#Raiden - Tagged Articles

Wrongful Snake: The Problem With Yet Another Metal Gear Prequel

The PixlBit staff is quite diverse in their gaming passions, and it’s one of my favorite things about writing here. In addition to being “Mr. Final Fantasy” I probably also hold the title of biggest Metal Gear Solid fanatic. Well, I might tie with Patrick Kijek, but MGS is a series that I’ve followed religiously since playing the Japanese Famitsu demo disc way back in 1998. It follows, then, that I should be beyond excited at the announcement of Metal Gear Solid 5, right? While I’m always happy to hear of another main entry in the series directed by Hideo Kojima, I just can’t muster up much enthusiasm for this one. Even the shininess of new console hardware and the Fox Engine can’t get my blood pumping. Why? Chalk it up prequel fatigue, and a longing for what could have been. (Note: The following editorial contains major spoilers for Metal Gear Solid 4. You have been warned.)

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Allusions Rising: Gearing Toward Greatness

War transforms us, Snake. Into beasts.

A certain inability to walk into a normal life pervades the player’s thirst for playful violence after taking down the Patriots in the Metal Gear series. The Winds of Destruction will have to fill that void. Some, like Sundowner, claim we surround the Self with violence, because of the feeling instilled when you kill your enemies and liberate the less fortunate and able. Others maintain that we argue philosophy as a way of waking up the beast inside of the Self. Regardless of the means, these musings have persisted through the Metal Gear franchise from the beginning. With Metal Gear Rising, they mesh high and low culture together in allusions that complicate our reason for loving to play.

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Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Hands On Preview

This ain't your daddy's Metal Gear!

I was really worried about Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. It was originally known as Metal Gear Solid: Rising, and was announced in 2009 as an Xbox 360 exclusive. A troubled and protracted development cycle almost ended in cancellation before the project was given over to Platinum Games. We may never know the full story about how an Xbox 360 exclusive designed by an in-house team hand-picked by Hideo Kojima became a multiplatform game developed by Platinum, but I can at least say that my worries are gone. Metal Gear Rising may not be what people have come to expect from the Metal Gear series, but so far I’d say it’s an impressive game in its own right.

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