Campy.
Hype.
Over the Top.
Whatever you want to call them, these are the types of games that deliver high-octane
action from start to finish and are really frickin' fun to play.
But why is that?
What is it about these ridiculous action games that keep us coming back for more?
Today on Good Game Design, I want to dissect exactly that, because I think there's a lot
more going on here than just fighting gigantic bosses or recreating outrageous 80's movies.
When you throw gameplay into the mix, it adds a whole new level of complexity.
So let's talk about it.
Perhaps no one does the character action genre better than Platinum Games.
Surprisingly, I hadn't played any of their titles until this year, and now I'm kicking
myself for missing out on them.
Of course Platinum delights in bringing the absurd to life, and the characters you play
are as goofy as they are capable of taking down waves of enemies with ease.
But what's interesting is that most of these games, or at least the ones I've sampled,
have similar controls and playstyles - you have a light and heavy attack, an evade or
parry button, and a bevy of different combos and techniques to destroy baddies.
It almost starts to feel like Platinum games are sequels of themselves and you're just
playing as different characters taking on new challenges.
I had a blast slicing up foes in Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, taking on giant machines
in Nier: Automata, and powersliding my way to victory in Vanquish, but of all the games
in Platinum's repertoire, none are more over the top than Bayonetta.
Bayonetta, as a character, is both hilarious and powerful at the same time.
She's so confident in her ability to kick butt that she doesn't mind chasing down
her lollipop amidst all this chaos, because she knows nothing can stand in her way.
From a gameplay perspective, the action never stops and it continues to be a thrill-ride
the whole way through.
So what makes Bayonetta 1 and 2 so much fun to play?
Well, I think there are a couple factors at work here: first of all, everything is larger
than life.
From the first cutscene in the game you know things are going to be hype, I mean just look
at this!
And if this is how the game starts, there's nowhere to go from here but up.
You know immediately that Bayonetta is unstoppable, but she's not afraid to have fun in the process.
It doesn't mess around, but at the same time...it totally messes around.
This is the most obvious element of over-the-top games though, and is probably the main reason
people play them - to get a taste of the fantastical, so let's move on.
Not only is it crazy from the get go, but the intensity continues to build, non-stop
until the very end.
Early on, Bayonetta's riding the corpses of her enemies like a surfboard in lava, but
eventually she creates giant beasts with her hair to chomp down on foes, and even starts
a motorcycle in midair with her middle finger, like what??
But it's not just Bayonetta, the villains continued to grow and become more menacing
as well.
This is where a lot of campy beat-em-up games fail, they can get repetitive after awhile,
but Bayonetta never gets stale and only ups the ante by introducing at least one new enemy
every chapter, but normally around 2 or 3.
And just when you think, "wow this boss was huge, it surely can't get any crazier
than that" - guess what?
It totally does.
Again, and again.
Until the end of the game when you literally fight the creator of the universe, Jubileus.
It's so ridiculous, but it knows it and veers into it even harder, rewarding you with
a Big Bang Bonus for defeating Jubileus and launching her past all the planets into the
sun!
It's ludicrous and unbelievable, but it feels so satisfying!
And Bayonetta 2 just continues the hype train and expands on the blueprint laid out in the
previous game.
The first chapter has you battling atop a speeding jet place and fighting your own hair-beast
creations that have turned on you, but from there you can duke it out in mech suits, and
duel in front of wild set pieces as your pets brawl in the background.
You face off against demons as well as angels this time, and somehow they don't run out
of insane scenarios to place you in.
I can't really find anything wrong with Bayonetta 2, it's almost a perfect sequel.
The only mistake I made was playing both games back to back, I feel like the extended craziness
of Bayonetta 2 would have been more appreciated if I had taken a break in between.
But the most important reason the Bayonetta games are so fun is that the story is complimented
by the gameplay.
As I mentioned before Bayonetta is funny, strong and carefree and her mechanics and
game feel reflect that.
Watching her pull off awesome combos in cutscenes is cool, but then to actually do them yourself
feels amazing - and whether you're carefully planning a combo 10 moves ahead or just button
mashing til your heart's content, either way it's going to look and feel awesome
as you play.
