An analysis of MGR

1/27/13 3:42pm

After my analysis of DmC Ive got both positive and negative criticisms to it, defiantly room for improvement. At the time Metal Gear Rising got the same treatment as DmC, and despite my delaying this analysis for months, arguments over it are still at large. So now finally, after so long, we can now give Metal Gear Rising a proper analysis. I will leave no stone unturned, I will present every argument for the game, and even re-evaluate the previous analysis I have been making for the past few weeks. Beware blind followers and haters, In the next 15 minutes of reading this, I will be your worst enemy.

It's time for Jack... TO LET IT RIP!

DAMN-IT!

Not yet Raiden...

Development History

Just a brief history lesson for those who don't know. You'll see why I put this up later.

-Shortly after MGS4
The idea of a game around Raiden in between MGS2 and MGS4 is brought to Kojima and development for MGS:R starts. Kojima stays out of development to allow the team to advance on their own

-06/01/2009
[1]
-Initial trailer for "Metal Gear Solid: Rising, Lighting Bolt Action

-06/14-18/2010
[2]
-New trailers and interviews over viewing how the game is action oriented
-Coined the term, "Zandatsu" being "cut and take". AKA: "Blade mode" to manually cut everything and anything at will.
-It's also noted that there will be stealth, but it of a "Predatory Stealth" rather than "Tactical Stealth" the main series is known for.
-There is also hinting of Raiden possibly going insane.

-09/16/2010
[3]
-Featuring more information about "Blade Mode"
-cutting on an individual bases
-realistic cutting physics even when moving
-2-stage attacks (being able to hit one object while keeping another in tact)
-not affecting every object
-Dwarf Gekko from MGS4 making an appearance

-06/03/2011
[4]
-No appearance at E3 2011, no new info

-09/16/2011
[5]
-TGS:2011, Rising still being worked on, picture of Raiden slightly bowing with a hardhat on ("apologizing for lack of info, we are still working on it"?)

-12/11/2011
[6]
-Name change to "Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance"
-Platinum games takes over as developer, producers are as of the trailer(correct me if I'm wrong) Yuji Korekado (kojima productions) and Atsushi Inaba (Platinum games)
-Noticeably faster pace, similar gameplay style to Bayonetta.
-Raiden referencing to his nickname "Jack the Ripper"

-12/14-15/2011
[7]
- In an interview (and documentary), Kojima reveals the team that worked on the original game was incompetent without a strong leader, and had to cancel it from lack of progress, particularly on trying to balance gameplay and stealth. It was then Kojima asked Platinum's assistance, and the rest is what you know of today.

Development Team(s)

Both companies and their games before working on MGR, but within 10 years.

Kojima Productions [8]
-MGS: 1,2,3,4 (including updated versions)
-MGS: Portable Ops(plus)
-Boktai series
-Kabutore series(?)
-Zone of the Enders 1 and 2

Platinum Games/Clover Studio [9] [10]
-Vanquish
-Bayonetta
-Infinite Space
-MadWorld
/
-God Hand
-Okami
-Viewtiful Joe series
-Devil May Cry series(not particularly Clover Studio, but quite a few workers particularly Hideki Kamiya worked on it)

CRITICISMS AND REBUTTALS

Now what does this all mean?

As deep and enjoyable gameplay has been for their previous games (which will no doubt will be the strongest aspect of the game), story isn't their strong points. As I said in my previous analysis of DmC, story is purposely on the back burner for Platinum/Clover Studios.

The Metal Gear series has always (except for Metal Gear 1 and 2) been story driven, and is the main focus (particularly MGS4, and I'll get more into that later). Although Kojipro (Kojima productions) is working on the story, Kojima himself is still keeping himself out of the development. The Kojipro team's (as Kojima has stated) incompetence, along with Platinum's history, may bring down the game's story, which is concerning.

