Metal Gear Rising was never a game I was going to buy. I can't give concrete reasons as to why. But there was just something about the game that didn't have me overcome with the desire to throw money at it. But a friend of mine kindly gifted me with a copy of it on Friday, so I now have the game.
Upon hearing that Platinum games were taking over production of the Rising and seeing the trailer of Raiden running on walls and throwing a Metal Gear Ray with his bare hands, I thought what many did; that this game was going to be a palette swap of Bayonetta. To say the game is just this discredits much of Platinum's work. But even so, it's not vastly far off save for a couple of mechanic changes here and there. I'm not cut up (Geddit!? *Hugh Hefner wink*) about this, as I loved Bayonetta. And the chance to go to town on some bitches as Raiden in cyborg ninja mode is something we all yearned for since witnessing his epic confrontation with Vamp and the Gekko's in Metal Gear Solid 4.
So the game starts off with 2 black men in a limo. Straight away I knew they were going to die. And lo and behold, they did so in gruesome fashion. One poor black man gets strung up against a steel container, his chin sliced, stabbed through the chest and has his body tossed off of a moving train. It's like Django re-chained in HD. Before you even get to go to town with Raiden, the gore sprays like a shaken can of Pepsi. Rising is gory. 10 minutes after the title screen. Africans gets slaughtered, a military unit gets sliced 'n' diced, a black prime minister gets shanked to shit and Raiden gets fucked up how the ninja dude did in Metal Gear Solid 1. It's just blood, blood and mo' blood.
Rising is all about stabbing people in the most flamboyant way possible - much like Devil may cry and Bayonetta. However, the combat doesn't feel as fluid as it felt in Platinum's witch hunt. For all of the shortcomings of Bayonetta, the one thing about it I loved was the combat. It felt so fluid. More so than in the game which influenced it and any other hi-octane third person action game in existence. You always felt you were in control of Bayonetta, even amidst the most chaotic of battles. The rhythmic flow of battles in Rising just doesn't feel fluid to me. You can't interrupt Raiden's attacks. Dodging is difficult and the parrying system causes problems because it allows such a small margin for error and not all attacks can be parried despite on screen prompts and signatures signalling that you can. Parrying is such a crucial mechanic in the game, yet it feels so loosely handled and occasionally broken. There is also no effective tutorial which explicitly explains how to parry successfully. Then you have the camera, which makes things even worse. Parrying requires the camera to be at the best angle so you can see an oncoming attack, which more often than not, it isn't - so you end up getting hit a lot. And as with Bayonetta and Devil may cry before it, you are punished heavily for being hit. Unlike its predecessors, you have more opportunities mid battle to get your health back using the games' equivalent of bullet time (called Blade mode / Zandatsu) to slice out an enemies spine which replenishes your health. But this doesn't allow me to bestow forgiveness for the unfair combo of a dodgy parry system and a shitty camera. It's 2013 and we're STILL getting games with shitty cameras?! From top notch studios such as Platinum games and Kojima productions no less! This renders the game unfair, as I feel I'm often punished for something which is beyond my control. The camera never gives you the best view / vantage point during boss battles. So many of the battles are up to chance and you wind up just hammering buttons until something dies or you get the prompt to go into blade mode and start slicing 'n' dicing in slow mo. You never feel like you are truly in control and this irks me.
The games' equivalent of bullet time is nifty, although the immediate shift between hammering a button to being reserved and precise to slash an enemy in a particular place takes some getting used to. It is a nice system though and helps differentiate itself from other games. And you also get a nice sense of satisfaction as you play leap frog on missiles, somersault in the air above a giant mech and then proceed to slash it into pieces.
Another huge issue with the game is a character by the name of George. I thought we were done with horrendous takes on Patwa following on from Wakka in Final Fantasy X, but I guess not. George sounds like a cross between a Jamaican, an Irish man, a Pirate and Michelangelo from the ninja turtles. I can't take listening to that boy speak. It made me shed a tear and say a prayer for my West Indian heritage. For all of the people I'd sliced up in this game, George did the biggest butchering with that accent. I'm at a point in the story where I have to try and find him. With any luck he'll be dead.
