Bayonetta 2 (2014, Wii U) - Queen of Brawlers Retakes her Throne

When Hideki Kamiya's Devil May Cry launched on the PS2 in 2001, it brought with it new blood that the third person brawler genre sorely needed. Looking back on it today, the original Devil May Cry is kind of rough, but there's no debating its impact, as it ushered in a new era of demanding, combo-heavy action that often times hits players with a brick wall instead of a smooth difficulty curve. The Devil May Cry series had its highs and horrible lows, but remained the best of its genre until Platinum Games' Bayonetta hit the PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2010, with Kamiya taking the director's seat once again.

Review - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3, 2013)

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a spinoff of Konami's Metal Gear series developed by Platinum Games. Announced in 2009 as Metal Gear Solid: Rising: Revengeance, the game went through development hell for a while, as a bit of footage was released early on but nothing came of it for years. Originally developed by Konami staffers, Revengeance was intended to tell a story that bridged the gap between Metal Gear Solid 2 and 4. It starred Raiden as he transformed from man to cyborg and focused on combat through precision swordplay. Platinum took over the project in late 2011, scrapping the story and instead rewriting it as a sequel to MGS4 set four years after the events of that game. "Solid" was dropped from the title, further emphasizing the game as a spinoff.

While I'm curious to know how things would have turned out if the game had remained an internal Konami project, I'm absolutely thrilled that Platinum of all developers were the ones to salvage it; the result is one of the most ridiculous, fun, and silly action games of the last few years, albeit one that lacks the polish found in some other Platinum titles.

Review - Anarchy Reigns (PS3, 2013)

Platinum Games' Anarchy Reigns (Max Anarchy in Japan) is a game with a lot of interesting and frustrating backstory around its production. It is a semi-sequel to 2009's MadWorld, featuring several returning characters including its main character, Jack Cayman. I didn't enjoy MadWorld at all; its gameplay got repetitive before I was finished with the first stage, its running commentary got repetitive in half that time, and I found its fixation on gory kills both gross and embarrassing. I wasn't expecting much from a follow-up, but Platinum smartly made Anarchy Reigns a sequel in spirit only, taking the elements of MadWorld that did work (its soundtrack for instance) and removing everything that didn't. Instead of a dull single player game, Anarchy Reigns is a multiplayer brawler that feels like a mix of Power Stone and a simplified God Hand.

Review - Vanquish

Vanquish is a third-person shooter developed by Platinum Games, a studio founded by workers from the now defunct Clover, directed by Shinji Mikami. Released in 2010, it's Mikami's first shot at directing since 2006's God Hand. From his work on Resident Evil to Phoenix Wright to God Hand itself, Mikami's games do a great job taking serious (or at least dramatic) situations and making them completely silly in the best possible way. His games are allowed to be ridiculous in a completely organic way without feeling cheap or constantly winking at the audience, and Vanquish follows in this trend. While it's not nearly as funny as God Hand, Vanquish is a silly, exciting action game with a lot of heart.