Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

What do you get when you combine the subtleness of stealth and hack-and-slash? This game! Rising is like combining the gameplay from Devil May Cry with Metal Gear characters. The game is a fast-paced action game created by Konami and developed by Platinum Games.

Originally the game went under the title, Metal Gear Solid: Rising as a stealth game and was intended to be an interquel between the 2nd and 4th game. However development tend to be difficult to incorporate an action character into a stealth game.

Now the game is all action and is now a canon sequel to the Metal Gear series after 4. How different is this game? When it comes to Metal Gear, we think of stealth. Now that stealth barely exists, did the fans like this game?

There are some incredible things that this game offers and hopefully a lot of players would agree:

• Action and Plenty of it- The game contains a lot of sword swinging gameplay, almost like Devil May Cry. When encountering enemies you may be able to pull off insane moves and kill enemies in unique fashion. Raiden is even more hardcore than in MGS4. The game has a combo system that allows you to rack up as many possible hits towards your enemies. After each battle you'll get graded on your performance determining how stylish you were.

• Upgrades- Before the beginning of the chapter, you'll have the option to upgrade Raiden. The upgrades can go anywhere from enhancing your sword to increasing life and fuel cell. You can even change the appearance of Raiden with alternate costumes.

• Blade Mode- An original concept is allowing the player to use their sword and swing it to any degree and being able to slice through anything. This ability also allows you to perform the Zandatsu technique, slicing open the enemies to steal their fuel cell. However, this ability is limited to the amount of fuel you have. Eventually, the fuel can also call out the "Jack-the-Ripper" persona and boost Raiden's power.

• Engaging Story- The story starts out as a simple rescue mission, but expands to greater depths. Raiden gets himself into a political struggle that forces him to save the country from war. Throughout the time, Raiden is still tormented by his past and has an internal conflict of what is he.

• VR Missions are Back- Been quite sometime since we have seen VR missions. Now you can go through 20 missions doing various objectives and competing for the top score. Of course you have to unlock them in the game.

This game has plenty to offer, but there are some minor faults.

• A Short Game- The game at an average is about 4-5 hours. There are not too many chapters and the game feels short. But at least there are not many long cutscenes.

• Characters- The characters in the game are all new. And I wished they could have shown some familiar faces that we knew. With the exception to Sunny near the end of the game, I wanted to see more original characters.

• No PlayStation Move- The Move should have been a good way to play this game, since you could have mimic the sword slashes. That would have been a perfect fit for the game.

The game is amazing especially the final battle, it gets insane. Now there is official word on upcoming DLC that brings more VR missions, costumes, and a sword with Solid Snake's voice. Metal Gear Rising is a unique game and if you want to try something different from how Metal Gear has been, then this game is right for you. Either way, this game is a 9 out of 10.

The Future of Sony and PS4

Sony's press conference took place back on February 20th and there is a lot to say. Right off the bat, representatives announced that the PlayStation 4 will be hitting stores later this year. With that information, the rest of the conference went into depth of how Sony is planning on changing the gaming community.

The conference lasted for over two hours and there was a lot that was covered. To give a basic overview of the conference:

1. The technical specs of the PS4
2. The announcement of the new DualShock 4 controller
3. The features and functions of the new PS4, including Remote Play with the PSVita
4. The new Cloud storage
5. Upcoming and launch-title games with different companies

I admit, I was amazed by what the PS4 can do. I was also impressed by the new controller. It seems as though Sony is now focusing their attention of the consumers needs and wants. I say that was a smart move. It looked as though Sony was compensating for the issues addressed in the PS3, both technologically and social. Their focus was to make the next-gen system a social platform; connecting gamers all around the world, more better than the PS3.

With that said, there were some weak moments in the conference. Sony doesn't go into much detail on some of the features which might leave some questions on how a certain function works. Also the capabilities of the PS4 still might disappoint:

• No backwards compatibility
• PSN downloads cannot be transferred

The games announced were something. I am not going to say that they are bad, but I am not sure if I am interested. They didn't wow me. If we could have saw more gameplay, maybe I might like them. Finally, what really surprised me was that Sony did not show the actual system. For a conference that was explaining the PS4, it would have been nice to see it. But perhaps they are saving it for E3.

Overall, the PS4 seems to be an amazing system and looks like the answer all the Sony fans have been waiting for. Hopefully Sony can shed more light on the PS4 later in the year and finally put an end to some of these questions. I can't wait to see what Sony will bring for the next generation and I can't wait for the PS4.

DmC Devil May Cry

The newest action oriented Hack-and-Slash game, Devil May Cry is back but different. This is not a sequel or a prequel, but a reboot of the entire franchise. The game retells the origin of Dante who this time around is a angel-demon hybrid, in search of destroying Mundus along with the help of a human, Kat, and his twin brother, Vergil. The game has a different feel than the previous games, giving it more of a Gothic tone, but still has the action.

Pros

• Stylish Action- The action is back and continues to be better. The way of performing combos is more natural looking. There are also a variety of combos to pull off and getting a great rank is quite easy.
• Familiar Items- You get the usual stuff from games like red and green orbs. And the items you can buy are all familiar from previous games. The upgrades are done with the use of upgrade points that you accumulate from white orbs. There are not too many surprises from the menu that might get you off guard.
• Training Mode- For the first time, you can practice different weapons and combos and take the time to master the controls.
• Secret Mission Mode- Secret Missions are back, however this time around, you can access them in the main menu without having to go into the specific mission to play them.
• Skins and costumes- You get different unlockable costumes for Dante, and even some that you can buy. Also you can customize the look of the weapons.
• New Angel/Demon Mode- Dante can access two parts of his power. The Demon Mode allows him to use demon weapons along with certain abilities, as too with Angel Mode, but with angelic weapons.

Cons

• No Lock-on- The first thing you are going to notice is there is no lock-on to easily switch targets. This can be frustrating at times trying to attack the right enemy in a group. It is also awkward for players who used to constantly lock-on to enemies in past games.
• Lacking Weapons- The weapons seem lacking since the weapons you get are the two demon and angel weapons, the Rebellion, and three guns. I feel there should have at least incorporated more guns as they are almost the same as DMC4.
• Awkward Devil Trigger- The DT in this game doesn't turn you into a demon, but instead creates a void in time to slow down time while giving you an increase in power. At the same time the enemies are all jolted into the air. This method seemed familiar to Bayonetta's Witch Time, as it does about the same thing. I liked it at first to give some breather room to think, but it gets annoying to have everyone in the air.
• Weak Dialogue- The story was decent to say the least, but the dialogue is kind of bad, almost laughable bad. The whole time, Dante mostly uses one-liners that are not witty like DMC3 Dante, but instead pissing off his enemies. Also it is thrown in with some sex jokes that don't have a purpose.There is also not strong connections amongst the characters to say that you would care about them.

The overall game is good. There are some weak moments, but the action sure makes up for it. Reviewers gave this game a decent score, while fans hammer at the game for being different. You have to keep in mind that this is a reboot and should not be compared to the other games. DmC takes a chance to try something new and players will have to open their mind and see how original the game can be. I say give this game a chance and you might be surprised. I give this game a 7.5 out of 10.