Why We're Excited About 2013: Metal Gear Rising Revengeance

Jose Otero: Solid Snake fans should still have plenty of reasons to get excited for Metal Gear Rising Revengeance. It's true that MGR abandons the familiar in favor of the extreme -- with everyone's favorite Foxhound agent M.I.A. and missions that reward swift combat over stealth -- but with that transition comes a refreshing change of pace. Let's face it: How many times have you watched the acrobatic moves in a Metal Gear cutscene and silently wished had the chance to actually play along?

MGR gives players that opportunity and embraces the zanier side of the series' fiction. The story is set a few years after the events of MGS4 and follows Raiden -- the blonde-haired pretty boy turned badass ninja cyborg -- into a new career path as a member of Maverick Security Consulting, Inc. Konami and Kojima Productions might tell you they always planned on this zero-to-hero character arc, but fans will always remember the awkward Major Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov joke from MGS3.

Despite his problematic start as MGS2's bait-and-switch character, cyborg Raiden slices through his enemies with newfound confidence and powerful precision. It's clear that developer Platinum Games picked up the pieces of Kojima Productions troubled spin-off title and brought a tremendous amount of action expertise, with sequences that involve plenty of opportunities to cut things up and other off the wall ideas. Enemies. Metal Gear Gekkos. Even Bosses themselves can end up in pieces after a duel with Raiden and, surprisingly, this rinse-repeat cycle of cutting things rarely gets old.

In MGR, each swing of Raiden's vibrating blade feels satisfying and sets up acrobatic sequences that live up to Hideo Kojima's infamous cutscenes, but they also address another key concern: Maintaining health in the middle of big battles. Action games typically build up to intense combat scenarios, which sometimes lead to irritating moments later on. If you've played an action game in the last decade, then you already know what I'm talking about. The later segments transform the battleground into a minefield of sorts, the type where one wrong move can lead to a frustrating game over and a return to the last checkpoint.

But MGR offers something rare in the world of action games: a mid-battle refueling system that players can perform during a fight. Other games in the genre usually lean on special items to fill up the health bar, and present an awfully static way to heal up by comparison. In MGR, a weakened enemy will quickly switch to a blue color and signal that Raiden can slice his prey up in slow-motion. But if a player targets his torso instead, they can cut through, reveal the enemy's spine, and pull it out to refill their own health. It takes a little while to build up the required skills to pull this move off, but after an hour so, it becomes a crucial piece of MGR's core combat loop and one that will inevitably save you in the middle of a chaotic flurry of enemies.

Factor in cybernetic upgrades that further enhance Raiden's abilities and MGR might be one of the most versatile yet approachable action titles made by Platinum Games. While escalating odds (and enemy counts) certainly play a major part in its difficulty, MGR also empowers players with a fun, reusable way to stay in control of their health and, by extension, their durability in combat. It's a satisfying rush of creativity that also expands on the future world of Metal Gear. So what if Solid Snake has gone missing? There's still plenty of charm and future to tech to make MGR something for any fan.