2013.6: Metal Gear Rising

Completed on HARD in 06hours:25mins with Overall Combat Rank of C
Total BP Acquired: 356311
Total Zandatsus: 163
Longest Combo: 77

Normal Kills: 264
Blade Mode Kills: 208
Explosive Kills: 2
Total Kills: 518

Remaining Enemies: 11

Continues: 68
Alerts: 89

Beheadings: 29
Left Arms Severed: 41
Right Arms Severed: 48
Left Legs Severed: 6
Right Legs Severed: 5

Total Cuts: 9170

I'll start off with the gameplay gripes. There were annoyances in combat like camera and getting stuck behind things and so on that made me furious to die from.
To elaborate on getting stuck behind things, like the remains of enemies wouldn't disappear immediately, nor could you 'push' them out of the way by walking on them so many times when I killed the flying enemies for example, their remains would fall near me and until the pieces disappeared I was stuck behind them, making me a very easy target which caused me to die or lose a lot of health many times and that really pissed me off.

I also didn't like the fact you had to wiggle the left analogue stick to escape some grab moves or to 'wake up' from a stun as to do it effectively you have to navigate your hands away from the face buttons or risk being stunned for a long time if you wiggle it without changing hand positions. A button mash or even the right analogue would have been better.

So the overall gameplay experience wasn't as smooth as Vanquish. As if you check my feedback for that game, I have not once felt like a death was caused by game mechanics, where as here I had a few frustrating moments where the mentioned problems above caused me to die or put me in a shitty position.


Those were my only gameplay gripes however and other than them, the game flowed fantastically and Platinum showed once again why they are the master of this genre.
Parrying moves and stringing combos together feels super satisfying and for the first time ever, I actually feel like I am wielding a sword as the blade mode and the cutting mechanics really makes you feel like a cyborg ninja.

They also show a lot of creativity in enemy design as even the 'filler' enemies in between requires you to 'read' their moves and fight accordingly. I actually had to pay attention to the enemy type and engage accordingly which again, felt awesome.


The bosses! Oh my lord those bosses! I have never felt so satisfied at beating boss fights, they are, on Hard, just the right amount of difficulty and are amazingly epic and creative. Not only in environments and the 'phases' but how you use your sword and blade mode to defeat them. They really considered the game mechanics in play and built the most exciting boss battles they could around them. After every boss fight I felt super badass.


I will also add they showed great respect to the MG universe in gameplay by squeezing in much more stealth than I expected. A lot of areas you can get through with stealth. It's obviously not MGS complicated but you have some similar tools like the 'porn mags' which are 3D holograms now to draw guards to a location and the all famous box and barrel as well.
But honestly the fighting is so good, despite game hinting towards stealth in many sections, I didn't take great care to apply stealth tactics and just went into Jack The Ripper mode.

However I felt it was missing the trademark gameplay genius or surprises from the MG universe. I kept expecting one section to surprise me but it never came.


Unfortunately the story and characters are pretty dull here. I didn't care about anyone or anything to be perfectly honest. It's all standard stuff we've seen bazillions of times. And although the overall arc feels like a good enough 'add on' the the universe, it doesn't have anywhere as much depth or cleverness to stand on it's own and I didn't feel Raiden has enough of a character to have his own spin-off.



However, gameplay is king and this is the foundations of a super series. I am not sure however how to carry this on, as even this felt like it was scraping the barrel far as story and Raiden's depth so they have to be very clever, if they make another one on what to base it on. I think I will be much happier if Platinum takes the mechanics in this game and makes a new ninja IP from them.


So, fantastic flowing gameplay, epic bosses but unfortunately with a couple or so major gripes and in a story and characters that isn't in any way interesting, especially given the amount of depth the universe it takes place has.

Very good first showing but needs to grow in a few key elements;

7/10.