The Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance demo is finally here (at least for those that didn't purchase the Zone of the Enders HD Collection). We figured we'd take it for a test drive and see just how this most up to date build stacks up to what we've seen before.
The demo allows you to play through the game's first level, which shows an enhanced Raiden on a mission to bring peace to a remote island, through some insane violence. We learn that the a corporation known as Desperado now uses enhanced human cyborgs instead of fully autonomous robots.
The level introduces us to basically everything you need to know about the combat and its intricacies. First of all, I know all of you will want to rely on using the Free Form sword slashing, but you can't really utilize it until you knock enemies off balance. That means you'll still have to rely on your standard light and heavy attacks to get the job done.
While the game doesn't incentivize stealth as previous Metal Gear games, it's still preferred to the standard head-on approach. There isn't a sneak or crouch mode, but enemies will generally allow Raiden to run up behind them without noticing him at first. That will allow Raiden to take them out with a spectacular finishing move, which can then be followed up by another Free Form slash to cut your enemies into tiny bits.
One very important move, especially for bosses, is Raiden's parry. Since there is no single button to block enemy attacks, you'll have to carefully time your parry's before enemy attacks in order to deflect them, thus leaving them open to attack. This certainly takes some time getting used to, and isn't as easy at it seems. Timing is everything here.
Slashing your enemies in half is also very important since it yields Electrolytes. These will replenish Raiden's health and keep him in tip top shape.
Overall, the demo has certainly done its job to get me excited for the game's full release, which is coming up very soon in February.
