What is Metal Gear Rising Revengeance? Is it a silly spin off not meant to be taken too seriously? Is it a continuation of the events witnessed in Metal Gear Solid 4 with more political intrigue that forces you to question your philosophical and moral beliefs? Metal Gear Rising would like you to think that it is both; however, it does not succeed in this endeavor. For starters, Metal Gear Rising practically begs you not to take it seriously. It is an over-the-top action extravaganza with a hokey story, goofy dialogue, dubious accents, and simple gameplay. On the other hand, it constantly brings up questions of morality, philosophy and politics and expects you to take it all seriously. Metal Gear Rising may aim to be a lot of things for fans of the Metal Gear series and others, but it unfortunately does not reach its lofty goals.
Metal Gear Rising is actually a fun game at times. It trades the stealth-oriented focus of the Metal Gear Solid games for an over-the-top, action-packed hack-and-slash experience found more commonly in the Devil May Cry and Bayonetta series. When it’s at its best, Metal Gear Rising can be fun to play. The slicing mechanic it introduces may take some getting used to, but once mastered, it’s fun to slice and dice everything in your path. Other than that specific mechanic, however, the gameplay is unremarkable. You use combinations of light and heavy attacks, but with no real variety. If you’re not actively slicing enemies, you’re usually just hitting them with the same combination of attacks and mashing buttons until you can finish them off. The camera is also mostly uncooperative, and consistently struggles to keep up with the quicker enemies in the game. The game’s boss fights, though few in number, are varied and fun, and feature some of the more exciting parts of the game. It’s too bad that in order to get to each one, you have to progress down a completely linear path fighting bad AI enemies using the same moves over and over while battling a troublesome camera.
The gameplay missteps and quirks could be forgiven if the story tying it all together was compelling. This, unfortunately, is not the case. Right from the beginning, Metal Gear Rising makes it clear that it’s not meant to be taken seriously. Only it wants to be taken seriously. Bosses will spew minutes of dialogue about war, morality and other topics common to the Metal Gear series. It’s just hard to consider it all on a deeper level when the person speaking has a horrific accent. Metal Gear Rising doesn’t feature a complete cast of characters so much as it does a cast of caricatures. Characters speak in thick Russian, French, German, Spanish accents and are hardly developed beyond what they say and how they say it. The story also has difficulty pinpointing when it’s going to be serious and when it’s going to be lighthearted and silly. One minute, Raiden is climbing into a sewer wearing an oversized poncho and sombrero (an unlockable costume, mind you), and the next, you’re debating politics with a cyborg speaking with a thick Texan accent.
Despite the mostly terrible voice acting (Quinton Flynn does a serviceable job reprising his role as Raiden), Metal Gear Rising sounds great. The sound effects are explosive, but it’s the music that stands out the most. Featuring a combination of electronica, dubstep and heavy metal, the music injects a lot of energy into the game and really accentuates the more action packed moments in combat. Metal Gear Rising looks only average; you’ll notice some ugly textures here and there, but nothing that detracts from the overall experience. It does, however, run smoothly in spite of the many particles and body parts it packs onto the screen which is important for a game as fast paced and action packed as this one.
Metal Gear Rising is a bold and ambitious project. It isn’t afraid to take risks when it comes to the established formula for Metal Gear games. It does some things in terms of gameplay really well; it’s just a shame the story and the rest of the game surrounding it don’t reach the same standards. If it were just a straightforward action game, maybe the weak story, goofy dialogue and horrendous voice acting would be forgiven. Instead, Metal Gear Rising wants you to both take it seriously and not seriously at all, and it struggles because of this. Metal Gear Rising Revengeance could have been a blast, instead it became a chore.
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