On the show floor of the Comic-Con International At San Diego, thousands of people are hustling their way through the aisles and into panels, shuffling to get their nerddom fix fulfilled. However, a couple of miles out at the W Hotel over on 2nD Ave, Konami had a much quieter venue in mind for its media-only gaming lounge, a nice place to kick back and have fun with some of their latest titles. The company had plenty of games on hand, including Pro Evolution Soccer 2013, Zone of the Enders HD Collection (can’t wait for that one), and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate. But the truly stand-out title? Metal Gear Rising Revengeance.
Platinum Games’ reboot of the long-running Metal Gear franchise shies away from Snake’s sneaky ways in the previous games, instead telling a spin-off tale of Raiden and his continuous need to chop stuff up with his lightning-empowered sword. Now, while that may irk long-running fans of the series, there’s no reason to really get hot and bothered, as the game makes up for its new direction with plenty of thrilling action. Honestly…when’s the last time you got to chop up a helicopter with a katana blade?
The demo that we got to try out was the same one that was featured previously at E3, taking place during the tutorial mission of the game, where your guide walks you through situations that introduce you to your slice-and-dice skills. The first thing you’ll see is a couple of pop-up targets right in front of you, and to start executing your quick chopping attacks, you’ll need to hold down the left trigger. This enables you to zoom in on your target in slow motion, and help align your slicing. From there, you’ll use the analog stick to line up your slice attack, which is known using a highlighted path for your sword once you hold a certain direction, and then you can move the analog stick quickly to finish the attack. At first, precision may not seem like a big deal, as you can easily jerk the analog stick around and get off multiple attacks on a target, cutting them to shreds. (This is especially true with the boxes and watermelons to the left of the targets.)
However, as you move on, you’ll see some targets holding hostages, which you’ll want to keep alive in order to avoid point deductions. You can do this, again, by setting up your precision slice so your sword impact doesn’t hit them, instead striking your target as intended. You’ll also notice little bullseyes on certain parts of these silhouettes. Hitting them actually earns you bonus points, so you might reconsider just running in and hacking away.
Oh, and on a side note, we found it humorous that there were some dudes sneaking around in cardboard boxes, Metal Gear style. We were able to run up and easily subdue them.
Along with precision attacks, Metal Gear Rising Revengeance also introduces some great combat combos you can chain together, both on the ground and in the air. This will allow you to daze most enemies, finishing them off with precision moves, and also do damage to bigger enemies, like the walker that hunts you down midway through the stage.
You’ll also learn to use quick-time events to your advantage during fighting. At times, little button prompts will pop up on the screen, and if you hit them at just the right time, you’ll be able to execute a special finishing animation, such as ripping out someone’s power cells and squash them right in their face, making them collapse to the ground.
Another technique you’re also introduced to is the Ninja Run. By holding down another trigger button, you can launch into a fast-moving sprint, which you’ll need to do while helicopters blast missiles at you, forcing the bridge you’re running on to collapse. After making a narrow escape from death (thanks to running and a quick-time sequence involving using your sword to avoid a fall into the water), we faced off against the helicopter, using a combination of heat-seeking missiles and good ol’ slicing. To be honest, using a sword is way more fun with bringing it down, as you can launch into a jumping attack and get in several attacks while it shakes around, dazed as if it were some sort of flying creature. And, of course, finishing it off by using its missiles as platforms and then using precision cutting to take out the blades, is fantastic.
The final scene highlighted an interesting battle against a larger creature…but then the demo came to an end. While it would’ve been nice to see where that fight took us, Konami did a splendid job with the demo. We’ll have more reports on this game in the months ahead, leading up to its 2013 release for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
