Latest / The Long and Short of It / Bayonetta 2

Transcript

Bayonetta 2 · The Long and Short of It

0:00
Thanks for checking out the Long and Short of It podcast.
0:03
You can find us on all good podcast platforms.
0:05
Please consider following or subscribing.
0:07
We hope you enjoy the show. Hello and welcome to the Long
0:17
and Short of It, the podcast where we discuss each of the
0:20
games on the Open Critic Top 100 list.
0:24
My name is Dan and I'm joined by.
0:26
This is Lawrence, welcome to the podcast.
0:28
Welcome to the podcast, How are you?
0:30
Yes, very well. Thank you.
0:32
As always, tired, but we move. How are you?
0:36
I'm, I'm OK, yeah, it's a Sunday.
0:40
We don't usually record. To be fair, we have been
0:42
recording a bit more on a Sunday.
0:44
Our days are fluctuating quite a lot at the moment, but yeah.
0:49
I I do have some some interesting slash exciting news
0:53
to anyone that is interested in interesting or exciting news
0:58
though. I am interested in both of those
1:00
things so. Fantastic.
1:02
It's it's also a call to action as well, which, which, which we
1:05
like. But I've, I don't know if I've
1:09
even told you yet, I can't remember.
1:10
But basically I've been running a lot more recently, training
1:14
for 1/2 marathon in September and I put myself forward for the
1:18
ballot for the London Marathon in April and I didn't get a.
1:22
Spot on ballot, briefly. Yeah, I think I might have
1:25
mentioned it, but I didn't get a spot on the ballot.
1:27
Unfortunately, because it's virtually impossible, you've got
1:30
better odds of winning the lottery.
1:32
However, I've managed to secure a place for a charity, so I'm
1:37
going to be running the London Marathon in April for Saint
1:40
Richard's Hospice, which is a Hospice in Worcester, which
1:43
unfortunately a few of my family have had to use in the past.
1:46
So I've, I've got about 9 or 10 months to raise two and a half
1:51
1000 lbs, which is a lot of money, but doable.
1:55
But yes, for anyone that listens to the podcast and would be
1:59
interested in learning more, there will be a link to my just
2:03
giving page, which has got kind of the background and the story
2:07
on it. It'll be on the, it'll be the
2:10
link in like our Instagram bio, probably on Facebook as well.
2:14
So yes, that's going to be horrendous.
2:17
So if you want to give money to a great 'cause whilst also
2:20
supporting me by blowing my knee out on Tower Bridge in London,
2:23
then what better use of of a couple of quid, you know.
2:28
And it and it's good because you'll be needing the hospital
2:31
after you're done. That's right, correct.
2:33
The Yeah, I'll be hooked up to some form of ECG machine, but
2:39
yes, it's. I I will certainly give to that.
2:42
You're very kind. Thank.
2:43
You you just send the details of that.
2:46
I shall, thank you. Yes, it's going to be
2:47
horrendous, but I'm looking forward to it and I've got a
2:49
lot. I've got a long time yet so it's
2:51
fine. OK, so today we are here to talk
2:55
about a game. The game that we're talking
2:57
about is the game that we mentioned in the last episode,
3:02
and that is #66 on our open critical list.
3:07
Did we mention it? AN.
3:09
I don't know if we mentioned it. I don't think we did because we
3:11
we're uncertain doing doing something else, weren't we?
3:15
So this could be a complete surprise.
3:17
Yeah, it it could be a big surprise unless you read the.
3:20
Title of the podcast. Or have seen the thumbnail or
3:24
any other innumerable ways. That's quite.
3:28
So, so the game we're talking about today is #66 which is
3:32
Bayonetta 2 and it has an average score of 91.
3:39
And it was released on the dear old Wii U in the year 2014.
3:46
We've had a bit of a there's, there's, there's quite a few
3:49
games on these lists. Rogue Games.
3:53
That's were Wii U games, and for a console that was DOA, it's got
4:02
quite the selection on it it. Does.
4:07
I am just going to ask you about your history of this game and
4:12
the version that you played, please.
4:16
I've never played a Bayonetta game before, so I've only got
4:20
like passing knowledge of it. So when I was at, I think it was
4:23
when I was at college maybe. So between like 2008 and 2010, a
4:30
guy that I was on on the course with, he, he said that he'd
4:35
found this new game that he'd been playing, which I'm assuming
4:38
was Bayonetta One because obviously the timelines I'm
4:40
guessing, but I think Bayonetta One came out around 2009 maybe.
4:44
Yeah, five years. The sequel.
4:46
Took to release yes so. He said I'm playing this game,
4:50
Bayonetta. It's really good.
4:51
You play as this witch and like her clothes come off and he's
4:56
like, you don't see anything, but it's really good.
4:59
I was like, all right. And to be honest with you,
5:02
despite being a hormonal teenager.
5:04
Said that that's not a video game, that's something else.
5:06
That's the difference. It's not artful.
5:07
You've got to keep that between yourself and your Internet
5:10
service provider. Please, Perry.
5:13
But yeah, it it didn't. I wasn't that bothered by it.
