The year is 2001. The anticipated sequel to the smash hit, Metal Gear Solid, has just been released. Immediately, outrage is sparked and the game becomes the bastard child of the franchise, for one primary reason:

The fans hated Raiden.

It’s been 21 years since then (Insane, right?), and where’s all the hate gone? People actually LIKE Raiden now? Why’s that?
This game is why, and here's why you should definitely get it.

Platinum Games, famously the creators of Bayonetta and Nier: Automata, are no strangers to fast-paced hack and slash games. In fact, they’re probably the best developers in the genre. When Kojima asked them to make a hack and slash game based in the Metal Gear universe with Raiden as the lead, they delivered in spades.

Gameplay is actually very simple. Unlike Bayonetta and Devil May Cry, where the player is buried in weapon types to switch in and out, MGR gives you a single sword and says “Go nuts kid.” You have light attacks, heavy attacks, and all the combos that gives you. Very easy to pick up, very easy to get into.

What makes the Metal Gear Rising stand out from the pack is its emphasis on parrying enemy attacks and using your high-frequency blade to cut through anything in your way, enemies included. A properly directed light attack in the direction of the enemy deflects their hit, preventing the player from taking what could potentially be crippling damage on higher difficulties. Considering there is no block button, and dodges are slow and unreliable, parrying is the only decent way to avoid taking damage. MGR did it before Sekiro made it cool, although it's not nearly as demanding in the timing as Sekiro was.

Equally, healing items are incredibly scarce, requiring players to utilize MGR's unique combat mechanic of “Zandatsu”. By either stunning or damaging an enemy enough, players can slice them open with blade mode and rip out their fuel cells, refilling his health to full. Knowing the proper time to slice n’ dice and having good precision in your moves is the key to success, and on Revengeance difficulty, it's often the only way to stay alive under the onslaught of enemies thrown at you.

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To further emphasize how beginner-friendly this game is, unlike some hack and slash games that give you no warning and expect you to memorize all enemy attack patterns to dodge, Metal Gear Rising gives you a fair chance to react to what’s coming, leaving it up to the player to respond. Parryable enemy attacks are indicated by a red flash in their eyes, while unblockable attacks (Usually grabs) are indicated by a yellow glow.

The gameplay is fast, engaging, and easy to get the hang of. The bosses also take full advantage of this system to deliver memorable battles that I still hold in high regard to this day.

The only iffy part of the gameplay loop is that, probably due to being a Metal Gear game, Platinum Games included an incredibly minimalist and half-baked stealth system. While Raiden can see enemies through walls, and can “backstab” them, he has no sneaking mechanics, or really any way to hide. At best, it's a way to take out a few enemies before you inevitably get spotted and the massive brawl breaks out. At least there’s not really a penalty for getting spotted, unlike in MGS; you can just chop them in half.

The game also has a high level of replayability. Although the story and setpieces don't change, the rating system pushes players to improve their performance throughout, and every new difficulty level can change the enemies one encounters in each area. On normal, the first fight of the game is just against a handful of soldiers. On Revengeance difficulty, you're immediately thrown against a Gekko mech, along with several dogs.

This is a Metal Gear game. Those that have played the Metal Gear Solid series know what this means. To those that have not: This entire game is both a serious political commentary, and an absolute joke at the same time. The topics can often be very serious, such as terrorism fueling the war economy, creating jobs, and being unpleasantly good for a nation. This is true; World War 2 actually pulled the American economy out of the Great Depression.

But then the next minute, you have a cyborg ninja debating philosophy with a sentient robot dog, Raiden wearing a mariachi band outfit, and most famously, a terrorist declaring that “Memes are the DNA of the soul.”

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On the surface, the combination of dead-realism and complete absurdity seems incompatible, but the game owns it by being acutely aware of how crazy it’s being, embracing it, and running wild with it. It’s the same writing logic that propelled Metal Gear Solid into being rated one of the best series of all time.

In the end, it creates an incredibly fun way of discussing genuinely serious topics, though sometimes the absurdity overshadows the horror of what’s happening in the moment.