Graphics and Animation

CRITICISMS AND REBUTTALS

The blue and orange color palette is pleasant to look at, and I personally think it looks well. However there are quite a few criticisms about the graphics, which I am assuming are lack of polygons in comparison to other games. There are some obvious polygon edges, but nothing of "looks like PS2 graphics" but to be honest, I don't know how to properly judge this, I think anything with a good art direction infinitely looks better than having 3 trillion polygons in the face alone.

So despite liking the art direction, I can't properly argue for, nor against it in graphics.

Lastly about the frame rate. Now I'm sure you're bound to refer to the article floating around, but there is a difference between 30 and 60 frames. When I've watched trailers and actually played the demo [14], and boy does a 60 frames of animations look buttery smooth... well that is if the FPS doesn't drop after cutting an object into over 150~ pieces.

Now there is one thing that is urking me though, In MGR Raiden has red bloo...

EDIT: Actually... it looks like that's been fixed. The game's boss trailer shows off Raiden with Oxycyte, AKA: White Blood, just like in MGS4. Before it was irking me for him to essentially limit his oxygen intake going back to normal red blood. But now I am glad they paid attention to that and changed it to be consistent with MGS4.

Audio

The Sound effects are good, and voice actors are average. Quinton Flynn returns for his role as Raiden, and seams to pull off being older and insane/cocky well. However other characters, like Boris and aptly named Doktor, are very cliche.

Speaking of Voice actors, Codecs are back, and they are honestly pretty cool to listen too.

Raiden and Kevin have a lot of personality in these codec scenes. I also like how Raiden references what Snake said in MGS2 at 2:02. Outside of that, in the demo his conversations with Boris shows off how sincere he is and has regret for what he has done. Doktor on the other hand... Let's just say Raiden get's audibly creeped out by what he said. But again, they have a lot of personality and are hilarious to listen to.

As for the music tracks...

You can recognize the first song belonging to the Desperato Mod Ray fight. The later song was found on the demo, which we can say for certain is Mistral's theme.

And form the Ray trailer, it looks like the the boss fights switch between verses depending on what is going on in the fights.

CRITICISMS AND REBUTTALS

Oh god yes, I LOVE thrash metal! *cough*

I understand that the music isn't like the traditional MGS style but given MGR's high action gameplay in comparison to MGS's methodical gameplay, I think it just fits the setting perfectly. When fighting Wolf, the tracks were adding more and more until at the end where the vocals kicked in, it really got my adrenaline going and made that fight all the more enjoyable.

Story

I think there is a full article on the wikia, but I don't want to spoiler myself. HOWEVER given the story trailers [12], it's of Desperado killing off N'mani, nearly killing Raiden, then continuing havoc in different areas of the globe. There is also a subplot of Raiden trying to understand his morality of PMCs and of his Jack the Ripper alter ego.

There is little of the story revealed so far beyond that.

CRITICISMS AND REBUTTALS

As I have said earlier, I am worried about the story aspect of the game considering Koji-pro (without Kojima) is working on the story with Platinum games, I am worried about Raiden's situation itself. Back at the end of MGS4, Raiden promised his family that he will be there for them. And yet having the game now be set 4 years later, he is out in war barren countries, working full time with a peace keeping PMC. I understand that given at the time, he is the most powerful character in the Metal Gear universe, and would be a great ally.

But what is the reason for going against what he promised his family? They really need to give a reason for this...

Edit: HO...LY... I don't know what to think of the new Detroit trailer [13]. For one thing, I am very curious as to how he ended up like that, what did he do to become a maverick and leave his group, What is so important in Detroit, and what will happen to him later? But on the other hand... What kind of liberties did they have with Raiden?

"I've read that only 1 in 50 soldiers can kill with zero hesitation, guess I'm a two percenter huh?" "Me though, I like it... a lot." "Next thing I know, I'm getting off to cutting guys to shreds"

Ok we get it, you don't need to tell us or yourself for that matter over and over again, but that isn't the biggest issue.

It's one thing to fight your inner demons... and another of being able to put fear in the dead eyes of that cyborg in Cyberpunk 2077. Not even Big Boss pulled off this off when he made Outer Heaven in Peace Walker. This is really out of character for him, and thus bringing concern. Why now of all times that he is becoming this way? Has he gone off the deep end and essentially become a mindless villain?

