Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Trailer & Preview

Saturday 21 July 2012

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Trailer & Preview

Developers        Platinum Games.
Publishers    Konami.
Directors        Kenji Saito.
Producers         Kojima Productions,Yuji Korekado,Hideo Kojima,Platinum Games,
                            Atsushi Inaba.
Designers         Yoji Shinkawa.
Writers           Etsu Tamari.
Series        Metal Gear.
Engine        Platinum Engine.
Platforms     PlayStation 3, Xbox 360.
Release date    Early 2013    .
Genres        Action, Hack And Slash.
Modes               Single-Player.
Media       Optical Disc, Download.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is an upcoming action video game under development by Platinum Games and produced by Kojima Productions as part of the Metal Gear series, to be released for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 consoles during early 2013.[1][6][7] A Microsoft Windows version was originally planned by Konami Productions, but it was rumored to have been cancelled since December 2011.[8][9] Set several years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the story will focus on the former agent Raiden who is to be encountered by cyborg enemies while aiding in the rebuilding of an unknown country.[10]

The game was originally announced during 2009 as Metal Gear Solid: Rising an interquel set between the events of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots following Raiden's transformation into a cyborg produced solely by Kojima Productions.

As the game was about to be cancelled due to difficulties in developing it, it was reannounced in late 2011 that Platinum Games would develop the game as Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, removing the stealth elements to be used in the original game. The game's setting has since been changed to give the Platinum staff more freedom in the making of the game. Nevertheless, the Kojima Productions staff is responsible for the game's plot and characters' designs.

Gameplay

Players assume control of cyborg ninja Raiden, the katana-wielding ally of series mainstay Solid Snake. Unlike previous titles in the Metal Gear series, Revengeance is strictly an action game, focusing on swordfighting and a sophisticated cutting system. The game's cutting system allows players to engage in third person melee combat, as well as precisely slash enemies and objects "at will" along a geometrical plane using a "free slicing" mode. Virtually any object in the game can be cut, including vehicles and enemies, though elements of the environment were intentionally limited to structures such as pillars and walls to better facilitate gameplay.[14] The free slicing mode, titled Blade Mode, is similar to other aiming modes in previous Metal Gear Solid titles, but produces a special targeting reticule in the form of a transparent blue plane which can be rotated and moved, tracing orange lines across the surfaces of objects to indicate exactly where they will be cut; it can also be used to enter a bullet time state, giving players the opportunity to precisely slash targets during moments of action, such as slicing through a falling target from multiple angles before it hits the ground.These features can be employed strategically, for example disabling opponents, finding weak points and gaps in armor, severing support columns to collapse ceilings or walls onto enemies, deflecting enemy fire, or cutting through objects to remove enemy cover.[15][16] However, entering into Blade Mode reduces Raiden's energy to the point if dropped to a certain level, it could not be used.

Raiden will have the ability to parry attacks even when his back is turned,[18] allowing him to counterattack enemies and create multiple combos.[19] When completing mission, the player will be rewarded with an specific amount of points depending on his or her performances and will receive a grade with the highest being "S". These points allow them to buy upgrades for Raiden's equipment.[20] The player also has access to a stealth mode titled "Ninja Dash" which drastically increases Raiden's speed and allows him to climb certain areas. This allows him to strategically ambush an enemy rather than fighting head to head.[19] Although Raiden's main weapon will be his high-frequency blade, he will also have "sub-weapons." None of them are guns as they are to be used by enemies. Instead, Raiden can wield solely blades such as a dagger as well as a rocketlauncher.[18][19] Another key gameplay feature is titled zan-datsu (斬奪 lit. "cut and take"?), and will have involved "cutting" through enemies and "taking" parts, energy, ammunition, items, and information from the bodies of dismembered cyborgs and robots.[15][16][21] This maneuver can be employed when attacking an enemy during Blade Mode and helps Raiden to gain new energy.[17]

The game's original director, Mineshi Kimura, stated that Rising would carry on the series tradition of encouraging players to progress through the game without killing, noting that there is a moral difference between attacking cyborgs or robots and attacking human beings, and that there's a "certain virtue to simply disabling your enemies instead of killing them."[15] While it was considered important to give the players freedom to do what they want, the game's original producer Shigenobu Matsuyama, indicated that players would never be rewarded for killing human opponents, and that the game would be designed so that players would never be forced to do so.

In the final version, human soldiers from the game were removed to avoid censorship issues in Japan.[18] A bonus stage from Revengeance follows Raiden attacking soldiers hidden within cardboard boxes in order to obtain codes. The player has the choice of killing them or sparing their lives.

