The Gaming Advisory - Metal Gear Rising Review Murder By Sword

Metal Gear Rising Review Murder By Sword

Details: Category: Reviews; Published on Tuesday, 19 February 2013 16:56; Written by Reesedabeast261

When you think Metal Gear, you think, stealth, gunplay, and Solid Snake. Well not with this one, it's all about destroying loads of enemies. Out are the stealth, gunplay, and Snake and in is the death, murder and mayhem called Raiden. So I ask, you to take this journey, to see if our crazy cyborg ninja that will cut anything to pieces, makes the CUT (I know a bad Pun).

Surprising enough, Metal Gear Rising is part of the original Metal Gear Canon, even though it is not being made by Konami or Kojima. New to the reigns are Platinum Games, best known for Bayonetta and Anarchy Reigns.

MGR happens after the events in Metal Gear Solid 4, with the Sons of Patriots being disbanded. Armies are still privatized and are full of cyborgs. You start off as Raiden, escorting an African leader to a meeting, where your caravan is attacked and the leader is kidnapped. Raiden follows the kidnappers to a train site where he is met by a cyborg Samurai named Sam, who ultimately takes Raiden’s left arm and eye and kills the African leader. When he has been healed, three weeks later, he goes after terrorist who killed the leader and uncovers that they are harvesting kids’ brains to build a new army.

Now that's out of the way let’s get into the gameplay, something we all want to know about. First of all it is fast, very fast, there is always something happening on the screen wither its explosions or a Metal Gear trying to step on you.The game has two attack types, a light and a heavy attack. Using both you will find that it makes good for very deadly combos. To help Raiden with his combos you are equipped with different weapons, you get a Main weapon and a Sub weapon. The only problem about is that when you equip the second weapon you lose your heavy attack in the game. Other slights are that when you pick up weapons like rocket launchers you have to stop and aim, it really slows down this fast game. MGR also has no block button, it adds to the strategy in the game and having you always stay on your toes. You do get to defend your self, with a parry; you hit the light attack and the analog stick in the direction of the attacker.

Platinum Games have revved up the action in this game, there are always enemies to kill and it is just plain violent. One of the best features in the game is the Blade Mode. Blade Mode allows you to slow down time and cut your opponent into little pieces, it is also used as tool to help replenish your health.

In your journey to murder all that come in your path, you will gain several weapons. All weapons in the game can be upgraded to become stronger or to absorb energy more efficiently. You get a Sai, Bow Staff, and a heavy duty Machete, all giving to you after defeating a boss. These weapons interact differently when being used with the combo system. The Sai is more of a throwing weapon that is ok; it brings you to the enemy letting you do some aerial combo, i.e. DmC. Next is the Bow Staff that actually works with the combo system. The seamlessly work together, use when you are surrounded. The worst weapon is the Machete. It is slow and is not even that strong, it is worthless.

Now let’s talk about how beautiful the game look and the amazing cutscenes. The motion capture is good and keeps the gaming going beautifully. The voice-overs are good but the lip syncing is off when the characters are using the Codec. In Metal Gear fashion the cutscenes are long and full of action that will keep your eyes glued to the tv.

The Replay value of this game is really moderate; the game is about five hours long.( I know it pissed me off too). There are tons of VR missions to find, but it did not hold my attention. You can go back and replay the game after you beat it, with the new weapons but you will be so OP it’s not funny.

Bottom Line: The game is amazing while it last, being so short really bothered me. Spending full price on this short game is a major slight. While the game has really good gameplay and kept me entertained with the stupid over the top actions that make it Metal Gear, it still had me wanting more. Seeing all of the Metal Gear homage like hiding in a box is nice to see but again wanted more. Me wanting so much more has me dropping the score from a 9 to an 8. The game is fun and you will love even though it’s for a short time.