Hands on Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengeance

Here it is - the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Konami’s newest installment in the “Metal Gear Solid” series, “Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengeance.”

Silly name not withstanding, I went in with an open mind to this demo as I’ve never really played much of the “MGS” series to begin with. I’m sure there are some people who will feel that I’m not really capable of doing a solid report on “Revengeance” because of this, but I’ll be purely reporting from a mechanics and gameplay standpoint.

The demo at the Penny Arcade Expo in Washington this weekend had us tackling the game as Raiden, newly outfitted with cybernetic parts like the Six Million Dollar Man. In the demo, he was equipped with a crazy lazer-sword a la “No More Heroes” that could basically slice through anything. Raiden could pick up weapons as well as sneak, but it just didn’t feel like a “MGS” title. What it did feel like, was “Ninja Gaiden.”


I’m not sure if that is blasphemous or actually really appealing to Kojima fans, but I honestly felt like I was playing that dressed up in “MGS” skins with the occasional exclamation point flashing above an enemy’s head as he became aware of me. How could he not, after all I had practically no stealth capabilities whatsoever.

I actually cut up a Metal Gear monster thingy with that sword of his like it was nothing.

Attacking is your standard button-mashing combo fare that many might equate to “Dynasty Warriors” or “God of War.” I have to give them credit, though, with the game mechanic that let you actually slow down time and pick the direction that your blade would run through your enemy. It made me think of the “Afro Samurai” game where you could slice the tiniest parts off of enemies in slow-motion.
 

The entire scenario was a virtual-reality training session for Raiden to become familiar with his new cybernetic implants. I have no idea how he has become a cyborg and I won’t speculate as to whether or not this is a cheesy or interesting plot twist. Cyber-Raiden kicks a lot of ass, cutting baddies and the occasional watermelon into little slivers of meat. On a fluke, I attacked a random pillar that was just sitting in a courtyard where I had a mini-boss battle, and found that I was actually able to use the sword slashing mechanic to dice up the column into little stone pieces. Of course, the archway it was holding up promptly fell apart, but I was genuinely impressed that there was some environmental destruction evident in the game. Kojima is really known for producing games that have attention to detail.

He just does not look like a happy camper.

I found the game's controls a little difficult to use. Raiden was far too sensitive to commands and I found myself running into objects a lot. Also, the screen is flooded with digital images and information about objectives and directions and attacks and combos that I felt a severe case of sensory overload. I understand that he’s a cyborg now and he’s got all sorts of fancy ocular implants, but I’m not  a cyborg and I don’t need that information shoved into my face.
 

Honestly, the demo was fun, but I wasn’t impressed by “Revengeance.” Maybe it’s because I’m not a “MGS” fan and maybe it could be that I’m just not seeing the full game. Whatever the case may be, I feel as though the game steals a lot of elements from other franchises such as “Ninja Gaiden,” “Dynasty Warriors” and even the quicktime events from “Resident Evil.” Granted, those are all proven mechanics that have sold over the last decade, but from what I know of “MGS’s” history as a stealth franchise I don’t really see this as a new direction that will revitalize the fanbase. Even some of the hardcore fans that were there seemed a little put off by it when I asked them. Then again, there were some people who thought the game was really awesome. It will be interesting to see who shows up to buy the game when it comes out on Feb. 19 of next year.