5:16
So I never really, I've never played it.
5:19
And then I knew Bayonetta 2 came out on the Wii U and I'd heard
5:23
that it was pretty decent. I knew that there was a load of
5:27
input between like Nintendo and I think Sega, and it had to be
5:32
saved quite a few times. And then the only other thing
5:35
that I know about Bayonetta is all of the drama that surrounded
5:40
the voice actress for for Bayonetta.
5:46
And I don't know if she came back to voice Bayonet stream #3
5:52
No, no. So yeah, I knew there was a load
5:54
of drama around that, but other than that, I've got no history
5:57
with it. I didn't know much about it
5:58
other than seeing a bit of footage here and there, but
6:02
yeah. And I played the the Switch
6:04
version on the Switch too. So yes.
6:08
What's about you? I'm guessing you've maybe played
6:10
it before? Yeah, so I've completed the
6:13
original Bayonetta at least twice, maybe three times.
6:20
So when that game came out back in 2009, as you say, there was a
6:25
there was a bit of a bit of conversation about it.
6:28
It built a bit of a following. And I was, I was interested in
6:32
it and I bought it on the PS3, which I don't believe is the
6:36
best version to play that game. Free version of games?
6:41
Never really is, is it? Unless it's, unless it was
6:45
developed by Sony or one of their second party publishers.
6:51
But yeah, I I enjoyed it. I wasn't blown away.
6:56
And I think that was purely because I'd say I'm not really
7:01
the biggest fan of these types of games.
7:06
So although I enjoyed it, I've never been one for the combo
7:11
action style game. And I think we talked about this
7:14
a bit in the Devil May Cry episode that we did for the
7:18
Metacritic list, which is is around on on the channel.
7:23
So it's go check that out. It's the same developer, isn't
7:26
it? Or like the.
7:28
Same developer, Creator. Yeah, Hideki Kamiya.
7:32
You can tell 100, I mean if you go back and listen to the Devil
7:36
May Choir episode. I won't give any spoilers, but I
7:38
hated it. Well, that is a.
7:41
Spoiler right there, that is. But this one feels very
7:46
different from from Devil May Cry to some extent, you know?
7:52
It's a bit more modern, isn't it?
7:53
A bit more palatable I'd say. Yes, I'd agree.
8:00
OK, I am just getting the back of the box up.
8:05
Wonderful. Won't be a moment.
8:09
Let's zoom in on that. I've got the physical box in
8:12
front of me if you want me to read it.
8:14
Yes, please do. I do have the physical box
8:17
downstairs but I forgot to get it so I was just opening it on
8:22
the Internet interwebs. Wonderful.
8:24
So if you could read that, that would be.
8:26
That would be stupendous. Yeah, this case is Bayonetta
8:29
plus Bayonetta 2 because I think when it came out on Switch it
8:33
was you got a download code for Bayonetta one, but I got mine
8:37
off finted and the code is gone. But yes, neither Angel nor demon
8:43
shall escape punishment. Bayonet is back.
8:45
With her bewitching mix of martial and magical arts, she's
8:49
ready to deliver a merciless thrashing to any Angel or demon
8:52
who stands in her way. Battle spanning Inferno and
8:55
Paradiso punish foes with summoned torture devices,
8:59
dazzling new techniques, spice up combat and partnered with a
9:03
friend online or via local play, and it includes full download of
9:06
the original Bayonetta game. So there you go.
9:09
Rated 80 Yeah. Yep, a mature title apparently
9:14
when it was originally released, only the 4th mature title
9:18
published by a Nintendo. I mean, you can, you can tell
9:22
why. I mean, like playing the game is
9:24
not very obvious, but I mean, even looking at the front cover,
9:27
it's like doing this pose in front of a full moon and it's
9:32
just kind of like zoomed in on her ass.
9:36
And yeah, a big conversation around this game is obviously
9:39
the sexualisation or over sexualisation of the character
9:44
and whether or not that adds to or takes away from the game.
9:47
So that's a really big. I always see this one a bit
9:50
differently from and maybe this is just me, but for example,
9:57
Metal Gear Solid 5, we talked about quiet in that episode.
10:00
I think ridiculous thing really, but here I don't know, I feel
10:07
like I maybe I give it more of a pass the Bayonetta series
10:12
because I feel like it's presented in a way that the
10:18
character owns it like it's. Hers.
10:20
Yeah. Yeah, I know what you mean.
10:22
So I don't know it just it, it feels more like AI don't know
10:31
like a, a bold sort of this is what it is and this is who I am.
10:37
And I know when you start to look behind the scenes and
10:42
you'll see obviously people on the development team, but there
10:47
there were a lot of women on the development team as well.
10:49
So yeah, I don't know. I always, I always saw bayonets
10:53
are a bit differently and I always saw her as a bit like
10:58
mumsy. Yeah, I get.
11:01
I get what you mean, I think. I think it's the voice work
11:06
partly. Yeah, I know what you mean.
11:10
So that was the back of the box. Thank you for that.
11:14
So, So what is for those that are uninitiated, what is
11:18
Bayonetta 2? What is the game?
