“More than I, if truth were told,
Have stood and sweated hot and cold,
And through their veins in ice and fire
Fear contended with desire.”-A.E. Housman
If there’s one thing we’ve learned about the video game industry over the years, it’s that successful concepts make ripe fodder for knockoffs and clones. It’s arguable, in fact, that “inspiration” is the oil that makes the industry engine run – and don’t think we’re just talking about AAA games here, as indies are just as guilty, if not more so.
Few industries seem as influenced by trends as the game industry; note the early 2010s’ shambling horde of identical walking simulators, for instance, or the recent battle royale trend sparked by Fortnite, or the mercifully-short period where every franchise tried to hop on the Auto Chess train. When a game does even moderately well, you can expect much, much more of it. Entire genres have been spawned by companies trying to get their slice of the pie baked by a particularly superlative game. None of this is necessarily a bad thing, but it’s something you’ll pick up on if you’re paying attention.
Some companies, in fact, seem to deal largely in reiterating on their own work. Take Platinum, for instance. They’ve released no shortage of games, but the vast majority can be traced back to their magnum opus, Bayonetta. Indeed, there’s plenty of modern spectacle fighters with an obvious link to this classic, but many of Platinum games feel like Bayonetta’s core components with a new franchise stapled on top. It’d be a shame if Bayonetta weren’t as good as it is…but, well, it’s a classic for a reason. Let’s talk about why.
While we’re at it, in fact, let’s also talk about Vanquish, since you can now get both in the same pack on PS4 in the Bayonetta & Vanquish 10th Anniversary Bundle. Vanquish is, essentially, a Bayonettafied take on the third-person cover shooter concept popularized by Gears of War back in the early days of the Xbox 360. It’s a cover shooter where you don’t want to spend much time taking cover because that’s not cool enough. You’re better off charging in guns blazing, launching into a rocket-powered slide before you kickflip off of enemies and enter bullet time to take out your foes in style. It’s a video game from back when we were fine with video games being fun rather than art – which, in turn, often resulted in games that were both enjoyable and aesthetically interesting. Those are a precious commodity these days, so let’s all be thankful that we’re still allowed to purchase Vanquish even if it doesn’t necessarily have a deep and involving emotional message.
Gameplay: 8/10
If you’re an action game fan and somehow haven’t played Bayonetta, well, chances are you’re going to find yourself familiar with many of its mechanics regardless. That’s because it’s one of those games whose DNA has managed to become ingrained in many of the titles that followed it. Bayonetta’s a spectacle fighter (or character-action game, depending on what you want to call it) where we follow the titular witch as she beats the virtue out of all manner of angelic beings. You’ve got a punch button, a kick button and all manner of equipment to modify the use of those buttons, from pistols to swords to ice skates to rocket launchers. Combining those buttons allows you to string together combos, ideally ending in a powerful Wicked Weave finisher that deals immense damage and knocks your foes away. Naturally, the inner workings of all this are a little more complex than can be expressed in a paragraph, but therein lies Bayonetta’s depth.
Of course, the real reason you’re probably familiar with Bayonetta’s gameplay whether you know it or not is the inclusion of the Witch Time mechanic. Put simply, if you just barely dodge an attack you’ll trigger a short period of slow motion whereby you can unleash combos without fear of retribution. Witch Time leads you to learn as much about your enemies as your own character. It’s a great way to encourage riskier play. it’s so great, in fact, that it’s showed up time and time again in all manner of games, particularly Platinum’s own.
As for Vanquish, it takes that same risk-and-reward idea of encouraging riskier play and applies it to a third-person shooter setting. Rather than encouraging just-in-time dodging via Witch Time, Vanquish’s Augmented Reality allows you to slow time in the middle of nearly any acrobatic maneuver. This is meant to get you out from behind cover and into the fight. It’s a direct response to the slow hunker-down playstyle that plagued shooters for years after Gears of War, and it works great as a way of bringing the action back to shooters.
Indeed, much of Vanquish’s gameplay feels like a response to shooters of the day. Your character has a powerful melee attack that can instantly defeat many enemies, but is left vulnerable after using it. Weapons can be upgraded, but only if you’re careful not to overuse them, since upgrades can only be collected if a weapon is fully loaded with ammo. You play Vanquish in a different and more interesting way than a typical shooter, making it feel like its own style of game.
Combined, Vanquish and Bayonetta represent Platinum’s groundbreaking take on the action genre as a whole. In both games you’re pushed toward taking more risks and developing an ever-growing mastery over both your character and the enemies that you battle. This is best represented by the classic Platinum Games ranking system – you’re ranked after every battle and at the end of each stage, pushing you constantly toward improvement. Winning isn’t enough. Your goal is to win with style and grace.
