Fact Check: Metal Gear Revengeance Edition

 
Konami first announced ‘Metal Gear: Revengeance’ a few years ago, since then there have been a lot of rumors, announcements and even a change in development teams but Raiden is determined to make his way into your Xbox 360 and PS3. 
 
Metal Gear: Revengeance is an entirely new gameplay system for Metal Gear, although some aspects of the ‘stealth gameplay’ still exist, Metal Gear: Revengeance is ment to be a fast-paced, engrossing action-game.
 
Housed within the classic Metal Gear universe, the story once again focuses on the Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty protagonist named Raiden. In Metal Gear: Revengeance, the player is set three years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots . The Patriots have been beaten, the power vacuum that was created with their removal causes separate ‘Private Military Companies’, or PMC’s as they are known in previous games, to fight each other for power. In order to win, PMC’s begin using cyborg technology, a single peace-keeping PMC named ‘Maverick Security’ leads Raiden into battle and it’s up to him to put an end to their private wars. Now that is just the backdrop of course, it wouldn’t be a classic Metal Gear game with a dozen or so sub-plots going on at the same time. Kojima and PlatinumGames also have confirmed that Raiden’s past will be a key factor in the plot.
 
The gameplay of Revengeance has been the main focus of fans since the announcement of the game. Not the familiar stealth-action game, Revengeance aims to create a new set of tools for you to use as you control the Cyborg-Raiden. To give you an idea on the new gameplay format, we can take a look at the trailer shown just before E3 2012 this year.
 

 
As you can see Raiden’s ‘high-frequency katana blade’ is the main, but not only, weapon at Raiden’s disposal. Kojima Productions and Platinum Games both worked hard to deploy the ‘ZanDatsu cut mechanic’, which allows players to take advantage of the “an all-encompassing cutting plane in real time” or as Kojima puts it, “cut anything, anytime, anywhere”. Now of course this isn’t too literal, you can’t just cut a whole through anywhere in the game and make yourself a portal to the end of the level, though the cut-mechanic is extremely versatile. Players can enter “blade-mode”, which allows players a game-mechanic to slice in precise lines. You can execute these sensitive motions by entering into a instance where time is slowed, or you can use the free-wielding ability to quickly slash through enemies or objects.
 
Let’s talk precision, without it the game becomes a button-mashing, hack-and slash; with precision comes a connection to the character. With the blade-mode you can disarm enemies, free-hostages and disable opponents. That is something that would require a quick-time event or a “simple button-tap when available” in your typical slash-game. That is not what you get in Revengeance.
 
Stealth hasn’t been completely removed from the game either, which you could see from the video above as Raiden gingerly takes out an enemy soldier from the rooftop and from behind a column. What you may not be prepared for is the speed in which this game is played, Raiden is a cyborg-infused, meta-human with immense powers and a laundry list of attacks and combos to master. Enemies have enhanced AI capabilities and the Gecko’s and other Cyborg’s you face will be just as ruthless.
 
You can check-out the latest batch of screens from ‘Metal Gear: Revengeance’ below. The game is scheduled to hit PS3 and Xbox 360 in ‘early 2013′.