Metal Gear Rising Sparks Debate of Game Length Versus Game Value

"Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance has seen a lot of discussion over the past week or so as the media and select individuals have been plugging away at the game and reporting that the gameplay only lasts around 6 – 8 hours if you take your time." | Explosion.com

[Lucreto]

It is all down you what type of gamer you are.

I am rubbish at these type of games. I have problems with easy mode type bad. It could take me 16 hours plus for this.

Anyway the game might be short but there are 4 or 5 different difficulty levels for you to try. It you complete the game in 6 hours then you played the wrong difficulty mode. Then there is trophies some for me will be impossible to get here is another challenge for people to try. It you were to try and platinum this game it could take you upward of 40-50 hours maybe less for a more skilled gamer.

[Chuk5]

I'm 5 hours in and so far MGR is game that best exemplifies the mantra of all killer no filler. Gamers often get so wrapped up in the volume of a game's value instead of the quality of the value. For me, Far Cry 3 is the perfect example of a game that ran on too long and got boring toward the end because it padded things out unnecessarily. It's better to have a fantastic experience with replay value, than an initially long experience that runs out of steam.

[UnHoly_One]

I will never understand complaints like this. I guess if you only play the game one time and never touch it again, then you're paying 10 dollars per hour... But as somebody who still goes back and plays games many years later, I can't understand that.

And even if you do... 10 dollars an hour is not an expensive hobby.

I like to ride a motorcycle and go target shooting in my free time, besides gaming, and I've done the math and they are both far more expensive than my gaming habit on a per hour basis.

The internet has just given rise to a culture where everyone bitches about everything, and everyone expects something for nothing. "Entitled" is a word that gets thrown around a lot nowadays, and rightfully so.

If you take any time at all to educate yourself about what kind of game you are buying, things like this wouldn't surprise you. Nobody that knows anything about this type of game would expect it to be a 50 hour game, or even a 20 hour game.

For the record, I have no interest in this game, that's not why I'm defending it. I'm just sick of people complaining about EVERYTHING because it isn't custom made to suit their own personal desires.

[Mutant-Spud]

Agreed, I thought Vanquish was a great game but I wouldn't have wanted it to go on much longer than it did, as the other poster said these are games you can play through in two or three sittings but they're easy to learn, hard to master, on the higher difficulties you have to do everything perfectly, which takes a lot of skill and practice and therefore time. In the end you're so focused on the getting the gameplay right that all other considerations go out the window.

[GrandTheftZamboni]

Many people expect entertainment to be free. I'm okay with $10/Hr for entertainment. $60 for game or $20 for a movie. Everything below that is a steal. Maybe it's because I can only afford 1 hour a day for fun.

[matrixman92]

if you only play through this game once, your doing it wrong

[Unicron]

Most people don't even finish their games ONCE any more, yet still have the gall to complain about length. Play it once and dump it for the next shiny object? Kinda sucks. I love replaying games.

[jc48573]

Keep in mind dmc was also another short game.

[CrimsoDragon90]

Keep in mind people are still butthurt over DmC.

[jc48573]

That was my point of the post.

[ChipChipperson]

Look, I got the game release date and clocked 4:59:32 as my final score. I looked for a good majority of the little extras hidden in levels, tried to cut most of the enemies' left arms off, watched all the cutscenes, listened to most of the codec calls( I'm mostly talking about the codec calls that you have to actually call your team with the select menu, not just the ones you encounter during levels), and upgraded most of my equipment from a bit of BP farming.
Yeah, it is a short game, but this game was a blast to play. You're going to get a lot of replay value though when you beat it because you can play through again with all your acquired skills and weapons from your previous playthrough, and continue to unlock/purchase new weapons/items. Being able to play the early segments of the game with the new skills and weapons open up more opportunities to complete them the way you want to play compared to only having the basic moveset, skills, and equipment you start off with. If you know how to play the game and utilize the mechanics, the game is not very challenging on normal, so I'd recommend that you start on hard if you want more challenge your first time through. Combos and stuff are not as deep as they could be though. It would have been nice if they had a deeper combat system like other games of this genre, but the combat system that is there, still works very well. The whole zan-datsu mechanic is very fun to use and makes finishing your enemies off with a single slice or cutting them up into little pieces very satisfying. Boss battles are just fun and over the top. They have a perfect blend of gameplay and cinematics in each one to keep you entertained and satisfied when you beat each one.
Story and dialogue... yeah, I wish they had left that all to Kojima himself on this. It's interesting in the beginning a little bit, but as it progresses and gets near the end( especially, during the final boss), it's just plain ridiculous and painful to hear the characters converse. I wish they had just kept the original concept of telling the story of Raiden during the events before MGS4. However, Sam and The Winds of Destruction were really cool, but unfortunately they don't get much back story fleshed out on them as they should have, especially Sam, whose boss battle, which I thought, was a great final duel. It's not like the Sons of Big Boss where each character like Mantis or Sniper Wolf, etc. each had just enough back story for you to understand the character.
If you wanna know anything else, just ask.

[hankmoody]

I'll tell you exactly why people are getting annoyed. For years, the length of playtime you'd get from a game was something that would be touted as a selling point. Naturally, anything less than the amount people were conditioned to getting starts to make people feel like they're being ripped off. Unfortunately, that's just a bad way to look at it. I'd rather take a short game with great replay value (Platinum's titles are a good example of this, especially Vanquish) than a game that feels like it takes forever to finish and then once I do, I never want to touch it again.