I kinda wanted to review this game beacuse of how influential it has become on this medium which fortunate enough has gotten the credit it deserved. I had a total blast the week I was playing this, I'll say that this game no matter is a must try for what it holds.
-Gameplay side of things here
Before I begin I'll be mentioning tonsa cons here at the beginning, please don't take this the wrong way as this game is one of the best out there for the action genre and is 100% worth playing. The more the review goes more interesting and positive stuff I'll be talking about this game, so with that it's time for Jack to LET 'ER RIP!
I'll talk about how fantastic the mission select type of system they go with on the menu, I've played the shit out of them whenever I was bored and MGR become one of the games I've played most over and over, this game has GREAT replay value except a few stuff there and there like sections that take longer time when I just wanna kick boss ass, but this was amazing and was a life saver when I wanted to play some ninja action espionage, anyway let's get to our mechanics. I'm pretty sure most people know this game for it's nicely executed ninja styled mechanics given to our Raiden. Most importantly the so cool lookin blade mode it's got. For blade mode I'd say it might've become the main feature for this game and I've had my thoughts on it. To me this mechanic at first sight a total killer can become a bit repetitive and lose it's charm as it gets overused throughout hours of playtime this game offers us. While I enjoyed my time chopping things to hamburger with this addition by time it started to become less and less dynamic to use, along with our other mechanics it just kinda felt a little dull over time in my opinion with things not overall adding up in a great balance. You can do a lot of cool ass tricks with the mode like walking while in the blade mode, cutting multiple hearts out in one hit which all add to it's replay value in my opinion.With those said for blade mode, the ninja run on the other side was a fantastic looking feature with probably the most fluid animations as well as impact I've seen. This game is amazing in terms of how it plays out in animation and execution, so that's something it highly deserves in the aspect. Though I think ninja run somewhat suffered from, well... Doing too much on it's own. When you run parkourin down the streets and underground it does look very cool, but it's just doesn't require too much effort to do so, When running normally it's pretty good and dynamic, but when used during those chase sections and so on it kinda feels like it could be somewhat more in depth, but devs didn't have enough time for it... This one is really just my opinion, and quite a bit of the problem only I've felt when playing through, but it was pretty cool overall looking at what it is. Lastly few mechanics like the little stealth mode and so on, those felt somewhat forced in my opinion with not having much use overall, unless you'd go for a -stealth approach-. This game really suffers from forcing stealth into the shit fucking action it offers, I'd be cool with it if it was actually needed in order to pass said sections... But the problem really is that it's too optional to the point it's not even needed. It shows you --could-- give it a stealthy approach but at the same time reminds you of what your capable of, so it pretty much pointless in the end.
In my opinion the parrying system is pretty uniqe and works well for what it is, on a game where you can't do much other than jump, so I say it works pretty damn well. For the main combos and so on, I also had a big problem in the system it got along with. The game runs smoother than whatever butter you find but if you wanna pull of specific combos you found kick ass, you gotta check that HELP menu or write them down on a paper for hell's sake. Unlike something like Devil May Cry where combos are balanced in overall count and how you trigger them, MGR has them, but goes with the easier option of having so so specific button orders you can't even really keep up with, especially something like in your first playthrough. While you mash buttons on random so it doesn't become much of a problem, the addition of all these different combos especially in other weapons this game offers could easily go to waste, you can literally go beyblade Majima breaker stylin on your enemies but you may not even know that sorta thing could be pulled of in your first playthrough. It's well, as I've used the word a lot not quite dynamic, in the way I see it. For the final point and where I probably had the most problems with... Enemy design. Normal enemies in this game tend to be either alright or straight up horrible like them monkeees. You could actually master the patterns the more you play through and kick their ass like they're nothing but most first playthroughs could be a pain in the ass. Some stuff like the elevators and so on are just not fun at all, most enemies especially when combined kinda make a mess and aren't overall balanced dealing with all together. The game offers you a lot to play with so you could go mastering stuff the more you play but as I said it could overall be better in my opinion. I also really dislike the analog mashes with the qte type of stuff enemies tend to force you into, other stuff are fine... Like them BOSSES. Bosses, what this game wins and the total reason to play it is them boss battles. This game probably has the most, you guessed it, dynamic bosses in most action titles out there. This game isn't like others, it's playful, it takes advantage of it's design, it uses everything it's got to give you something you never felt, if not the best in the entertainment medium of games. This is gameplay, so we'll get to that sound design later, but they all work together in a fantastic fashion you just can't get un-hypie hypie. In terms of gameplay, the bosses really shine through showing you what it's been keeping with everything you've learned up to this point, most if not all of them are balanced in a way where all are just gems to go through. They truly put your skills to test with letting you take total advantage of what you've learned up to this point, each boss shows a uniqe way to approach them with most still staying in their group of you parrying their attacks. The ideas are executed in a way so smooth all the uniqe attacks these bosses use are just so damn good, one goin total anime style running into you, one using it's damn shield as a weapon while one goes beatin you up with them nanomachines. During all this the voice acting, music and little events surrounding these bosses just make them so so memorable and fun to go through. -Value in the entertainment genre and it's true potential
