After enduring the lackluster Jetstream DLC, I have to admit that I wasn't too enthusiastic about giving Bladewolf's story a shot.
History & Plot: (Full Spoilers)
Development
The LQ-84i during the Abkhazia coup in 2018
LQ-84i was built as a prototype to a next-generation weapon meant to replace both human combatants and cyborgs. To achieve this, it was deemed necessary to be able to communicate and make intelligent decisions on how to act, hence why he was outfitted with an interface system. During his development, it was outfitted with a learning program, which the researchers, who doubled as his instructors, utilized with an extensive battery of conversations, the nature of which included miscellaneous matters, breakfast-table greetings, the structure of elementary particles, the challenges resulting from rapid globalization, and recent trends in music.
Before that, it also was supplied with various website texts and eBooks in a steady stream to acquire literacy, which aided him into developing from an infantile state of mind, even gaining a processing reading speed of 60 megabytes for plain text for the first year. As the LQ-84i was funded by DARPA for the purpose of being a weapon, it was rarely treated by his instructors as more than equipment, although some did treat it as a pet or child. The LQ-84i, as a result of this, was also exposed to various memes, with the stronger ones weeding out the weaker ones, similar to humans. However, although the goals of giving him intellect had succeeded with flying colors, he lacked brutality, largely because he was still not human, nor did he have humanity inside his programming. Because of this, after three years of testing, the project was cancelled, and the LQ-84i himself ended up deactivated, hence why he was a "one-of-a-kind" prototype.Early activities with Desperado
Sam's recruitment
An unknown period of time later, Desperado somehow managed to locate the robotic creature, and reactivate him, presumably due to Sundowner's sense of humor, as the LQ-84i "had more concern for his fellow man than an actual fellow man." Sometime afterwards, he was later ordered to attack the Brazilian swordsman Samuel Rodrigues in the Denver sewers. He eventually gained the opportunity to attack Sam while utilizing stealth camouflage. Sam then told him to make his own decisions. The robot seemed to consider Sam's advice, but then attacked him again, as he had also been ordered to fight otherwise his memory would be wiped. The mech was eventually defeated by Sam, who then told him that the reason why he lost was because of their different motives for fighting: While the robot had been forced to fight, Sam fought from his own free will, although Sam nonetheless told him that he still did well before he went offline.
After being repaired by Desperado, despite his failure, he still retained his memory. In addition, he also fought alongside Sam, now a Desperado affiliate, in three missions, with the AI gaining respect to Sam. As a result Sam was the one person he looked up to, or at least the closest an Unmanned Gear had to looking up to anything.
Coup in Abkhazia
At some point later, Sundowner viewed him as useless, although Mistral decided to have him operate under her command. It is unknown why she did this, although LQ-84i speculated that it was due to her seeking companionship and liking dogs. In either case, during the Abkhazia coup, he was given directives to "ensure freedom" in the country, in the aftermath of Desperado and Dolzaev's coup d'état against the parliamentary government, which included killing Raiden should they meet. LQ-84i was forced to obey their orders lest his AI memory be wiped but still retained his original order to fight for freedom. He later attempted to escape for freedom when Mistral had removed his range inhibitor, although she secretly intended for Khamsin to be killed by the renegade UG. He then proceeded to escape through Abkhazia, also deducing from Mistral's words how to escape. He eventually encountered Khamsin, and killed him despite the latter's best efforts at stopping him. However, Mistral then reactivated the range inhibitor shortly thereafter and revealed her deception.
