"Re: Revengeance"

Love :

Blade mode, blademodeblademodeblademode.

Seriously, whether its a small group of enemies or the last leg of a boss encounter, going into blade mode and just flipping out with sword swipes in every direction just chopping who or whatever into how many pieces (and occasionally ripping their heart/spine out then crushing it) is just a blasty blast. A part of me wonders why this kind of thing wasn't in Zelda Twilight Princess when the Wii came out, or Skyward Sword, or Red Steel, or Red Steel 2, or anything on the Wii or Playstation Move, seriously, this is how swords should done from now on. Wapapapapapapapapapap!

The humour and certain other story elements. Dog-wolf-bot, sombrero, cardboard box, watermelons, the inner thoughts of lowly foot soldiers, child brains, ambiguous deaths, freedom, college football, all this and more shaped my experience.

The segment as the three-arm-bot, and getting to go around and zap dudes.

Didn't care for :

The length, or rather, the pacing. I don't mind a short game, I do mind one that keeps stopping me from slicing to chit chat or tell me I don't have time to slice or present some less than ideal steath options when in every instance all I want to do is slice.

Kind of empty environments, at least in terms of things to cut the hell out of, I want more bridges to dice from under an enemy, more locked doors to ignore, how about a virtual playground of blade heaven, let me chop into the ground and wapapapapap my way to China.

The parry system, a little frustration for me came from times in combat where I'd go for a swipe and instead parry, or go for a parry and instead eat an enemy attack.

Also one small technical issue I encountered was on the 4th mission when after a sequence of running through a hallway the enemies didn't show up, and I was trapped in a room wondering what was going on until I reloaded the last checkpoint, and then it happened again in the samurai town area. Not a big deal, but still, seems like something that a playtester would spot easily.

Other thoughts :

I don't really have much of a history with Metal Gear games, I like 4 a lot, enjoyed my time with 2, and got to spend some time with Peace Walker, but I'm not really a fan of the franchise, though I respect it greatly, and have been following the series since a friend showed me how awesome the playstion one was. Revengeance though, is very much though, a part of the Platinum games lineage, and while it nods and winks to the MG crowd, it's more for Platinum fans, but MG fans, action game fans, and general gamers should all enjoy the game regardless.

Should you buy it? Maybe, there's incentive to replay the game, a good curve of challenge between difficulty settings, VR missions, collectibles, etc, but I figure a rent would satisfy most. Should you play it? Absolutely, blade mode is a must and needs to be experienced by all. I'd say for this year I prefer DMC for the level design and grabby arms, for Platinum Games I prefer Bayonetta, for Metal Gear I prefer stealth gameplay, and for passing the time while waiting for the next big game, or the next gen of gaming, Metal Gear Rising is a fine way to do it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10 | Originally Posted: 02/22/13

Game Release: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (US, 02/19/13)

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