Bayonetta & Vanquish 10th Anniversary Editions (Multi)
By: Sega
NOW that we're all living in an episode of Black Mirror, videogames are proving a vital way to beat isolation-madness. Hopefully Covid-19 won't last too long (it was made in China, after all), but if you need some respite from staring at the family, Platinum Games have stock-piled fun – bundling two of the last generation's best in a pocket-friendly package.
Celebrating their 10th anniversary, Bayonetta and Vanquish aren't remasters, rather based on swish PC versions from a few years ago. While the last-gen wrinkles are obvious, these stone-cold classics still hold up surprisingly well, drip-feeding enough digital violence to suppress your need to kill.
The brainchild of Resident Evil creator, Shinji Mikami, Vanquish was completely ignored on its initial release, despite pushing the cover-shooting made famous by Gears of War into overdrive. With rock-solid blasting, achingly stylish design and blockbuster moments that sweat adrenaline, players man up and crush the hulking robot soldiers of the Red Menace as Sam Gideon, a researcher swaddled in prototype armour.
A spectacularly gung-ho sci-fi epic, Sam can boost from cover to cover, gracefully dodging commie lead. And when you're about to bite the bullet, a last-chance slow-mo system chucks you a lifeline in a game that's tough as old space boots. It's only around six hours long, but Vanquish will work your well-scrubbed fingers to the bone.
But if Vanquish was doomed to obscurity, Bayonetta cemented Platinum's reputation. The first Xbox 360 game to earn a perfect score from Japanese games bible Famitsu, the hardcore button-masher – from Resident Evil 2's Hideki Kamiya – starred a well-endowed witch dragged back from the sod to kick angel and demon arse in high-style.
Clad in a skin-tight catsuit hewn from her own hair, the camera constantly poked its business end at our pneumatic star's assets in a dose of frenzied ultraviolence that plays out like a Halloween party in a strip club.
At the heart of Bayonetta's acrobatics and flashy production is Witch Time – a dodging mechanic that slows time. And it's when things take a virtual chill-pill that the game transcends button pounding to focus on a graceful dance of dodges and parries.
Both games represent one of the best developers in the world at the height of its powers, and while there's been little time spent gussying up the action, they at least now run at a buttery smooth 60fps (and frame rate is paramount for this type of lickety-split action) – a real step up for PlayStation owners, who famously got a bum deal with Bayonetta's arthritic PS3 release. And at £34.99 for the pair, they're not exactly walletbusters.
Now that we've all given up society for Lent, there's no better time to see what all the fuss was about if you missed them first time around.
