Because Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a hack-and-slash game starring a ninja, some gamers have compared it to Ninja Gaiden. Revengeance producer Atsushi Inaba really wishes they wouldn't do that.
"People have been comparing it to Ninja Gaiden, but at least Ninja Gaiden 3 was a shitty game that cannot be helped," Inaba tweeted (via Gematsu). "I don’t want it to be compared to that."
He's far from the only one who didn't like NG3. It's sitting at a Metacritic of 56 for the PS3 version and 53 for the Xbox 360. It's one of the worst-received games in the series. The poor camera and oversimplified mechanics were two of the more common reasons it's so hated.
Inaba added that the gameplay trailer for Revengeance was well-received. The manual slicing and "playable cutscenes" were both apparently praised. I don't think the Ninja Gaiden comparisons by gamers were meant to be negative, then - after all, the series has plenty of good games. I guess Inaba's a bit picky when it comes to receiving compliments, though.
Revengeance is being developed by Platinum Games, who took over the project from Kojima Productions in 2011. Platinum has beefed up the action side of the game while de-emphasizing stealth. The game's original title, when being developed by Kojima Productions, was Metal Gear Solid: Rising; the change to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance reflects the game's break from series' traditions.
Konami is bringing a playable build of Revengeance to E3 this week. We'll see if the Ninja Gaiden comparisons continue once gamers get a chance to actually try the game.