11:20
What do you do in it and what does it involve?
11:23
It's a hack and slash adventure game, isn't it?
11:26
Like we say, very similar in ilk to Devil May Cry.
11:31
It's this fantasy hack and slash where you're fighting angels and
11:37
demons through lots of different kind of environments.
11:42
The first level you start off kind of in like a New York City
11:44
esque place and then you'll go through the game going to like
11:48
the gates of hell up a mountain. It's I don't really know how
11:53
better to describe it as a magic based hack and slash.
11:58
Yeah, so it's an action game based on combos, where you'll be
12:02
fighting large bosses, fighting smaller enemies, and doing a
12:06
little bit of exploration in the background.
12:08
At the end of every mission you upgraded for your performance
12:12
and there is an overarching story to the whole thing.
12:16
And yeah, that's pretty much it, isn't it?
12:18
Yeah, it's it's quite simple. OK, so talking about that
12:23
overarching story, can you give us a a very brief overview of
12:29
the plot of this game, which has been described as simple but
12:33
also convoluted by different people?
12:37
Yeah, I I get why it's been given that kind of naming,
12:42
because from what I understand, the game pretty much is a direct
12:46
sequel to the first game. So if you don't know what
12:48
happened in the first game, you might not struggle with this
12:51
one, but you're not going to have the full context.
12:55
Which is fair enough because this is a second game in a
13:00
trilogy. But the game takes place pretty
13:04
much straight after the end of the first game.
13:07
And you play as Bayonetta, who is a witch who she's on like a
13:12
Christmas shopping trip with this like Danny DeVito esque
13:15
character called Enzo carrying around her, you know, presence,
13:21
etcetera. And then like there's an attack
13:23
on the city. So Bayonetta kind of gears up to
13:26
take out the I think they're the angels at that point, aren't
13:30
they? In the game?
13:33
And her friends? Celestial beings.
13:35
Celestial beings and her friend comes and joins her called Jean
13:40
who I believe was the main villain of the first game.
13:45
Is that right? Sort of.
13:48
Yeah, sort of. A rival?
13:51
Yeah, a rival that's. Sure.
13:54
But yeah, they they team up and then this, this huge massive
14:00
dragon demon thing called Gamora comes up.
14:04
They both fight it and John is effectively killed.
14:08
Her soul is ripped from her body.
14:11
And apparently if you're a witch, if that happens and your
14:14
soul gets dragged down into hell or inferno, then you're dead.
14:21
So the the plot of the story is. Makes that.
14:26
Not a problem, but yeah the plot of the story is Bayonetta going
14:29
down into effectively hell to go and retrieve Jean Sol to kind of
14:36
re link it with her body. And from what I understand, the
14:42
first game had you fighting in heaven or Paradiso, whereas this
14:47
game has you doing both. So there's parody so but there's
14:50
also Inferno, which is, which is hell and that's basically it.
14:55
And there's a really annoying boy called Loki who keeps
14:59
calling herself like. Who sounds like Stewie Gryphon?
15:03
Obviously an American doing a British accent, which,
15:07
especially Surat, yeah, especially surrounded by British
15:11
actors that are in this game, this stands out.
15:14
Like the The funny thing is, I mean, I don't have too much
15:17
experience with Platinum because this is a Platinum game, isn't
15:20
it? Yeah, yeah, I don't have too
15:22
much experience with Platinum games.
15:23
The only one that I can draw from which has a similar kind of
15:25
vibe to it is Metal Gear revising Revengeance.
15:30
And there's a really annoying boy in that game as well who has
15:35
an absolutely horrendous voice. But it like, I mean, the voice
15:40
in Metal Gear Rising is bordering somewhat problematic
15:46
with quite the accent that he's he's betraying.
15:50
But yeah, I don't know if that's just like a trope of Platinum
15:52
Games or not, but yeah, Loki, his voice acting was very
15:56
irritating. Yeah.
15:58
And I sometimes wonder if people from other countries would pick
16:03
up on that because I I remember I was watching Game of Thrones
16:08
again recently and Tyrion's voice in Game of Thrones really
16:13
annoys me. Because it's a Dinklage.
16:16
Yeah, and you know what? I like the character.
16:19
I like his performance, other than the voice, the poor English
16:24
or British accent. But then I I looked online and
16:28
and so many people from across the globe just didn't pick up on
16:32
it and they thought it was a good RP accent.
16:36
But to me it just I don't it sounds like Stewie Gryphon.
16:40
I guess it's because we've been trying to do it, I think, isn't
16:43
it? Yeah, but but I just think if
16:47
you're if you're British and you hear that, then it just doesn't
16:50
sound right that the rhythms are all wrong.
16:53
The funny inflexions as over pronouncing the Rs.
16:56
Yeah, just just a little bugbear of mine and yeah, low key got me
17:03
here and I just wanted him to never speak again, really.
17:06
Understandable. I get that, yeah.
17:11
OK, so did did did you wrap up the?
17:13
Plot there, Yes, pretty much. OK, Yeah.
17:17
OK, and so on to our ever present feature.
