It’s probably the first time there has been a video game with a cyborg ninja and a robot dog as the main characters.

“Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance” is a spin-off title from the Metal Gear series in which the player controls Raiden. Raiden is currently a cyborg ninja who works for a private military group that focuses on preserving peace and creating defense for developing countries. The game instantly launches the player into a fight with a cyborg terrorist group bent on creating war everywhere for the pure purpose of boosting the war economy.

Raiden goes after the cyborg terrorist group after learning the terrorists are kidnapping children for military experiments. This begins Raiden’s revenge: He was raised in this military lifestyle and seeks to stop the group so no child experiences what he had to go through.

The gameplay is that of a hack-and-slash game. The player controls Raiden as he runs through levels and slices his sword through cyborgs and robots. It’s a far-off difference from the Metal Gear series, which is heavily stealth-based and demands the player sneak past enemies and be unnoticed. There are moments in the game where one can choose to use stealth, but they’re not as prominent.

One aspect of the game is blade mode. This is when the player stops moving and uses the right control stick to make slices in whichever direction he or she wants in order to slice enemies into a million pieces. While you need a large amount of cyborg fuel to activate this mode so enemies go into slow motion, you can easily get back to full health and fuel by performing finishing moves on enemies.

There are two major problems that can interrupt gameplay. The camera control is hard to manage as the camera sometimes wants to move in a certain angle and can throw off the player’s direction and leave him or her open to enemy attacks.

The other problem is blocking enemy attacks. In order to block an enemy attack, the player must press the light attack button and move the left analog stick in the direction of the oncoming attack. When three enemies are surrounding you, you will block one attack only to be hit over and over without any recovery time. It’s especially troublesome with a large number of enemies, when it is essential to block before you can attack an enemy.

Overall, the progressing gameplay is amazing. Most hack-and-slash games can get boring at a point, as players find themselves doing the same thing over and over. “Revengeance” makes gameplay fun and fast, and throws something new in at almost every turn. It’s a game you can’t get bored of, especially when fighting the giant robot boss.

Enemies come in a number of different shapes and sizes, and the bosses are all unique and present good challenges. It’s been a while since a game presented a good challenge while not being ridiculously difficult. In the end, “Revengeance” is kind of a tossup. If you like hack-and-slash and/or you like the Metal Gear series, this is a definite must-play, even though Solid Snake doesn’t appear. If you’re more of a stealth player, you may want to skip this one. It’s a solid action game and has probably one of the best recent stories for a hack-and-slash.