It's a sensitive question, especially considering the fact that hardcore Metal Gear Solid fans would've much rather seen MGS5 unveiled.
And although Hideo Kojima has specifically stated that the newly renamed Revengeance is a spin-off and not technically part of the core Metal Gear Solid franchise, those fans remain a tad bitter. They just seem automatically biased against the new project, which started its life at Kojima Productions and will finish the development cycle at Bayonetta and Vanquish developer Platinum Games.
But you know, as much as I don't like the idea of spin-offs, as much as I don't like popular franchises resulting in sub-par titles that simply use the franchise name for popularity purposes, I still think we we should give Rising a chance. I'm going strictly by the accomplishments and reputations of everyone involved in this project. My opinion has nothing to do with what I've seen in those action trailers. But when you've got the Kojima team doing the story and characters, and one of the better action-oriented studios handling the gameplay, I think we're looking at something better than a standard spin-off.
I mean, we all have negative associations for the term "spin-off." People immediately think of the word "milking" and assume there's little chance the project will be as good as the classic titles in the original series. And they have good reason for that assumption. It's perfectly sensible. However, in this particular case, if you put all the creators under the microscope, you have to wonder how this can possibly fail. And besides, since when does Kojima put his name anywhere near sub-par products?
Spin-offs probably shouldn't be encouraged, if only for the sake of quality and innovation. Still, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance might be one of those great exceptions to the rule.
Related Game(s): Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