17:21
Gameplay is king. Is Bayonetta too fun to play?
17:26
Yeah, I, I, I think so. It's it's very off the wall
17:29
bombastic and that kind of vibe is what I think of when I think
17:37
of the Wii U kind of just chaos on the screen going off all the
17:42
time, lots of colours. And from looking into it a
17:45
little bit, I think the Bayonetta 1 was a lot darker, a
17:48
lot more sepia in terms of the tone and the philtre.
17:52
Yeah, colour scheme, definitely. Yeah, this one pops a lot more,
17:57
but yeah, I think overall it's fun to play like it's got.
17:59
It's got a difficulty curve and if you're not getting good at
18:04
the Dodgers and the, you know, the roles in using which time,
18:07
which basically slows down time, you're probably going to
18:11
struggle a little bit. But overall it's quite fun.
18:15
It's what it's like a quite mindless game because the story
18:17
isn't really front and centre of this game, I don't think I
18:21
agree. What are your thoughts on it?
18:25
I'm glad you've asked. I I am.
18:29
I think it's good. It's one of those games where
18:32
you probably don't want to play, for me at least, too many
18:35
chapters in one go because it might drive you a bit mad.
18:38
But as a pick up and play game, yeah, absolutely.
18:42
I feel of these games it is one of the better ones.
18:47
And I think that dodging ability slowing down time and once you
18:52
get the knack for that, yeah, it just seems to play and flow a
18:56
lot better than some of the other games.
19:00
And I think it's probably a touch more accessible as well to
19:04
people that don't play those games very often.
19:06
But it's also got the depth that these games are known for and
19:12
the number of weapons in this game and also the variety that
19:17
the way that using those weapons changes up your move set is, is
19:21
quite staggering, really. You can even use a change hump
19:24
as as a weapon in this game. So that's good.
19:27
Yeah, there's a lot of different, like a load of
19:30
different combos that you can use in this game as well.
19:33
Like it's almost, I mean, I'm not very good with combos.
19:36
I have a crap memory for stuff like that, but the amount of
19:39
things that you can do is wild. Yeah.
19:45
Now my follow up question. So is it fun to play is if there
19:50
was one thing you could change about this game, what would it
19:54
be? Now I'm going to frame this a
19:55
bit of a different way. So these these types of games,
20:00
what is it that doesn't get you about them?
20:04
And what one thing would you change in order to kind of draw
20:09
you more to a game like this? That's a difficult question
20:14
because I think we over the past five years or so, we've we've
20:19
talked a lot about what kind of games you and me are into and
20:22
what we're not. And kind of, it's no secret that
20:26
I tend to fall off games quite often.
20:29
And even though this game isn't for children, it's literally
20:35
rated 18, it feels quite light. Yeah, it's very light.
20:43
And it's very not even child heavy, but it just feels like
20:48
it's for a younger audience, even though it isn't.
20:51
And this game just isn't my kind of thing.
20:57
And I don't know how you would change this game without
21:00
completely just revamping it from the from the get go,
21:04
changing the the play style, changing the graphical stuff,
21:08
changing the characters. But that doesn't mean that I
21:11
haven't enjoyed playing it. Do you know what I mean?
21:15
Yeah, now. If this game had a had a bit
21:18
more weight to the story, would that have got you?
21:20
Perhaps. Maybe a bit more weight to the
21:22
story and a bit less bombastic, but OK, like I say, that's when
21:27
you completely change the entire make for the game because that's
21:30
what this game is, you know? So me saying, well, yeah, change
21:34
it like make this little change, but in making that little change
21:41
or completely change what the game is so.
21:44
Yeah, and I also think a good answer, from my memory, this is
21:47
the second time I've completed Bayonetta 2.
21:49
From my memory, Bayonetta 2 is a little less bombastic than
21:53
Bayonetta 1 to my mind, right. So I would say that the game in
22:00
this genre that I've enjoyed the most is probably Devil May Cry
22:05
4. I started Devil May Cry 5 and I
22:08
was enjoying that as well, and I think they got quite a thick
22:11
atmosphere. The Devil May Cry games, they're
22:13
quite serious, stylish, and I feel like that game had more on
22:20
the exploration side and it just felt good to play.
22:24
The abilities you could unlock were not just combat abilities,
22:28
they were traversal abilities. So that's the one I've enjoyed
22:31
the most and I've replayed that game a few times actually, which
22:36
is unlike me because these aren't my games that I would
22:39
naturally go to. But but to be fair, I'd also say
22:44
that Bayonetta is up there in terms of those games, Bayonetta
22:47
2. And I would probably say two
22:53
things, actually, just thinking off the cuff.
22:57
Number one, a bit more on the exploration side that the times
23:00
where I was enjoying this game the most were in those levels in
23:03
the human world where you're at the there is a lot of.
23:05
Explanation that you can do isn't that explanation
23:07
exploration if you want to. Yeah.
23:10
And there are little things that there are chess to unlock.
23:14
There are there are basically bonus missions that you can do.
