As a lifelong gamer who’s lived through six generations of home consoles and their concurrent hype, I don’t impress very easily. I’m not completely cynical, mind you; I can appreciate nice visuals and inventive concepts when I see them. It’s just not very often, these days, that a well-executed game will get more than a verdict of “that looks nice” from me. So, when I attended the PlatinumGames demonstration at Sega’s E3 booth this year, I hope you understand that when I say my jaw hit the floor, I mean it. The two games being shown off by Capcom’s ex-development studio (and you know how I feel about their previous work) were easily the most impressive games I saw for the duration of the E3 summit. If Sega and Platinum can deliver on these titles, we’re all in for some incredible-looking games. It is my sincere hope that they play even half as well.
First up was a game called Bayonetta, starring a slinky seductress in skin-tight leather with long, flowing black hair. She carries a pair of guns in her slender hands, and also has them strapped to her feet.
I think we all know where this is going.
Bayonetta, from the description and visuals, sounds like a cross between Bullet Witch, Devil May Cry, and God of War. Representatives from Platinum explained to us that their intention with this game had been to make the “most stylish” action title ever, and they proceeded to show us what they meant.
Given that most of the protagonist’s foes seemed to be sporting wings and/or halos, I’m going to guess that Bayonetta’s gun-toting sorceress isn’t exactly on the side of good. As we watched, she sauntered her way into a lavish garden full of white gothic architecture, and began an impressive acrobatic routine, which also involved blasting the hell out of half a dozen holier-than-thou jerks as her limbs twisted and aimed, propelling her body across the playing field while her many guns blazed a path of carnage. Mind you, she wasn’t averse to getting up close and personal, either. Here, she is seen performing heart surgery on one such unlucky fellow.
Beyond athleticism and marksmanship, Bayonetta’s heroine (or anti-heroine, I’m not sure) counts magic and hair among her talents. Yes, her hair is quite the impressive weapon: She is able to conjure up portals at the back of her head, which her hair flows into before emerging out of much larger portals next to her enemies — weaving together into the form of a giant fist, or perhaps a spike-heeled shoe. However, magical hair portals were the least of her enemies’ concerns, as we were shown a few especially nasty combo-finishing spells. These tended to involve summoning various torture/execution devices out of thin air, and then hurling her foes into them. Watching in horror, we witnessed a couple of the angelic chumps being knocked into guillotines and iron maidens. Blood and feathers everywhere, I swear.
We weren’t afforded the luxury of any hands-on gameplay, but the general flow of combat was very reminiscent of God of War — tearing a small group of enemies to pieces with long combo chains and flowing, cinematic moves. The boss battle we watched, too, was quite similar, placing a massive foe on the battlefield whose armor had to be chipped away, piece by piece, until our heroine was able to finish him in grisly fashion.
If nothing else, I took away the following impression from my two demos: PlatinumGames has a lot of anger to work through. The second title they showed us, you see, was MadWorld, a game that didn’t so much use violence as a stylish centerpiece, choosing instead to hurl itself into a giant trough of violence and wallow around in it. MadWorld, based on the brief segment we were shown, is a nonstop bloodbath which moves a lot faster than Bayonetta, where the objective appears to be the unbelievably gory death of everyone around you. And it’s for the Wii, joining No More Heroes on the roster of stylized, blatantly violent titles to surprisingly appear on Nintendo’s family-friendly console.
MadWorld is something like a cross between Sin City and The Running Man. The game is presented entirely in black and white, and the characters, with their over-exaggerated features and moves, are also very evocative of a Frank Miller comic. Well, it’s not entirely black and white; there’s a healthy dose of red, too.
The premise of the game revolves around a dystopian, futuristic game show for convicted felons, called “Death Watch.” As one might predict, the object of said game is to dash through the crumbling urban environments and kill everyone in your path. What you might not predict, on the other hand, is the lengths to which you can go to accomplish this goal. Not only have you got a brutal arsenal of convict-slaughtering hand-to-hand moves, but there are any number of environmental hazards and weapons to assist you in going for some high-scoring kills.
Tearing a dude in half was actually the tamest thing I saw during the demonstration. As I watched, the player-controlled muscular psychopath ripped a road sign from the pavement, impaled it through a man’s skull, tore both of his arms off, stuffed him into a barrel of flaming fuel, and then hurled the entire barrel-sign-man creation in front of a train. This seemed to be worth a fair amount of points. Unlike Bayonetta’s multiple-foe-killing combos, MadWorld appears to be about racking up as high a combo as you can (of needlessly brutal indignities) upon each and every individual you meet. The emcees of Death Watch will goad you on as you bludgeon your way across the levels, swearing and chortling with cruel delight at each death you cause.
Also, you will get to wield your Wiimote as a surrogate chainsaw.
Bayonetta and MadWorld are both slated to launch in 2009.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:40 pm
“This seemed to be worth a fair amount of points.”
‘laughs’ You don’t say.
Jack Thompson, pending disbarment, is going to have a field day with this one.