Two words: Nature Rules.

Five years later, I finally managed to check out Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Very unusual slasher, it's neither Devil May Cry nor God of War, it provides a whole new experience.
The level design in this game may look the same as MGS4, despite having different engines. Locations can look monotonous, and most of 'em are closed areas/tunnels. And yet somebody might find good spots.
OST rocks! I liked most of the soundtrack, especially boss battle themes. Too bad there's no option to buy it on Steam, would love to listen it here.

The plot takes place four years after MGS4. If you haven't played other MGS games then you probably won't spoil anything to yourself, but I'll tell some unusual plot parts in spoiler section.
Original concept of Metal Gear Solid: Rising has been scrapped and redone in MGR:R, that continues MGS4's plot, the grand finale of which didn't solve SOP problem completely. There are references mostly to MGS2 and 4, in which Raiden appeared.
And I found out there are also references to Policenauts, the game that came out in 1994 for PS1 in Japan only. But there's a possibility to play it with use of English translation patch. The game is set in 2040, 22 years after MGR:R. It's not a part of Metal Gear series, but takes place in the same universe. Its story is completely different, and it distinguish Policenauts from other games as a standalone title, but its references can be met in MGS4. Also, there's Meryl Silverburgh, that one Meryl from MGS1 and 4.

MGR:R's story may not have plot twists, and sometimes it's ridiculous. MG's lore continues on, but it doesn't reach same level as main MGS games. You have to learn a lot of things through codec dialogues as it was in previous titles. First time they cause interest, although later on they may bring down game's pace which suits well for stealth genre, but not slasher.

The gameplay itself, like I said before, provides new experience. An interesting idea with the ability to cut into pieces almost all objects in the game, whether they're cyborgs, vehicles or interior items. However, it is necessary to delve into it from the tutorials, non-experts might go through hard times dealing with parrying and combos. I must admit I never used combos that much, so I'll try to do it next time I return back to this game. Customization is simple if you compare it to the same DMC, but I think it works well. There are some elements from MGS games like use of sub-weapons such as grenades and rocket launchers and ability to hide in cardboard box and barrel. Plus you can buy new items after you beat the game and armor suits such as legendary Gray Fox's suit.
I was pleased with both the main campaign, DLCs and VR missions. The former has cool boss fights with nice implementation, but the second half of the game starting from File R-05 level looks short and fleeting. Also, since it was my very first playthrough without spoiling anything to myself I didn’t realize you can open grey chests via Blade Mode. So I had to replay some levels to open them, and do some upgrades. Yup, Mr. Armstrong showed me the full power of Nanomachines, I appreciate that. DLCs add good parts for story related characters Jetstream Sam and Blade Wolf with new gameplay mechanics. I liked Blade Wolf's story more. And VR missions are hard and challenging just like those VR missions from MGS2.

Now some words about optimization of PC port. Game plays fine, although my FPS counter always showed 59 instead of 60. And its count decreased when I was slicing things in Blade Mode for a long time. Anyway, performance was satisfactory, as I played using gamepad, but didn’t try mouse + keyboard combination. Maybe next time.
I encountered only two bugs though entire game. The first was right after I beat main story and chose Level selection. I don’t know why, but all background pictures for each level looked way too stretched. I couldn’t see them fully. And such graphical bug was present on Combo list and VR missions screen. The second one occurred when I was playing last stages from Blade Wolf DLC (same stages that Raiden visits at the beginning of File R-01). All QTE screens had mouse & keyboard buttons instead of gamepad buttons. But I was able to use gamepad while playing til the end, there wasn’t any device disconnection mistake. I only quitted game and opened it again, and the bugs were gone.

It's a pity the original concept of the game as Metal Gear Solid: Rising hasn't been implemented, and we won't see MGR:R2 for known reasons. But the final product isn't so bad. MGS fans may not like it for its weak storytelling, and gamers who have less experience in slasher genre might find it difficult as well. But if you want to play something different than DMC and God of War, then you definitely have to try this one! For me it was nice to play something similar in slasher genre, yet different. I'm glad to have such game in my collection.