It's not all F'ing and blinding though. As has become customary for the series, Metal Gear Rising features some great dialogue and banter which is exchanged over the codec. It's also pretty cool to hear the cynical son of a bitch Raiden has become and how much of a profound effect Solid Snake has had on him. He fanboys over him in one codec conversation, in which he gets teased about by his comrades. He also adopts this Snake like gruff to his voice which fans will pick up on. But as any MGS fan will know, you have to pester people on the codec continuously for these moments. And if Rising is a gamers' first introduction to Metal Gear, this will likely go over heads and never be uncovered.
Rising's graphics are slick and the soundtrack is hot. But I can't say I've had a great deal of fun playing the game thus far, because the camera and the parrying continually cause problems. I feel as though I am so consumed with frustration at getting gang banged in battles between the enemies, the camera and the parrying that I can't take in the game itself. And as you make your way further and further into it all, you encounter enemies who dart around the screen at a speed faster than the camera can keep up with. And there is no option to position the camera at a fixed point higher up and further behind you so you can see more of the battle space. It constantly clings itself behind you which is rarely ever the best position. I'm so focused on what's not working that I'm finding it hard to focus on what does. I know there's a great game in here somewhere, I'm just struggling to find it right now.
Verdict: I hate the camera. I hate the parrying.
Upon hearing that Platinum games were taking over production of the Rising and seeing the trailer of Raiden running on walls and throwing a Metal Gear Ray with his bare hands, I thought what many did; that this game was going to be a palette swap of Bayonetta. To say the game is just this discredits much of Platinum's work. But even so, it's not vastly far off save for a couple of mechanic changes here and there. I'm not cut up (Geddit!? *Hugh Hefner wink*) about this, as I loved Bayonetta. And the chance to go to town on some bitches as Raiden in cyborg ninja mode is something we all yearned for since witnessing his epic confrontation with Vamp and the Gekko's in Metal Gear Solid 4.
So the game starts off with 2 black men in a limo. Straight away I knew they were going to die. And lo and behold, they did so in gruesome fashion. One poor black man gets strung up against a steel container, his chin sliced, stabbed through the chest and has his body tossed off of a moving train. It's like Django re-chained in HD. Before you even get to go to town with Raiden, the gore sprays like a shaken can of Pepsi. Rising is gory. 10 minutes after the title screen. Africans gets slaughtered, a military unit gets sliced 'n' diced, a black prime minister gets shanked to shit and Raiden gets fucked up how the ninja dude did in Metal Gear Solid 1. It's just blood, blood and mo' blood.
Rising is all about stabbing people in the most flamboyant way possible - much like Devil may cry and Bayonetta. However, the combat doesn't feel as fluid as it felt in Platinum's witch hunt. For all of the shortcomings of Bayonetta, the one thing about it I loved was the combat. It felt so fluid. More so than in the game which influenced it and any other hi-octane third person action game in existence. You always felt you were in control of Bayonetta, even amidst the most chaotic of battles. The rhythmic flow of battles in Rising just doesn't feel fluid to me. You can't interrupt Raiden's attacks. Dodging is difficult and the parrying system causes problems because it allows such a small margin for error and not all attacks can be parried despite on screen prompts and signatures signalling that you can. Parrying is such a crucial mechanic in the game, yet it feels so loosely handled and occasionally broken. There is also no effective tutorial which explicitly explains how to parry successfully. Then you have the camera, which makes things even worse. Parrying requires the camera to be at the best angle so you can see an oncoming attack, which more often than not, it isn't - so you end up getting hit a lot. And as with Bayonetta and Devil may cry before it, you are punished heavily for being hit. Unlike its predecessors, you have more opportunities mid battle to get your health back using the games' equivalent of bullet time (called Blade mode / Zandatsu) to slice out an enemies spine which replenishes your health. But this doesn't allow me to bestow forgiveness for the unfair combo of a dodgy parry system and a shitty camera. It's 2013 and we're STILL getting games with shitty cameras?! From top notch studios such as Platinum games and Kojima productions no less! This renders the game unfair, as I feel I'm often punished for something which is beyond my control. The camera never gives you the best view / vantage point during boss battles. So many of the battles are up to chance and you wind up just hammering buttons until something dies or you get the prompt to go into blade mode and start slicing 'n' dicing in slow mo. You never feel like you are truly in control and this irks me.
