Xbox 360 Review: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

After the final boss lay dead before my feet, I felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment that no videogame has ever given me before. My hands were gripping the controller so tight that there was actually some pain in my fingers – a reminder of the well-timed parries and attacks that made my time with Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance a success. 

This is not the stealth-action game that fans of the series are used to. Instead, Rising is a fast-paced, sword-slashing actioner from beginning to end, one that is more of a parody of the Metal Gear franchise than a legitimate entry. Yet, as one of the biggest fans of Metal Gear on the planet, I absolutely loved it.

Metal Gear Rising is a ridiculous game – and it knows it. In fact that’s part of its appeal. The franchise is no stranger to unusual characters, but Rising takes them to an all-new level. I thought when I met my talking A.I. dog companion that it couldn’t get any weirder – but I was wrong.

You will meet bizarre villains along the way, and you’ll carve them all into pieces after some of the craziest battles you’ll ever see. There is something about ripping off the leg of a giant robot and smashing the metal monster over the head with its own limb that just forces you to have fun.

Rising takes the most unbelievable parts of Metal Gear – like cyborg soldiers and nanomachines that regenerate limbs – and takes them to a point that gives new meaning to the phrase “awesomely bad.” Players take control of the cyborg-ninja Raiden, who is on a mission to rescue slave children from an evil corporation who is using their body parts to make other cyborgs. It is a tongue-in-cheek plot that serves to push things forward nicely, with a tone that’s self-aware of how ridiculous this premise really sounds.

Aside from some small stealth areas, gameplay typically follows a simple pattern: you’ll enter a series of small areas, kill all the enemies, then fight a boss at the end of the stage. The action will occasionally be interrupted with codec calls and some cinematics, but even those often contain QTE sequences to keep the player engaged.

It may sound like this formula would become repetitive, but it never does. This is due in part to the fact that you can’t just button-mash your way through combat. Your mind will always be in the game. Staying alive will require you to parry at the perfect moment, and cut health from your enemy before their body falls to the ground. The controls are tight and responsive, meaning most of your failure will come from lack of skill.

Other than cyborgs, robot apes, and police, the main enemy for Raiden is the game’s camera. You will absolutely take some unnecessary hits from swords you can’t see, and more than once you’ll fail to be sneak by an enemy thanks to the camera’s obsession with centering itself in awkward positions. The wonky camera may be evidence of the flawed game that Kojima Studios cancelled before passing development to Platinum Games. For something that requires such precision in order to play effectively, being unable to see an enemy attack really throws a wrench into the otherwise graceful motion of the skirmishes.

The good news is, Rising excels in just about every other technical area. It is shocking that Raiden moves so quickly, yet there is never any slowdown, screen tearing, or significant loss to visual detail at any point, even when enemies flood the screen. 

When slowing down time to carve apart enemies, there’s actually something strangely beautiful about the violence. You’re an artist who wields a blade with graceful precision, in spite of the chaotic pace of the world around you. There is little about the gore that seems shocking or distasteful; instead it all adds to the almost poetic flow of combat.

The more damage you cause, the more astonishing the visuals become, as sparks, blood, and pieces of metal-enhanced flesh each add a new color to your canvas. This is an awesome looking game, and the slick graphics are backed up with energetic music that keeps the excitement level amped during long stretches and boss battles.

If you’re like me, you sometimes hate the antiquated idea of boss fights, but Rising re-sold me on the idea. These bosses are truly epic, and never involve you standing on some platform, unable to engage them until some weak spot shows up. Instead, the bosses are taken down just like everyone else – parry their attack at the correct moment, and look for an opening to strike.

These boss fights keep up with the pace set by the rest of the game; you don’t feel like you’re taking a break from the action as you topple a huge robot, as is an issue in countless other titles. The only complaint I have is that it can occasionally be hard to discern what attacks you can’t block, which can lead to some serious frustration, since dodging instead of parrying feels counter-intuitive once you get a feel for how the rest of the action plays out. 

There are a variety of weapons you can use to slay your foes, but many of them kill the flow I mentioned previously. In order to shoot an RPG, Raiden has to pause, aim, and fire.  That doesn’t sound so bad, except that you pretty much do everything else while running. The key to success in Rising is to get into the rhythm of combat, and weapons like grenades and rocket launches will kill your mojo. They could have been eliminated completely.

This is a title that’s all about maintaining an incredible pace from beginning to end.  It succeeds in its goal of providing memorable action, cutting the campaign off in about five hours. You may be thinking that sounds a little short, but Rising never drags its feet like so many other games. There is not a dull moment to be had, no puzzles to slow things down, and absolutely zero areas where cheap death is in abundance. If it wasn’t for the camera, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance would be almost perfect. The second it’s over you’ll want to do it all again, just to keep the adrenaline rush going.

The review was published by Blogcritics.