Source: The Metal Gear Wiki
Gameplay:
(via IGN)
(PlayStation 3) MOVES & COMBOS
| Assault Claw |  |
| Horizontal Saw |  |
| Vertical Saw | |
| Crowd Control | |
| Catapult Kick |  (forward) (forward) + |
| Heavy Tackle | (forward) (forward) + |
| Aerial Claw | (while jumping or airborne) |
| Chainsaw Dive | (while jumping or airborne) |
| Evade | +  |
(Xbox 360) MOVES & COMBOS
| Assault Claw |  |
| Horizontal Saw |  |
| Vertical Saw | |
| Crowd Control | |
| Catapult Kick |  (forward) (forward) + |
| Heavy Tackle | (forward) (forward) + |
| Aerial Claw | (while jumping or airborne) |
| Chainsaw Dive | (while jumping or airborne) |
| Evade | +  |
LQ-84i is NOT made to be in the thick of combat like Raiden and Jetstream Sam, which forces players to take a much more stealthy approach in missions. His Chainsaw attacks will dispose of weaker cyborgs, but LQ-84i can (and will) be easily overwhelmed by the stronger cyborgs found in this DLC.
Alternatively, LQ-84i has the use of his Heat Kunai as well, but they are only useful in distracting more powerful cyborgs.
Even more interesting to the change of focus from strictly combat to more stealth, the Bladewolf DLC introduces a bit of platforming with LQ-84i as well.
 |
| Mistral is a "hands-on" type of girl... |
To say that this DLC is cheaper than the Jetstream one is pretty odd as there's a bit more content here as part of the DLC episode. It starts off with a series of mandatory VR Missions as Mistral tests LQ-84i's performance parameters while you learn how to play this new character through this "forced" tutorial of sorts before shifting to the real mission and ending with a boss fight that is hands-down the best boss fight found in either both DLC episodes to date.
I had to laugh at exactly how many forced shots and camera angles of Mistral's ass that they had to cram into this DLC. That along with all of her robot servants' hands all over her was a bit much. I like hot chicks as much as any other heterosexual male, but it was more like "Okay, okay. I get it. She's French and she's hot."
Back on topic here... As for the gameplay, I loved this change of pace. That's what DLC should bring to the table - something different from what you experienced throughout the duration of the main game or more of what was great with the main game to begin with. Instead of the usual hack and slash nature of this game, LQ-84i is forced to rely on his stealth capabilities since he is not a seasoned samurai like Jetstream Sam or Raiden. Getting caught leads to some very grueling encounters with foes that even Raiden has issues with dispatching regularly and that issue is multiplied significantly here. It doesn't take much for LQ-84i to die here as most opponents can decimate his entire lifebar in a few hits. I restarted checkpoints by my own account when I got caught just to see if I could do the entire campaign from start to finish with complete stealth. It's daunting feat, but a welcome challenge for players that were craving for traditional Metal Gear Solid-esque stealth elements in this title.
Those of you expecting that Bladewolf would be like Raiden and Sam in terms of combat will be severely disappointed. Much like the Jetstream DLC, the parry timing here for LQ-84i is a bit stricter than Raiden's and you cannot use the parry exploit here as well. Plus, LQ-84i is lacking in offensive attacks and defensive abilities. He has a crowd clearing combo and a few token special attacks, but other than that, he is lacking in the variety that both Sam and Raiden bring to the table offensively. As a result, LQ-84i finds himself getting in over his head rather easily in combat. Players that are looking for slash their way from start to finish will find themselves staring at that Game Over screen on a regular basis if they do not welcome the more stealth-oriented nature of his DLC episode. While I'm not saying it cannot be done, you are going to enjoy this DLC episode more if you adapt the stealth-oriented nature that LQ-84i brings to the table.I still can't believe that this episode adds in a bit of platforming as well. It's a bit shocking at first to see being used in a Metal Gear title, but I can understand why it was implemented. LQ-84i benefits from the multiple angles of approach to his adversaries, so this is a welcome addition.
Unlike the Jetstream DLC, this DLC episode features a new boss that cannot be found in the Story Mode of the main game who takes complete advantage of LQ-84i's unique skillset to take down. One side of the coin, I enjoyed this boss fight a LOT, but on the other side, I wish there was more than one boss fight. Three recycled bosses for Jetstream Sam seemed like a complete waste there when Bladewolf's DLC should have gotten 3 unique bosses as well.
If you have to choose between the Bladewolf or the Jetstream DLCs, I humbly suggest picking this one up. It is by far the stronger narrative and more bang for your buck in terms of gameplay. I'm giving this a 3.5 out of 5.
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