Whenever I look back at this game it really shows the golden time of PS3 and it's genre around the era. But what is more important about this piece is how well it really uses it's medium and what I'd exactly define what entertainment value is. As a product this game shines through others with going balls out in tropes you could wish to see in a million years. It uses it's music as a part of what it's true medium in the genre is, as a video game, maybe more so than the actual action gameplay it offers, or the somewhat goofy story it brings, anything but the design in music, style and maybe even visuals. This is a few games where style and substance might be very well balanced aswell, and maybe so even really really tricking the viewer into using it's style to cover whatever there is in the substance area, which it does highly succeed beacuse of how well executed this game is, as I said many times over and over. As time passes video games are less limited to try new and uniqe experiences, say music, most wouldn't unfortunately expect what comes out of MGR to be full 'video game' music. It uses the potential to it's highest point and isn't scared of trying something new, intense and exactly hype. Now there are a lot of games with stylish music that fits it's tones, my favorites would be the Yakuza series and so so on. But what really separates this hell of a game is the usage of the material and how playfully it uses things given out to this gem. Everything is in favour of this game, voice acting adds to music and music adds to VO while they also add to the visuals and lastly make out one of the greatest works of style in video games. Many developers come up with interesting things, No More Heroes and Killer7, most games of Suda are extremely playful around the way it uses it's style and lets you know that it does put style over substance for the most part.
But for me MGR is something of an achievement in video game history in truly opening gates to design like this. THAT is why it might be one of the most if not the most influential game to come out in some time. I told you, when I look at this game it reminds me of that somewhat punk action themed era where everybody loved badassery to it's max level which is a treat to look upon and hard to believe this was a Metal Gear game, but it just feels almost abstract to see this flawed yet amazing helluva game that has achieved gold by how it uses it's style, to the point where the flaws almost don't bother you yet you always know they're there. It's just that type of game and has been somewhat special, it being popular also added to this but that was the feel I got along with what it truly brings to the whole industry of gaming. In short... It's worth playing. It is worth it.
-Gameplay side of things here
Before I begin I'll be mentioning tonsa cons here at the beginning, please don't take this the wrong way as this game is one of the best out there for the action genre and is 100% worth playing. The more the review goes more interesting and positive stuff I'll be talking about this game, so with that it's time for Jack to LET 'ER RIP!
I'll talk about how fantastic the mission select type of system they go with on the menu, I've played the shit out of them whenever I was bored and MGR become one of the games I've played most over and over, this game has GREAT replay value except a few stuff there and there like sections that take longer time when I just wanna kick boss ass, but this was amazing and was a life saver when I wanted to play some ninja action espionage, anyway let's get to our mechanics. I'm pretty sure most people know this game for it's nicely executed ninja styled mechanics given to our Raiden. Most importantly the so cool lookin blade mode it's got. For blade mode I'd say it might've become the main feature for this game and I've had my thoughts on it. To me this mechanic at first sight a total killer can become a bit repetitive and lose it's charm as it gets overused throughout hours of playtime this game offers us. While I enjoyed my time chopping things to hamburger with this addition by time it started to become less and less dynamic to use, along with our other mechanics it just kinda felt a little dull over time in my opinion with things not overall adding up in a great balance. You can do a lot of cool ass tricks with the mode like walking while in the blade mode, cutting multiple hearts out in one hit which all add to it's replay value in my opinion.With those said for blade mode, the ninja run on the other side was a fantastic looking feature with probably the most fluid animations as well as impact I've seen. This game is amazing in terms of how it plays out in animation and execution, so that's something it highly deserves in the aspect. Though I think ninja run somewhat suffered from, well... Doing too much on it's own. When you run parkourin down the streets and underground it does look very cool, but it's just doesn't require too much effort to do so, When running normally it's pretty good and dynamic, but when used during those chase sections and so on it kinda feels like it could be somewhat more in depth, but devs didn't have enough time for it... This one is really just my opinion, and quite a bit of the problem only I've felt when playing through, but it was pretty cool overall looking at what it is. Lastly few mechanics like the little stealth mode and so on, those felt somewhat forced in my opinion with not having much use overall, unless you'd go for a -stealth approach-. This game really suffers from forcing stealth into the shit fucking action it offers, I'd be cool with it if it was actually needed in order to pass said sections... But the problem really is that it's too optional to the point it's not even needed. It shows you --could-- give it a stealthy approach but at the same time reminds you of what your capable of, so it pretty much pointless in the end.
