For many PC Gamers, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance marks a welcome return for Konami's popular franchise to the PC. But just as significantly it also marks the PC debut of Platinum Games, whose lunatic brilliance shone in titles like Vanquish and Bayonetta.
So how does Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance stack up to those titles, while shouldering the weight of the cumbersome Metal Gear Franchise? In fact it stacks up rather well indeed, the excess and style of Platinum Games' creative vision is a good fit for the Hollywood-meets-anime styling of Metal Gear and returning hero Raiden has long since graduated from the effete disappointment of Metal Gear Solid 2, having since transformed into a ludicrously growly voiced cyborg ninja. Thanks to his range of swords and free-running ability he is actually fun to control. In a break from Metal Gear tradition, where characters usually perform amazing feats of physical endurance and strength in cut-scenes before reverting to fragile humanity when we actually get our hands on them, here the disconnect is less evident, with plenty of the game's spectacle being under our control.
The giant robot quota required of a Metal Gear game is suitably filled
In terms of actually playing Revengeance, it feels pretty much like a direct continuation of Platinum's work with the Bayonetta franchise, with bravura action sequences meeting an extremely robust combat system. Playing as Raiden you chain together attacks and combos using a mixture of light and strong attacks to wear foes down. A great deal of importance has been placed on the players ability to parry enemy attacks by using the right trigger and analogue stick. A well timed parry leaves a window of opportunity for Raiden to enter Zandatsu mode, where time slows down and you can control with precision the strokes of Raiden's sword, allowing you to cleave and chop your foes into a heap of blood and metal. It should be noted that while there is rudimentary support for playing Revengeance with a keyboard and mouse, it was designed with a controller in mind and the controls can feel a little alien and ill-fitting should you attempt to play without one.
The mechanics of combat are well executed and the game looks spectacular throughout. While it's unfortunate that the resolution of the game is capped at 1920x1080, the game still looks fantastic on PC running at a steady 60 FPS throughout on the mid-end machine used for this review. Zandatsu mode in particular feels a little like a technical marvel; what at first appears to be a gimmick, quickly becomes a tool for innovation and separates Revengeance from its peers like the stylistically similar DMC. Once you get past the initial hurdles to controlling Raiden you'll find yourself unleashing spectacular combos, dodging and parrying with precision before slicing your foes into wafer thin strips of meat. Executing the proper attacks even allows Raiden to restore his health, meaning you can flit from one encounter to the next pausing only to listen to the boring babble of the cast of supporting characters.
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