23:20
And there are also chess that you can put together if you
23:23
collect 5 pieces. I know this would probably break
23:28
the game, but I would be intrigued to see if they could
23:34
make something like this without the mission chapter structure.
23:41
And I think if you take that away, but you can retain the
23:44
combos and the grading somehow. Maybe it maybe it's just rather
23:50
than having full on mission ends, maybe you just get a bit
23:53
on screen at the end of every section.
23:57
But there's a flow to it because I feel like every time you
24:00
return to the mission screen, it just takes you out of it.
24:04
And to me, that's the difference between something like this and
24:07
Metal Gear Solid, which just flows and doesn't have that
24:12
chapter basis. Typically speaking, unless it's
24:15
an FPS. I'm probably not the biggest fan
24:18
of mission or chapter based games.
24:21
FPSI think can get away with it, but yeah, so so I'd be intrigued
24:25
to see if they could make something like that work.
24:29
But yes, that would be my my pointers.
24:32
I'm guessing the Bayonetta 3 Stuck with what?
24:35
Yeah, the Bayonetta 3 is is similar structure again.
24:39
I've started Bayonetta 3 but I've not finished it yet.
24:41
And yeah, it's enjoyable from what I've played.
24:44
And Jennifer Hale now provides the voice of Bayonetta, and
24:47
actually she does pretty good job for an American doing a
24:51
British accent. Jennifer Hale, the woman that
24:53
does all of the female voices in every game ever.
24:56
Yes, and it's not bad, actually, yes.
25:01
Well, to be fair, I did just. That's interesting because like,
25:05
I didn't think think it when I was playing it.
25:07
But now that you mentioned Jennifer Hale has taken over the
25:10
voice of her, I can understand why because there is a bit of
25:14
Naomi Hunter about Bayonetta. Yeah.
25:18
Do you know what I mean? Yeah, and, and also, I think
25:21
Jennifer Howe does an approximation of the Bayonetta
25:26
character, but also puts her own twist on it.
25:29
So I think she's done quite a good job, really.
25:32
And whatever fallout there was between the voice actress and
25:37
the creators of Bayonetta, I don't think it's Jennifer Howe's
25:40
fault. Oh no.
25:40
Of course not. She's just been.
25:42
She's just been cast. Pulled in to play a part.
25:45
Yeah, so, so, yeah. OK, on to our did you know
25:51
feature. Now we talked a lot about Devil
25:55
May Cry. Do you remember in Devil May Cry
25:57
the the spider boss phantom? So you, you, you fight him in
26:04
the the church quite early on if.
26:07
Yeah, vaguely, I think I know and.
26:09
He's got lava that he's spewing everywhere and and he's got lots
26:13
of armour and if you don't know the system it's quite tough.
26:17
I think I know what you're going to say here.
26:20
So the did you know feature is that actually Phantom is
26:24
reimagined in Bayonetta 2, also appears very briefly in
26:27
Bayonetta 1, and the name is of the of the the boss
26:32
Phantasmarinai. I think it's guessing that's how
26:37
it's pronounced. But yes, Phantom from Devil May
26:42
Cry makes a reappearance in the Bayonetta Canon, which is quite
26:47
interesting. It makes you wonder if Devil May
26:49
Cry. Is in the same universe.
26:51
Yeah, yeah, if they're connected in some way.
26:54
But yes, I think that's just a little nod, a little tip of the
26:58
hat for Devil May Cry. Yeah, of.
27:00
Course. OK, on to the audio.
27:04
So we've talked a bit about Loki's voice and how much you
27:07
love that. What about the other voice work
27:10
but also the original soundtrack?
27:11
What would you say? Very Japanese, very Japanese.
27:17
It's very kind of Japanese high octane anime.
27:21
The the music and they they cover like classic songs, don't
27:27
they? What's the one at the start?
27:28
Is it It's not fly me to the moon, is it?
27:30
It's no, it's. Moon River is.
27:34
It Yeah, yeah, yeah. Moon River and they kind of
27:37
Japan it up a little bit into kind of like this high octane
27:40
anime version and of the. Technical Term.
27:44
That that is the technical term. That's right.
27:47
But I'll be I don't hate it. I mean I I.
27:50
I quite like the soundtrack. Yeah, I really like like old
27:54
swing music like Sinatra, like Dean Martin, that kind of stuff.
27:58
And you've got to be so careful with those kind of songs because
28:03
they're just the classics aren't there.
28:05
And if you don't do it justice, then it it's just not going to
28:08
go down well. But I think that it's it
28:12
actually works really well in this game.
28:15
But yeah, the music's superb. The sound effects are decent.
28:17
Obviously the voice acting, although Bayonetta, like you
28:23
say, kind of is mother. Mother is mothering.
28:28
And I think that's the point. Yeah, it is 100%.
28:32
But yeah, I think that it's pretty good.
28:35
I've got no complaints. I don't know if it's good enough
28:39
for me to go away and listen to outside of playing I.
28:42
Wouldn't say so either. As I have done with Persona 5.
28:46
But yeah, I think it was good. So I'm guessing you'd agree.
