Originally announced back in 2009 Metal Gear Rising has walked a bumpy road of expectation and presumed cancellation. It’s now back on track with a 2013 release date. The story which will be non-cannonical to the rest of the Metal Gear series sees robo-ninja Raiden go up against all manners of cyborg and human enemies, in a game that is all about lightning fast reflexes and proving the sword is mightier than the 50. cal machine gun. Stealth is out, straight up stabbing dudes in the face is in.
With this in mind we have 5 things that we’d like to see when we finally set out to once again take the world by storm, one sword stroke at a time.
1. Cameos and a Self Contained Story
Metal Gear Rising is not Metal Gear Solid, that much has been made clear. Most people probably caught on to that fact after Raiden had sliced his umpteenth bad guy up into itty bitty pieces, with not a care in the world. That doesn’t mean we can’t see a few familiar faces thrown into the story though. Rising might be a major departure from the Metal Gear franchise, but odds are it’s going to tie into the main arc in a few meaningful ways. It would be nice to see Snake or Otacon show up.
Speaking of the story, I do hope it’s a self contained, somewhat simpler affair. I mean simpler in a Kojima calm yourself kind of way. While the game is being developed by Platinum games, the people behind the brilliant Bayonetta and Vanquish, the story and cutscenes are being handled by Kojima Productions. You didn’t think Kojima wouldn’t be involved did you? However we need to avoid a Metal Gear Solid 2 situation, where sequels are needed to clear up hugely confusing questions. Keep it slick and simple. Personally I’m a little disappointed that the early version was dropped where we would find out what happened to Raiden between MGS 2 and 4. There is a chance these questions might still be answered though so fingers crossed. The game is not cannon, but some crossover or a few nods to past games would be nice.
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4 Comments
Just a few things:
1) This game is cannon.
2) Stealth is in the game (you can do a stealth run of the current demo).
3) There is not be any PlayStation Move or Xbox Kinect support for this game.
These are all points KP and Platnium have answers in interviews or shown in gameplay trailers
Yes this ain’t gonna be a badass mgs game but from what I’ve seen ( and read) the only thing that’s been taken out is the mgs and well i couldn’t care if itz a good or bad game I’d still get it cause itz Metal Gear.
In all honesty, if they thought about basing the game on a ninja type character I’m pretty sure Grey Fox would have been a much more interesting character to focus on.
It would have been awesome to follow his story – opening with him intercepting Solid Snake at Zanzibar Land, having a glorious battle scene then him going through his birth and gene therapy as Null and ultimately ending up as The Cyborg Ninja spying on Solid as he infiltrates Shadow Moses.
There’s literally a tonne of things they could explore here, and I think as the time of writing this…it’s a sadly missed opportunity.
Put it this way, who would make a more interesting character – Raiden…or Grey Fox?
My 2 Cents.
@Ryan: You sum it up perfectly.
Alternatively, you know what the MGS series needs? Remakes of the original Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. I’ve only really gotten into the series this year, and I can definitely say that the first game would have been a hell of a lot better had I understood more of the backstory of Big Boss, Gray Fox, and Solid Snake. I doubt many players today have played the original two Metal Gear games, and so by remaking them, it would provide a necessary addition to the franchise without adding on more complicated elements to the plot of the series.