Over the past few years, Platinum Games has earned a reputation for delivering incredible action games, and now they're preparing to take a literal stab at something new with the Metal Gear series. MGR: Revengeance stars Raiden, and transforms the gameplay from stealth to something more akin to Ninja Gaiden. The entire game is based around the idea of turning Raiden's fight against the Gekko forces in MGS4 from a cutscene into a fully playable game. True to that concept, hapless foes can be sliced with ease, and it appears that Platinum Games' expertise with action games will be used to give its fans the game that Ninja Gaiden fans have wanted, but haven't gotten for quite a while now. Where the original release of Ninja Gaiden III was toned down compared to past versions, and of all things, its Wii U counterpart, MGR: R will feature plenty of gore, limbs being hacked off and impaling.

It's difficult to recall another game that's allowed a body to be sliced up so throughly; enemies can literally be hacked up into dozens of pieces. Want to separate seemingly every part of an arm from another? Go ahead -- a massive combo is all that's needed to ensure a swift, but incredibly painful demise for your enemies. Like Ninja Gaiden, there's bloodshed mixed in with some platforming and wall-running, which looks great so far. Of course, you can't have a Metal Gear game without GIANT ROBOTS, and they're here too -- and can be sliced up like a ham, turkey, or tofurkey if you so desire. Things could get boring if all you could slice through were enemies, so the ability to slice through environments themselves has been included to help make each play session different from the last. Parrying attacks also adds depth to the combat as does the usage of kicking combos ala his PlayStation All-Stars counterpart. Oh yeah, and stealth.

While Revengeance is still largely an action-oriented experience, attacking from behind with stealth remains possible if desired. Sometimes, if you're outgunned, it's the best way to go about things. Doing so not only lets you live, but allows enemies to be impaled. Slicing combos bring up little QTEs where the correct button press brings out more elaborate death animations. Proper execution allows you to get the aforementioned slice folks into dozens of little pieces deaths that seem to be incredibly satisfying. You're also able to remove spines from bodies and crush them with your hands.

Revengeance is a mere two months away, and it looks like it's going to hit all the right notes for fans of fast-paced action games like Ninja Gaiden, while retaining enough stealth intact to keep traditional Metal Gear fans happy as well. Those who enjoyed the Metal Gear series, but craved more outright action from it, will certainly want to keep their eyes on this one -- so long as they don't get sliced off during the waiting process. Try to avoid interacting with cybernetically-enhanced ninjas from now and the release -- that'll probably help.