Gamer-at-Arms – Revengeance with a Vengeance

“Damn you and your nice things” of the Month!

So like I was saying, I had an excellent time at the Eurogamer Expo, even if I did later find out about all that sexual harassment going on elsewhere on the show floor. I played a metric tonne of games while I was there – mostly through wandering around and playing whatever I fancied. Aliens: Colonial Marines, Hitman: Absolution and a few other big names got played, including my game of the show: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, somewhat surprisingly.

I’ve really had quite an on/off relationship with Revengeance; I was initially very interested in the game and was sad to hear of its cancellation. But after Platinum Games picked it up and released that first teaser trailer, I thought it looked like a cheesy, generic-looking hack ‘n’ slash game and I immediately lost all interest. More specifically, it seemed that Platinum had gotten rid of the ‘zan-datsu’ mechanic that allowed you to dynamically cut any object in the game world, enemies included.

Cut to a few months back at Gamescom when a new trailer was unveiled – zan-datsu was back (was it ever really gone?) and I sat up and took note. I decided to give Platinum Games a second chance, and promptly jumped at that chance when I saw the name on the Expo map. To cut a long story short, I played it and it’s brilliant – slicing enemies and objects up dynamically is excellent fun, the combat is slick and Raiden doesn’t seem to be a whiny arse. I think you’ve won me over, Platinum Games!

You’re well jelly. Except not at this bit. This is a fist.

Revengeance wasn’t the only thing on show that made me have a change of heart either. Forget what I said about Smartglass; Nintendo’s upcoming console was also available for some hands-on time and while I was initially very skeptical, I came away from that Wii U booth a changed man. Funnily enough, the culprits behind this u-turn were Platinum Games once again; this time it was the aptly named Wonderful 101 that stole my heart.

For the benefit of those who don’t know what Wonderful 101 is, I’ll explain. You play as a superhero who has the power to manipulate a group of people that follow him around everywhere into various forms, such as a sword, a fist or fucking jelly – you’ll need to use these forms against the various enemies and puzzles the game throws at you. Changing form requires drawing a shape out, and while you can use the right thumbstick to do this, it’s much more intuitive to just draw it straight onto the Wii U controller.

There were occasions in the demo I played where using the right thumbstick to do a certain action actually levied greater success than the touchscreen – during one of the boss fights, you’re supposed to draw a human ladder between two points but it never seems to work properly when drawn on the controller. However, that was literally my only gripe. Wonderful 101 is otherwise excellent, and I’ll definitely be picking it up when it’s all released.

Even after all this, though, I still find it a bit tough to describe just how brilliant the Wii U actually is – it’s like back when the 3DS was released and you were trying to sell the 3D effect without actually having the thing on you to show off. I guess all I can say now is that if you’re not taken in by the Wii U, or are still on the fence, disregard what you think you know about it and try it for yourself. It might just be the best decision you make all year.


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