ViewtifulJC
Banned
Replaying this for the Platinum trophies, its clear to me one of the great things about Kamiya action games is that he has a great feel for pacing in his level structure. It's not enough to have a great combat system and then boring hallways connecting you to them. DMC3 and NG2 have some great fights, but do you remember any of the shit you do in-between them? Furthermore, there's just this constant onslaught of people to fight in NG2, that don't feel unique anymore. After awhile, it just becomes a slog.
W101, like Viewtiful Joe, breaks it's stages into three acts, two big sections and then a boss fight. Big encounters are broken down further into "missions"/"verses"/etc, making them feel more special in their pacing, having a number to identify with. You can rarely go ten minutes in the first 6 operations without a new weapon or a new enemy or a completely unique gameplay idea to contend with.
Take Op.3-A for example:
Like, you see what I'm saying? That's 15 or so minutes of gameplay, and there's just a lot of variety and smart pacing in how that plays out. Even the traversal sections in-between the set piece fights are interesting, like dodging projectiles while you're platforming, or utilizing the swaying boxes to try and rescue those civilians just out of reach. It feels like Kamiya and Platinum took the entire level and put it on a board, and paced it out minute by minute, "what should we have the player do now?" It's a huge game with a lot of content, both on the micro and macro level, with a lot of time and thought going into how the moment-to-moment gameplay structure works. I think that's the kind of thing that separates Kamiya action titles from most of the other ones on the market.
W101, like Viewtiful Joe, breaks it's stages into three acts, two big sections and then a boss fight. Big encounters are broken down further into "missions"/"verses"/etc, making them feel more special in their pacing, having a number to identify with. You can rarely go ten minutes in the first 6 operations without a new weapon or a new enemy or a completely unique gameplay idea to contend with.
Take Op.3-A for example:
One minute you're fighting off the outside of a plane in a storm, the next you're dodging projectiles as you do some platforming across the wings collecting batteries. The next minute, you're breaking a chain with your sword and dodging fire boxes leaning to and fro on the plane, which is immediately followed with an interesting encounter with two shielded tanks that test your ability to manage the screen real estate because they're kinda spread apart. Run ahead, AH room full of poison, run ahead, meet Yellow, get a new weapon! 20 seconds later, you're using that hammer, first a tutorial of such against two of the big robots you're familiar with, then one of the hardest regular enemies in the game, the Metal Turtles are introduced. These guys kinda kick your ass, but you finally figure them out, and you're rewarded with a little casino minigame! Run ahead, door's locked, gotta climb upstairs and get ya Lightning Sword on deck, which is tested in a Laser Tank battle. Run down with your sword, open the door, run ahead and you fight a couple unique enemies you haven't seen in awhile. Beat them, turn the crank, and now it's time for something completely different, as you juggle the screen and the gamepad in this deadly maze full of that poison gas introduced earlier, full of enemies, trap floors, collectibles, and secret items. Finally, you escape, with the climax of the level being those damnable turtles who whooped your ass awhile ago, you thought you were home free, lets see if you learned anything from last time.
Like, you see what I'm saying? That's 15 or so minutes of gameplay, and there's just a lot of variety and smart pacing in how that plays out. Even the traversal sections in-between the set piece fights are interesting, like dodging projectiles while you're platforming, or utilizing the swaying boxes to try and rescue those civilians just out of reach. It feels like Kamiya and Platinum took the entire level and put it on a board, and paced it out minute by minute, "what should we have the player do now?" It's a huge game with a lot of content, both on the micro and macro level, with a lot of time and thought going into how the moment-to-moment gameplay structure works. I think that's the kind of thing that separates Kamiya action titles from most of the other ones on the market.
