Call me biased, but the Jetstream DLC is quite literally the perfect DLC campaign in my eyes. Although it reuses a lot of old assets, it adds enough new content to make it an entirely unique experience. On top of the gameplay additions, it gives more insight into Sam and Armstrong, who are the two best characters in the game and anything surrounding them is always interesting.
The campaign follows Samuel Rodriguez as he infiltrates Marshal HQ to take out Armstrong. It's very similar in structure to chapter 4 of the base game, starting in the sewers as Sam makes his way up to the helipad on the roof. The main difference here isn't the structure of the level, rather, it's Sam himself. Due to Sam's Brazilian athleticism, he has much better movement than Raiden. Not only does he have a double jump, but he also has an airdash. These additions make it much easier to make your way through the level. There are optional platforming sections you can complete for secret collectibles, but it actually feels decent to perform unlike whatever they were trying to do in that one mission of the Blade Wolf DLC. His fighting style is also different from Raiden, but unlike Blade Wolf where it feels clunky and unsatisfying, Sam's combat feels like a natural evolution of Raiden's.
With Raiden, you could button mash your way through everything and be fine. You could learn combos, but it wasn't necessary. Every attack flowed freely into the next, making button mashing a somewhat optimal strategy. With Sam, it's completely different. Sam still has the standard light and heavy attacks, but his heavy attacks don't naturally lead into a light attack. Instead, you can hold down the heavy button to charge up an attack. This charge attack can be done out of unique light and heavy moves, as well as in the middle of a light attack combo. Depending on when you charge, you'll get a different move. For example, a standard charged heavy attack propels Sam forward, while a charged heavy attack after a single light attack will result in a spinning attack, hitting everything around you.
I think this change is very welcome and adds some much needed skill into the game. It's still not DMC in terms of combo potential, but now that you can't mindlessly button mash, you're encouraged to figure out your best combos and when the best time is to use your charged heavy attacks. Instead of every tool being able to get you out of any situation, you now have specific tools to get you out of specific situations, and you're encouraged to test your options on the field and master them.
Sam also has a taunt instead of Raiden's AR vision. When an enemy is in range, you can taunt to enrage them. While enraged, enemies will deal more damage and will deal chip damage when you parry, they also take way more damage. It's basically turning on Ripper Mode by telling the enemy that they suck. The risk and reward is nice, adding yet another thing to consider during battles instead of going into a swarm of enemies without thinking.
I will say that the most disappointing thing about this campaign is the level is more or less the same level as chapter 4, which isn't a completely bad thing because I like that level. However, it still has the tedious elevator ride (although not AS tedious as chapter 4) and plenty of rooms where you can't progress until you kill all the enemies. Another thing to note is that this campaign is HARD. Enemies and bosses hit harder combined with your more nuanced combo game can make swarms of enemies an absolute pain to get past. I'm fine with a challenge, so I'm mostly chalking that one up to skill issue, but I would not recommend playing this on any difficulty past hard if you're just trying to get through it, and ESPECIALLY stay away from the VR challenges. Played through this about ten times at the time I'm writing this and I still can't beat them (granted they were on varying difficulties and I haven't attempted them every playthrough).
Thankfully, the story is great, which makes all this pain worth it even on repeated playthroughs. The opening cutscene is actually one of my favorite moments in the whole game. We've seen each antagonist interact with Raiden and get insight on them through that, but rarely do we see them interact with each other. We get just that as Armstrong and Monsoon have a short discussion in the fancy reception area. Armstrong takes note of how the cherry blossoms make him sick, and asks Monsoon how he feels about them. What I absolutely love about this is that Armstrong is genuinely asking for his opinion on the matter, and Monsoon knows he's respected and is able to give a genuine response instead of bullshitting because Armstrong is his superior. As established in the main campaign, Armstrong shows great respect for those from lesser upbringings than him who were able to survive and take back their lives, so seeing him treat Monsoon with that same respect is just great. They both may have different opinions on many things, but still respect and trust each other.
I was a bit worried that knowing Sam's backstory would ruin his character because in a way, that mystery of not knowing his backstory added some intrigue. I will say that the ending is more or less confusing, even with the added context, but I'll explain how I interpreted it. Sam's confrontation with Monsoon before fighting Metal Gear RAY reveals that Sam took on a drug cartel in Brazil to avenge his father's death. Monsoon acknowledges this, but proposes to Sam the idea that something like the cartel can't simply be stopped by taking down a few individuals. The corporation – the outfit – is a living thing, with offsprings, with influence, and with memes. Sam didn't aim to take out the entire cartel, though, just the men who killed his father. But this way of thinking is applied to World Marshal. Sam won't dispense justice by simply killing the big man at the top. So, he retorts by saying he'll just have to kill the entire outfit; everyone involved.
