Metal Gear Rising was an oddball game in the franchise that actually turned out well, and since I still don’t have new Metal Gear news to talk about we are going to talk about it!
10 years ago today Metal Gear Rising was released. It was announced in 2009 to be in production by Kojima, and even got a snazzy watermelon slicing trailer. Then later in 2010 the game was canceled, before being totally revamped in 2011 by Platinum games, and finally released in 2013. This was one of several major spin off titles of the Metal Gear Solid series that wasn’t directly directed by Hideo Kojima, but unlike Metal Gear Survive it was actually a pretty good game.
The original game was a little close to the Metal Gear formula, utilizing stealth action to get through the game. We would get to utilize the new perks Raiden picked up to bypass any and all enemies, or we could dive head first into slicing action. Platinum then changed the formula entirely to be a straight up action game filled with insane combat.
Platinum games was creating a name for themselves with this particular gameplay having seen success with Vanquish and Mad World. They would eventually carry on making stellar games, including the amazing Bayonetta, but MGS Rising seems to have suddenly left their plate. During the Taipei Game Show in 2015 a clear image of “2” with the same logo appeared on a PS4 sizzle reel, but nothing ever came of it. More recently the voice actor behind the game hinted that a follow up title was in the works in January, but again we have no new Metal Gear news to talk about.
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance followed the highly rated MGS4, which was a key title in the PS3 generation. It pushed boundaries in terms of visuals, and of course storytelling, but above all it was the ending to the saga. So it was interesting to see which direction MGS would go from there. It is not uncommon for MGS to head into the past to tell expanded stories on characters, and it wouldn’t be too terrible to see how Raiden went from an annoying, nearly unbearable, character in MGS2 to a straight up badass in MGS4. But instead we got to see some events that followed MGS4, and continued to see why Raiden is such a big part of the MGS universe.
Kojima’s studio had plenty of ideas on where to take MGS after MGS4, which included a story set on The Boss and The Cobra Unit, but that quickly panned into telling a story about Raiden. Initially the game was set as a mainline title with Raiden in the lead, but the studio couldn’t get the sword play done just right. After handing off the game to Platinum, Kojima maintained overseeing the plot and story so they fall in line with the lore, but the game is not officially canon to the “Solid” series anymore. Thus “Revengeance” was born and placed on the title.
The game had a cool collectors edition released with it that included an electric lamp, and GameStop had some neat pre-order bonuses that included 24 page art book. On PS3, Sony announced that the game would be playable in 3D, if you remember when that was a gimmick. Sony also had PlayStation 3DTV’s that used Rising as advertising. Also another cool, and strange, thing was Konami shipping Raiden’s severed arm to game press, with a live action teaser trailer for the upcoming game. Beyond that, and a few extended looks on the official website, Konami tried to stay tight lipped until that years E3 when the game was re announced.
Overall Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was well received by fans and critics, scoring around 80% in all reviews. It’s one of the few spin off titles where fans argue if it should be canon or not in the Metal Gear universe. And it’s an example of when Platinum Games were kings, and not making us suffer Babylon’s Fall. Honestly can someone call up Platinum and tell them we’d like to make Rising again?
