OSCAR COOPER
"I had a few casual gamer mates round to see what all the fuss was about, I played for about 20 minutes as they looked on in awe, I died and handed the pad over to them, only to be met with shaking heads and worried eyes"
Dante you just got your arse kicked.
So Clover studio's died of death (well, went their separate ways) it was a blow to me as it would mean no more Viewtiful Joe titles or a sequel to Okami (Capcom still owns rights to these titles however), but I managed to get on with my life. Then I got the news about Platinum Games, founded by the god like Shinji Mikami (RE4), Atsushi Inaba and Hideki Kamiya things started coming together with games like Madworld on the Wii. Its was a bold as brass title that featured gruesome Running Man style violence coupled with an outstanding black and white art style. The blood was the only colour in the pallet (think Schindlers List and that girl in the red dress) and it looked fucking awesome, the game was a success and got chins wagging that the Wii wasn't just a platform for stroking Yoshi with a interactive control stick.
Now it was time for the next gen consoles to get their turn and for Platinum to get their teeth into something with larger ambitions. Footage of Bayonetta circled the internet like wild fire a long time before the launch date. Seasoned gamers everywhere were scoffing that it was only a hack 'n' slash that offered nothing that Devil May Cry couldn't compete with. The back story of the player fighting as a witch against Gods celestial horde warmed my cockles no end (what with me being an anti-theist and all) and after what seemed like years a demo came out.
Well those scoffing gamers had to get a plate and a knife and fork, go and find their words and eat them (that's an Alan Partridge quote) because holy shit it played like perfection wrapped in a all black leather onesie.
The graphics stood out straight off the bat, the enemy design was completely off the wall, crazy looking bird beings with halo's and trumpets swung at you with pikes and swords. But all this gave way when things go hectic and my gosh did they get hectic, like Viewtiful Joe it featured a slow down mechanic with has now become sinonimas with their flagship titles. You had to earn this right to effect time however, it was never always there, only if you timed a dodge perfectly, things slowed to a crawling pace for a few seconds allowing you to leap about and 'f' everybody up which also only took seconds as the weapons, guns and magic had incredible power when utilized correctly. Things would resume to their normal pace after a short time only to reveal the welcome sight that everything in the 10 meter radius around you was dead. And that brings me to the controls, watching the game before playing it as with a lot of platinum titles is scary, Bayonetta leaps, combos, chops and shoots all with seamless fluidity. And that was the selling point of the game for me, it was bizarrely easy to operate this death crazed ninja witch, not in a button mashing 'could be playing with my eyes shut' way but in a user friendly layered way. The combo's come from a repeated sequence of particular buttons at particular times, this just starts to soak in after a while, your hands go into a Mr Miyagi style autopilot and you remember the patterns and start to build on them automatically. I had a few casual gamer mates round to see what all the fuss was about, I played for about 20 minutes as they looked on in awe, I died an handed the pad over to them, only to be met with a shaking heads and worried eyes.
"Boss fights, a platinum specialty were dam right ridiculous, huge and epic. Enemy variation and AI attack methods always impressed"
I bought the full game on the day of release without a second thought, there were other big titles out at the time but I didn't care, i was in love with Bayonetta and she (I pretended) was in love with me. Like a lot of my purchases, I played the crap out of the demo and had a huge desire to face a situation in the full title that was hard and asked me to start thinking and changing tactic's. Good god was that wish answered, in true Japanese style it totally fucks with your head and throws all manor of (at first) impossible looking scenario's at your face with gay abandon. Boss fights, a platinum specialty were dam right ridiculous, huge and epic. Enemy variation and AI attack methods always impressed, the upgrade system, the mini games, the load screens that allowed you go mental with your character, all hit the nail squarely on the head. If you are prancing around thinking you have trumped the hack and slash department and not discovered this, then go get a preowned copy that some 11yr old kid rage quit on and handed it tear ridden back to his parents. There's also a sequel ahoy, but rumors of some platform exclusivity beckon, ill see you down there.
Best wishes Oscar