Sam's confrontation with Armstrong changes him. Sam is at his peak, yet he's unable to beat a strong nanomachine induced politcation who likely had no fighting training prior. This defeat destroyed Sam's moral code. He thought he could challenge all of World Marshal, he thought he could defeat Armstrong, but the damage he did was negligible at most. World Marshal was an enemy Sam simply couldn't defeat; he couldn't bring justice to the biggest terror organization in the world, so he didn't see the point in fighting anymore. With World Marshal not being beatable and having so much influence, what would be the point in going after lesser evils?
Joining the Winds of Destruction, he essentially has no reason to fight now other than it's what he's good at, hence "the only thing I know for real - there will be blood!" This does add some interesting context to some of his actions in the main game, particularly when he taunts Raiden in the city. Raiden claims that he aims to protect the weak, but Sam flips that on its head by showing Raiden that the weak are the very people he's killing. This is similar to what happened with Sam's beliefs: it got flipped on its head by showing Sam that although he aims to dispense justice against wrongdoers, he simply cannot take down World Marshal.
I find it fitting that they added a remix of A Soul Can't Be Cut sung by the same person who did the vocals for Sam's theme. The main takeaway from this song is that personal trauma isn't like any other problems faced in game. Raiden can solve most of his problems by cutting them down, but he can't do that with his Jack the Ripper persona. He has to deal with it head on and find a different way to get rid of the problem. Similarly, Sam was once hellbent on revenge for his father's death. But, getting revenge doesn't bring his father back, and cutting down outlaws and desperados around the world won't mean much in the grand scheme of things thanks to World Marshal.
Overall, it may just be my love for this series and this world, but I think this DLC campaign is perfect. It adds a skill barrier that, while not necessarily needed, is still appreciated and implemented well, which works in tandem with the increased difficulty. The story involving Sam's downfall is great and maintains him as one of the best characters in the series. I don't mind most of the reused assets. The recycled boss fights still fit well, and I'm glad Collective Consciousness played in its fullness during a boss fight. It's free on PC and PS3, so there's really no point in not playing it, so it's definitely worth a shot if you enjoyed the main game, just expect a bit of a tougher time getting through.
The campaign follows Samuel Rodriguez as he infiltrates Marshal HQ to take out Armstrong. It's very similar in structure to chapter 4 of the base game, starting in the sewers as Sam makes his way up to the helipad on the roof. The main difference here isn't the structure of the level, rather, it's Sam himself. Due to Sam's Brazilian athleticism, he has much better movement than Raiden. Not only does he have a double jump, but he also has an airdash. These additions make it much easier to make your way through the level. There are optional platforming sections you can complete for secret collectibles, but it actually feels decent to perform unlike whatever they were trying to do in that one mission of the Blade Wolf DLC. His fighting style is also different from Raiden, but unlike Blade Wolf where it feels clunky and unsatisfying, Sam's combat feels like a natural evolution of Raiden's.
With Raiden, you could button mash your way through everything and be fine. You could learn combos, but it wasn't necessary. Every attack flowed freely into the next, making button mashing a somewhat optimal strategy. With Sam, it's completely different. Sam still has the standard light and heavy attacks, but his heavy attacks don't naturally lead into a light attack. Instead, you can hold down the heavy button to charge up an attack. This charge attack can be done out of unique light and heavy moves, as well as in the middle of a light attack combo. Depending on when you charge, you'll get a different move. For example, a standard charged heavy attack propels Sam forward, while a charged heavy attack after a single light attack will result in a spinning attack, hitting everything around you.
I think this change is very welcome and adds some much needed skill into the game. It's still not DMC in terms of combo potential, but now that you can't mindlessly button mash, you're encouraged to figure out your best combos and when the best time is to use your charged heavy attacks. Instead of every tool being able to get you out of any situation, you now have specific tools to get you out of specific situations, and you're encouraged to test your options on the field and master them.
Sam also has a taunt instead of Raiden's AR vision. When an enemy is in range, you can taunt to enrage them. While enraged, enemies will deal more damage and will deal chip damage when you parry, they also take way more damage. It's basically turning on Ripper Mode by telling the enemy that they suck. The risk and reward is nice, adding yet another thing to consider during battles instead of going into a swarm of enemies without thinking.
