If you told me 10 years ago that a game called Bayonetta would be in my top 10 games I’ve ever played list and top 5 musical soundtracks list, I would have called you a liar or a mad man. Now 10 years later, Bayonetta still holds a special place in my heart.
Vanquish is one of those games that blended in next to its contemporaries, creating a passionate group of players that discovered it as a hidden gem of the era. At a glance, this power fantasy starring a rather plain armored super-soldier seems to be a typical third-person shooter with various guns and cover mechanics. What lies beneath is a complex web of systems that all aim to let players expre...[Read More]
I have a great fondness for shooting robots. Two of my favorite shooter experiences, 2010’s Vanquish and the very recent Binary Domain, are both focused on dismantling robots by way of bullet hell. That’s part of why, even though it’s a very different format and style than both of the aforementioned games, I’m very excited for Shoot Many Robots. I like shooting robots. Shoo...[Read More]
When I first saw the trailer for Binary Domain a month or two ago, I thought to myself, “Hm. Did they just try to take Vanquish and make it a slower squad based shooter?” Now, Vanquish was one of my favorite games out of 2010, so this wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing; just an unoriginal thing. Luckily, from what I saw at E3, this is going to be something very different.
I’m generally not a fan of XBLA shooters. I’m generally even less a fan of XBLA shooters that poorly attempt to emulate the gameplay or design of full price retail release shooters. With those particular prejudices (hurr-hurr, see what I did there?) already in place, it would seem that I would be an odd fit to review Section 8: Prejudice, a first-person shooter based on a full price re...[Read More]
In mid-December we heard rumors that a potential fifth team-up between developer Platinum Games (Vanquish and Bayonetta) and publisher SEGA could occur this year. This morning, those rumors were solidified into fact, as the fifth game in the four-game publishing contract between Platinum Games and SEGA was announced: Anarchy Reigns.
2010 has been an excellent year for Platinum Games, with the North American releases of Bayonetta and Vanquish providing me some of the most memorable gaming I have had the pleasure of experiencing in a very long time. Now that they’ve reached the end of their four-game publishing deal with SEGA, what comes next for the studio that has made itself very near and dear to my heart? Well, obviou...[Read More]