It's hard to believe it, but Metal Gear Rising has turned 10 years old. Man, I still remember being so excited for this game, and I still remember writing the review for it way back when. Honestly, 2013 had a lot of amazing games get released, but for me, MGR was easily one of the best ones. From the time I first heard about the game, up until the moment I finally had it in my hands -- it was quite the ride. Heck, even the day it released was sorta a funny adventure.
When Metal Gear Solid Rising was first announced, I had just started to be interested in the MGS series. My friend Ryan was a huge fan, and would show me the games, but otherwise I avoided them initially. Besides playing the demo back on PS1, and seeing Snake in Smash Bros, I really knew nothing about the series. Heck, I remember seeing him play MGS2 and ask "where's Snake at?" When I saw Raiden instead. I thought it was stupid there was a MGS game without Snake as the main character, but whatever. Eventually I would learn that Raiden would become a cyborg ninja in MGS4 (heard kids talking about it at school), and that's when I actually became a bit more interested in him as a character. But still, I didn't have a PS3, nor did I plan to get one, so I figured it was something I'd never play. Then things changed.
I actually bought a PS3 using the tip money I had earned working at the bakery, and the main reason I even wanted it was for Valkyria Chronicles. Me being me though, and not wanting to own a console for one game, I decided to branch out and try new things. I saw MGS4 was on sale, but I didn't want to play it until I had played the others -- so I ran up to GameStop, took advantage of a sale they had going on, and got MGS Snake Eater and MGS2. I would quickly finish them, Raiden would become my favorite character, and Ryan let me barrow 3.
After finishing off 3, and buying 4 (and finishing it as well), the next thing I did was start looking at Metal Gear Solid Rising again. I was excited to see that a new game focusing on Raiden was coming out, and the swordplay looked amazing to me! Being able to cut anything? And seeing Raiden's cyborg origin story? Just seemed so cool! I couldn't wait, and neither could Ryan. Heck, he went out and preordered it the moment he had a chance! Little did we know it wouldn't be until years later, and it wouldn't even be the original game we were waiting for.
While we were both in the boat of "not sure how we feel about these changes" when Platinum Games took over -- I think we both now agree it was for the best. I'm not going to repeat how I feel about the game (click the review at the top if you care), but I will say that I loved it. The game was great! However, the day it came out was... Not how either of us expected it to be.
The morning Rising came out, both me and Ryan met up first thing at our closest GameStop. For both of us this was a few towns away from where we lived, with Ryan living out in the country between the towns. It was pretty cool, both of us being able to walk in and pick up the game we had waited so long for, and I remember we stood around and talked to the store's manager for awhile as well. Everyone was so excited for the game to be released, and it was just fun seeing other fans of the series being just as excited. We didn't stick around long, but it was fun. Of course we both wanted to get home and play our game, so we headed out of the store, walked to our cars, and said goodbye to each other -- except, it wasn't goodbye.
It turns out Ryan locked his keys in the car! So instead of heading home, it was me driving him back to his house to get his extra keys. The thing is, the country roads he lived out on, were just flat out crazy! I mean, it was an everyday drive for him, but for me, it was an adventure. Again, he lived a good 20 minutes away as well, but the roads to get to his house took you through heavily wooded areas, single lane roads, deep ditches, multiple hills, and many, MANY, places where your car would bottom out if you didn't drive in the exact right location. Thankfully Ryan was able to guide me on where to be on the road, and when, but man... That's still probably the most insane country road I've been on in my life. Even being out surveying hasn't lead me to anything like that! (Not that I go out a lot, but still.) While I'll admit it was kinda scary at times, looking back now it's a good memory. That next summer was when Ryan would move away, so it's memories like these that you always look back on.
After I went home and played MGR, but looking back now the rest of that day is ultimately my favorite part of the while thing.
But man, it was such a good game. Worth the wait!
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