Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Plot synopsis:
=== Setting and characters ===
The events of Metal Gear Rising are set in the year 2018, four years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4. The Patriots, a powerful shadow organization running the world's war economy, have been destroyed and Private Military Companies (PMC) have splintered into numerous factions. With the elimination of the Patriot-controlled nanomachine technology used to regulate soldiers' abilities, PMCs turn to advanced cyborg technology, creating durable superhuman soldiers. The player controls Raiden, a former child soldier turned into a cyborg that now works for the PMC Maverick Securities. Raiden is supported by his Maverick colleagues, Russian pointman Boris Popov, military advisor Kevin Washington, computer specialist Courtney Collins, and cybernetics expert Wilhelm "Doktor" Voight. Returning from Metal Gear Solid 4 is Sunny Emmerich, a child prodigy and friend of Raiden working at Solis Space & Aeronautics.
Rival PMC Desperado Enforcement LLC. serve as the game's antagonists; Desperado wants to destabilize peaceful nations and preserve conflict, allowing them to reap the financial rewards and technological advancements of the war economy. Desperado operative Samuel Rodrigues, also known as Jetstream Sam, serves as Raiden's rival with a conversation between the two in the beginning influencing Raiden. Sam is a member of a team of Desperado cyborg assassins named the "Winds of Destruction": Sundowner, Desperado's de facto leader, who wields "Bloodlust", machetes that combine in a large pincer, and who also has a set of reactive armor shields connected to his body; Mistral, the team's only female member, whose frame can support multiple additional arms, allowing her to wield her "L'Etranger" staff that she can use as a whip or halberd; and Monsoon, who uses dual sai called "Dystopia", can manipulate metal objects with magnetism, and can break apart his body into individual components while retaining control over each part through magnetism. LQ-84i, or Bladewolf, is a state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence (AI) housed within a quadruped robot who serves initially as Raiden's Desperado-controlled enemy, but is later reprogrammed to aid Raiden and Maverick. Additionally, a Colorado senator and potential Presidential candidate, Steven Armstrong, is involved in Desperado's activities. An additional member of the Winds of Destruction, Khamsin, appears as part of the Bladewolf DLC campaign. The game is a spin-off that is "not part of the Metal Gear Solid series", although it is considered part of the same canon.
=== Plot ===
While providing security detail in an unnamed African country for its prime minister, N'Mani, Maverick operative Raiden and his team are attacked by Desperado, a rogue PMC involved in terrorism. While Raiden fends off Desperado forces, their leader "Sundowner" manages to kidnap and execute N'Mani. Sundowner's comrade, Samuel "Jetstream Sam" Rodriguez, fights and defeats Raiden, severely damaging his cyborg body. Raiden survives, and Doktor later gives him a new black cyborg armor.
Three weeks later, Raiden infiltrates the breakaway nation of Abkhazia after learning that Desperado is leading a military coup there. He plans to capture Andrey Dolzaev, an extremist leading the Abkhazian forces, to force Desperado into standing down. Desperado anticipates the move and assigns a prototype AI designated LQ-84i to stop him. Raiden defeats LQ-84i in combat, and later has it rebuilt as an ally, naming it Bladewolf. He faces further opposition from Mistral, the commander of Desperado's forces in Abkhazia. After Raiden kills Mistral in combat, Dolzaev commits suicide by blowing up an oil tank he is standing on. Maverick assigns Raiden and Bladewolf to investigate a research facility in Guadalajara, Mexico. There, Raiden meets an orphan named George, and learns that George was at the facility to have his brain—along with the brains of several other orphans—surgically removed and shipped to the United States. He learns that Sundowner inspected the facility in the company of Senator Steven Armstrong, creating an alliance between Desperado and World Marshal, another PMC. They plan to condition the children's brains to become killers through VR training and place them inside cybernetic bodies to create new soldiers, similar to Raiden. Raiden rescues George and the unharvested orphans, and takes them to Doktor.
Raiden promptly resigns and with Bladewolf at his side, launches a one-man assault on World Marshal's headquarters in Denver, Colorado. Though he is no longer employed by them, Maverick unofficially approves of his actions and provides discreet support throughout. As he fights his way through the city's privatized police force and Desperado soldiers, Raiden becomes conflicted over those he has killed. The longer he fights, the more he starts regressing towards his aggressive child soldier persona, "Jack the Ripper", before finally embracing it when he encounters Sam and another operative named Monsoon. He kills Monsoon and infiltrates World Marshal's headquarters before locating and killing Sundowner in short order. There, he learns that Armstrong brought World Marshal and Desperado together to exploit Raiden's desire to avenge N'Mani's death. Armstrong used Desperado to distract Raiden while he carries out "Operation Tecumseh": a plan to assassinate the President of the United States during peace negotiations with Pakistan to ensure another War on Terror.