However, this IS a canon part of the Metal Gear universe, meaning it makes numerous references to the events of the other games. If you haven’t played the other games, you won’t understand what people are saying every now and then, but thankfully the majority of the dialogue is self-contained within Rising, preventing too much confusion. If you’re one of those people that really loves their lore or needs context, I would heavily encourage you to play or watch the Metal Gear Solid series, as they are equally excellent games.

The game looks great, plain and simple. The game is somewhat dated by today’s standards, having come out in 2013, so you don’t have to look hard to find some rough edges, unrefined models, and simplistic architecture. It makes up for this with good art and character design making them visually memorable and interesting. MGR especially loves its particle effects, so expect lots of those.

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Even the biggest detractors of Metal Gear Rising never deny one thing: The music in Rising is AWESOME. The intense electric metal perfectly suits the cybernetic themes of the game, and the boss themes are incredible, both lyrically and musically. “Rules of Nature” was the go-to edgy meme song before “Bury the Light” from DMC5 took its place 6 years later. In fact, you’ve probably heard Rules of Nature at some point if you haven’t been living under a rock since 2013. I still listen to the boss themes when working at my PC.

GeForce RTX 3050Ti 4GB | Intel i7 | 16GB | Windows 10
Obviously a game from 2013 better run on my specs, but it’s important to note it also ran perfectly fine on my old PC from 2013, which only had a GeForce 840m 2GB and 8 GB of RAM. Unless you’re still using your 2005 Windows XP PC held together with duct tape, you should be able to run this game on good settings with good frames.

A controller is HEAVILY recommended due to the precise omni-directional nature of the game. Keyboard and mouse parrying is so difficult in comparison that MGR was the sole reason I bought my first PC-compatible controller.

Metal Gear Rising isn’t necessarily a one-of-a-kind experience; you can get the same story from Metal Gear Solid, and the same general gameplay from any hack and slash. However, the combination of the two styles, great sense of visual design, amazing soundtrack, and ease of accessibility make it a worthwhile purchase for any gamer. It can drop down to less than $7 on sale, but it’s worth the full price.

Get it when you can!

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It’s fairly common knowledge among long-time fans of the series that there just really aren’t that many good Warhammer 40k games. You got Dawn of War, Space Marine, Mechanicus….. and that’s about it. Maybe Darktide. Most of these games are over a decade old and aren’t the best thing to recommend to people anymore.

But what if we made a game that was intentionally designed to be old? Enter Warhammer 40k: Boltgun.

Riding the high of the 2020 resurgence of the “Boomer Shooter”, FPS games designed to be more reminiscent of the simple but effective formula of 90s FPS games. No regenerating health, no hiding behind cover. Just you, your guns, a whole lot of enemies, and your typical olympic track star speed to evade them.

I believe Boltgun is worth your time and money, especially considering how cheap it is. But it’s always best to make an informed purchase. That’s what I’m here to do!

As aforementioned, Boltgun is part of the “Boomer Shooter” genre of FPS, which are FPS games designed to appear and somewhat play like old 90s FPS staples such as Doom and Quake, but with modernized movement and controls. Boltgun definitely gets this idea; arenas are large and designed to run around full sprint while mowing down your enemies, and you have a total of 9 different weapons to unlock throughout the game as convenient spinning pickups.

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However, every good game has a core mechanic that sets it apart from the rest. In this case, much to the delight of myself and other fans of 40k, Boltgun excels at emulating an FPS experience that is extremely similar to the IRL tabletop gameplay. Every weapon you can wield has a “Strength” value, and every enemy has a “Toughness” value, both of which can be conveniently seen at all times on the UI. If your weapon’s Strength is greater than your enemy’s Toughness, you do more damage per shot! If it’s equal, you do okay damage. If it’s lower, you do noticeably less damage.

Every weapon in the game has a different gimmick that sets it apart and makes it useful compared to the rest. The weapon the game is named after, the Boltgun, has a Strength of 4 and a very deep ammo reserve. This makes it excellent for chewing through cannon fodder enemies, but struggles significantly against heavily armored enemies. Comparatively, the Plasma Gun and Meltagun have a Strength of 7, making them extremely effective against every enemy, but they possess either a low rate of fire or very low ammo reserves, meaning you can’t be wasting them on random mid-level enemies.

