Preview: Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengeance

Initially the idea of a hack n’ slash Metal Gear Solid game brought shivers down my spine. The story intensive series never seemed to fit into the genre. This all changed when Platinum Games got hold of the reigns for Revengeance and became lead developers on the game. The team has some of finest members of the games industry and had made, in my opinion, one of the best action games ever – Bayonetta. The question is, does Revengeance work or is it a slightly broken mismatched game?

The demo we played had Raiden being dumped on the island and let loose on a group of guards. Using X and Y I can easily string together combos reminiscent of most hack and slash games. There’s a certain skill to it and clearly the demo only scratches the surface of the combo system, but everything looks smooth and stylish, with Raiden flipping over and gracefully slashing his way through these standard enemies.

Upon entering the next section I am greeted by a gekko and some more soldiers. I realise that I need to use the game’s coveted blade mode. I simply tap L2, use the left analogue stick to move the camera and the right one to aim a line that signifies where I will slash. This mode slows down time and allows you to dice enemies and objects into tiny cubes (or triangles) if you wish. There’s something extremely satisfying about this and pretty much most objects in the game can be cut down into your desired shape with enough practice.

With the soldiers dispatched I look towards the gekko and begin to take out its legs. This helps me little, but I realise I need to try a new tactic. I am then prompted to start parrying by timing counter hits by hitting x and moving the analogue stick. At first this seemed hard, but once you get used to enemy attacks you can pull these off mid-combo while multiple enemies are attacking you. After a few more attacks and parries I drop the gekko to its knees, mount it and stab the hell out of it during a QTE.

Then Revengeance gets a little bit stealthy. I enter an area with two gekkos and loads of guards. By being quiet and meeting enemies from behind (or above) I am able to take them out with an instant kill. While this was pretty cool I wonder how much it will be used in an action game and to be honest it felt slightly out-of-place.

I then got to move on to the final boss, a robotic dog with a fiery chainsaw tail. This was when I had to make the most of parrying learning the timing of enemy attacks and grinding away at its health. By now my health was pretty low too and it needed topping up. Thankfully my K9-mech sent some humans and gekkos my way and when slicing them in blade mode you can refill both health and blade mode bars. I worry that this may make the game too easy, but generally demos have low difficulty levels so that players can become accustomed to the game with short play time they have.

After a brief fight and some chainsaws getting thrust into my chest I got the chance to kill the robot dog in blade mode, slicing it into hundreds of pieces, which is a pretty satisfying way to finish off a boss.

Overall I was impressed with Revengeance the game handles well with Platinum Games signature flair and smooth combat system. I am really looking forward to seeing what upgrades can be unlocked in the game and getting to grips with the game’s fully fledged combat system. The end of February can’t come quick enough!

Tags: Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengeance

About the Author

Kiron Ramdewar The mad-man behind this website has an unhealthy devotion to video games. Since playing Doom at the age of five he has an unstable fixation on control pads, shooting things and chainsaws.