Joining the Darkside –
Jetstream Sam is the first batch of DLC for Metal Gear Rising outside of some free VR Missions. Unfortunately, instead of getting an inside peek on one of Revengeance’s most interesting characters, Jetstream Sam is an attempt to earn an immoral buck from diehard fans.
Thanks to the notoriously slow Playstation Network, it took me a several hours to download and install this 2.5gb DLC file to my PS3. In comparison, I finished this extra content in 56 minutes according to the stat summary screen upon conclusion; it is never good when it takes longer to download the file than it does to play through it. And with no replay value or New Game+ option, there is no reason to go back unless you want to try again on a higher difficulty setting.
Besides the very short length, everything in Jetstream Sam has been reused from the main campaign. The sewers, Japanese garden, enemies, music, boss battles, and the helipad have all been rehashed from Raiden’s solo adventure. Sam also gets a dumbed down treatment in comparison to Raiden as he cannot stealth kill, gain new abilities, or use new weapons. He can, however, double jump and release a charged up attack if the attack button is held down instead of tapped. Sure, he plays a little differently but is not a major game changer. If anything Sam is a little more straightforward and brutal when comparing against the more graceful and ninja-like Raiden.
Jetstream Sam is going to assume you are familiar with Rising’s gameplay mechanics as it does present a slightly higher degree of difficulty. The optional VR Missions found during Sam’s campaign are also ruthless, often relying on cheap tactics like being able to easily fall off a ledge to yield instant death. And since Sam cannot level up, any experience earned is carried over into Raiden’s campaign.
Sam, Monsoon, the senator and Blade Wolf all make appearances during this DLC but the overall story just doesn’t make much sense. Sam, being one of the stand out characters in Rising, seems like he is (or at least was) an honorable warrior with a unique history. But this is never realized in his DLC campaign. Instead, he has a fight with the senator and just, well, joins him for no reason. He was hell bent on bringing justice from World Marshal and then just stops dead in his tracks and joins the side he was fighting against because he got stabbed in the chest..? It is a lacking, confusing, and empty plot that is never fully realized.
For around $10, this one hour rehash is not worth the asking price, which hurts me to say because I am huge Metal Gear fan. Hopefully the upcoming Blade Wolf DLC will bring some new content to the Rising universe with a justified price tag.
Not As Good As: you hoped
Better Than: trying to forge your own high frequency blade
Wait For It: The Phantom Pain
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I don’t know, I had really high hopes for this one. The ending of Rising was amazing and the fight with the Senator was really amazing. I guess I’ll watch a LP of the DLC before deciding to buy it, even though I probably won’t after your review.
I got a feeling that it would just be a short storyline, but what could you expect from a DLC on games like MGR other than that. It’s practically common practice nowadays. For fans of the series, they’ll certain buy this for $10, but if you’re not a fan, don’t bother. It’s pretty much more of the same thing.