Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

As a long time Metal Gear Solid fan, I was really intrigued by the concept of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. In many ways, what you see is what you get with Revengeance -- it’s the kind of insane, high octane thrill ride we’ve come to expect from Platinum with Metal Gear tropes and characters crammed in. Revengeance treads the “over-the-top” line extremely well; despite having a total nonsense story, the characters are surprisingly endearing, the cutscenes are very well produced, and the action is simply a hell of a lot of fun.

In Revengeance, you play as Raiden, the main protagonist from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and the cyber ninja from MGS4. Fans who hated Raiden in MGS2 (and you’re certainly not alone) can take solace in the fact that this is more of the MGS4-style Raiden; Quinton Flynn voices Raiden in a gruff, jaded tone and there is little Rose to speak of. The story is something about a corporation harvesting brains and a senator fueling a war economy -- truthfully it is even more nonsensical than a normal MGS storyline (which is saying something), but it fits the theme of the overall game well. Metal Gear Solid fans will find subtle nods to past games and many of the hallmark oddities of the series are present here (see: cardboard boxes).

It’s worth mentioning that cutscenes are done extremely well, and while voice acting is pretty subpar, there are some standout performances among the group. The cheesy dialogue classic to the MGS franchise is present in spades, which may be grating for newcomers, but for series fans it is always great to hear. There are a fair amount of long cutscenes, which I think worked against the game’s momentum at times. I love MGS cutscenes, but in an intense action game like this, they sometimes killed the pacing of the gameplay. There is a codec in Revengeance, amd while the conversations are interesting enough, I again felt like they killed the pacing a bit.

Gameplay itself plays like other Platinum action games -- the focus is on quick reactions to enemy attacks and building combos. The action is incredibly over-the-top; within the first few minutes of the game you destroy a Metal Gear Ray by slicing it in half, only after running down the side of a building and jumping on rockets in mid-air. It may be a bit too ridiculous for some, but if you can embrace the crazy, it’s actually pretty amazing. Occassionally I felt like Revengeance wanted me to really try and be stealthy, but to be honest I think stealth is best left to the Solid series. The mechanics for stealth aren’t nearly as satisfying in Revengeance and I almost wish they had forgone the option altogether. Regardless, tThe parry system is satisfying, boss fights are incredibly epic (mostly), and there is a lot of side content for those who want even more of the combat system after the game is over.

Revengeance is relatively short but packs in a lot of side content, including tons of VR missions and two DLC missions (in the Steam version). I’d recommend playing both DLC missions. The second is definitely the weaker of the two, but I enjoyed both and they provided some longevity to the game.

Those looking for a balls-out action game should find themselves very pleased with Revengeance. The Metal Gear theme is the icing on the cake for longtime fans, but it’s not even remotely necessary to understand the lore to enjoy this game to its fullest. The action is satisfying, cutscenes are frequently fun to watch, and the craziness is set to full throttle. Check it out.