Despite its February 19th release date, one player claims that he has not only played and bested Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, but that he's managed to finish the game in an extraordinarily quick five hours!
Producer Atsushi Inaba responded to the claim with number of tweets to dispel the idea that the game only offers 5-6 hours of play. Here are Inaba's feelings on the issue, as collected by GamingEverything, with a few musings on each:
"It seems someone posted their MGR results screen and that people (mainly in the West) are shocked it says the clear time is 5.5hr."
For the hack n' slash genre this game seems to fall into, 5-6 hours does seem about average, especially for a fairly skilled player. For comparison, God of War averages a bit above that. What's really shocking is that, even though this is mainly a Platinum Games title, sans Snake or not, this is a Metal Gear game, and unless you're exceptionally skilled, these are not known as games you can breeze right through.
"Here's the truth: First of all, cutscenes ARE NOT INCLUDED in that counter."
I should hope not. If Rising's cutscenes are anything like past Metal Gear games, they would figure for a substantial chunk to the game's actual playtime. The cutscenes in Metal Gear Solid 4 add five or six hours to the game's runtime alone.
Inaba also explained that player deaths and failed level attempts do not factor into the completion time. So while you could spend hours stuck on a particular chapter, dying over and over, it's only the run in which you finally complete the level that gets counted:
"Next: For every chapter you play in the game, it ONLY COUNTS YOUR FASTEST TIME. It doesn't track your total play time."
"What that means is if you replay a chapter for 10 hours, but you finally clear it in a time of 10 mins. Only 10 mins will be counted."
"So please don't get fixated on that end screen Clear Time being total game time because it is not. As I said, it is not how long you've had the power on playing MGR, it is a record of your best efforts playing the game."
In the end, Inaba lamented the idea that a system designed to trumpet a player's achievements was being used to make a mockery the game.
"We came up with this clear time counting system as a way to fairly evaluate players. It hasn't changed since Bayonetta."
"However, I will say it is really disappointing that people try to use a single screen in the game to try and create negative buzz."
For anyone else that takes Inaba at his word, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance launches on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC on February 19th.