Plot

The game is set to take place nine years after Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and is a spinoff that is "not part of the main Metal Gear Solid series".[13][14] The story follows Raiden who is contracted by PMCs for multiple tasks such training of armies and VIP Protection in an unknown country that is recovering from a previous civil war. However, Raiden is set to encounter an army of cyborg enemies.[10] Developers stated that while Raiden "has grown up" in comparison to previous Metal Gear games, he is still conflicted with his life as a child soldier in a past civil war, leading him to be a "dark hero".[3] Trailers have also shown Raiden discussing Bushido while demonstrating a sadistic attitude.

Development
Initial version

After Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was released, Hideo Kojima started coming up with ideas for another game, Metal Gear Solid 5. The game was meant to feature The Boss and her comrades, the Cobra Unit, as main characters. However, the lack of experience from the younger staff in charge and the lack of involvement from Kojima resulted in this project being scrapped.

Afterwards, a member suggested turning it into a sidestory focused on Raiden since said character was featured in Guns of the Patriots and the staff agreed to develop Metal Gear Solid: Rising.[23] It was originally conceived as an interquel that would chronicle the series of events that resulted in the transformation of Raiden, the protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2 into his cyborg ninja persona in Metal Gear Solid 4.[15][21] Rising would have taken place during a point in the series' chronology at which Raiden had already begun his transformation into cyborg form, albeit with a different and somewhat more crude appearance from the one seen in Metal Gear Solid 4.

The game was first hinted during Hideo Kojima's keynote presentation at the 2009 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco where the presentation's end showed "The Next MGS" with Raiden as a cyborg standing next to the title.[24] Prior to the announcements of the game, Kojima Productions featured a countdown timer on their website until the day that Rising was announced. The series' traditional tagline of "Tactical Espionage Action" was also altered to "Lightning Bolt Action," a play on the fact that Raiden's name is Japanese for "thunder and lightning."[11][12] The game was officially announced at E3 2009 at the Microsoft press conference. A teaser trailer was released by series' director Hideo Kojima, although he would be serving only as executive producer for the game, as 100% of his input is with Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the PlayStation Portable.[25] The game was initially only announced for the Xbox 360 but was later confirmed for the PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows platforms.[8] According to the "Kojima Productions Report" podcast the game would use a brand new game engine, rather than the Metal Gear Solid 4 engine.[26]

The game's original cover artwork was leaked on Xbox Live on June 10, four days before E3 2010, but was soon taken down and replaced with the official logo.[27] During Microsoft's E3 press conference on June 14, Hideo Kojima introduced the game's original lead designer, Mineshi Kimura, who unveiled a new trailer which included cutscene and gameplay footage and introduced the concept of zan-datsu.

In a follow-up interview with Famitsu, Kimura and the game's creative producer, Shigenobu Matsuyama, discussed the title's new style and gameplay elements, as well the traditional stealth and "no kill" elements of the Metal Gear series that would be retained.[15] Kimura and Matsuyama again presented the trailer on June 16 during Konami's E3 press conference, then took stage, further clarifying the game's "take" mechanic and again emphasizing that the game will contain stealth elements.[12] Concern had risen over the game's realistic depictions of human dismemberment during player-controlled sequences, a hard limit for Japan's Computer Entertainment Rating Organization, which may necessitate censorship in the domestic Japanese release of the game. As a result, the version of the E3 2010 trailer available for viewing on the game's official Japanese website has had such scenes removed.Specifically, the games stealth elements would have emphasized Raiden's considerable speed and agility through what Matsuyama describes as "hunting stealth." Unlike the "waiting stealth" of previous titles, in which players remained hidden and avoided combat, players in Rising would instead quickly stalk their enemies and use acrobatic maneuvers to stay out of sight while closing in. This ties in with the game's zan-datsu feature, allowing them to prey upon enemies to obtain weapons, items, and energy.[22] Kimura noted that he wanted Raiden to be able to move like he did in the Metal Gear Solid 4 trailers, and to show "the stealth of the sword, and the strength of not even losing to the gun, and the fear and power you have with this blade."[21]

At TGS 2010, Sony announced that the PlayStation 3 version of Metal Gear Solid: Rising would be playable in 3D.[29] In January 2011, several pieces of concept art for Rising were displayed at Yoji Shinkawa's two-week exhibit, The Art of Yoji Shinkawa, hosted by the Konami Style Shop in Tokyo. The artwork included various illustrations of Raiden and other cybernetically enhanced characters, vehicles and equipment, scenery, and a hand-painted model of a feminine cyborg carrying a sword and a robotic infant. Several pieces of the concept artwork were also featured in merchandise sold at the exhibit.

During late 2011, it was announced over that Shigenobu Matsuyama had moved to a different division within Konami and that Yuji Korekado had taken over as the game's lead producer.[31] Additionally, Hideo Kojima said Metal Gear Solid: Rising is "moving forward". Kojima had stated the game remains significantly different to existing Metal Gear games, although he has retained an element of control over it and will not let it stray too far from the series' roots.[32] He stated that "If somebody thinks 'I love Snake' and just really wants traditional stealth gameplay and that experience, then it may be hard to get into Rising, but for people who are more open and willing to try new things, it shouldn't be a problem."

