10 Things You Should Know About Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance hits stores today and while it's not part of the main Metal Gear storyline, it's cool enough to stand on its own merit. As Raiden, it's your mission to slice your way out of a looming terrorist disaster. When we got our hands on the game, we couldn't help but notice a few things that you should know before you break out the bucks. Here are 10 Things You Should Know About Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

Not like that's a bad thing. In fact it's pretty damn awesome if you're into anime and Japanese pop culture. There are many moments in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance that draw inspiration from samurai and ninja movie themes. Others pull from the over-the-top kills and finale stances of many anime shows.Think of slicing an enemy into shreds and then watching it explode behind your back, as you stand looking badass holding your sword. Yeah, that kind of good stuff.

If you're familiar with the Metal Gear franchise, obscure ideas, quirky dialogue, and a strange universe that somehow holds it all together should seem par for the course. Newcomers however will be inundated with the unique Kojima-brand weirdness ranging from talking robot dogs pontificating the meaning of life to evil villains who want us to literally "give war a change."

While other Metal Gear titles relied heavily on stealth manuvers, Revengeance leans more towards action. There are a few times where you will need to hide in the occasional cardboard box or steel barrel but for most of the game, you'll be running head-on into battle.

Sorry gun nuts, don't expect to stockpile any cool firearms to unleash on your foes. Most of them may have increasingly powerful guns to use against you but there won't be any rap beef style shootouts happening in Revengeance. It's melee day everyday for Raiden.

There are a lot of fighting combinations to choose from as the game progresses. The more bosses you beat, the more weapons you gain. With those weapons come special moves that kill enemies faster and are cooler to look at. Fortunately, there aren't a lot of button combinations to execute these moves. You just pick the dead boss' weapon as your main one and the rest just follows. Press, press, press to kill, kill, kill.

If you have an appreciation for the male derriere, you won't find a shortage here. There is a graphic ass shot for nearly every cyborg that you'll cross paths with.

Do yourself a favor and run through the game's manual a few times as some enemies require certain techniques to beat. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance might be mostly a hack and slasher but there are a number of curveballs thrown in to mix things up.

People don't usually think about a video game's soundtrack unless it's one of those things that they're into or someone points it out. We'll be the ones to point out that this one is one for the archives. For a game so rooted in a cyber ninja/samurai theme, you'd think that there would be oodles of electronic music. Nope, Revengeance pounds hard metal through the speakers and it's not some weak and whiny poser metal either.

We're not sure if it was done on purpose but we couldn't get past a few of the real-life and fictional celebrites scattered throughout MGR. During our time with it we spotted President Barack Obama, Antonio Banderas, Henry Rollins and Ravage from The Transformers. See for yourself and comeback with your sightings.