Developer/Publisher: Platinum Games/Konami Released: February 2013

Played on: PS3 (also available on 360, PC)

Waging a personal war against a private military company that is trafficking human children to extract their brains to use in their cyborg creations, our hero Raiden must hack and slash his way through a slew of robots and technologically enhanced humans, hacking at just the right angle so that he can extract useful parts and supplement his own Cyborg systems with them so that he is ready for his final battle with a United States Senator. Oh and at some point along the way he gets a sweet pet robot wolf.

Revengeance has the same batshit crazy plot and character traits that make the previous Metal Gear games so memorable. The series’ trademark verbose philosophising on the military-industrial complex is intact here, and the subject matter treads uneasily between the serious tragedies of child soldiers and the preposterous cold-hearted villains that represent the most exaggerated forms of warmongers possible. It’s all held together with classic Metal Gear melodrama and a keen sense of humour.

Where Revengeance diverts drastically from previous titles in the series is its total abandonment of stealth gameplay. Sure, you can try to be stealthy and you’ll even get the classic warning exclamation marks above enemies’ heads, but it’s used for parody rather than a genuine warning. Revengeance is a proud third-person hack and slash action game that rewards you for destroying absolutely everything you can. This is the first game I’ve played by Platinum Games who have an excellent reputation for action games, and the remarkable combat system on show here is clear validation of that reputation. You can button mash to your heart’s content, slashing away with Raiden’s powerful blades, but true satisfaction is derived from the Zandatsu technique where time slows down and you manually direct the blade carefully to expose useful parts of your enemies’ cyborg tech that you can then snatch and claim as your own. The combat throughout the game is streamlined and smooth yet sufficiently complex and challenging – a totally satisfying, fast-paced system.

In keeping with Metal Gear tradition, Revengeance features uniquely bizarre and awesome villains and boss battles. While there are some great ones in this game, including the super-cool Jetstream Sam who you have a classic Samurai showdown with in the desert, the game’s greatest boss battle is its final one. Revealing that you fight a US Senator and Presidential candidate is only a minor spoiler, he starts the battle piloting an enormous Metal Gear mech, but as the battle progresses it becomes exponentially more insane and totally thrilling, interspersed with melodramatic exposition and a surprisingly insightful appraisal of modern American society. Easily one of the most epic boss battles ever and a fantastic climax to the game.

Revengeance is a fast-paced and tightly structured action game, a brave move for an IP known more for its careful stealth mechanics. The constant sense of adrenaline is underpinned by a fast paced industrial-thrash-rock soundtrack that is at times so overbearing it becomes hilarious, although I’m not sure whether that was the intention. The single player campaign is all I was interested in, and it is quite short. Had I paid full price for the game (was a PS+ title) I might have felt slightly ripped off, but the game is thrilling enough to forgive.

Verdict: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance might confuse those who aren’t fans of the series, but will absolutely delight with an outstanding combat system and fantastic graphics.

Should Bradley play this: Probably not, I don’t think he’s played any other Metal Gear games and this probably isn’t the best way to be introduced to them. Still, its great fun and if you want some brilliant looking hack and slash time maybe give it a try.