In my opinion the parrying system is pretty uniqe and works well for what it is, on a game where you can't do much other than jump, so I say it works pretty damn well. For the main combos and so on, I also had a big problem in the system it got along with. The game runs smoother than whatever butter you find but if you wanna pull of specific combos you found kick ass, you gotta check that HELP menu or write them down on a paper for hell's sake. Unlike something like Devil May Cry where combos are balanced in overall count and how you trigger them, MGR has them, but goes with the easier option of having so so specific button orders you can't even really keep up with, especially something like in your first playthrough. While you mash buttons on random so it doesn't become much of a problem, the addition of all these different combos especially in other weapons this game offers could easily go to waste, you can literally go beyblade Majima breaker stylin on your enemies but you may not even know that sorta thing could be pulled of in your first playthrough. It's well, as I've used the word a lot not quite dynamic, in the way I see it. For the final point and where I probably had the most problems with... Enemy design. Normal enemies in this game tend to be either alright or straight up horrible like them monkeees. You could actually master the patterns the more you play through and kick their ass like they're nothing but most first playthroughs could be a pain in the ass. Some stuff like the elevators and so on are just not fun at all, most enemies especially when combined kinda make a mess and aren't overall balanced dealing with all together. The game offers you a lot to play with so you could go mastering stuff the more you play but as I said it could overall be better in my opinion. I also really dislike the analog mashes with the qte type of stuff enemies tend to force you into, other stuff are fine... Like them BOSSES. Bosses, what this game wins and the total reason to play it is them boss battles. This game probably has the most, you guessed it, dynamic bosses in most action titles out there. This game isn't like others, it's playful, it takes advantage of it's design, it uses everything it's got to give you something you never felt, if not the best in the entertainment medium of games. This is gameplay, so we'll get to that sound design later, but they all work together in a fantastic fashion you just can't get un-hypie hypie. In terms of gameplay, the bosses really shine through showing you what it's been keeping with everything you've learned up to this point, most if not all of them are balanced in a way where all are just gems to go through. They truly put your skills to test with letting you take total advantage of what you've learned up to this point, each boss shows a uniqe way to approach them with most still staying in their group of you parrying their attacks. The ideas are executed in a way so smooth all the uniqe attacks these bosses use are just so damn good, one goin total anime style running into you, one using it's damn shield as a weapon while one goes beatin you up with them nanomachines. During all this the voice acting, music and little events surrounding these bosses just make them so so memorable and fun to go through. -Value in the entertainment genre and it's true potential
Whenever I look back at this game it really shows the golden time of PS3 and it's genre around the era. But what is more important about this piece is how well it really uses it's medium and what I'd exactly define what entertainment value is. As a product this game shines through others with going balls out in tropes you could wish to see in a million years. It uses it's music as a part of what it's true medium in the genre is, as a video game, maybe more so than the actual action gameplay it offers, or the somewhat goofy story it brings, anything but the design in music, style and maybe even visuals. This is a few games where style and substance might be very well balanced aswell, and maybe so even really really tricking the viewer into using it's style to cover whatever there is in the substance area, which it does highly succeed beacuse of how well executed this game is, as I said many times over and over. As time passes video games are less limited to try new and uniqe experiences, say music, most wouldn't unfortunately expect what comes out of MGR to be full 'video game' music. It uses the potential to it's highest point and isn't scared of trying something new, intense and exactly hype. Now there are a lot of games with stylish music that fits it's tones, my favorites would be the Yakuza series and so so on. But what really separates this hell of a game is the usage of the material and how playfully it uses things given out to this gem. Everything is in favour of this game, voice acting adds to music and music adds to VO while they also add to the visuals and lastly make out one of the greatest works of style in video games. Many developers come up with interesting things, No More Heroes and Killer7, most games of Suda are extremely playful around the way it uses it's style and lets you know that it does put style over substance for the most part.
But for me MGR is something of an achievement in video game history in truly opening gates to design like this. THAT is why it might be one of the most if not the most influential game to come out in some time. I told you, when I look at this game it reminds me of that somewhat punk action themed era where everybody loved badassery to it's max level which is a treat to look upon and hard to believe this was a Metal Gear game, but it just feels almost abstract to see this flawed yet amazing helluva game that has achieved gold by how it uses it's style, to the point where the flaws almost don't bother you yet you always know they're there. It's just that type of game and has been somewhat special, it being popular also added to this but that was the feel I got along with what it truly brings to the whole industry of gaming. In short... It's worth playing. It is worth it.