I will say that the most disappointing thing about this campaign is the level is more or less the same level as chapter 4, which isn't a completely bad thing because I like that level. However, it still has the tedious elevator ride (although not AS tedious as chapter 4) and plenty of rooms where you can't progress until you kill all the enemies. Another thing to note is that this campaign is HARD. Enemies and bosses hit harder combined with your more nuanced combo game can make swarms of enemies an absolute pain to get past. I'm fine with a challenge, so I'm mostly chalking that one up to skill issue, but I would not recommend playing this on any difficulty past hard if you're just trying to get through it, and ESPECIALLY stay away from the VR challenges. Played through this about ten times at the time I'm writing this and I still can't beat them (granted they were on varying difficulties and I haven't attempted them every playthrough).
Thankfully, the story is great, which makes all this pain worth it even on repeated playthroughs. The opening cutscene is actually one of my favorite moments in the whole game. We've seen each antagonist interact with Raiden and get insight on them through that, but rarely do we see them interact with each other. We get just that as Armstrong and Monsoon have a short discussion in the fancy reception area. Armstrong takes note of how the cherry blossoms make him sick, and asks Monsoon how he feels about them. What I absolutely love about this is that Armstrong is genuinely asking for his opinion on the matter, and Monsoon knows he's respected and is able to give a genuine response instead of bullshitting because Armstrong is his superior. As established in the main campaign, Armstrong shows great respect for those from lesser upbringings than him who were able to survive and take back their lives, so seeing him treat Monsoon with that same respect is just great. They both may have different opinions on many things, but still respect and trust each other.
I was a bit worried that knowing Sam's backstory would ruin his character because in a way, that mystery of not knowing his backstory added some intrigue. I will say that the ending is more or less confusing, even with the added context, but I'll explain how I interpreted it. Sam's confrontation with Monsoon before fighting Metal Gear RAY reveals that Sam took on a drug cartel in Brazil to avenge his father's death. Monsoon acknowledges this, but proposes to Sam the idea that something like the cartel can't simply be stopped by taking down a few individuals. The corporation – the outfit – is a living thing, with offsprings, with influence, and with memes. Sam didn't aim to take out the entire cartel, though, just the men who killed his father. But this way of thinking is applied to World Marshal. Sam won't dispense justice by simply killing the big man at the top. So, he retorts by saying he'll just have to kill the entire outfit; everyone involved.
Sam's confrontation with Armstrong changes him. Sam is at his peak, yet he's unable to beat a strong nanomachine induced politcation who likely had no fighting training prior. This defeat destroyed Sam's moral code. He thought he could challenge all of World Marshal, he thought he could defeat Armstrong, but the damage he did was negligible at most. World Marshal was an enemy Sam simply couldn't defeat; he couldn't bring justice to the biggest terror organization in the world, so he didn't see the point in fighting anymore. With World Marshal not being beatable and having so much influence, what would be the point in going after lesser evils?
Joining the Winds of Destruction, he essentially has no reason to fight now other than it's what he's good at, hence "the only thing I know for real - there will be blood!" This does add some interesting context to some of his actions in the main game, particularly when he taunts Raiden in the city. Raiden claims that he aims to protect the weak, but Sam flips that on its head by showing Raiden that the weak are the very people he's killing. This is similar to what happened with Sam's beliefs: it got flipped on its head by showing Sam that although he aims to dispense justice against wrongdoers, he simply cannot take down World Marshal.
I find it fitting that they added a remix of A Soul Can't Be Cut sung by the same person who did the vocals for Sam's theme. The main takeaway from this song is that personal trauma isn't like any other problems faced in game. Raiden can solve most of his problems by cutting them down, but he can't do that with his Jack the Ripper persona. He has to deal with it head on and find a different way to get rid of the problem. Similarly, Sam was once hellbent on revenge for his father's death. But, getting revenge doesn't bring his father back, and cutting down outlaws and desperados around the world won't mean much in the grand scheme of things thanks to World Marshal.
Overall, it may just be my love for this series and this world, but I think this DLC campaign is perfect. It adds a skill barrier that, while not necessarily needed, is still appreciated and implemented well, which works in tandem with the increased difficulty. The story involving Sam's downfall is great and maintains him as one of the best characters in the series. I don't mind most of the reused assets. The recycled boss fights still fit well, and I'm glad Collective Consciousness played in its fullness during a boss fight. It's free on PC and PS3, so there's really no point in not playing it, so it's definitely worth a shot if you enjoyed the main game, just expect a bit of a tougher time getting through.