The games' equivalent of bullet time is nifty, although the immediate shift between hammering a button to being reserved and precise to slash an enemy in a particular place takes some getting used to. It is a nice system though and helps differentiate itself from other games. And you also get a nice sense of satisfaction as you play leap frog on missiles, somersault in the air above a giant mech and then proceed to slash it into pieces.
Another huge issue with the game is a character by the name of George. I thought we were done with horrendous takes on Patwa following on from Wakka in Final Fantasy X, but I guess not. George sounds like a cross between a Jamaican, an Irish man, a Pirate and Michelangelo from the ninja turtles. I can't take listening to that boy speak. It made me shed a tear and say a prayer for my West Indian heritage. For all of the people I'd sliced up in this game, George did the biggest butchering with that accent. I'm at a point in the story where I have to try and find him. With any luck he'll be dead.
It's not all F'ing and blinding though. As has become customary for the series, Metal Gear Rising features some great dialogue and banter which is exchanged over the codec. It's also pretty cool to hear the cynical son of a bitch Raiden has become and how much of a profound effect Solid Snake has had on him. He fanboys over him in one codec conversation, in which he gets teased about by his comrades. He also adopts this Snake like gruff to his voice which fans will pick up on. But as any MGS fan will know, you have to pester people on the codec continuously for these moments. And if Rising is a gamers' first introduction to Metal Gear, this will likely go over heads and never be uncovered.
Rising's graphics are slick and the soundtrack is hot. But I can't say I've had a great deal of fun playing the game thus far, because the camera and the parrying continually cause problems. I feel as though I am so consumed with frustration at getting gang banged in battles between the enemies, the camera and the parrying that I can't take in the game itself. And as you make your way further and further into it all, you encounter enemies who dart around the screen at a speed faster than the camera can keep up with. And there is no option to position the camera at a fixed point higher up and further behind you so you can see more of the battle space. It constantly clings itself behind you which is rarely ever the best position. I'm so focused on what's not working that I'm finding it hard to focus on what does. I know there's a great game in here somewhere, I'm just struggling to find it right now.
Verdict: I hate the camera. I hate the parrying.
I agree with everything here. The story ends up trying to be profound like older entries in the Metal Gear series, but come across as rather kiddy anime-ish (to me). Now, I understand that it's not supposed to be a Metal Gear SOLID game (we have Ground Zeroes to look forward to when considering traditional MGS), but I feel like Zazu on this one: If this is the direction that the series is going for Raiden, then count me out. Out of service, out of Africa, I wouldn't hang about. I feel that they should have tested some things out a little more. The parrying system needed to be perfected and that camera was god awful. Trying to fight mr. hurricane, or monsoon or whatever the eff his name was was not challenging, it was ANNOYING. The difference between a challenge and an annoyance is that you know when YOU'RE the one effing up. Also, during the battle with Sam the mexican samurai, I HATED the parrying system because, as you said, very LITTLE room for error (and it's rarely your fault). Many times I found myself tapping the attack button and twitching the stick in the exact direction of the oncoming attack only to have Raiden SLIDE in that direction! wtf? So yeah, every fight that took me a few attempts was finished with a sense of "thank f_cking god!" instead of "whew, that was a good fight" all because it felt like I was trying to drive a car with no steering wheel or transmission. Fuck this stupid game I'm getting mad thinking about it all over again.
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