“Truth Behind RISING” vidoc describes troubled project
Konami has released the English-captioned Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance video in which franchise creator Hideo Kojima explains the game's abrupt shift in direction.
The 25 minute video, embedded below, confirms reports of the game's troubled development and near-cancellation prior to its reinvention.
Although some fans have reacted badly to the idea of a Metal Gear game created by someone other than Hideo Kojima, the developer noted that his investment in the project was limited prior to the hand over.
"Since Rising was an alternative title, I was just operating as a producer and leaving everything else to the new team," Kojima commented. "I wasn't involved in the story much, and I tried not to get too involved in the project itself.
"By April or May 2010 I finished Peace Walker, and after E3, I peeked in to see how the project was going. When I did, I found that the story, the characters and the support characters were all fine. However, the game design itself wasn't clear or well decided."
Kojima noted that the original "cut everything" premise was difficult to make work in a game setting, especially when trying to include traditional elements of the core Metal Gear Solid series like stealth and infiltration.
"The team was lost in an endless cycle of creating and recreating these elements over and over to achieve the right balance," he added, soberly.
Kojima started looking for another studio to take over the project, including some international developers, but wanted a Japanese team to tackle the ninja swordplay. After considering the action elements he wanted in the game, he made the only possible choice.
"The only studio I felt could do this was Platinum Games. If anybody could do it, it would be them," he said.
At the Spike VGAs this weekend, a new trailer was released for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, revealing a change of studio from Kojima Productions to Bayonetta and Vanquish developer Platinum Games, as well as anew emphasis on action and a change of plot. Reaction has been mixed.
See the full video below. KojiPro producer Yuji Korekado, lead writer Etsu Tamari, 3DCG supervisor Hideki Sasaki and other key staffers also make an appearance.
