With Metal Gear Solid: Rising containing the new Raiden - somewhat of an unknown quantity in the gameplay department - what can we expect from the upcoming game? Here are three, hopefully well defined points, and a shortlist of several other ones. [This was originally posted over on my blog dedicated to Metal Gear and Kojima Productions news, Metal Gear Scholar]

Lightning Blot Action.
Hideo Kojima is well known for his comical teaser trailers that come before the release of the actual trailer for his game - take, for example, the first trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The "No Place for Hideo" trailer was designed using Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater's engine, and its role was to usher in a new director and new development into the series. It was surprisingly well produced in retrospect, and even though in the long run Kojima ended up directing the game in much the same way that he had done with the previous three Solid titles, the resonance of the trailer was still felt throughout the thoroughbred fan community. Some fans took the trailer's suggestions too seriously, and even sent death threats to Kojima, threatening violent action should he not be directing the then-next generation title.

Is there more behind the term "Lightning Bolt Action" than meets the eye? No, there isn't - it's more or less meant entirely as a joke. After all, Metal Gear Solid without "Tactical Espionage Action" would not be Metal Gear Solid. It would just be another Metal Gear game, sans the "Solid" moniker. (You have to credit Konami's genius for coming up with the Tactical Espionage Action subtitle; it really is quite catching.) But it does raise the question: what would a Metal Gear Solid with Raiden be like?

We don't know anything about Rising's story at this point in time, apart from the fact that it will feature Raiden as a playable character, and at least a portion of the game will be with him in his new cyborg ninja phase. Raiden never used a firearm in Guns of the Patriots: so what is stealth like with a sword? Will it be Tenchu? (Garnett Lee's eyebrows rise in baited anticipation.)

And what of Raiden's electrical prowess that "Lightning Bolt Action" hints at? Players may be able to utilize Raiden's lightning bolt abilities, which could make for some interesting gameplay segments, considering Kojima always has an eye for the supernatural in things - Psycho Mantis, The Sorrow et al. Kojima had previously stated that he was making a Metal Gear game for Japanese audiences this time around, and providing he wasn't referring to the PlayStation Portable game he's also producing - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - that could make for some interesting gameplay machinations. I envision gameplay in between that of 2's and 4's, with the ability to hella cut dudes up with a sword and take a lot of damage. HK is also going to have to address the issue of Raiden being able to hold back a boat with his very strong cybernetic body, as seen in Guns of the Patriots - if he can survive a tanker bearing down on him, what good are a couple of routine guards fighting against him going to do?

Make that "Insane Story Action".
The story will be extreme in this game, and by that I mean that it will be at one end of the polar spectrum: it'll either be very complicated, all over the place, insane, or it'll be a passive experience that will have its intelligent moments, like Metal Gear Solid 3. It'll be an amazing treatment of the story, because it has to be. The character of Raiden carries such a stigma when it comes to the plot surrounding him that, regardless of the coherence of the plot, it's always interesting. Even if you were one of the people that threw a hissy fit during Metal Gear Solid 2 when the game switched over to Raiden, you have to concede that the turning points in Raiden's story - the Patriots and all, when they were still mysterious and untouched by 4 - were brilliant. Raiden's story in Guns of the Patriots wasn't that bad either, if you could get past the terrible, terrible discussion about Raiden's origins.

Raiden: It even rained the day I was born.

Snake: You were the lightning in that rain.

Really? Really. He was the -- oh, wait, his name is Raiden! Lightning! Rain! Raiden = God of thunder! I get it now, Mr. Kojima, I understand what you were attempting to do there.

Personally, I liked it better when there was the whole revelation about the name Jack at the end of Sons of Liberty. Colonel Campbell (aka GW, The Patriots) is going on about how Raiden and Snake were raised and engineered to be weapons. When Raiden complains that he isn't a weapon but rather a man, Campbell points out that the Japanese had a fighter plane in World War II called "Raiden". And what nickname did the Americans give that plane? "Jack". Oh snap.

Somehow this degenerated into a discussion about how rad Metal Gear Solid 2 is. Which is okay, but I don't expect Rising's story to be anything like that. I expect it to be a much more lucid experience, yet it'll have some of the balls-out crazy madness that one should expect from Hideo K. And a helluva lot of stuff that does not make any sense.

Kojima Productions will show its technical prowess once again.
If you are one of the Sony fanboys (and now ex-Kojima Productions and ex-Hideo Kojima fanboys) that likes to argue that the technical quality of a future Metal Gear game will somehow be diminished by making it multiplatform, you, sir, are wrong. You can criticize Kojima all you want when it comes to some things - your gameplay sucks, your story sucks, you suck - but you cannot criticize him when it comes to the way he builds his games at the ground level. Time and time again, regardless of what platform the games are on, they have been consistently amazing. Beautiful looking, not buggy, with amazing acoustics - just put that on the reverse cover of any Kojima Productions game from here on out. You can quote me on that now. And don't bring up Metal Gear Solid Touch, because everybody ignored that thing. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake: 8-bit game on the MSX2. Best soundtrack of any Metal Gear game, or perhaps equal to 2; amazing visuals that hold up even today. Metal Gear Solid on the Game Boy Color: great game design; great visuals; condenses all expected Metal Gear gameplay onto two-and-a-bit buttons. And we all know how the four home console outings turned out.

So, if you somehow think that this game will turn out sub-par due to Kojima only having a "mere" nine gigabytes to work with (see Grand Theft Auto IV and other technically beautiful games that are on one dual-layer DVD) because this game is multi-platform, you are wrong. Chances are that you're the same people that are going to play it on the PlayStation 3 anyway, where, knowing Kojima Productions, everything will be 'uncompressed'.

Product placement: Kojima loves his product placement, and so do I. It brings realism to the game. Chances are we're not going to see another iPod, but I've been drinking a lot of Pepsi lately, and I'm liking it, so hopefully there will be some Pepsi billboards around. Please join me in my sincere campaign to bring Crystal Pepsi back.

Amazing music: I hated on Metal Gear Solid 4's soundtrack a while back. Truth is, nothing can beat Metal Gear 2 and Metal Gear Solid 2's efforts. Perhaps I have a thing with the number two. Oh, and Metal Gear AC!D 2. Also great soundtrack. So hopefully the soundtrack will be more Japanese-focused, and will be much better.

I am the lightning, the rain transformed: Another thing Hideo Kojima seems to like are metaphors, especially pertaining to Raiden. Perhaps he's been playing a little too much Max Payne recently. But I can deal with a few more attempts to go deeper into Raiden's roots. Who's going to stop Kojima, anyway. Not even his kid, complaing that he makes too many Metal Gear games, can stop him.

Image credit: Kotaku, Shane Bettenhausen