First Impressions
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| I almost peed myself when I saw this. So much hype |
Story
I won't spoil any important plot details, so I'll just give a very brief summary of the plot and what the ultimate goal of the game is. In Metal Gear Rising you take control of Raiden (obviously, I mean, come on), four years after the events of MGS4, who now works for a private military company running protection detail for important politicians and the like. You begin the game in Africa and your client gets kidnapped and you have to go after him. So you get your ass handed to you early on and Raiden's body (which is very reminiscent to how he looked in MGS4, albeit with a few aesthetic changes) gets pretty badly injured. He also loses his left eye. Reference to his roots to Solidus much? So Raiden gets equipped with a new body that is stronger, faster, and better than his previous body in order to go after the people who killed his client. Since "Metal Gear" is in the title you can expect that not everything is as simple as getting Revengeance (yeah used it as a word) on your enemies. Expect the plot to take a few twisted turns before ultimately revealing itself. It's not anything too complicated but for a game that is dropping the stealth mechanic of its predecessors and going for a more action-oriented experience, it works really well.
Graphics
Yeah Metal Gear Rising, much like all the Metal Gear games, has amazing graphics. Everything looks so clear and real. The game predominantly takes place in a war torn area and yet it looks so beautiful. If there weren't cyborgs and unmanned UG's (remember those from MGS4?) trying to kill me, I would have just stared in awe of how beautifully detailed everything looks. What I find interesting is that in today's world, for something to look good, it should be in 1080p. Yet this game's resolution is 720p and it looks a HELL of a lot better than most of the games that have come out recently. I would go so far as to say that it looks just as great as Metal Gear Solid 4 and that game was came out so long ago yet few games ever reached its level of detail and graphical power. Hell the Assassin's Creed games look terrible in front of Rising. If graphics mean a lot to you, this game has you covered.
Gameplay
Alright so if you have been following this game for as long as I have then you know that it was advertised that as well as letting you control cyborg Raiden, as the true badass that he was in MGS4, there was also going to be some sort of Cut mechanic within the game. "CUT WHAT YOU WILL" is what it says on the back of this box. What this means is that throughout the game, you will be able to go into "blade mode" and cut the shit out of your enemies. It's so satisfying and violent but it never stops being cool. Now remember what I said earlier about Raiden's new body? Well in order to maintain it, he needs to absorb electrolytes from his foes. The most effective way to do this is to perform what the game calls a "Zandatsu". Now you must be asking yourself well what the hell does that mean?! Well often times while you are in Blade Mode, Raiden's body will scan the enemy you are cutting to show you where the electrolytes are hidden. If you slice this area you will have a button prompt and Raiden will step forward and take the electrolytes. The stipulations are that 1) You can destroy the electrolytes if you cut too much and 2) You can also lose the opportunity to absorb them if your foe collapses while in Blade Mode. Thankfully, since time slows while you are in Blade Mode, you have a bit of leeway in how to cut.
This game can be described as a hack and slash and as such, you will be doing a lot of cutting. So you will be stringing combos along your enemies by pressing the square and triangle buttons to attack. This seems obvious, yeah, but you must be mindful of a few things. 1) Raiden does not lock on to enemies automatically. I did not mind this much since in previous games by Platinum, such as Bayonetta or Vanquish, you pretty much were left on your own in terms of taking out your enemies. Thankfully locking on wasn't too mandatory in those games. This cannot be said for Rising. In Rising, locking on is ESSENTIAL. You can get away with not locking on for maybe the first few fights, but after that, expect to get your ass kicked repeatedly once enemies start to grow in numbers and gang up on you. This brings me to 2) Learning to Parry is mandatory. If you skip the tutorial (like I did since I played the demo) you probably will assume that there is not a blocking mechanic within the game. Well guess what there is, and it just isn't a traditional block. It's a parry. Basically if you see an enemy about to attack, you move the left stick in the direction of the attack and hit the light attack button. Raiden will block the attack and you can continue slicing up enemies. If you do not learn to properly parry, you will not beat this game. It's as simple as that.
The game is also very challenging which is a good thing. It isn't the cheap kind of difficulty. It's fair and once you learn to lock on and parry, you can really have fun even when the game is kicking your ass. Which it will. Unless you have the reflexes of a god. Or are in a fact a cyborg yourself. Bosses are also challenging and without a doubt, they are what makes this game excel. Every boss you encounter is accompanied by an epic song that hypes you up and puts you in the mood to kick some ass. Personally my favorite boss fight is the rematch with Jetstream Sam. It's hard as hell but its the ambiance that does it for me. Also, once you beat a boss you gain their weapon to purchase and use.
Ahh purchasing. Yeah I almost forgot to talk about the upgrade system in Metal Gear Rising. OK remember Drebin in MGS4? Well he isn't in the game but do you remember having collect points and then buying weapons from him? Well in Rising you do earn points based on what and how you kill and with these points, you can purchase upgrades. You can do this at anytime throughout the game but there is 1 problem. When you do go to the customization screen mid-level the game sets you back to your most recent checkpoint. It isn't game breaking and it's just a bit of a nuisance, so if you wanna upgrade within a level either 1) wait for a checkpoint or 2) wait till the end of a level.
And again, the soundtrack is also pretty damn good. Nuff said.
Conclusion
If you're like me and you love the Metal Gear series, then following this game has been a bit of a rush. When it was first announced years ago, I worried about it straying too far from the source material and that it would ultimately fall flat of the success that the series is associated with. Thankfully since Kojima Productions collaborated with Platinum Games and let them develop it, the game came out amazing. I know there are some people who see that the game is 5 hours long. This time only takes into account the length it takes you to beat the fighting portions of the game. So think of it this way. The game ranks and grades you in battle based on: Your time, how many "Zandatsu" performed, combos, and damage. All in all the game takes the fastest times and gives you a final time when you finished. This time DOES NOT take into account cutscenes, or farting around with the codec (I like calling people in my Metal Gear games), or the number of times you die and retry a fight. With that said though the game isn't like 20 hours long, the action is so good and the gameplay is so rewarding that you ultimately do not feel ripped off. Plus there is a lot to do and collect after you finish the game so replay value is high. It's a well designed game and if you haven't bought it then I strongly urge you to do so!
Have a great day and GO BUY THIS GAME!!
Now if you'll excuse me I have to go replay this game and regain my hype (again).
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