28:50
Yeah, and I also want to just mention some of the more subtle
28:54
tracks. So like when you're exploring
28:56
the city at the bottom of the mountain, you got quite a
29:00
subdued mysterious track playing in the background, which I can
29:03
actually recall to my mind now. And yeah, there's quite a
29:07
variety in there depending on what you're doing.
29:10
Obviously exploration. It's a bit more low tempo.
29:13
And as you as as the action amps up, the music amps up.
29:19
Yeah, I think, I think it's a pretty good soundtrack.
29:20
Don't love it, but yeah, pretty good.
29:22
Solid. And the voice work, with the
29:24
exception of Loki, is again, pretty good solid.
29:28
OK, what about the visuals of this game?
29:30
This game originally came out in 2014, was re released on the
29:35
Switch, which is where well switch to where we both played
29:38
it. But the switch version and that
29:41
version runs more smoothly than the Wii U original and obviously
29:46
on the switch to it runs completely smoothly.
29:50
Yeah. So yeah, what about the visuals
29:52
here? Like we say, it pops, doesn't
29:54
it? It looks very much like a game
29:56
of the early twenty 10s in my yes.
29:59
Agree. There's no getting away from
30:01
that. But I think in terms of what
30:03
they've done for the Switch, it looks, it still looks good and I
30:07
think it holds up. It is very, very clearly a game
30:11
of its era. A lot of games that came out
30:14
around that time looked quite similar.
30:16
But yeah, overall I'd say that this is a good looking game.
30:20
It has the right level of colour, pop, whatever you want
30:27
to call it. It isn't too much and it suits
30:29
the environments that you're playing in, if you know what I
30:32
mean. I think the thing that gives it
30:35
away that this is an older game is the text texture work.
30:38
Yeah, yeah, there are some simple textures at play here and
30:44
but what I would say is that the art style is pretty good and the
30:47
way that the characters are drawn, so it does, it does sort
30:52
of nullify that a bit. But yeah, this is clearly an
30:56
older game, but the art star is pretty decent.
30:59
And another thing I'd say is that the animation's really
31:01
good, not only the cutscene animation, but also the in game
31:05
animation, like when you're dodging attacks, it just looks
31:08
really slick and fluid and it really flows into like one
31:12
animation flows into the next 1. So it's something that we don't
31:17
often talk about, but here it was a bit of a highlight.
31:20
So I wanted to give it a bit of a again to all that.
31:24
Absolutely. OK, so on to our question of the
31:29
week, and I'm going to frame this a little bit before I ask
31:31
you. So after Bayonetta 1, Platinum
31:37
got straight to work on Bayonetta 2, and this is the
31:41
story. The story is that apparently
31:44
Sega got cold feet at some point and basically put it on hold.
31:52
And Platinum went round and shopped around for a new
31:57
publisher for this game. And everyone said no.
32:01
For whatever reason, no one wanted to touch it.
32:05
And then they went to Nintendo, and Nintendo had worked with
32:09
Platinum on the Wonderful 101 on the Wii U, which is also
32:14
supposed to be a good game. And to everyone's surprised,
32:18
Nintendo said yes. And they were not only providing
32:24
the money for this game, not only publishing, but they
32:27
actually provided staff for this game.
32:29
So this is very much a collaboration between Sega
32:32
Platinum Games and Nintendo, and probably more so Platinum and
32:37
Nintendo. So this this explains why the
32:42
Bayonetta series is now exclusive to the Nintendo line
32:48
of consoles in the Nintendo is now heavily involved with the
32:53
series. So my question is, this is a
32:57
game that was resurrected from the dead.
33:01
I would like you to have a little think of a single series
33:06
that you would like to see that is dead, that is well and truly
33:10
dead. Not one that's dormant, not one
33:11
that's all possibly going to come back like Splinter Cell,
33:15
but something that is dead that you would love to see
33:19
resurrected. I can answer first if you.
33:21
Need some time to think. OK, so my answer to that is Time
33:29
Splitters. No, it's a game that we played
33:32
as part of our extra games on the original Metacritic line of
33:37
episodes. And obviously there was Time
33:41
Splitters 1-2 and three, and at one point Time Splitters 4 was
33:45
being worked on. Then the Abominable Haze was
33:49
released and kind of killed Free Radical.
33:52
I would love to see a return to Time splitters #1I.
33:56
I'm sure I, I, I've lost count of the amount of times I've
33:59
mentioned the juggling system that those games used for their
34:02
first person shooting Goldeneye Perfect Dark and time splitters
34:07
and how we don't really get that anymore as a concept.
34:11
And I would love to see time split splitters come back.
34:15
It's been like 3 console generations since we last saw a
34:20
proper time splitters. Obviously we've got the versions
34:23
on Xbox that you can now get and they're now available on the PS4
34:27
and five as well I believe. But to see time splitters from
34:36
some of the people that worked on the original games who are
34:40
still in the industry in some form, I believe to see, to see
34:46
Timespitters 4 kind of with modern visuals, but that same
34:52
tongue in cheek, that same gameplay, that same time
34:57
spanning world hopping galore, I just think it'd be great.