Move to Platinum Games

Despite having thought out stories and scenarios for the game, Kojima Productions were finding it difficult to design the game around the cutting concept. The project was quietly cancelled in late 2010, and whilst Kojima had considered moving the project to developers abroad, he felt that a Japanese developer would be more suited to produce a ninja action game. In early 2011, Kojima approached Tatsuya Minami, president and CEO of Platinum Games, about restarting the cancelled project with them. Platinum Games accepted the project and took over development with Atsushi Inaba as producer, reworking the game from scratch using their own engine, whilst Kojima Productions handling cutscenes and story elements, revising the story to now take place after Metal Gear Solid 4 to reflect the new development style.[34] This new version, now titled Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, was first revealed via a trailer shown at the Spike Video Game Awards on December 10, 2011.[35][36] Shortly after starting development, Platinum Games discarded the stealth element from game with Kojima noting that the original staff did not find it would be fitting with high speed actions.

While there are no plans for online play, Konami confirmed that a new character will be playable through downloadable content and will have access to different missions from Raiden.[38]

The trailer also confirmed that Raiden will once again be voiced by Quinton Flynn, who had previously stated that Konami had not contacted him regarding the game.[39] While Platinum Games is confirmed to be part of the project, Bayonetta director Hideki Kamiya, initially thought to be involved, has confirmed he is not part of the games development.[40] The game's title was changed to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance to reflect that it is not part of the main Metal Gear Solid series, but is instead a spinoff that takes place after Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Kojima also confirmed Rising will run at 60 frames per second, a requirement he personally requested to Platinum Games.[41][42] Additionally, the title is meant to reflect how the original Metal Gear Solid: Rising was planned to be cancelled and how it restarted development.[43] The rewrite of the game's script took two months for the Kojima Productions to make in contrast to the original one which took ten months,[18] with the scriptwriter being Etsu Tamari.[3]

Inaba took to his Twitter feed to address fans' concerns over the project. He has acknowledged the mixed reaction to the unveiling of Rising, but hopes gamers will spot "a glimpse of the future" in the trailer. Inaba promises its "love and respect will shine through." The negative reactions came from fans noticing the genre switching to a "hack and slash" game.[44] Konami's Martin Scheider assured the game is "in safe hands" owing to the collaboration between Metal Gear veteran Yuji Korekado and Atsushi Inaba with the former supervising the game.[45] As in the original scrapped version Korekado states that the staff's objective is to make Raiden's action scenes from Metal Gear Solid 4 playable.[3] Kojima mentioned in January 2012 that depending on the game's popularity, the staff would make a franchise based on it.[43]

While Metal Gear Solid: Rising was meant to be developed for Microsoft Windows besides the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, Revengeance will not be released for the Windows.[9] Inaba has stated that the PlayStation 3 version will be the lead platform. The decision was made in order to avoid a repeat of the performance issues that Bayonetta had on the console.[46] The game will be playable for the first time in the E3 2012 during early June with Kojima also working on it.[37][47] Additionally, the demo will be included in the upcoming Zone of the Enders high definition collection and will be downloadable through Xbox Live and PlayStation Network during 2012.[48]

In promoting the game, during April 2012 Konami sent a replica from Raiden's severed arm to various video game publications. The arm contained a small teaser from the game in the form of a live-action scene.[49][50] In following weeks, the official Metal Gear Rising website started showing a longer version of the scene as well as new ones.[51] Konami noticed people asking multiple questions regarding these teasers to which they responded that answers would be delivered during E3. The teasers are meant to give a few hints regarding the game's plot and none of its footage is to be used in it.[52] At E3 2012, a new trailer was shown, featuring the song "Wrong" by synthpop band Depeche Mode.

Pre-release reception

Various sites such as Eurogamer, 1UP.com and VideoGamer.com listed it as one of the most anticipated games from 2012 because it distances itself from previous games in the franchise as well as considering Platinum Games' previous works.[54][55][56] However, a common criticism echoed by IGN's Richards George has been that its style highly contrasts the previous Metal Gear games as a result of the change of developers and player character Raiden (who destroyed a Metal Gear Ray single-handedly).[57] David Hougton GamesRadar noted that Raiden's actions in the gameplay were not out of character considering his role in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots where he was able to fight soldiers without his arms.

During the E3 2012, both GameSpot editors Kevin VanOrd and Peter Brown were surprised with the gameplay provided by the demo, with the former calling it "fluid third-person action featuring slow-motion swordplay" in place of the stealth style featured in the Metal Gear Solid series. Both writers still found Raiden suitable for the game's style and plot owing to his role in previous Metal Gear games.[59] 1UP's Jose Otero provided similar comments, praising the gameplay's style, but still felt the demo was more like a tutorial rather than a stage of game.

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Saturday 21 July 2012

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Trailer & Preview

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