this game is as fun as that thing is teal. or blue. or whatever color it is.

There were plenty of games at this year’s E3 that had questions surrounding them. Of the games actually at the show, there were few others that had as many question marks as Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. With the game being in development hell and handed over to a new development team, how would it look? How would it play? Would it be in shambles? Would it ever release? Having played the game, I can confidently say that it’s in good hands with Platinum Games.

The demo I played through was more or less the tutorial level in which the game teaches you the various mechanics you’ll be using throughout. Revengeance has the typical Platinum Games’ action flair and fluid controls, but also introduces a few unique mechanics for the game. The first of these being Ninja Run. By holding the R1 button Raiden will start sprinting and have the ability to deflect incoming bullets and scale obstacles. You can use this to either jump up high walls or run over smaller objects like cars and boxes.

The second of these mechanics is called Blade Mode. If you’ve been following Revengeance you’ll know this free cutting mechanic is the main idea behind the game. Essentially you’re allowed to cut just about anything in the levels, including enemies and environmental objects. This is done by holding down the L1 button (which slows down time) and you can slice away by aiming with the left analog stick and cutting with the right. It may sound a bit odd, but it controls so beautifully once you try it out.

Being a fan of Platinum Games, I was fairly confident that they would do an awesome job with this game. That being said, I was not prepared for how much Revengeance blew me away. Your game can have awesome graphics, a great story, and nice music, but at the end of the day I play video games to have fun. As many great games as there were at E3, there was no other game I had more fun playing than Revengeance. The controls were silky smooth, the action was fluid, the new mechanics worked really well, and I didn’t want to stop playing. They literally had to make me leave because I wouldn’t stop playing.

I won’t describe the demo in detail, as you can watch the very demo I played above. However, I will share my one concern for the game, which is that I feel it’s going to be too short. I beat Vanquish in about 5 hours, and Bayonetta doesn’t take much longer at around 6-7 hours. While you can’t measure quality by hours played, I’d like to get at least 8 hours from the main campaign, if not also a few extra modes. This might sound odd for an action game, but I would actually really enjoy a horde mode. Endlessly slicing waves of enemies into pieces sounds like a blast to me.

this guy better wipe that stupid grin off his face…before i cut it off!

One other thing, I would take my opinion with a grain of salt. I’ve never played through any Metal Gear Solid game (blasphemy!), so I don’t really have any strong feelings one way or another concerning this being spin-off. However, as a huge fan of action games, I will say this game is a total blast and brings something new to the table. If you’re looking for a game with pure action, amazing controls, and a little something different, then you won’t be disappointed.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance will release in early 2013 for Xbox 360 and PS3. What are your thoughts on the game? Are you excited? Is this a disgrace to the Metal Gear series? Share all your thoughts and comments with us below.

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