35:02
It's something that I'd be really, yeah, really game for,
35:06
yeah. I think you've got to be careful
35:10
what you wish for because obviously we, we, we played.
35:16
Was it Time Splitters 2 that we played?
35:18
33 future perfect. Yeah.
35:20
So you've got, you've got to be very careful with what you wish
35:23
for in these things because I find a lot of the time, a lot of
35:28
these games are best left in the past.
35:31
Yeah. I agree.
35:31
I don't don't disagree with that.
35:33
It's it's so hard to get right because of the expectation that
35:37
is with them. It just can never live up to it.
35:40
But I'd say thinking about it while you were talking there,
35:45
there's a game that I think I'd be interested in seeing them
35:51
just bring back completely. And then there's another one
35:54
that I'd be curious to see. So the one that I'm curious to
35:56
see is APS one title, I think you've played it, Cyphon
36:01
Philtre. Yeah.
36:04
Cyphon Philtre wasn't wasn't amazing, but I think it was
36:08
pretty good and it came out I think just before Metal Gear
36:11
Solid. And obviously when you look at
36:14
it, the two main games of that genre were always split to sell
36:19
in Metal Gear and Cyphon Philtre I think was good enough and it
36:23
had an interesting character. There was an interesting story
36:28
behind it, but it just, it never really took off.
36:31
So I'd be curious to see that. But a game that I think I'd want
36:36
to see a new one and done properly because they did try to
36:39
do it in around 2013, 2014, but they just, I don't know what
36:44
they were thinking. But there aren't enough, in my
36:47
opinion, platformers anymore. OK, And particularly 3D
36:53
platformers. What do you think of 3D
36:55
platformers? You think of Mario, don't you?
36:57
Obviously Nintendo are about to release a new Donkey Kong on the
37:02
Switch to. But even though it wasn't a
37:05
Nintendo franchise, and I'll see if you can guess what I'm, what
37:08
I'm going to go for with this, even though it wasn't a Nintendo
37:11
franchise on the N64. Yeah, on the N64 you have Banjo
37:15
Kazooie, which was obviously developed by Rare, and there
37:20
have been a few attempts at creating the vibe of that game,
37:26
most famously probably Ukulele. Yeah.
37:28
Which is pretty good actually it wasn't bad.
37:30
Yeah, I heard good things about it and the more that I talk
37:34
about this, the more I'm thinking of.
37:35
I'd love to see Gex the Gecko brought back as well.
37:39
Like classic platform on the PS1 but I think.
37:42
That just get a remaster. I I heard talks about I don't
37:46
know if it's I shouldn't come out.
37:47
If it has, I'll be picking it up straight away because Gex was I.
37:50
Think it's yeah. Have a look.
37:52
I've got a feeling it's come out.
37:54
OK, interesting, but I'm also. Not sure it was supposed to be
37:58
that good, but yes. No their games at their time,
38:01
but I think that Banjo Kazooie, there's a place for that and not
38:05
I agree, not the stupid nuts and bolts thing that they did in
38:08
20/12/2013 whatever it was where they just turned it into not
38:11
even a cart racer. It was just like a I don't know
38:14
what. It was, you know what?
38:15
I I I said this. Before on the podcast, but that
38:18
game did get the feel of Banjo Kazooie right.
38:22
The thing that they did, which, and some bits of it were nice to
38:27
play, but the bit that that they leaned the wrong way with was,
38:32
yeah, the the building of vehicles.
38:34
And I can see what they were doing, but it, it wasn't what
38:39
people wanted. People just wanted a proper
38:43
Banjo Kazooie TUI sequel. Yes, I know what you mean.
38:50
It's it's a game in a completely different ilk from Banjo Kazooie
38:53
and Tui. Yeah, exactly.
38:56
But I think that it would be, it would be interesting to to see
39:02
them bring that back. So yeah, that's that's what I
39:05
would say regarding that. Cool.
39:09
When I was thinking about my answer, I was thinking of
39:12
certain other games that I really like, for example the
39:15
Manhunt series. But I just thought, well
39:18
actually for me they did it right with Manhunt 1.
39:23
So is there any point revisiting it?
39:27
Because you got it right already.
39:30
That game exists, that game's out there, and any kind of
39:35
follow up would be not as good in my eyes.
39:40
So yeah, a few, a few of those I toyed around with in my head and
39:44
I just thought, yeah, I'm happy with what we got in Eternal
39:48
Darkness was another one that I was thinking, but then I
39:50
thought, well, the game stands up.
39:53
The game is standalone and it stands up.
39:55
So yeah, it's, it's, it's an interesting proposition, isn't
40:00
it? It is also, I've just been
40:04
looking up what you've been talking there and you were
40:07
right, the Gex trilogy is on the Switch.
40:09
It's come out and I am literally on the pay basket now to
40:14
purchase it so. Multitasking, that is what we
40:17
do. So, so while we're recording the
40:19
podcast, we are actually doing our shopping for ours.
40:22
Correct. Among other things, yes.
40:26
OK Bayonetta 2 Does it deserve to be on the open critic list?
