Platinum Games has their hands in many cookie jars at the moment; hot off the release of Star Fox Zero and with three very different titles in the chamber, I decided to take a look at my games and rifle through my Platinum titles. I found five games that I had put a lot of time into and that I enjoyed the most; I know I’m missing some of their important or more mainstream titles, but I’ve not played those yet.
5) Anarchy Reigns
Does anyone remember those old arcade brawlers like Streets of Rage and Final Fight? I certainly do and Platinum Games nailed that feeling with Anarchy Reigns. Unfortunately, the multiple campaigns are single player only, but they capture those classic brawlers to a T. You can choose from two campaigns and I chose the campaign with the protagonist from Platinum’s first game, Mad World, Jack Cayman. You fight through the world looking for major criminal Maximillian Caxton at the behest of his daughter. The majority of my time in the campaign was spent button-mashing and swearing. Button-mashing is what Platinum does best, and Anarchy Reigns has plenty of it. There are insanely difficult bosses, timed battles, hoards of enemies and so on. Of course, Platinum grades you on all the levels as well, just like the rest of their titles, the highest being Platinum, which makes you want to best yourself over and over. I still need to go back to this title and play the other campaign. I’m thinking my hands have healed from the first button-mashing session.
4) Transformers: Devastation
I grew up watching Generation One on the old tubed television; I played with the toys: in my twenties I bought all the DVDs, so it just goes to show that I love the Transformers. When I heard about this game I HAD to have it, and I was not disappointed. Platinum brought back most of the original voice cast, and those who weren’t available or are deceased have been replaced by almost exact duplicates. They also made the game look and feel like a Generation One episode: the cel-shaded graphics fit the style nicely and the surrounding city looks like it has been pulled directly from the cartoon. The voice acting and sound effects also brought a nostalgic tear to my eye; I cannot count how many times I hit the transform button on the controller just to hear that sound. Peter Cullen still nails Optimus Prime, and his supporting cast is also superb. This is the Transformers game that we have needed and deserved, while all the others pale in comparison.
3) The Wonderful 101
I’m going to be honest, I had a difficult time getting into this game. I love the creativity of it, I love superheroes but I couldn’t get the controls to function properly. The major way to create special items needed in the world is by drawing them on the Wii U gamepad. For some reason, I couldn’t get it to function properly throughout my time with the game. I would attempt to draw a ladder as instructed and my time would always run out because I couldn’t get the drawing right or connect the lines properly. Unfortunately that hampered my experience with the game, but when I didn’t have to draw anything I had a blast fighting as a bunch of little heroes. Hopefully, even with their busy schedule, Platinum is working on a follow-up title with less drawing and more bad guy punching. The Wonderful 102 has a nice ring to it.
2) Bayonetta
This is the game that got me into hack ‘n’ slash titles. Before Bayonetta was released I rarely played them and to witness me play was both sickening and hilarious at the same time. I could never quite get the combos right, or manage my health or magic. Bayonetta, through her witchy ways, taught me how to hack ‘n’ slash. Not only did I finally break the stigma of these types of games for myself, I found a world that I like to dabble in, even after I’ve already beaten the game. Bayonetta is one of those rare games that I’ve gone back to play “New Game +,” and I can only count those games on one hand. In all fairness to this franchise, I’ve not been able to play the sequel yet, so I cannot gauge whether or not it is superior, but at the moment my first date with Bayonetta was the best.
1) Vanquish
I cannot gush enough about this title. When I look back at its time of release I remember being excited to play it. Sadly, funds weren’t available at the time so I had to wait. Luckily for me the price dropped pretty quickly and I had this hot little number in my hands. After I placed the game into the drive I was greeted with a seizure warning, which I thought was laughable, but man I had to stop playing this game from time to time because of how flashy and fast it was. The main draw to this game is the fast-paced gunplay as you get to wear a DARPA engineered suit that allows you to move at high speeds. If you need to work on your hand-eye co-ordination, this is the game that will amp up your skills. You have to be Jedi-fast to pass some of the bosses in this game. At one point I was fighting a boss and his minions and dodging rockets being shot at me by the boss, all with very limited bullet time. They say that Devil May Cry turns boys into men, but this game turns men into super men.
The sky is the limit for Platinum Games right now, and I simply cannot wait to get my hands on Scalebound and Nier: Automata to see what they have in store for us. What do you think? Did I skip over your favorite or should I just jump into Bayonetta 2 immediately?