Even after a decade on Steam, Metal Gear Rising is the most perfectly ludicrous spinoff I’ve ever played. While it channels the themes and personality of Hideo Kojima’s sweeping epic, the gameplay and music are from an entirely different reality. So if you’ve never played it, or fancy giving the PC port a go, it’s on sale right now.
This is all coming from someone who doesn’t love action games all that much, mind you, but Metal Gear Rising is superb. Not only do you get some of the best boss fights in videogames scored by phenomenal music, but the pacing of the combat and upgrades are brilliant too.
It might seem less impressive these days, but Rising’s slow-motion and precise cutting mechanic is still a thing of beauty. You get complete control of the angle of your high-speed slices, letting you chop enemies into as many pieces as you want before seeing them fall to the ground. Chop off a leg to stop a soldier from getting away, remove a mech’s weapons to weaken their combat capabilities, or target specific parts of bosses. It’s all there.
In fact, if you’re worried about Metal Gear Rising not having the Kojima flair the series is known for, it was actually in development under his oversight at first before moving over to PlatinumGames, who managed to nail the cutting concept that Konami couldn’t quite get working.
While it was released on consoles in 2013, the tenth anniversary of the PC release was earlier this month. Despite its age though, Metal Gear Rising feels like it hasn’t lost its touch. It’s still as goofy, funny, and exhilarating to play as it was back in 2014.
Metal Gear Rising is on sale for 40% off until Monday, January 29, so expect to pay $17.99 / £11.99. It’s worth every penny.
If you want to delve into what Metal Gear does so well with some similar games, we’ve already put together the best stealth games and fighting games to keep you entertained as well.
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