Two words: Nature Rules. Five years later, I finally managed to check out Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Very unusual slasher, it's neither Devil May Cry nor God of War, it provides a whole new experience. The level design in this game may look the same as MGS4, despite having different engines. Locations can look monotonous, and most of 'em are closed areas/tunnels. And yet somebody might find good spots. OST rocks! I liked most of the soundtrack, especially boss battle themes. Too bad there's no option to buy it on Steam, would love to listen it here. The plot takes place four years after MGS4. If you haven't played other MGS games then you probably won't spoil anything to yourself, but I'll tell some unusual plot parts in spoiler section. [spoiler]Original concept of Metal Gear Solid: Rising has been scrapped and redone in MGR:R, that continues MGS4's plot, the grand finale of which didn't solve SOP problem completely. There are references mostly to MGS2 and 4, in which Raiden appeared. And I found out there are also references to Policenauts, the game that came out in 1994 for PS1 in Japan only. But there's a possibility to play it with use of English translation patch. The game is set in 2040, 22 years after MGR:R. It's not a part of Metal Gear series, but takes place in the same universe. Its story is completely different, and it distinguish Policenauts from other games as a standalone title, but its references can be met in MGS4. Also, there's Meryl Silverburgh, that one Meryl from MGS1 and 4.[/spoiler] MGR:R's story may not have plot twists, and sometimes it's ridiculous. MG's lore continues on, but it doesn't reach same level as main MGS games. You have to learn a lot of things through codec dialogues as it was in previous titles. First time they cause interest, although later on they may bring down game's pace which suits well for stealth genre, but not slasher. The gameplay itself, like I said before, provides new experience. An interesting idea with the ability to cut into pieces almost all objects in the game, whether they're cyborgs, vehicles or interior items. However, it is necessary to delve into it from the tutorials, non-experts might go through hard times dealing with parrying and combos. I must admit I never used combos that much, so I'll try to do it next time I return back to this game. Customization is simple if you compare it to the same DMC, but I think it works well. There are some elements from MGS games like use of sub-weapons such as grenades and rocket launchers and ability to hide in cardboard box and barrel. Plus you can buy new items after you beat the game and armor suits such as legendary Gray Fox's suit. I was pleased with both the main campaign, DLCs and VR missions. The former has cool boss fights with nice implementation, but the second half of the game starting from File R-05 level looks short and fleeting. [spoiler]Also, since it was my very first playthrough without spoiling anything to myself I didn’t realize you can open grey chests via Blade Mode. So I had to replay some levels to open them, and do some upgrades. Yup, Mr. Armstrong showed me the full power of Nanomachines, I appreciate that.[/spoiler] DLCs add good parts for story related characters Jetstream Sam and Blade Wolf with new gameplay mechanics. I liked Blade Wolf's story more. And VR missions are hard and challenging just like those VR missions from MGS2. Now some words about optimization of PC port. Game plays fine, although my FPS counter always showed 59 instead of 60. And its count decreased when I was slicing things in Blade Mode for a long time. Anyway, performance was satisfactory, as I played using gamepad, but didn’t try mouse + keyboard combination. Maybe next time. I encountered only two bugs though entire game. The first was right after I beat main story and chose Level selection. I don’t know why, but all background pictures for each level looked way too stretched. I couldn’t see them fully. And such graphical bug was present on Combo list and VR missions screen. The second one occurred when I was playing last stages from Blade Wolf DLC (same stages that Raiden visits at the beginning of File R-01). All QTE screens had mouse & keyboard buttons instead of gamepad buttons. But I was able to use gamepad while playing til the end, there wasn’t any device disconnection mistake. I only quitted game and opened it again, and the bugs were gone. It's a pity the original concept of the game as Metal Gear Solid: Rising hasn't been implemented, and we won't see MGR:R2 for known reasons. But the final product isn't so bad. MGS fans may not like it for its weak storytelling, and gamers who have less experience in slasher genre might find it difficult as well. But if you want to play something different than DMC and God of War, then you definitely have to try this one! For me it was nice to play something similar in slasher genre, yet different. I'm glad to have such game in my collection.