Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance [PS3/Xbox 360] review

[Paddy]

So got my hands on this yesterday and played through to Chapter 4 so far. There is a lot to enjoy here, the combat is fluid, challenging and punishes you for button-mashing/bad play.

Yes the camera does hinder your view sometimes in the heat of battle which is frustrating but there are the means to correct this again promptly. I'd also say that some of the codec conversations go on too long which is more hallmark of Kojima than bad game design (plus you can skip them at least which is good for repeated play).

Still, when the actions flowing and you're playing/slicing like a pro, there's few better.

[PaTaito]

the guy I'm actually controlling with them looks like the silliest cyborg anyone has ever seen

I was thinking this when my eyes were constantly drawn to his cyborg high heels...

OTT not in a good way.

[EvilBoris]

Ninja Cuban heels

Maybe they had him wear those so they could recycle some bayonetta moves

[dataDave]

Or maybe so it would make sense that his blade slots in there.

I should have the S rank for Revengeance R-00 but there is some crap about the checkpoint system. It will add up all the time spent on retries and award you based on that... So, no point of a checkpoint if you have to start the whole level again. I had several attempts at the second Ray encounter and it bummed me. I did the whole level again and got dealt the same BS. The first time it said 18 minutes and a D rank when it blatantly took me about four, and the second time it gave me 7 minutes and a D rank for two attempts.

So, if you die once on a boss you have to do the whole level again it seems.

[Shozuki]

this is a good game, really fun and nuanced.... But I must say I enjoyed DmC a metric f-ton more, it just had better level design even if the combat was shallower...

Decent though will carry on!

[Neon Ignition]

I think that's part of the problem, I don't feel this does have much flow to the combat as it throws 3-4 enemies at you and then partitions you with 'invisible' walls. Once down you have to wait till the game scores you before proceeding to the next batch, barring 1-2 cutscenes interupting that. There's no scope for getting that engrossed in being a freeflowing ninja because your often restricted. It's just a very dated experience. There's moments which show this could have been a better game, hopefully if there's a sequel Platinum can make it from scratch.

[rmoxon]

I don't see why DMC's combat was shallower than this.

All I have been doing so far is constantly tapping forward and mashing buttons like a lunatic and I nearly always get an S Rank. At least DMC asks you to mix things up to get a good rank.

[EvilBoris]

DMC did the same thing, red magic walls that lock you in and stop you opening a door.

Also, there is not a chance if hell you can "almost always" get an S-Rank just by button bashing.
I was whoring up points on easy with fully upgraded fox blades , auto parrying and still getting B's.
Although I was playing r02 where it was giving me maxed out scores and saying I'd taken no damage despite being ****ed over by those gorilla enemies and it was still giving me S-Ranks when I shouldn't of got them.

[saturn-gamer]

This game is hilairiously bad. The camera constantly swings all over the place, I'm constantly battling with the unintuative controls and the guy I'm actually controlling with them looks like the silliest cyborg anyone has ever seen. Then there's the over the top cheesy voice acting and inexplicably weird cut scenes where nothing that happens makes any sense.

It doesn't feel anything like a platinum game and it looks like a metal gear game, but plays like a really terrible action game. I'm actually almost embassed to be bothering to play it. If this game didn't have metal gear in the title I doubt anyone would have even seen fit to release it as its a complete mess of game design.

Its the most comical train wreck ever.

If this wasn't Metal Gear this would probably be treated as another quirky B-release such as Ninja Blade. Rising is really not much more than those games. The MG sticker is there, and so is the VA which is above par for this type of game. But the level design, enemy AI (the 'stealth' lol) etc all feel very low budget. Ninja Gaiden Black and classic DMC completely kill it on those levels.

Things like stun lock and the civilians... they best removed that.

I have my fun with it, although I still didn't grasp the combat system... I still kind of mash (the game closes into foes for you anyway), use Dodge through enemy animations and perfect parry as much as possible. It looks cool at times, but I also feel a bit disconnected. Its different than landing a great combo with parry, dodge offset all in one in Bayonetta, or do similar **** in DMC3. That gif that went about with the Stinger into stealth kill... that also looked very disconnected to me.

As for Platinum, I hated Anarchy Reigns and I do like MG:R but its not Bayonetta levels of awesome to me. So far Vanquish and Bayonetta delivered big time for me, the rest I'm conflicted about.

[EvilBoris]

I still can't believe how poor it looks considering its the same engine as vanquish, which was even faster paced than this from what I recall.

I think that Ninja Blade did OTT Ninjas better.

[saturn-gamer]

I fired up DMC4, it looks like bliss compared to this. Really a great looking 60fps game that one was.

The thing with Raiden is that he is awfully stiff for a Ninja. I mean, just look at how he jumps. That really looks like horse ****. The game wants you to Ninja Run through all levels for a reason (so it doesn't look like **** and you don't notice the ****ty details and B-rated level design), but at some parts such as the big crane you have to traverse and jump over a gap... it looks really awful and disconnected. No somersault, no double jumps, no wallruns...

Bayonetta could dance over the battlefield, dodging incoming slices, parrying others, store her combo while doing all this and finish a group off in one swift combo. And above all, you could see everything that happened around you thanks to the better camera and I felt completely in control while doing all that.

Ninja Gaiden could use the walls and also do amazing stuff from them, even that had a better cam. I miss that stuff here. Another thing that bothers me is losing your strong sword attacks when you equip a subweapon.

[rmoxon]

DMC did the same thing, red magic walls that lock you in and stop you opening a door.

Also, there is not a chance if hell you can "almost always" get an S-Rank just by button bashing.
I was whoring up points on easy with fully upgraded fox blades , auto parrying and still getting B's.
Although I was playing r02 where it was giving me maxed out scores and saying I'd taken no damage despite being ****ed over by those gorilla enemies and it was still giving me S-Ranks when I shouldn't of got them.

I am not that far into the game truth be told, so perhaps its harder to get an S rank as the game goes on, but so far I just have to keep mashing a combination of towards on the stick and the x button and occasionally using blade mode to earn some BP and I get S ranks easy. The stun block move is just silly, there's no skill require and it all feels very brainless.

DMC is deeper than this.

[saturn-gamer]

I think S rank is time, not getting hit, do a blade mode combo of over 20 hits and grab the spine. You can parry and blade cancel and all that stuff, but if you get hit once or take too long, or forget the spine (which sometmes you just cannot grab, esp when near a wall)) its bye bye S rank.

[SuperBeatBoy]

DMC was a bore to play, the enemy variety was just mediocre. Just constantly having fun and variety in this.

[Red or Alive]

So, what's the best way to farm bp? Do you get much bp for completing VR missions?