As a long time fan of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, I was curious to see the new direction Platinum Games was taking the Metal Gear mythology. In the years since Kojima announced this game, it had gone through many changes. First it was announced as an Xbox exclusive. A short time later Kojima announced he was bringing the title to the Playstation console as well. Then it was announced the game wouldn't be released on Xbox in Japan. Then we heard the game was almost canceled. It has definitely been a wild ride for this game, but at last, it has finally arrived.
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance is more of a spin off than an actual sequel and takes place a few years after the events of the PS3 exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Unlike the past Metal Gear Solid games which followed the story of legendary hero Solid Snake, Metal Gear Rising is a story exclusively dealing with Solid Snake's on again, off again associate Raiden. With the destruction of the Patriots system, Government leaders have taken back control of all financial, political, economic and cultural decisions of the world. With the SOP (Sons of Patriots) system off line, privatized PMC (Private Military Corporations)groups have stepped up as the leading military and law enforcement agencies for every major country and city across the globe. When the story of Metal Gear Rising begins, we learn that in the last few years since the end of the Patriots, Raiden has gone to work as a consultant for a PMC organization known as Maverick Security, who is under contract doing VIP protection for a politician of an unknown African country. It is at this point that Raidens security convoy is attacked by a rival PMC group known as Desperado Enterprises. These events lead Raiden on a quest to discover what is the goal of the PMC cyborg uprising and who is responsible for it.
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance steps away from the stealth action genre that made Metal Gear Solid famous and instead focuses more on an action hack and slash system more similar to the Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry franchises. Contrary to the title, Metal Gear Rising is not a Metal Gear game. Metal Gear Rising does make references and pays homage to events of the Metal Gear mythology and even reintroduces us to another returning Metal Gear Solid 4 character, but that is pretty much where the connection ends. Everything else about the game feels like Ninja Gaiden in Metal Gear clothing.
Now, that isnt to say Rising Revengeance isn't a good game. The graphics are beautiful and the gameplay is impressive. Rising Revengeance uses a new "cutting system" where Raiden's blade can cut through almost any environment (including enemy soldiers). This feature is best used during Raiden's "blade mode" where he can slow down time and slice up objects or enemies with razor sharp precision. Throughout the game, you can use the experience points you gain as currency to upgrade Raiden's weapons and cybernetic enhancements. As fun as it was slicing my way through the game, there were some factors that I felt disappointed as well. The Metal Gear Solid franchises are also known for its deep plots and rich story telling. I felt the basic plot behind Rising Revengeance wasn't really all that interesting. The plot tried achieving that same level of deepness found in Metal Gear Solid games, but unfortunately fell short. Even the new enemy characters felt unimpressive compared to classic Metal Gear Solid villains of the past. The final boss battles in any Metal Gear Solid game has always been known for their sheer epic feel. Sadly, in Rising Revengeance...the final boss battle was fun to play, but completely ridiculous. My biggest complaint about the game however, was how incredibly short the campaign was. Most gamers will run through this game between 4 to 6 hours.
Kojima has said that if Rising Revengeance can catch on with gamers, he'll continue producing it as its own franchise separate from the Metal Gear Solid timeline or universe. Overall, I felt Rising Revengeance was a strong enough game to justify its own ongoing series. Like many Metal Gear Solid fans, I too was concerned about the idea of a Metal Gear game that didn't focus on stealth action or Solid Snake. Every Metal Gear Solid fan remembers the last time Raiden unsuccessfully headlined his own Metal Gear game back in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. However, the Raiden character has come a long way since that time and is better suited for the hack and slash cyborg slicing world of Rising Revengeance.
Playstation 3 Exclusive:
Considering Hideo Kojima's longtime relationship with Sony and the Playstation platform, it was no surprise that the Playstation 3 version of Metal Gear Rising Revengeance would come with exclusive bonus content not available on any other platform. This exclusive PS3 bonus is the return of an old favorite feature of Metal Gear Solid fans...VR Missions. This bonus content adds 30 all new missions to the game which is especially satisfying considering the main campaign's short length and is a treat for old school Metal Gear Solid fans.
You might not be able to believe this, but Dark Souls is a pretty tricky game on the PlayStation 3.
There are more good non-Kojima Metal Gear games than one would realize. Scientifically, three examples prove a trend, and in this feature are three excellent Metal Gear games that Hideo Kojima did not direct.
I hope so, still cant forget MGS Survive , the first MGS game without Kojima involvement and it was a complete failure, the thing is Kojima way of thinking is outside the box and that's why their games 99% end up unique, original and a almost instant classic. MGS series are full of intricate things that somehows connects to each other, Lalulilelo, the Patriots, Outher heaven, Foxhound, PMCs , heck even Kojima manage to insert DARPA in there lol, a US government Defense Agency. So is really great MGS3 Remake is reviving the series but without Kojima who knows of the end result, I hope Konami have another or more developers insight their studios who can also think outside the box.
