Celebrating 25 years of Metal Gear goodness at PAX 2012, Konami made sure that everyone got their hands on Raiden’s solo adventure Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. I understand how gamers feel about Raiden, and personally I have always held a quite neutral stance about him. However, do not dismiss Revengeance because it will surprise you on how it plays, how it feels, and how Raiden starts to grow even more on you as a character.

The demo consisted of a VR training simulation that jumps to different scenarios to teach the player aspects of the gameplay. Raiden’s weapon of choice is his trusty Katana and the action in based mainly from its proficient use in combat. For better control of the blade, a feature called Blade Mode slows down time and allows you to adjust the angle with the analog sticks for a more efficient cut. I tested it out on watermelons of all sizes and standees of bad guys, and to makes things interesting some of them were holding a hostage just to see if you can avoid accidentally ruining the day of the wrong person. Raiden’s Katana can be used to cut other objects in the world, but not everything. A blue compact car can be opened like a can of tuna, but don’t expect to cut through doors or walls.

When it comes to other sword wielding cyborgs they didn’t stand a chance. There is a guilty pleasure in using Blade Mode to cut them into individual bite-sized pieces. Using Wide and Strong attacks to take them down, and an acrobatic move that initiates Blade Mode in mid-air as a finisher, is exactly the type of gameplay that will put Revengeance out in the forefront.

How about using Ninja Run to cross a bridge while it is being destroyed by helicopters firing missiles at you? We got our revenge (or revengeance) against them later with homing missiles from a launcher of our own and then from an up-close-and-personal meeting with cold steel.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a perfect example of why you will get more out of gaming as a whole when you have an open mind. I didn’t think I would like this game, until I played it. Everything works well together and Platinum Games did a great of job of crafting an action game that will become another great addition to the Metal Gear legacy when it releases in 2013.