While Doktor recovers the children's brains, Raiden seeks help from the Solis company to reach Pakistan in time to stop Armstrong. He encounters Sam on the way and the pair engage in a final duel from which Raiden emerges victorious. At Solis, Sunny helps Raiden travel to Shabhazabad Air Base in Pakistan, where he is attacked by Metal Gear EXCELSUS, a hexapedal tank piloted by Armstrong. He reveals that his true plan is killing US military personnel at the base as this is enough to agitate the American people. Armstrong, with his connections to the PMCs, would win any subsequent election in a landslide. This would give him free rein to realize his vision of a survival of the fittest society, fighting and dying only for what they believe in. Raiden destroys EXCELSUS, but discovers that Armstrong has augmented himself with nanomachines that give him incredible strength and near-invulnerability, destroying Raiden's blade. Bladewolf intervenes and gives Raiden Sam's sword which allows him to kill Armstrong.
In the epilogue, Maverick receives approval to create a new cyborg staffing firm, allowing them to shelter the orphans' brains and potentially give them a chance at a better life, while George and Bladewolf go live at Solis with Sunny. Although Desperado is defeated and the brain-taking operation defunct, World Marshal remains in business. Afterwards, Raiden decides against rejoining Maverick, having resolved to fight his own war.

Tags: revenge, sci-fi

Review:
In The Name Of Metal Gear. Story: As far as Metal Gear games go there has always been some sort of story, usually a convoluted one involving Nukes and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (From here on MGR) is no exception to this.Taking place four years after the events of MGS4, the game revolves around Raiden and his return to the battle field as a cyborg ninja. The actual story is as you would expect somewhat convoluted confusing at times, especially on a first play-through, but thats not the problem here. The actual time it takes to finish the story and game is somewhere between five and six hours. This is quite short for a full Metal Gear (From here on MG) game especially when your not skipping cut-scenes.Characters are introduced very quickly into the story, especially when it comes to the rivals in the game. E.g Two Rivals are introduced right before you fight them, two are seen but not actually met till right before the fight and two are met very early on in the game. Overall this isn't much of an issue as each one gets a cut-scene or two and explains their somewhat forgettable back-story (Not all forgettable) Its when you compare this to previous MG games where we usually meet and learn about rivals before hand, or we at least see and hear them speak. With that in mind the story and its tone and themes still fit in to the MG franchise quite nicely and it works as a MG game no doubt.Gameplay: This game unlike previous MG games is not exactly about stealth but its more hack and slash, but for any fans of stealth out there, there is stealth in the game. MGR controls quite well and the quick sword movements are quite fluid and the numerous combos you can use depend on your own choice of going simply with Raiden's blade or the secondary weapons which open up some slightly different game-play. Also included in game-play is the use of quick-time events. A lot of these are mandatory and some can be triggered depending on the moves you choose to use. Thankfully these are mostly used for taking down bosses or getting one up on a larger opponent, tho that is optional and isn't shoved in your face every five seconds. The inclusion of a First person blade mode is also quite a fun and unique feature, but can take some time to get use to if you choose to use the analog control( Which is more fun) over the buttons. The camera during play can be a little off at times and annoying causing you to maybe miss your target in a quick paced fight or results in you getting hit, however this really isn't a major concern.There seems to be some slowdown during game-play when you get a codec call. The real slowdown seems to be a loading issue with these calls, however it could just be my games console rather than the game. MGR has fun hack and slash game-play which is not something I usually go for.Presentation: Visually the game looks great, realistic and fits in perfectly with the rest of the MG series as one might expect.Soundtrack: The soundtrack is a fast paced rock and metal mix. Nearly every boss fight includes lyrics within the soundtrack. I personally had no idea what was being sung during these fights but it certainly upped the tension and overall feel of each battle. MGR's soundtrack works great within in the game but its not one I'd have on my ipod.Cast and Characters: The cast, with whom I'm not really too familiar with apart from Quinton Flynn who voiced Raiden in MGS2 and MGS4. Quinton Flynn delivers his lines perfectly along with the rest of the cast. Every character had a voice that suited them perfectly and none of them seemed out of place in any way.As noted earlier in MGR we are introduced to characters very fast, some of these characters seem interesting and have certain quirks about them, one is constantly moving a cup placed by another character so it won't be knocked over while another wants you to cut off and deliver the left hands of your enemies. Sadly we don't get to know too much about these characters and this game really is focused on Raiden. One great aspect of this is the fact that Raiden was a main character in both MGS2 and MGS4 so we don't need to learn his back-story all over again because we know it. There are a few times his past is talked about and his nickname of 'Jack The Ripper' is tossed around but its not in your face and we don't have to listen to Raiden whine about it constantly, or just whine in general (I'm looking at you MGS2)One problem with the quick introduction of characters is that bosses are introduced and then we fight them, they get a cut-scene to babble on about some stuff but we don't see any growth with them. Its as if some of them were born had something happen and then were in a coma up until this point in time. One other thing to note about the characters and especially Raiden is some of his actions, I wont go into detail on this but just think of it as, saying one thing and doing another. On the topic of characters overall there are two returning characters from the previous game one is Raiden and the other you will know when/if you play for yourself.Final Thoughts: The game is very enjoyable, high speed hack and slash with plenty of extras to collect, if thats your kind of thing, mine personally is PS3 trophies of which there are 51 set across, I believe 5 difficulty settings from Easy up to Revengence.Score:8/10. