Gamers were understandably skeptical when Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was first announced. After all, this is a series that has been around 25 years yet never ventured outside the stealth realm. Not only is Metal Gear Rising untraditional, but a hyperkinetic hack and slash where confrontation is key. Now that we've played the game at E3, we can report that it not only deserves the Metal Gear moniker, but is one of the smoothest action games ever encountered.

The gameplay is simple, but incredibly fun. One of two buttons are hit two execute attacks, all of which are delivered by Raiden's sword. Sometimes, prompts will appear on screen indicating that if two buttons are pressed at the same time, a special finishing move will be executed. Blade Mode can be entered anytime, which is a bullet time first-person mode where you can continuously chop enemies into pieces using the right stick. Besides swords, secondary weapons can be assigned to the right button. In the demo we played, a grenade launcher could be picked up to easier blow-up larger enemies.

Metal Gear Rising is brutal. While enemies are cyborgs, they bleed when sliced open, revealing the cross section of their limbs. It's said you won't be rewarded for killing humans, but these cyborgs are about as close as you can get. Besides chopping through baddies, Raiden can even put his sword through solid medal, quickly disposing of Metal Gears and APCs.

Being that this is a Platninum- developed game, it's ridiculous. Not only can you chop slices of enemies into smaller bits, but do things like ripping our spinal cords. The demo even ends with Raiden running up missiles shooting out of a helicopter to slash it out of the air. Did you expect any less from the creators of Max Anarchy?

Rising is shaping up to be an incredible side-adventure of the treasured franchise. Even though story is taking a backseat this time around, Metal Gear Rising is simply a non-stop blast of a game. If Platinum can sustain the energy through an entire game, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance could be one 2013's most satisfying action titles.

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