It actually can’t. But it won’t matter.
Kojima is Metal Gear the same way that Christopher Nolan is The Dark Knight, or David Lynch is Twin Peaks: The Return episode 8. Artistry is the creation of a thing from your own thoughts and feelings. Take away the original artist’s thoughts and feelings and you have a new thing entirely.
This isn’t going to stop the mega corporation creating a fake version and spending millions TELLING customers that it’s made with the same thoughts and feelings. The masses will buy the idea the same way the corporation will sell the idea.
I guess everyone forgot metal gear solid rising was tossed to platnium games with a story script and that is it.
kpjima just did the story everything else was platnium games look it up.
Hence i said script
i think the bigger issue is whether or not Konami is actually interested in fully funding AAA games development. Even this remake is done by a studio not really known in gaming industry. Quality remake/projets vs cheap cash in quick releases. Which way will Konami head. I am a huge MGS fan and i feel like Kojima did long time MGS fans dirty with how made MGS5 and it's story elements
Remakes and remasters provide a gateway through to producing AAA games faster and cheaper.
Actually MGS Portable Ops which was technically the first canon MGS game that Kojima wasn’t mainly involved with it. Kojima was only the producer but not the writer and director.
Konami did other MGS spin off that were successful but that because Konami put effort. Just along Konami is not lazy and cash grab, they can a MGS game without Kojima.
i mean sure, but he made it the thing it is today and why people love it so much.
i think its not easy to replicate.
I doubt it could.
Say what you want about the bloke, but his games are uniquely his.
I don't think anyone makes games like kojima does, for better or worse.
Could mgs continue without him, yea maybe, but it would lacking his genius so wouldn't be the same.
Well , he already created it. They just have to recreate it? Not like its a new concept or IP. Trash article.
Demand for a sequel is about to skyrocket, like the good ol' days of 2013!
In case you're living under a suspiciously rock-shaped object, the recent PlayStation Showcase revealed that a remake of Metal Gear Solid 3 will be coming, alongside a Master Collection of Metal Gear Solid 1, 2, and 3. While it is a remake of an existing game, there's a great deal of significance to it, considering the last time a game in the series came out was back in 2018 with Metal Gear Survive (and the less said about that, the better). Konami's decision to pull a Konami and feud with series creator Hideo Kojima has long left the fate of Metal Gear uncertain, but this recent announcement has led to all bets being off as to where Metal Gear can go from here.
Good read. but you totaly ignored the "gameplay" part!
I want to hear what people think about it
I get to this after playing the absolutely brilliant Darksiders 2, and hmmm maybe I expected it to be deeper.
Yeah Maybe I don't get the gameplay...
The music is awesome
The graphics are superb
The story is interesting
but the gameplay... thought I was into hack n slay :D I owned in darksiders.. I have to practice this thing I think... :D
Thanks for commenting Ultr. As far as the gameplay of Metal Gear Rising, in my opinion, it played very similar to Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry. Im actually a big fan of those franchises and i think Platinum did a solid job of incorporating that style with this game. I definitely liked the new cutting system that allowed you to slice through mostly any surfaces, objects and enemies. The block/parry system took a lot of getting used to and could have been implemented a little better though. Overall, i think the game was solidly built and fun to play. If anyone is interested, feel free to follow me at http://people.ign.com/chris...
Good review,
If I had to complain about anything regarding the gameplay its that there is no manual lock on (what they call it in the game is more of a camera focus [A proper lock on would have Raiden always facing towards the locked on enemy and able to walk around him] and the camera focus doesn't even work with it still switching against targets regardless if your outside its range).
My point being a game like this should never, ever, ever, have an automatic targeting system like this its just annoying. At the very least it gave us a reticle to let us know what were locked onto rather then DmC.
Story wise like you I was slightly disappointed as well with them hyping up the whole Jack The Ripper is back bit, however they didn't really do much to explore into that as they should have. I was really expecting some flashback sequences to Liberia with Solidus you know (Just a little fan service please :D) only for that to end in disappointment on that front.
I can clearly see in the game in which Atushi Inaba commented on this, the lack of time they had to make this title such as using pre rendered cut scenes where in their first HD console title Bayonetta it was in game engine cut scenes; and also having the unique weapons acting more as the heavy attack weapon instead of it being a separate weapon with its own moveset.
I hope if they do, do a sequel to this Platinum gets 4 years to make it rather than 2 years. I mean I got to give the guys credit their a small development studio made up of talented individuals that are also busy developing two Wii U exclusives as well.
I guess quite honestly I was hoping the combat would have as much depth as in Bayonetta or DMC3; however like I said they didn't really have as much time as they wanted to make this.
Thanks for commenting Whitefox. You raised some very good points. I agree with more time and focus, Platinum can make a fantastic sequel to this title. I would also like to see Raidens past history explored more in future entries. But for now, I am satisfied with the new direction they have taken with Rising Revengeance.
Excellent read. A well written review - good work!