Metal Gear
Rising: Revengeance tries not to waste a moment of your time. In the 4-6 hours
required to complete its campaign, you’ll cross the globe, have sword-fights
with skyscraper-sized mechs, team up with an A.I. dog, explore a science
facility with a remote-controlled robot, leap over missiles to chop up
helicopters, and fight a metaphor for American evil. Rising is as silly as it
sounds, and it knows it.
Developer
Platinum Games accomplishes a lot in a short period of time, and while it
sometimes gets in its own way, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
is a tight action game whose campaign moves as quickly as its excellent combat.
It’s all killer, no filler, with more than enough incentive for repeat
play-throughs.
The most
consistent issue in Rising is its cutscenes. To its credit, you’re rarely made
to watch what you’d rather play, but the story bits, interesting though they
are for fans, ultimately intrude on the fast-paced flow of combat. The
convoluted plot starts as lucidly as the series has ever been, but spirals out of
control almost immediately: the assassination of a recovering country’s leader
sends Raiden, a cyborg ninja, after a terrorist cell that’s kidnapping kids and
infiltrating America’s political infrastructure.
The events of
Raiden’s retaliation range from goofy and fun, stylish and cool, to overwrought
metaphor. The geo-political lecturing seem engineered specifically for fans of
Metal Gear Solid 4’s melodrama,
Developed
through a partnership with Platinum Games and Kojima Productions, Metal Gear
Rising: Revengeance aims to deliver pure, exhilarating action in the Metal Gear
universe.
but it doesn’t
connect well with the action. Ultimately, the conversations and character
cameos are pure fan-service that everyone else can skip without missing a beat.
The relentless act of actually fighting terrorists is what matters here, and
there’s little need for motivation when the action is this fun.
Rising propels
players toward a boss battle every 45 minutes, introduces new enemy types
regularly, and unleashes waves of cyborg soldiers to slice with a sword. This
is a tight action experience without an ounce of fat, and Rising’s pace is just
as quick as its technical melee combat. The Metal Gear series traditionally
relies on stealth and silenced weapons, but the moment-to-moment action of
Rising is an aggressive and elegant alternative.
The light and
heavy attacks have a natural chemistry that makes every sword slash feel
empowering, so combat never feels like you’re budgeting quick but weak strikes
vs. slow and strong ones. Each combo flows into the next with grace: lifts,
knock-downs, stuns, spin-kicks, aerial juggles, and other specialized attacks
feel as fantastic as they look. Raiden’s exaggerated acrobatics lend a hypnotic
sense of style to each attack, especially as you unlock additional moves with
earned currency. By the end of the campaign, and as I began my second run
through it, Raiden felt like a balletic badass, using his heels as often as his
hands to wield his weapon. Seeing that style is as much a reward as the
satisfaction of brutalizing an enemy with a flurry of katana hack-and-slash,
sliding underneath someone, redirecting attacks, canceling combos, or letting
loose in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance’s hook: Blade Mode.
Rising is
gorgeous on PC, and runs smoother than it does on console.
Once Raiden
slays enough cyborgs, he can briefly enter the time-slowing Blade Mode and
slice his sword in any direction, instantly killing (or severely wounding)
nearly anyone with precision strikes. The results are often uncomfortable
and/or hilarious. You can chop off legs (or one, if you’d rather), decapitate
someone at the eyes, and turn weakened enemies into various, disgusting pieces
with a swivel of the mouse or a flick of the right stick.
And on PC,
you're going to want a controller. The mouse and keyboard controls, while
serviceable, don't enable the melee combat's precision and finesse offered by a
controller.
Blade Mode is a
fun, sadistic parlor trick, but it’s more than a cheap and easy way to win.
Slowing time plays a strategic role in combat. Bisecting cyborgs reveals their
fuel-filled spines, which Raiden can rip out to replenish his health. Blade
Mode also plays a defensive role, which turns a silly finishing move tool into
something more skill-based. Cutting protects Raiden from incoming objects
(choppers, missiles, other ridiculous things), and wrecking an enemy’s weapon
prevents them from using it. Slicing certain special enemies’ appendages also
plays into the upgrade economy, giving you bonus currency to unlock more
health, weapon power, and more complex combo arrangements, all of which carry
over into a new game plus that holds even more blade types, costumes, and other
secrets to discover. Everything feeds into making you feel like a talented
combatant who’s truly earned satisfying improvements.
The only thing
that really holds back Rising’s combat is the secondary weapons. Killing bosses
allows you to acquire their staffs, sais, and swords, but switching to a
secondary tools come with a catch. Alternate weapons replace one of your two
normal attack buttons, which neuters katana combos. On top of that, alternating
between two weapons doesn’t flow together as well as the evolving sword strikes.
Switching from one to the next in the middle of a combo has a disjointed feel,
a bit like interrupting yourself, as though your new blade wasn’t built to work
in tandem with the sword. Despite the cumbersome transitions, these extra
weapons strengthen Rising’s variety. The sai, for example, doesn’t deal much
damage, but it disrupts cyborg A.I. functions, giving Raiden the opportunity to
obliterate a stunned opponent.
The erratic
camera poses additional issues as well. Rising is such a fast-paced game, with
wild combat that encourages unpredictable attack patterns, that it can’t always
keep track of Raiden in the thick of battle, especially when large-scale bosses
eat up most of the on-screen real estate. Unless you’re acutely aware of your
next move, Raiden can get lost in his own chaos from time to time. Having to
come to a complete stop before changing from grenades to a rocket launcher, or
a heavy blade to a faster crowd-control weapon is another inconvenience that’s
antithetical to Rising’s go-go-go mentality. The improved performance on
PC, though, goes a long way. With sharper graphics it's visually superior on
PC, while a stronger frame rate makes combat more responsive and run smoother.
Additionally, the PC version includes all of the DLC costumes and story
expansions in a great game that's a steal at $30.
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