Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (MGRR) was Hideo Kojima’s, famed director behind the Metal Gear series, first foray into the hack and slash territory with a Metal Gear game. It follows the exploits of Raiden as he worked as a bodyguard in Africa a few years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4. This jarring introduction would have probably confused many newcomers to the series, given the weight of history behind the series. This article will focus entirely on the story of the game, and while PlatinumGames created the gameplay, Kojima Studios still supplied the story. Any faults with the story should thus lie with them. Here are 5 reasons the story of MGRR sucks.
5) Undermines Previous Games
For a game that should have brought a new breath of fresh air to the Metal Gear series, MGRR surprisingly relied a lot on the exploits of the older games, namely MGS4. Granted, the game does take place after MGS4, but it could of brought a whole new spin on the world. As it is, all the problems of war resurface and the impact of the fall of the Patriot system gets undermined. The scale of the game tried to be global, just like MGS4, but it would have been better suited to be a lot more contained, with more realistic villains that don’t want to start yet another World War. Cyborg technology also ends up being practically everywhere around the globe. What was a niche part of the series has now gone over the top.
4) Terrible Child Soldiers Plot
Now, don’t get me wrong here. The main plot of utilising child soldiers as, well, soldiers is a decent concept. In our world today, there are still children being taken advantage of and being turned into soldiers. The game even managed to bring a twist into it, by harvesting the brains of children to implant them on cyborg bodies. The problem arises however when the people behind this, the bosses you fight, try to justify these actions. Metal Gear games have owed a lot of their successes to memorable bosses. MGRR tries to do the same by humanizing the bosses that have committed such a heinous atrocity. It would have been much better to leave those bosses as psychopaths willing to do anything for their ultimate goal but instead, the game tries to justify their means. This shatters the story as the bosses have no hope of redeeming themselves, as hard as they try to.
3) Jack The Ripper?
The return of Jack The Ripper felt bland. Jack The Ripper was supposed to be a traumatic past that Raiden hides away, but his return doesn’t change much of anything. Raiden still has some semblance of control over his evil persona, and for the most part, still acts as normal as usual. There are only some minor differences. You get the feeling this concept was meant to be expanded upon in a sequel or something. It doesn’t do much for MGRR.
2) Terrible Final Boss
Easily one of the worst final bosses in Metal Gear history. For some reason recent games (DmC) want to cash in on American politics and create this obnoxious red-neck American as a boss. His motivations are lame and his character is lame too. From the looks of it, if a random senator can be the final boss of a Metal Gear game, then what next? Some random kid from Guyana? Oh wait…
1) Disconnect Between Story And Gameplay
I don’t tend to hate on games that can’t seamlessly connect gameplay with story. I’ve never really been annoyed that you couldn’t revive Aerith with a phoenix down for instance. That didn’t take away from the moment for me. Granted, you can explain the difference between a KO and death in that situation, but either way, I don’t tend to judge a game by how it connects the gameplay with the story. Heck, MGS4 did a good job at that. MGRR however, doesn’t; and it is really noticeable and destroys immersion. Such moments include villains who kidnap a hostage, don’t kill said hostage straight-away, but kill him 5 minutes later for no major reason (unless you want to argue he was scared of those chasing him, which just makes me laugh more). Raiden will also befriend a robotic dog, who he earlier cuts down into nothingness. The biggest disconnect though comes from the final boss. Raiden is able to withstand so much damage even at 0.1% health remaining, only to essentially WTFPWN the final boss a few minutes later. Disappointing.
And these are just 5 reasons I’ve listed. I’m recalling a few more I could list here too. I’ll leave it at that for now though.