Metal Gear Rising not a direct sequel to MGS 4

Following Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance's surprise VGA re-reveal, Kojipro has given a few more details and cleared up some misconceptions.

With the revelation that the game's timeline has been shifted to follow Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, there was some talk that the game was a sequel to it, but according to Andriasang's translation of the Kojima productions Twitter, the company has denied it.

"We've only said that the period setting is several years after MGS4. Metal Gear Rising is not part of the Metal Gear Solid series. At present, we can't say more than this," the developer tweeted, in line with removal of the word "Solid" from the game's title.

Second-hand reports of a Kojipro podcast give some context to the game's dramatic shift in tone and direction, as well as its hand over to Platinum Games. Apparently, the original premise - that you could slice anything - proved insufficient to carry it through to a finished product. The Kojipro team floundered on, unsure of what to do, with Hideo Kojima suggesting it might be time to cancel the project, despite the completion of the story and motion capture elements.

Happily, the game was reportedly rescued by a studio visit by Platinum members, who were keen to take on the half-completed game and run with it, turning into an action title. After reviewing the materials presented to them, the Platinum team renegotiated so as to be able to write a new story.

An official English version of the podcast is due on December 13, and will be revealed at a press conference in Los Angeles.

Kojima later gave some further explanations, explaining that the game now limits the player to slicing only certain objects and enemies rather than everything in the game, which understandably makes it hard to design levels. Players can still slice targets however they choose.

Producer Yuji Korekado explained that all the elements of the original E3 trailer are still in the game, including harvesting enemies. In the new version, the game's rhythm is "slash, slash, slash, take" rather than "aim, slash, take".

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is due on major platforms in 2012 and has so far drawn mixed reactions from fans and detractors of the franchise.