The "law of the instrument" is a popular concept attributed to psychologist Abraham Maslow, which is usually phrased as: "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." It means that when you find one tool useful for one task, you'll then start applying that tool to other tasks, even if those tasks have tools better suited for the job.

Raiden, in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, carries a sword as his only tool, and as swords go, it's a nice one. It crackles with a kind of blue electricity, and it can cut through almost every available object in the world, from barrels and crates to palm trees and iron fences.

And with such a tool in his grasp, it's not hard to see why Raiden would fall prey to the law of the instrument. Cutting is his currency, and in this Metal Gear spin-off title, Platinum Games and Kojima Productions have sent Raiden on a spending spree.