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (2013). Presentation : 8Story : 7Direction : 8Gameplay : 9Graphic : 7Score : 7.8 "Don't miss!". I haven't played Solid but this is amazing!. Where do I begin with this? Metal Gear Solid is one of those franchises that if you haven't heard of it then you've either been living under a rock for 20 years or you're so disconnected from playing stealth games that you don't know about it's most popular franchise. I thought this would be the best place to start because I've heard different things about the series, most of them glowing but also with a few different complaints such as the plots getting convoluted towards the end. I decided to instead go for the hack 'n' slash because I'm more accustomed to those games than stealth and by god! I'm buying the original MGS as soon as I see a copy if it's as good as this.The plot is that Raiden, a cyborg ninja (who's design makes him look like he's wearing stilettos... Weird!) fails to protect a head of state from other cyborgs when the region was actually going pretty well all things considered. Raiden loses an arm and an eye in the mix so he's given a better body and stops the terrorist group from destabilizing regions to profit from the wars.If there is a single complaint with this game it's when Raiden suffers from PTSD for all the lives he's taken. There's nothing wrong with the scene but he goes from PTSD, flipping out and when he goes back to normal he's perfectly fine with cutting people into hundreds of pieces... What?! I haven't left anything out this is seriously how it's played out. I really think the game would have been stronger if this scene wasn't played at all.Okay, now to talk about the fun stuff. Blade Mode. If this doesn't become the norm for hack 'n' slash games or attempts are made then I'm giving up on the genre. It is so fun to either be precise with where to cut or just going insane with the mode. Either way, for that alone, this is worth getting. I also really REALLY love the first and final boss fights, right off the bat the first boss makes you feel like a complete badass, the final one (at least until things change) is so good as well, I seriously recommend it. The story as well, while it's weak in a lot of places I enjoyed it and while I hate the PTSD scene I love it bringing up themes of war and such. You'd think with the goofier things that go on in the game that it bringing this stuff up would be whiplash in tone but it's played out perfectly. That is ridiculous! Especially considering this is the game where you can leap frog missiles in one section.I'd say this is worth getting. Yes it's goofy, yes - it might not be as good as solid but with Blade mode alone I would seriously recommend this game if you want the feeling of having an unbreakable blade by your side. I'll also say that it might be a little too short for some people's liking - I managed to beat the game in 3 days but I think regardless this is worth renting at least!. Different than the ones before it, and for a good reason. Let me just state that though I'm familiar with Metal Gear series, I've only played MGS4, MGRR and the prologue demo Ground Zeroes. Let's get to the point then...Set couple of years later after the events of MGS4, Raiden aka Jack is now a cyborg ninja employed under a private security company. War economy has ended after the fall of the Patriots AI, but many private military companies are still fighting and now using cyborgs. Raiden gets brutally defeated after failing to protect the prime minister during a simple mission which of course goes awry and gets a new body.The story focuses on Raiden's efforts to stop the ones responsible and his morality which is basically hypocrisy as he considers himself a sword of justice and talks loudly about it, but is still "Jack the Ripper" who loves killing as pointed by the bosses in the game. The scene where Raiden sheds it all and confesses to becoming Jack again is powerful but slightly cheesy. Many characters are present but the story is rushed (no long cutscenes) and the only memorable characters for me were the boy who is saved by Raiden, the Doktor, Jetstream Sam aka the guy who defeated Raiden brutally in the beginning of the game and taunts Raiden the most and Sonny who is grown up and is a machine genius. The story length is about 5-6 hours which is somewhat short but decent enough.The gameplay is totally different from the previous games, where stealth was the key to success. Now you as a cyborg ninja rely on your sword and awesome moves and weapons to finish the task. The game is all hack and slash but with a few stealth elements thrown in, noticeably the return of the all mighty cardboard box and drum roll, which I didn't like because they don't fit in perfectly and there is no reason to use them. But the slow motion Blade mode where you strategically dismember the enemies and steal their life force and the later unlocked Ripper mode aka the rage mode are pretty cool. Even there is a training mode, there is no survival mode.The boss fights are amazing and even though it's hack and slash, each boss fight feels different and more dangerous as you mix and match tactics and weapons to defeat them. After defeating each boss you gain their weapons (pretty much like MGS4). The best boss fight for me would be against Jetstream Sam, the Sundowner and the final boss fight against the Senator who transforms into Broly the Super Saiyan without the hair (just kidding, but he does become monster like).The graphics are pretty good but the PC port is bad because even if you change the resolution and frame rate according to your system, you have to lower those because certain boss fights don't progress, which is pretty weird and irritating (especially the final boss fight which is pretty good, but gets hampered due to such issues). And I'm not the only one with the issue.The soundtrack fits the atmosphere perfectly and especially during boss fights but its not something I would download for listening again.To summarize, the game is worth your time if you want a decent story and great gameplay. The only reason I give this 8/10 is due to the graphics issue on PCs and no survival mode.