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Preview: Metal Gear Solid: Revengeance

I recently had a chance to trial the latest build of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, far different than the last that I’d played at E3.

Whilst I commented last time that Revengeance feels like a Metal Gear title — albeit with an emphasis on crazy cutting-stuff-up action instead of stealth — this latest build feels even more like it’s taking place in Kojima’s cherished, ultra-established world.

The tutorial level that I played at E3 – that took place on a beach — has been replaced with an VR arena, straight out of Metal Gear Solid 2. It’s there that you learn to slice and dice, and even though the lessons are much the same as the ones on the beach, it gets you into the Metal Gear mindset much quicker.

After you’ve learned the ropes (ie figuring out that it’s best to slash Raiden’s sword with quick-flicks of the right stick rather than keeping your thumb on it and swishing it constantly), you are treated to a cut-scene before arriving at that (now) all-too-familiar beach.

Did I mention the cut-scene is Metal Gear-like, in that it’s overly-long? Well, it is. Fans should definitely feel at home.

The beach is now a normal level of the game, and one that I’m assuming comes first as you’d play through the retail version of the game. Raiden reponds to controls wonderfully; using his Ninja run just to fly around the level (figuratively, of course) is great fun in and of itself. Holding that trigger lets you wallrun and scale up obstacles with ease… I wish free-running in Assassin’s Creed felt as satisfying as it did in Revengeance.

The core of Metal Gear Rising is basically hacking and slashing at enemies — so it could get old after a couple hours. The sheer enjoyment of slowing down time to carefully (or not) dissect your enemies should counter that problem, hopefully.

The game? It’s hard. I took down a ton of bad guys, plus several Gekko mechs (which made their first appearance in Metal Gear Solid 4) and just barely survived. The boss of the sequence was that cat-like mech with a chainsaw for a tail… and, well… it utterly destroyed me. I tried a second time and came very close to beating it, but still no dice. I feel like I would have taken it the third time, but I ran out of preview time to confirm.

Now, don’t get confused – the game is hard, but it’s not frustrating. I was rushing myself a bit, but I could clearly see there were patterns to learn when it came to that boss… so it won’t be impossible to play through the title.

The one thing that WAS frustrating with the build was its camera. As I was getting up-close-and-personal with a Gekko, I clicked-down on my right stick to slow time and plan my cutting angels to do away with my foe. If I got too close to the hulking beasts, the camera went a bit crazy and I ended up missing altogether. At times, I was Ninja running so awesomely that the camera also struggled to keep up with me. Hopefully this is something that is addressed before the game’s release next year.

All up, Revengeance is one to be excited for! Look for it in February 2013 on Xbox 360 and PS3.


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About the author

Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.