In Defense of Metal Gear Rising Revengeance

With the announcement of the latest Metal Gear game, many irate gamers have taken to Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, and elsewhere to ridicule the title of the upcoming game.

My question to them is: Where have you people been? Have you been paying attention?

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Yes, it is a silly title. It’s a silly title for a silly game. A game that features a drag queen cyborg (come on, he has high-heeled feet!) armed with a sword that cuts everything, including house sized robots. And you guys ridicule that it has a silly, over the top name?

Did you watch closely? Did you catch that this game is no longer developed (only produced) by Kojima Productions? That this game is NOT developed by some third tier EA studio trying to appear hardcore? That the people actually developing the game are none other than Platinum Games—formerly Clover Studios—the people who brought us Bayonetta, God Hand, Vanquish and Okami; some of the past years’ best and most importantly absolutely positively most insane and over the top games from Japan?

Do you need a refresher on the kind of joyful sillyness we’re talking about here?

These people don't know the meaning of "too much" when it comes to creating over-the-top action.

Think about it. Those people are making a Metal Gear game. It has a silly name. How on earth could it NOT have a silly name? Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is really the perfect name for this kind of project.

Simply put, it’s no longer your usual Metal Gear game. It’s a Platinum Game’s title, bringing with it all the joyful extravaganza those people are known and loved for. Cut them some slack. If any developer in the world has the perfect right to pick a very silly title for their game, it’s these guys.