Bayonetta makes saving the world look like a piece of cake, and this is amplified by
how easily you can take down your opponents, or scale buildings, or freeze time to walk
on water.
When I first booted up the game and saw all the different combos you could do, I felt
a little overwhelmed because there was no way I could memorize all of them, but you
don't have to in order to have a good time.
The battle mechanics are very fluid, and when you pull off a perfect evade to trigger witch
time, you feel like a boss.
This is a great way to show how Bayonetta is able to keep her cool during a fight, it's
as if everything can only move in slow motion around her.
She has what seems to be an endless supply of resources and cunning at her disposal,
so the reason it feels so good to play is because you're granted that same arsenal,
not only of weapons but of knowledge and ability as well.
This is why other games that have complimentary gameplay also feel so rewarding.
Take the Batman Arkham titles for example.
The combat reflects Batman's skill as a fighter, being able to use a wide variety
of gadgets to counter and pummel any threat into submission, but he's also the world's
greatest detective, so the crime scene missions where you have to follow the clues feel equally
as satisfying.
We have prior knowledge of what Batman's skillset and motives are, so the gameplay
fits into that mold perfectly.
But this can also be achieved by very simple mechanical choices.
Isaac is a whining baby so of course he shoots tears as a weapon, luchadors in Guacamelee
use wrestling moves to battle, Heck, who would've thought that sweeping up leaves in Dustforce
could be so much fun!
This also works when a game wants you to feel weak and helpless.
Like INSIDE where you play as a frail child that dies to almost everything around you,
or slimy, flimsy Octodad controlling like a wet fish...literally.
I could think of countless examples of how this is done well, but I think it's much
MORE noticeable when it's implemented poorly.
Sonic the Hedgehog comes to mind, whose aesthetic is all about going fast, and when the gameplay
reflects this it's great!
But when everything slows down and requires precise platforming despite his loose controls,
it starts to conflict with his core message of speed.
It's hard to pinpoint what exactly a character's motivation is from a gameplay perspective
when the game itself doesn't give you much to go off of.
Skyrim and Fallout for example don't have a lot of depth other than being a dragonborn
or searching for family respectively.
In fact you'd be surprised how many games have a generic character with a sword or gun
and that's about it...that's not to say these games are bad, but it doesn't have
that cohesion of story, character, and gameplay that we're looking for.
Worse however, is when a character clearly shouldn't have a gun but they do anyway
because, why not!
CG cOcoNuT gUN
Then of course there's the issue of ludonarrative
dissonance, where a character's personality directly conflicts with how they act in the
game.
Like Oxenfree's teens not wanting to be the stereotypical horror movie tropes, as
they continue to do exactly that, or Dead Space's Isaac Clarke who is supposed to
be a lowly engineer but he doesn't run away screaming when faced with hellish alien monsters.
He does not give a FLIP!
Now, back to Bayonetta - it DOES have elements that slow it down, like lengthy cutscenes
with characters that don't really matter, or the Angel Attack minigame in between chapters.
I'm sure this was meant to be a break from all the action, but Bayonetta is the kind
of game that thrives on the action so it actually felt out of place.
Luckily Bayonetta 2 fixed most of this, and overall the pace barely ever slows down.
And when it hits, it hits hard.
It doesn't take itself too seriously, and just when you think it's reached its limit,
it raises the stakes once again!
But above all, Bayonetta doesn't just look impressive on screen, you feel empowered by
how the gameplay compliments this wacky tale of witches and demons.
Now, Bayonetta isn't the only game to feel this satisfying, what's your favorite over-the-top,
campy game that does a good job of incorporating the epicness into the gameplay?
And why is it so much fun to you?
Let me know in the comments below and let's talk about it.
This is sort of a hard topic to give tangible examples to, when a game feels good, it just
feels good!
If you haven't played Bayonetta or other Platinum Games yet, I can't recommend them
enough because they're something you have to experience to truly understand.
So when you feel unstoppable as you're chaining endless slow-motion combos, I'll be right
here when you come back and thank me later.
But thank YOU for watching another episode of Good Game Design, I'll see you guys next time.
Stay frosty my friends!
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