Visuals: 8/10
Style and grace also apply to the visuals in both games. We’re talking about remasters, so naturally, things aren’t quite as gorgeous as what you’d expect from a modern title…but they still stand up. Both Vanquish and Bayonetta benefit greatly from a drastically improved framerate on modern hardware as well; Vanquish in particular is a much better game when it’s not plagued with awkward slowdown and crippling framerate drops.
Oh, and we could talk about the character design in each game as it relates to social constructions of sexuality, but that’s not the kind of thing I’ve ever wanted to discuss with anyone who plays video games, so I’m also not going to inflict it on you. At The Well-Red Mage, we treat our readers right!
Accessibility: 6/10
Look, I’m not saying that either Vanquish or Bayonetta is a difficult game to pick up and play. They’re not. Button-mashing and standard shooter play will get you somewhere in each of these titles. Actually doing well, though, to the point where the game isn’t literally making fun of you for how terrible you are…that’s another story entirely, and it’s going to take hours.
You can get through both of these games without being good at them. There are plenty of hand-holding options available to ensure that pretty much anyone can see the end credits. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you did well, though, and Platinum games won’t hesitate to let you know that this was the case. Thin-skinned players might find this to be a little outside of the realm of “accessibility,” and I can’t blame them for being frustrated.
Audio: 8/10
On the other hand, they definitely won’t be frustrated by the audio in either game! Bayonetta in particular benefits from an absolutely spectacular soundtrack based largely around a pop remix of Bart Howard’s “Fly Me to the Moon”. It just works. Trust me. Vanquish, meanwhile, aims for a more standard shooter soundtrack without a single defining theme song, but it does its job. Oh, and the voice acting in both is absolutely stellar, regardless of if you’re playing in English or Japanese.
Uniqueness: 8/10
Are we talking about Uniqueness from a contemporary or modern perspective? Modern gaming has learned the lessons taught by these games well. They could feel a bit dated these days as a result, something like trying to play Half-Life 2 in 2020. So many action games have implemented Witch Time-esque mechanics that it doesn’t feel like the groundbreaking change it was in the original Bayonetta, for instance, and Vanquish’s take on bullet time had already been done to some extent by Max Payne, to say nothing of the Matrix franchise. Today, these are 6/10s when it comes to Uniqueness.
When we look at them from a contemporary perspective, though – as we really should when we’re talking about vintage games – Bayonetta and Vanquish were both groundbreaking for the time. Witch Time’s encouragement of a more risky playstyle made Bayonetta feel like a game you played on the edge of your seat at all times, while Vanquish took the stale idea of cover shooting and completely flipped it on its head. 10/10 in terms of uniqueness for the time, easily.
Let’s take those two, average them and get 8/10.
Replayability: 9/10
Platinum games, more than many others, emphasize the importance of constant improvement. Winning is one thing, sure. It’s great to win. You can beat these games and see the credits without an especially huge amount of effort if you take all the advantages that are offered to you. What’s better than winning, though, is winning when the odds are against you. It’s doing better because the opportunity to do better is still there. It’s winning when the victory’s not handed to you. That’s what Bayonetta and Vanquish offer, allowing you to ramp up the challenge and constantly strive for better scores and rankings. It’s the essence of replayability and one of the traits that makes these games classics.
Challenge: 9/10
And, well, that also means that there’s always a new challenge to conquer. You can always do better. You can always win a battle without taking any hits. Once you’ve done that, you can always win the battle faster. You can always do more damage. You can always…well, see what I mean? That’s not to say either of these titles is a cakewalk from a standard gaming perspective, but if you’re the kind of player who wants to perfect their performance, there’s always going to be more to find.
Personal: 9/10
I’m definitely that kind of player, incidentally. I welcome the challenge of games that expect a lot out of me. Self-improvement is one of the most satisfying parts of life and gaming alike. If you agree, I think you’ll get a lot out of Bayonetta and Vanquish, especially now that you can get both in the same package and play them in a superlative form on modern hardware.
And, well, even if you don’t agree, Bayonetta allows you to defeat a god by punching her into the Sun and Vanquish’s primary mode of movement involves a rocket-powered superstar slide. That’s video gaming in its purest form.
Special thanks to Sega for supplying us with a copy of these games for review.
Aggregated Score: 8.1
Cory G. believes the pen is mightier than the sword…well, depending on how sharp the pen and sword are. A child of the ’90s and a prolific writer, he strews his work about like Legos made of words, just waiting for your brain to step on them. He enjoys a devilish challenge, so when it comes to talking about some of the more difficult games out there, you might just run into the Infernal Accountant Mage. Some advice: hold on to your soul around this guy, and don’t sign anything. Read more at popzara.com.