Gameplay (action)

I'm splitting this up between action, stealth, and a few other features, so I can handle them separately.

I think it's safe to say the gameplay is to a degree similar to Bayonetta, but the similarities end there. Unlike Bayonetta's main defense mechanic being dodging, MGR's is of Parrying. As Atsushi Inaba has said...

"The core concept behind the character in Rising is that Raiden is always moving forward. We don’t want him hiding, dodging attacks, or rolling away. We always want him to meet attacks head on and move into a combo. Even if he’s running towards enemies he is getting rid of bullets, even getting hit by them, but he is always moving forward. As a character, we didn’t want him to move back on anything. It was because of this direction of the character we went with this game design."-Interview with Spencer/Siliconera [15]

And of course the biggest part of the game, Blade Mode. AKA: Zandatsu "Cut and Take", Where you manually slice through multiple objects in range, if it is an enemy most of the time you can take their spine to restore energy. Another use of this is to sever their limbs forcing them to use their other hand, hop, or even crawl just like Ninja Gaiden 2.

CRITICISMS AND REBUTTALS

"Blade Mode is essentially a QTE every few seconds, breaking up the gameplay"
yes, this can be an issue, but with [16] at 16:19, you are not required to do blade mode every time. I personally enjoyed it as it can end fights much faster then normal, but that's just the demo, I honestly don't know how I will feel about it if I were to play the full game and do it for hours.

Now I did have some initial problems using it. Just using it to slice and dice into little shreds can be easily done by using the X and Y buttons (or square and triangle buttons on PS3), but precision cutting can be a bit difficult to pull off. Most of the time you and or the enemy are moving, so trying to get their spines is harder then it looks in videos.

"I can't cut through enemies like it would have been in the original trailers"
Previously not, but as someone pointed out on the video, now it looks like you can. But as a... for lack of a better term, "Devil Trigger". Another nod to this is where his blade mode and aura would normally be blue is now red. [13] (6:27)

"He went from destroying multiple Rays to one Ray"
Half right... In MGS2 Raiden fended off as low as (Normal) 6 Rays to (Extreme/European Extreme) 20 rays. However even with as many as 20 rays, it was always only 3 at one time. [18] In addition, unlike MGS2 standard Ray model, Desperado Ray [Mod] in MGR has...
+additional Shoulder machine gun pods
+HEMP missiles
+Retractable Blade on the right arm
+and a Laser Projector replacing it's Water Jet Cutter

So yes, he does go from 6-20 Rays to one Desperado Ray, but if the MGS2 Rays had the Desperado modifications, I sincerely doubt Raiden would have been able to fight off so many, or even be alive for that matter.

"Why did the cops switch form guns to stun batons for "deadly force"?"
A pistol isn't going to go through all of that cybernetic armor, In the demo it barely did any damage, and that was on normal. Besides, he is running around the place, not even your sharpshooter would be able to shoot him, much less his head, even less when he is cutting them while running. There are a few soldiers that use guns in the back lines, but electrical weaponry is the best option they have for a body full of machinery. [20] (2:45)

Gameplay (Stealth)

There is Stealth elements in the game, but instead of Sneaking Stealth like in previous MGS games, it has a focus on Predatory Stealth. To put in comparison, while Snake is being hunted, Raiden is the hunter, the cheetah after his dinner.

However until recently it has been limited to a mere "press X to assassinate" [16]. A recent trailer showed off the return of the cardboard box [19] (2:40), but in comparison to previous games, it isn't the MGS stealth that fans love.

Gameplay (miscellaneous)

And last but not least, you can purchase upgrades, however details on the upgrades aren't well known at the moment.

Otherwise though, it looks like they pulled everything they can to relate to previous MGS games, and the "feel" of the series.