Just like all “Movement Shooters”, Boltgun demands you avoid damage through strafing and running rather than hiding behind cover. Every enemy attack that isn’t melee is a form of projectile that can be avoided with good enough reactions or speed. Some enemies track better than others, and so you must strafe rather than just try to outrun. Some just spew hundreds of rounds, forcing you to keep moving or else they’ll catch up with you.

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Another staple of the BS FPS formula are secrets and power-ups. Every map contains an array of power-ups that only last until the end of the level. One example of this is special ammo for the Boltgun that makes it fire faster, penetrate walls or add an AOE. Another is the Vortex Grenade, which when thrown creates a small black hole that rapidly damages and sucks in any enemies around it. But the most impactful power-up you can find is the Machine Spirit, which empowers whatever weapon you are holding when you pick it up. Some of the secrets are genuinely just impossible to find without a guide (Just like Doom), but there’s usually a few easy ones to make up for it. I can usually reliably find the Machine Spirit every level.

Overall, the gameplay is responsive, engaging, and multi-layered; the best kind of FPS gameplay you can get. Varying enemy toughness requiring you to switch weapons is great moment-to-moment engagement that keeps you on your toes, and the multiple different types of environments you venture through help keep the game fresh even when fighting the same enemies. Remember Doom: The Imp never changed from start to finish, but the places you fought it in did!

However, one critical flaw I must make known is that Boltgun lacks any form of map. While the environments are relatively straight forward, sometimes you loop around to the same “hub” room with a key for a new door and need to remember where that door actually is. It’s only a bit annoying and time consuming, but be prepared to actually pay attention to where you’re going so you don’t get lost.

Another staple of the Boomer Shooter genre is an intentional lack of focus on the story. It’s still there, of course. It just barely matters. You play as Malum Caedo, a Space Marine of the Ultramarines chapter, tasked with purging the Chaos filth off a Forge World.

Don’t know 40k lore? Don’t know what any of that means? Doesn’t matter! Point and shoot at the bad guys. It’s as easy as that!

Boltgun has a very good grasp of the world of Warhammer 40k and the “grimdark” feeling it pioneered. The combination of technology and religious zealotry is on full display through excessively large cathedral designs, overcomplicated iron techno-junk, and of course the chaos corruption and vandalism covering it all.

The low-poly nature of the environments help to emulate Quake, which is clearly the main inspiration for most of the gameplay (As it is so practically all FPS), but the enemies are a nice unique 2D claymation spin on the sprites you normally see in these kinds of games. It reminds me very heavily of Doom 64, which had far different and rather memorable redesigns of the classic Doom enemy ensemble.

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Weapon effects, enemy attacks, and particles are very distinct and prominent, though the sheer AMOUNT of effects can sometimes cause a bit of blindness by making it impossible to tell living enemies from the pure carnage going on around them. This is compounded by the speed of the game, which sometimes results in confusing scrambles where you just spray and pray and hope for the best.

I have no complaints, but also no compliments about the audio. The music is okay, but not even slightly memorable. The guns do sound satisfyingly chunky, but not quite enough to really resonate. It’s good and performs its job satisfactorily.

GeForce RTX 3050Ti 4GB | Intel i7 | 16GB | Windows 10
I typically don’t have any problems running Boltgun on my PC. However, on random occasions, the game will suffer a sort of stutter-freeze where every two or so seconds, the entire game will freeze for a split-second. This will happen repeatedly. I don’t really know what causes it, or how to solve it, but restarting a few times seems to fix it.

Boltgun is an excellent retro “Boomer Shooter” that perfectly emulates the lore and appeal of the Warhammer 40k universe while still being approachable enough that non-fans can enjoy it too. While it does have some momentary annoyances, like the complete lack of a map, it is a majority fun experience. It comes with a satisfying amount of content, an enjoyable weapon roster, and iconic enemies, all with a 40k coat of paint. I've replayed it three times and enjoyed it each time!

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