I've seen a lot of shit thrown towards it even by Kojima itself, but I thoroughly enjoyed Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.
Sure, it's not your average Metal Gear game and you'll be disappointed if you expect it to be as such, but it makes it clear that it's supposed to be its own thing right from the title - that's why its name was changed from "Metal Gear Solid: Rising" to its current one during development. On the other hand, if you get into it while expecting a different experience, you're going to have a good time. The gameplay is fun, the fast-paced combat is great (aside from a few cheap shots by a couple of bosses), slicing enemies in free blade mode is very satisfying and it also has a handful of genuinely memorable moments during its cutscenes and story. The only downsides I can find are a few OHKO QTEs scattered here and there, which can come out as annoying nowadays but were kind of commonplace when it was released (and even then, the game is kind enough to autosave just before them in case you fail), so it can be partly excused for them.
Sure, it's not your average Metal Gear game and you'll be disappointed if you expect it to be as such, but it makes it clear that it's supposed to be its own thing right from the title - that's why its name was changed from "Metal Gear Solid: Rising" to its current one during development. On the other hand, if you get into it while expecting a different experience, you're going to have a good time. The gameplay is fun, the fast-paced combat is great (aside from a few cheap shots by a couple of bosses), slicing enemies in free blade mode is very satisfying and it also has a handful of genuinely memorable moments during its cutscenes and story. The only downsides I can find are a few OHKO QTEs scattered here and there, which can come out as annoying nowadays but were kind of commonplace when it was released (and even then, the game is kind enough to autosave just before them in case you fail), so it can be partly excused for them.