-cardboard box in VR
-Jumping cat that can't be cut

-Reference to what Snake said in MGS2

-Raiden with sombrero "cameo"

I agree

-MGS4 and Grey Fox skins [21] (although DLC in NA, unlike in EU)
-No-Kill Wooden Sword [15]
-And last, but not least, having a Codec with Sunny

Conclusion

Now with all of this information, and given some criticisms and rebuttals on both sides of the spectrum, I hope you can create your own opinion of the game.

If you have any criticisms of your own for the game or this article itself, please comment I'll try my best to address it and be open to it. And thanks to TWOxACROSS for the harsh... but useful criticism. I hope this will be much better than before.

I'm getting bored, can I cut now?

Yes, yes you can now.

It's time for Jack... TO LET IT RIP!

And now, an abundance of sources for reference.
Have a good day.

BTW Screwattack, PLEASE fix the image resizing for pics and text when making blogs. they always revert back to their original size when I want them to be much smaller. Thanks.

» Tagged In: #analysis, #community showcase, #Jack the Ripper, #Metal Gear Revengeance, #Metal Gear Solid, #MGR, #raiden

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g1 DISCUSSIONS

darkhyrulelord

February 2, 2013 - 12:47am

Lots of great work up there Ataeru! I like how you talked about all the criticisms in your own thoughts. Personally, I think the game looks good......but I hope that Raiden isn't TOO overpowered.

Ataeru

February 2, 2013 - 2:25am

yeah, I agree, and thanks. I had hoped to do better this time around.

Ataeru

January 28, 2013 - 4:08pm

BTW SA, thanks for cleaning up and featuring the post.

AsaiNeroTran

January 28, 2013 - 12:40am

I'm disappointed in the lack of elaboration on parrying and how it's kinda shit.

Ataeru

January 28, 2013 - 4:04pm

whoops, double post...

Ataeru

January 28, 2013 - 4:10pm

Yeah, didn't see how others felt about the parry until after I finished this. I'll see if I can edit it still, but if not...

I too had some troubles with the parrying, I honestly didn't know even with the prompt how to do it until the blade wolf fight. It's a matter of doing a parry similar to fighting games like DOA or Soul Caliber. If you have enough experience with those games, you should get used to it quickly, however for those who don't, there will be difficulties performing it. However that's for a one on one battle, if more enemies are around you and you try to parry... all I can say is good luck, because you're more than likely to swing into a different enemy and will end up getting hit.

Kenshiro3

January 28, 2013 - 3:59pm

I thought it was really good... just that it takes a LOT of skill practice and perfect timing... you know like real parrying. What annoys me is how the lock on works. Its camera rather than character lock.

Kenshiro3

January 27, 2013 - 6:23pm

About Raiden/Jack's "personality change": There have been hints since his introduction that he may in fact have a split personality disorder. Raiden has been shown from the beginning to have a Borderline Personality Disorder with hints of a submerged split personality. This is evidenced in MGS2 when Rose talks about the time she saw his empty room & he completely flipped out on her. It's also hinted at when Solidus pointed out how much he had changed from the blood thirsty kid known as "Jack the Ripper" who loved killing & torturing, years ago. Its also HEAVILY hinted at in MGS4 like when they discuss how he "became a completely different person" after becoming a soldier again. If this is infact the case it would make a LOT of sense while also explaining a lot, like why he is so affraid of & detests combat/killing... even though he is EXCEEDINGLY good at it & cant seem to live without it. Much less what is going on here.

Ataeru

January 28, 2013 - 3:53pm

I understand, and I have noticed it a bit, but I thought he had it taken care of it. I really got to wonder why after so long after, while before getting support from his family and Snake that only now that he goes insane... Though now that I think about it, he did have so much happen to him over the years along with becoming a soldier again, that it could have just built up until it overcame him. I guess what you said makes sense.

Kenshiro3

January 28, 2013 - 4:03pm

Honestly I don't think it was ever truly dealt with... but even if it was there is always the chance of it resurfacing. And as you pointed out he is exposing himself to his personal "trigger" again. Given that it was only a matter of time before he relapsed.