Metal Gear Solid: Rising

Format: PS3, Xbox 360
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Kojima Productions
ETA: Unknown

Originally unveiled at E3 2009, Rising has been in media blackout now for 18 months. But as Kojima and his team busy themselves with the creation of this Raiden-led tangent to the stealth action franchise while offering naught more than the odd teasing Tweet amid a sea of pictures of Kojima's lunches to remind the world the game even exists. Rising is getting a little lost among the many big game's whose publishers relentlessly pimp them. Raiden will return (eventually) and Kojima's fame is certainly not undeserved - if anything, this silence in the industry deafened by the sound of a million people shouting about how their game is better that all the rest is a small yet refreshing pocket of relative sanity. And while it might stray from the usual tactical espionage action format and recast the franchise's most reviled leading man, much of Rising shows genuine promise. The 'Lightning Bolt Action' subhead tells you all you need to know - Raiden's comeback offers a faster pace of stealth combined with an emphasis on the art of cutting, replete with the ability to slice through anything in the world at whatever angle you please then sit sit back and enjoy the consequences. Here's hoping Kojima elects to show something new at E3 2012 (or before, even) lest the gaming world loses sight of it completely.