and why in the hell would kevin still be working at gamespot if he didn't agree to change his review scores...? what a fucking retarded theory, people are so fucking paranoid these days.
1 Like Metacritic is currently at 82 with the user score at a 7.8. The gaming community isn't at odds with the review score. You, and a few people like you are.
KVO is a joke and I'd rather wipe my ass with any review he writes than read more than one paragraph into it after his RE6 review, which he then took an entire week to try and justify. In doing so he brought in other reviewers with similar viewpoints on the game (who also gave it a terrible score) for backing. Honest debates be damned! I didn't see the guy from Game Informer or any of the other sites that gave the game a good non-biased view.
And way to feed into the "how much were you paid?" punchline. Sure, this guy made 1 million dollars for writing a favorable review (and probably many other high profile titles), while KVO writes good, honest, and non biased reviews and takes none of that corporate money. Give me a freaking break. If all those guys are getting paid off big $$$ to WRITE A REVIEW than I'm in the wrong profession because this is where the money is. Moron.
It's just another"side game" like MGS: Vr missions, like substance, like portable missions! If you want to try a real MGS wait for Ground Zero or Buy MGS HD! If you are an Hardcore MGS fan buy them all! Resuming: Devil may cry (Hack n´Slash) and God of war (Huge boss battle) meets Metal Gear (Tactional Espionage? Where the hell?)
2 Like @nomeaning666 Actually Metal Gear SOLID is tactical espionage. Kojima has said from the beginning this ISN'T a tactical espionage game. Changing the name to Metal Gear Rising was more than just the change in main character, it was to indicate that this leg of the series is it's own type of game that stands apart from the Solid games. Pay attention before bashing a game for something it never said it was nor tries to be.
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Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Not Following
- Publisher(s): Konami
- Developer(s): PlatinumGames
- Genre: Action
- Release:
- ESRB: M
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