Regardless of the mediocre ranking, I felt that post-Bladewolf, I was rarely troubled by the Winds of Destruction or even the monstrous new iteration of Metal Gear that awaited me in the final stage. I could only see one C grade on my entire report card (displayed upon completing the campaign), but all of those As and Bs weren’t enough to earn me more than a pass overall. Sure, I only attained a C ranking for my Normal playthrough, but developer Platinum Games seemed to be quite punitive with its grading scheme. I’ve started quite a few - even came close to finishing the original Devil May Cry - but I never had the resolve or the wits to rise above Normal in anything from Maximo to Bayonetta.ĭespite reading that Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was beyond brutal from the likes of Kotaku and my Twitter feed, I thought I handled its bombastic brand of butchery with aplomb. I don’t think I’ve ever completed a “Hard” playthrough of any 3D brawler now that I think about it. I put on a brave face for the first mission, but before long, I was up against Butchers as well as Ghost and Blood Rages that broke me and any chance of conquering a greater challenge. When I finished DmC: Devil May Cry a few weeks ago, the first thing I did was dive into a “Son of Sparda” difficulty run, which introduces vastly harder enemy configurations and a reworked damage model.