Metal Gear, the most acclaimed stealth series in all of gaming, has a long history of being good (at least according to those that care about stealth) and weird. Having not played any of the previous Metal Gear games I was in a pretty strange position going into Revengence. I knew to expect long cutscenes and an odd America based story with heavily Japanese styled story telling and dialog. I knew to expect cardboard boxes and at least some element of sneaking up on people.
However, since this game was mostly developed by Platinum Games(Bayonetta, Vanquish-and if you count their time as Clover Studios-Viewtiful Joe and Okami) I expected something a bit different from your Solid Snake led Kojima mind-fu**. I think Platinum successfully blended the two ideas well, but things could have gone smoother.
Revengence is a hack and slash in the vein of games like Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, or God of War. Raiden wields a sword that not only is the main weapon but also the crux of nearly the entire game. The big gimmick that supposed to set Revengence apart from other sword based games is the ability to cut anything and everything. You may not be able to cut “everything” but it does make good on the promise to a point. There is a lot of damn stuff you can cut.
The real gimmick comes in when you activate blade mode. Blade mode allows you to cut basically anything from a nearly first person perspective. When activated, the camera whips around to just over Raiden’s shoulder and you control the slices that he makes with the analog stick. If the mechanic were to stop there it would remain a gimmicky and pointless feature, but Platinum has done a great job making this analog slicing a functional and necessary portion of the game.
The incentive to use this feature comes when enemies start to show weakness in certain parts of their bodies. In blade mode, Raiden is able to slice arms and legs off enemies significantly weakening them and during certain sequences it also offers a finishing move that if performed properly completely restores Raiden’s health and energy. When in a pinch, being able to slice your way to full health can be a savior. In this reviewer’s opinion, the unique blade mechanic saves this game from being just another slasher with too steep a learning curve.
Ah the learning curve.A blog on the GeekyInc website says that there is no block button and there is no parry button. That’s really unfortunate for a game the relies so heavily on blocking and parrying. To block you must point Raiden in the direction of an attacking enemy and press the light attack button at the right time. If it sounds unnatural it’s because it is. I am so used to having an easy way to block and catch my breathe that this active parrying system that is in essence just a timed anti-attack system was so foreign to me I simply couldn’t do it.
The tutorials for how to use this feature aren’t that great and getting used to it takes at least half the game. However, it isn’t until about halfway through the game that it becomes absolutely necessary for you to survive. So, what that leads to is a breaking point about 3/5th of the way through the game where you are getting your ass handed to you relentlessly until you master the art of the block.
This makes the game infinitely harder than it actually is. Once you break that wall down and understand the combat system, enemies fall apart at the sight of your blade, but until then, especially during the bosses, Revengence will seem impossible to complete. Does that make it a bad game? No, its just not a well communicated game. Most of the rest of the game is straight forward with items being basically optional and collectibles being strewn around the world. The boss fights are interesting enough and the story has a self importance to it that most game stories don’t have. Its not bat-sh** crazy like other Japanese developed games cough-Bayonetta-cough but its very obvious that no one in the states made it.
One of my biggest complaints is the art design of Raiden specifically. I know he’s a cyborg and that’s what to expect from an anime inspired cyborg, but was Kojima not comfortable with ANY of Raiden’s traits being subtle. From his carefully groomed spiky hair, to the patch over his eye, to his terminator style jaw, to his giant metal cod-piece, looking at Raiden is a chore. Slow it down man, the more you iterate on him the dumber he looks, sometimes less is more and most of the time more is less. The rest of the characters have a similar disgusting over the top design to them but I expect that from enemies. Raiden should be relate-able and at least a cool looking. Homie has teeth ON his face, not in his mouth, but ON his face. Part of his face is teeth, there’s just something wrong with that.
Visually, Revengence looks great and runs smooth. The music is a bit weird. Rather than being orchestrated like a typical game it sounds like Platinum took actual songs with lyrics and used them in the action sequences. It helped accentuate the Japanese feel of the game, but at times in the heat of battle, it was a bit distracting. It should also be noted that the loads are hidden extremely well. It is a linear experience with alot of cut scenes, most of which are skipable, and not once was the load time between sections an issue. I say this because I am very quick to point out when a game has bad load times (Assassin’s Creed 3/Need or Speed Hot Pursuit) not enough games get mentioned when they get it right.
Revengence was as surprising as it was frustrating. Three different times I almost put the game down to never come back to it. Considering there’s only about 4.5 hours of actual game play, that put me wanting to quit nearly every hour and a half. I didn’t quit, and I’m glad that I didn’t. It turned into a satisfying experience. Much like drinking beer, Revengence is an acquired taste that at times will leave you on your ass, but once you figure it out good times will be had.
Verdict: I don’t know how it compares to other Metal Gear games, but I would say its worth the trouble if you have the patience to learn how to properly play it.
