A very silly, very fun take on the Metal Gear universe.
I have kind of a weird relationship with the Metal Gear series. I don't consider the games to be masterpieces, but I do enjoy them, just probably not in the way Hideo Kojima, the series creator intended. The world he creates takes itself so seriously that it seems completely out of place whenever something silly happens. Yet I still remain a 'sort-of fan' of the Metal Gear games, primarily because I wanted to see how far-out and crazy the series will get. A lot of parts of the story makes me groan and wince, but I am genuinely amused whenever something hilariously absurd happens.
When I heard that Kojima Productions would collaborate with Platinum Games to make a character action game, I was not sure what to expect. Platinum Games has its share of outlandish stories, but in a different way. Kojima Productions makes strange stories that completely take themselves seriously and try to give some kind of message about philosophy and politics, while Platinum Games' products tend to feel like they were intentionally exaggerating everything and focus less on delivering a message and more on making everything cool, like Vanquish.
I was very pleased to find out that they have actually succeeded in creating a good mix of the two styles of madness. The themes and elements of the Metal Gear franchise still feel present in Revengeance, but one could definitely see the Platinum 'touch', as the game throws all sorts of bizarre enemies and situations at you, especially the final boss. The final boss has to be seen (and heard) to be believed, being both the best and the worst Metal Gear character at the same time. It's clear that while there are some hints of the self-seriousness prevalent in Metal Gear games, Revengeance is very clearly having a grand time making fun of itself.
As for the gameplay, it's actually quite simple and kind of repetitive, but the parry system as well as Blade Mode are the two bright and shining stars of the game. The parry system rewards good timing and quick reflexes, and while it can be difficult it feels very satisfying when you're able to pull it off 6 times in a row in the middle of a boss battle. Blade Mode is also a really cool feature of the game, though it can prove to be frustrating when it demands accuracy on your part to slice through multiple weak points at once. However, Blade Mode is still very fun; watching a huge enemy getting slowly chopped into itty bitty pieces is always amusing.
One big problem that I have with the gameplay is the camera, which is at its worst when the player is in tight spaces and fighting enemies that are moving really fast. While the lock-on feature helps a bit, it can still get maddening when you're trying to get the camera to face the enemy but it just cannot because you're struggling to get it to move away from a corner. There are also framerate issues that show up from time to time, especially when you have sliced an enemy into millions of little pieces, but that sort of thing is to be expected and is a minor problem.
I personally thought the music, particularly the boss themes, were a delight to hear and I liked the fact that the lyrics were written with the bosses' character traits in mind.
While I only played the game once and have no intention to play through it again, at least not in the near future, there is a lot of replay value for those who want to unlock new stuff and seek a greater challenge in the higher difficulty levels. Eventhough the game itself is relatively short (I finished it in 6 hours, including the cutscenes) I believe it is well worth buying and playing just for the loony experience, regardless of whether or not you're a Metal Gear fan.
Hideo Kojima himself has stated that he would collaborate with Platinum Games again for the sequel to this game. If they can come up with more ideas on how to make Raiden's life even crazier, I'm in.
