Parry Combat Done Right! (Mostly), Metal Gear Rising Review. This game is exactly what the doctor ordered ha. Once upon a time, I was a pretty big fan of the parry mechanic and really enjoyed how it worked in games like Street Fighter 3, Third Strike and Fight n' Rage. In the past few years though, since Sekiro came out basically, I do not connect with the direction the mechanic has gone in where, instead of complimenting the fundamentals of melee combat (spacing and hitbox interaction), the parry has just become a button prompt to over-ride the melee combat. The result is that yes, combat has become more accessible since what you need to do is dead obvious (just time the button press), but what we have lost is the nuances of melee combat and it's depth and replayability. Ironically, with overpowered parry combat, the better you get at the game and learn all the enemy patterns, the less engaging the game becomes. It's like knowing the trick to always solve the rubik's cube. You are punished for being good ha.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengence, however, does not fall into this sandpit. Since it was released back in 2013, before the current accessible parry trend, Platinum approached the mechanic with more originality and manged to balance it into the core combat of the game without completely negating the fundamentals of spacing and hitboxes. The game, even a decade later, is impressive in how fun and layered the combat mechanics are. The more you learn the game, the more you realize how much is possible without parrying at all, which I really appreciate.

In this review, I cover a lot of topics around character action mechanics and balance, but if there is one central lesson that Metal Gear Rising can teach us, it's that a developer can make a concept like a parry work, but it needs to be balanced with the core fundamentals of the gameplay in mind, rather than just being tossed into an already existing system cough Resident Evil 4 Remake and then balanced by meter management. Because when I think action game combat, I think knife durability.

Awesome thumbnail created by ‪@boghogSTG‬

Patreon
  / electricunderground  
[$2 tier = Monthly Game Review Vote, Name in Credits, Exclusive Monthly Podcast]
[$5 tier = Double Monthly Game Review Vote, By Name Shout-out, Name in Credits, Exclusive Monthly Podcast]
Website: https://theelectricundergr.wixsite.co...

STG Revision 2020 Discord:
  / discord  

00:00 What is Fundamental Melee Combat?
02:54 Parries Invert Melee Combat
06:17 Modern Action Games are Removing Spacing
11:18 Metal Gear Rising Is a Parry Focused Game that proceeds current trends.
13:00 The Directional Input Parry is BRILLIANT
18:34 There are VIABLE alternatives to the Parry
25:00 I love this game's style and Blade Mode
27:39 Zandatsu is Lame and repetitive
33:13 The Campaign is the Best Platinum has Made
38:24 I Love to S-Rank Grind (though Arcade mode would be nice)
42:00 Overall Thoughts

#residentevil4remake, #metalgearrising, #sekiro