Let me just state that though I'm familiar with Metal Gear series, I've only played MGS4, MGRR and the prologue demo Ground Zeroes. Let's get to the point then...
Set couple of years later after the events of MGS4, Raiden aka Jack is now a cyborg ninja employed under a private security company. War economy has ended after the fall of the Patriots AI, but many private military companies are still fighting and now using cyborgs. Raiden gets brutally defeated after failing to protect the prime minister during a simple mission which of course goes awry and gets a new body.
The story focuses on Raiden's efforts to stop the ones responsible and his morality which is basically hypocrisy as he considers himself a sword of justice and talks loudly about it, but is still "Jack the Ripper" who loves killing as pointed by the bosses in the game. The scene where Raiden sheds it all and confesses to becoming Jack again is powerful but slightly cheesy. Many characters are present but the story is rushed (no long cutscenes) and the only memorable characters for me were the boy who is saved by Raiden, the Doktor, Jetstream Sam aka the guy who defeated Raiden brutally in the beginning of the game and taunts Raiden the most and Sonny who is grown up and is a machine genius. The story length is about 5-6 hours which is somewhat short but decent enough.
The gameplay is totally different from the previous games, where stealth was the key to success. Now you as a cyborg ninja rely on your sword and awesome moves and weapons to finish the task. The game is all hack and slash but with a few stealth elements thrown in, noticeably the return of the all mighty cardboard box and drum roll, which I didn't like because they don't fit in perfectly and there is no reason to use them. But the slow motion Blade mode where you strategically dismember the enemies and steal their life force and the later unlocked Ripper mode aka the rage mode are pretty cool. Even there is a training mode, there is no survival mode.
The boss fights are amazing and even though it's hack and slash, each boss fight feels different and more dangerous as you mix and match tactics and weapons to defeat them. After defeating each boss you gain their weapons (pretty much like MGS4). The best boss fight for me would be against Jetstream Sam, the Sundowner and the final boss fight against the Senator who transforms into Broly the Super Saiyan without the hair (just kidding, but he does become monster like).
The graphics are pretty good but the PC port is bad because even if you change the resolution and frame rate according to your system, you have to lower those because certain boss fights don't progress, which is pretty weird and irritating (especially the final boss fight which is pretty good, but gets hampered due to such issues). And I'm not the only one with the issue.
The soundtrack fits the atmosphere perfectly and especially during boss fights but its not something I would download for listening again.
To summarize, the game is worth your time if you want a decent story and great gameplay. The only reason I give this 8/10 is due to the graphics issue on PCs and no survival mode.
Set couple of years later after the events of MGS4, Raiden aka Jack is now a cyborg ninja employed under a private security company. War economy has ended after the fall of the Patriots AI, but many private military companies are still fighting and now using cyborgs. Raiden gets brutally defeated after failing to protect the prime minister during a simple mission which of course goes awry and gets a new body.
The story focuses on Raiden's efforts to stop the ones responsible and his morality which is basically hypocrisy as he considers himself a sword of justice and talks loudly about it, but is still "Jack the Ripper" who loves killing as pointed by the bosses in the game. The scene where Raiden sheds it all and confesses to becoming Jack again is powerful but slightly cheesy. Many characters are present but the story is rushed (no long cutscenes) and the only memorable characters for me were the boy who is saved by Raiden, the Doktor, Jetstream Sam aka the guy who defeated Raiden brutally in the beginning of the game and taunts Raiden the most and Sonny who is grown up and is a machine genius. The story length is about 5-6 hours which is somewhat short but decent enough.
The gameplay is totally different from the previous games, where stealth was the key to success. Now you as a cyborg ninja rely on your sword and awesome moves and weapons to finish the task. The game is all hack and slash but with a few stealth elements thrown in, noticeably the return of the all mighty cardboard box and drum roll, which I didn't like because they don't fit in perfectly and there is no reason to use them. But the slow motion Blade mode where you strategically dismember the enemies and steal their life force and the later unlocked Ripper mode aka the rage mode are pretty cool. Even there is a training mode, there is no survival mode.
The boss fights are amazing and even though it's hack and slash, each boss fight feels different and more dangerous as you mix and match tactics and weapons to defeat them. After defeating each boss you gain their weapons (pretty much like MGS4). The best boss fight for me would be against Jetstream Sam, the Sundowner and the final boss fight against the Senator who transforms into Broly the Super Saiyan without the hair (just kidding, but he does become monster like).
The graphics are pretty good but the PC port is bad because even if you change the resolution and frame rate according to your system, you have to lower those because certain boss fights don't progress, which is pretty weird and irritating (especially the final boss fight which is pretty good, but gets hampered due to such issues). And I'm not the only one with the issue.
The soundtrack fits the atmosphere perfectly and especially during boss fights but its not something I would download for listening again.
To summarize, the game is worth your time if you want a decent story and great gameplay. The only reason I give this 8/10 is due to the graphics issue on PCs and no survival mode.