

You wouldn't think a Senator could kick Raiden's ass, and yet he does. Funny as well, but Senator Armstrong's beatdown of Raiden.In other words, he was handicapped during the entire prologue mission, boss fights included! It's very easy to forget, but Raiden only gets his new state of the art cyborg armour after this the body he was using at the time was specifically designed for "bodyguard work and missions that don't involve serious combat", which is what he was expecting of his then current assignment as a bodyguard for N'Mani.And this all happens as the first boss, which takes place five minutes into the game. RAY, still not finished, grabs Raiden in its "mouth" and hurls him into the side of a nearby clock-tower - so what does Raiden do? Simple: He takes off like a bullet, running down the collapsing building as missiles and plasma beams rain all over the place, culminating in him grabbing his blade that was already stuck in the Metal Gear's head from the previous clash, then sliding all the way back to the ground and stylishly sheathing his blade just as the UG splits in two and explodes behind him. The ending of this fight deserves a mention as well.The second time involves Raiden using RAY's salvo of missiles as Stepping Stones in the Sky. It involves Raiden blocking RAY's BFS, throwing the RAY into the air, jumping onto it, running up said BFS, cutting it to pieces, and finally chopping RAY's entire arm off. Case in point? Try using it during the animation for Raiden's slide attack. Blade Mode can be activated from more than just a standing position.It's not as flashy as Raiden's standard swordplay, but when the Bloodlust pincer blades are fully upgraded, they become so outrageously powerful that a single strike can skip entire phases of boss fights.Automatically deflecting bullets with a sword or pulling off inhumanly acrobatic feats by holding down a single button really communicates the incomprehensible speed and power of a cyborg.

Having Raiden, Sam or Blade Wolf slice an enemy in half ( or more) and rip out their repair unit before crushing it in their hand (or in Blade Wolf's case, his manipulator tail) never gets old. Can we just say this whole game is a CMOA? No? Alright, let's get into details.