40:34
No, I think it's got to play somewhere, but I don't think
40:36
it's in the top 100 games of all time.
40:40
It's interesting and it's fun and I recommend people try it if
40:44
they haven't. But I wouldn't.
40:48
I wouldn't kind of be like, yeah, this is brilliant, you
40:51
know, interesting, cool. But overall, I wouldn't like my,
40:58
my, my life wouldn't be worse if I hadn't played it, is what I'll
41:02
probably say. But I enjoyed it.
41:04
So yeah. What do you think?
41:06
I think yes, for some people. So if you like these types of
41:12
games, then Bayonetta too probably doesn't get much better
41:18
than that. And for what it is for this type
41:21
of game, I don't think for people that like these types of
41:26
games, that is going to get much better than that.
41:29
And it's probably a bit of a dying type of game really.
41:37
So to some people, I think it absolutely would be there.
41:42
It wouldn't be on my personal list.
41:45
But I if I take that out of the equation, I think probably
41:49
objectively across the board, it should be there in some form,
41:53
even if it ends up low on the list just for those people that
41:57
do like this stuff. So yeah, I'm going to say yes.
42:01
OK, to everyone's. Surprised probably, but yeah,
42:03
no, to be fair, I enjoyed playing this through again.
42:06
Again, don't love it, but it's a good time and it's not a choice
42:11
play through. It's fun and just feels good to
42:14
play. And that's the main thing, isn't
42:17
it? Yeah, for the for these types of
42:20
games, I think that's the answer, isn't it?
42:22
It is just feels good to play. What have we got coming up?
42:26
We have briefly discussed this, so we do know what it is.
42:30
Gex. No, it's not Gex unfortunately,
42:34
but do. You know what, if you want to do
42:36
Gex, we will do Gex. Let's not do Gex just yet, I OK?
42:41
I've I've just a proper time to digest?
42:44
Yes, I've I've just purchased it and I'm going to see how it
42:48
plays and if it's worthy of discussion.
42:51
It might be worthy of discussion anyway.
42:53
It might be, maybe that's one I'm looking forward to the next
42:57
game that we're doing, so maybe it's fine.
42:59
Yeah, I'm also looking forward to the next game.
43:01
Yeah. After the next game.
43:02
So the next game we're doing is we are going back to a series
43:06
that we've already played, and we've already discussed the last
43:10
game in the series because we don't know how to canonically
43:12
discuss games. But we're going to be playing
43:15
Hitman as I believe it's pronounced Hitman, but we're
43:20
going to be playing Hitman. Hitmon Chan Hitmon Chan, Hitmon
43:23
Lee Pokémon. Now we're going to be playing
43:25
hitman from 2016, so the first in the world of assassination
43:29
remake tragedy. So we've already discussed
43:32
Hitman 3, so we're going back and doing Hitman 2 because it's
43:36
an excuse for. Doing Hitman one and then we're
43:40
going to do. Hitman 2 probably, yeah, later,
43:43
but yeah, I think you're playing on the Switch 2, aren't you?
43:46
To kind of get I'm playing. On the Switch two, I've
43:48
purchased that. So yeah, I'm I'm intrigued to
43:51
see how that plays in handheld and so on.
43:53
Yes, I'm going to, I'm going to play on the PS-5, but indeed, I
43:57
think that'll be a good episode. So yes, hopefully that that
44:02
won't take us too long to play anyway, will it?
44:04
It's no, it's a relatively short game.
44:06
It's just a game of messing around, isn't it?
44:08
I don't know the levels and. Inside Out.
44:11
But yeah, so that will be our next episode, I imagine in, in a
44:14
couple of weeks probably. But yeah, in the meantime, if
44:18
you want to follow us or leave us a rating or any of that kind
44:22
of stuff, you can find us on social media, on Instagram and
44:25
on Facebook. And also if you are looking for
44:30
us there, keep an eye out for the the Just Giving link if you
44:34
are so inclined to, to donate or even just a look on the page or
44:38
a share is greatly appreciated also.
44:41
But you can always e-mail us at the long and
44:43
shortofit@hotmail.com. And yeah, that is all that we
44:48
have for this week. Is there anything else from
44:50
yourself? Nope, that's it.
44:53
I'm assuming because we've completely missed it.
44:55
I'm assuming the blobby like this game as well.
44:58
Oh yeah, I did actually have a section after the did you know
45:02
where we talked about Phantom, where I talked about it?
45:04
I was supposed to talk about the additional.
45:07
Absolutely. Yeah, Mr Blobby.
45:09
Correct. And if you get a pure platinum
45:14
rank on Mr Blobby, then you get Mr Blobby Demon form A.
45:19
Terrifying. Carriage round a little doll of
45:22
Noah. Jesus Christ, Well.
45:26
So there's some haunting thoughts for you to end the
45:28
episode the. Less said about that the better,
45:31
but yeah, other than that, is there anything else to add from
45:33
you? No, I think I've killed it with
45:35
that one. Fantastic news.
45:38
Well, we will see you in a couple of weeks for Hitman.
45:41
And in the meantime, take care, Cheerio.
45:44
See you on the next one.