Video Game: Impressions of the Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Demo

As a latecomer to the Metal Gear series, I'm certain that there's a whole universe in this series that I'm still totally oblivious to.  Having played Metal Gear Solid 4:  Guns of the Patriots, however, I was quite taken by the game's gorgeous graphics, its gameplay experience, its story, its concepts, and its endearing characters.  One of the biggest highlights was in watching Raiden in action.  Holy crap, every time that guy came onto the battlefield, it was like a beautiful flowing ballet of mass destruction and death.

So naturally, a game where you actually play Raiden had to be fun, right?

I'm not certain how much this demo represents the final product, but on its own merits, the latest game of the series - Metal Gear Rising:  Revengeance - is a totally different animal.  Whether you're a newcomer or an established fan, be warned:  this is not a stealth combat game.  This is straight-up fighting, on a level no different than Bayonetta or Vanquish (both of which were also developed by Platinum Games).  Many gamers have already expressed some disappointment over this demo, since it's a departure from the type of gameplay already established in Metal Gear Solid.

Upon doing some more reading, I've discovered that Metal Gear Rising is purposefully designed to be a separate and distinct saga than Metal Gear Solid, calling not only for a change in storyline and character, but also in gameplay style.  After all, Raiden was all about hack-and-slash action in MGS4, so it's only natural that MGR would provide more of the same.  However, this move will certainly alienate established fans, and I predict that the game will have a disappointing reception because everybody has been so used to the stealth combat in the Solid series.  I think what I'm getting at is that everybody will be complaining that "this is not a true Metal Gear Solid game"...well, duh, it's Metal Gear Rising, not Metal Gear Solid! It's all different!

I heard there was some bread that needed to be sliced...

The demo took me by surprise this way, to be honest.  Jumping into the virtual reality training sequences, I felt a little lost in the controls and the displays, but quickly found the controls necessary for some basic attacks.  Then, I was free to run through a street and take down some real bad guys.  I found that I could push through most of the fights with just one button, practically mashing it the whole time to cut my way through so many enemies and hardware.  There is a free-aiming option, which seems to offer a really cool way to control your blade and slice through things any way you want.  Unfortunately, I found this option unwieldy and limited in range.  It is a bit of a shame, because when it works, it seems to work beautifully, slicing off enemy scalps or cutting the legs off of Gekkos in dramatic slow motion.  More often than not, I found myself getting shot when I tried to use Blade Mode.

I ultimately had to give up on the demo with the boss fight with the robot tiger thing.  Unable to master the ability to parry, that thing was just kicking my butt, and nothing I did seemed to affect it.  I got the impression that the game's fighting requires more sophistication, concentration, and nuance to properly master, but I totally wasn't getting it.  I'm still a little lost as to how far the game's fighting controls extend; maybe there's more to it than Blade Mode and smashing the square button over and over again.  If so, I missed it completely, and chances are that it'll take some effort to master it.  I'm still debating whether it's worth putting up with or not.

Some other funny things to note:  bad guys don't seem terribly sophisticated, as I was able to run past a bunch of them without them ever noticing.  Managed to backstab some of them, but they never seemed to pay me any mind.

Other than that, it is a nice, slick-looking game with gorgeous graphics, sound, and relatively smooth gameplay (despite the quibbles above).  I've never been good at figuring out the plot of these Metal Gear games, but it looks every bit as dense and intriguing as MGS4.  Cut scenes looks to be rather long, but that's probably to be expected.  Overall, it looks like a lot of care and polish went into the game, but it is a different experience and I'm not certain if the combat is refined enough to make it work.

For now, I intend on waiting to see what reviews say.  Chances are that I might get this if the price drops low enough.  I think I'd recommend most players approach this game with caution, and try it before you buy it.