Bayonetta and Vanquish is a video game compilation for PS4 and XBONE. It is a remastered version of both games that was originally released in 2010 for PS3 and X360, as well as the re-release of Bayonetta in between 2014 and 2018 for PC, Wii U, Switch, while Vanquish was also been re-released for PC in 2017, which was developed by Platinum Games and published by SEGA.
This video game compilation celebrates the 10th anniversary of the both game which hailed as the best video games titles by Platinum Games, a same development company behind their unique games like SEGA's Madworld, Square Enix's Nier Automata, and Konami's Metal Gear Rising: Revengence.
I had already covered both of these games for my PS3 console back in year 2012 in case if you haven't seen my earlier review, so as I managed to enjoy these games because I did not expect Vanquish to be an excellent action-shooter title that is quite innovative for its bullet-hell style combat and over-the-top campaign action is what made me liked the game, while I called Bayonetta a surprisingly great hack and slash title that felt like a spiritual successor to Capcom's Devil May Cry thanks to fast-paced combos, stylish techniques, cool original story, and recognisable female protagonist.
As I really did enjoyed these games back then as a early adult, I was hoping to see both of these game receiving a sequel after I enjoyed the both originals, but in two months after beating the first Bayonetta game I was bummed to hear the news when they revealed the second installiment of the original game being exclusive on the Nintendo console platform such as Wii U which sparked the disappointment to those who own the Playstation and Xbox console had previously enjoyed the first game are hoping to play another Bayonetta action. The Bayonetta 2 is still however gained critically acclaimed at the 2014's release for Wii U, as well as the 2018's re-release for Switch which sparked the overall improvements from the first game, but it begs the question is when will the game ever gonna come to Playstation and Xbox platform? the answer is it will never likely gonna happen due to publishing deal with Nintendo which leaves Bayonetta 2 and the future sequel still remain on the Nintendo platforms.
I also don't think that the Platinum Games ever considering making another sequel of Vanquish is due to director behind the original game went to form his company in 2010 called Tango Gameworks under ZeniMax Media to create his work such as The Evil Within in 2014 and Ghostwire: Tokyo possibly in 2022.
After my disappoint of not being able to play Bayonetta 2 and seeing a Vanquish sequel, instead we getting a 10th anniversary bundle of both games for PS4 and XBONE in 2020 release which I got to be honest that it is not quite big of the deal because I'd love to play these games again because it's been since 9 years ago that I had a charm of playing those awesome games and it feels like I wanted to give these game another shot to see how these games holds up in today's standards in terms of story presentation, gameplay design, and the visual performance which is why I'm here to review these amazing titles running on the 8th gen console.
So without go further do, let's start the review.
Presentation
In Vanquish, the game set in the near future where the San Francisco, USA was completely destroyed by the Order of the Russian Star led by the Russian Star agent. While the Russian government threaten the US President to surrender or he will target New York City, the army of space marines under the DARPA was sent in the mission to stop and defeat the Russian army to save their home country.
Back then when I reviewed the game for PS3 version, I wasn't quite impressed with the story itself which I thought it's sounded poorly written that lacks the in-depth plot development, so going back to this now I started to think that it's not as half bad as I remembered because I liked the concept of ideas behind the war crisis between the US and Russia took place in futuristic space universe where you have a bunch of space marines went on the mission to fight against the enemies and save the planet which is sounds okay, but it still feel lacks the originally compared with other shooter games with similar storylines, at least they tried their best to make it feel like a decent action-film out of it which I appreciate.
Aside with the storyline, I do also find the characters in the game is kinda cool especially I liked Sam Gideon as a protagonist of the game because of his talented individual and shows intelligence does make him quite interesting. He wore his cool augmented suit, working with the teams, becoming somewhat reckless during the fight, and yes he's smoke cigarettes is just a pure badass.
I also find Robert Burns who is commanding officer of US marine corps is shown to be quite ruthless veteran throughout the game where he assisting Sam and his soldier to fight aggressively during the war, but he also quite a guy with great one-liner and his gruffy voice which I also liked him too.
The presentation in the game is looking fantastic, as I really liked the futuristic setting of the factory, facilities, train stations, space cargo, and stuff like warzone areas makes the whole environmental feels more gritter and industrial look which is the reason why I liked the sci-fi style design.
I also wanted to say many of the enemies and bosses are sure does look more metallic and hardcore which I liked the way how they designed them to make it feel more creative and appealing.
In Bayonetta, the game takes place in a fictional city of Vigrid in Europe. It focuses on a attractive-looking witch named Bayonetta, who awakens after a 500 year sleep, finds herself in an unfamiliar area with lack of memories of who or what she is.
She only knows that she is a witch with her great magical power and uses various of firearms, as she sets her adventure to retain her memories back that relating to the history of great war between Umbran witches and Lumen Sages.
She then meets with guy named Luka, a journalist who witnesses the murder of his father and assumes Bayonetta is responsible which took sometime for both of them to know the truth behind the scene.
She also discovers the little girl named Cereza who got lost wandering around in the empty places, as Bayonetta decides to bring her along and protects her from the danger that threatens her.
Lastly she encounters with the rivalry named Jeanne, a fellow witch who is brainwashed by the angels and threats Bayonetta as her nemesis.
The story is however complex which involves the fallout of the two rivalries such as Umbran witches and Lumen Sages had struggled to keep balance between light and dark fiction which led into a deadly war.
I like the idea of how Bayonetta finds her way to discover the truth behind her forgotten memories that been linked to great war event from 500 years ago, while fighting with the bunch of sages, and meeting with the new friends is what makes the story quite strong.
Bayonetta is one of the female protagonist that is stylish, beautiful, intelligent, and has sense of humour that really adds her character's development. She had sleek-glossy outfit, long-beehive black hairdo, wore glasses, and has pistol-like heels is what I find her very appealing in the game.
I also liked the side-characters in the game like Luka is just a guy that I find him quite cool and interesting throughout the scenes. Cereza is just a poor innocent little girl who just wants a hug from the mother, yeah I kinda liked how Bayonetta feels annoyed when being called as mommy is kinda cute. Then it had Jeanne is just as appealing as Bayonetta with 60's style outfit and has great make-up.
I also liked the bartender dude named Rodin who sells the weapons and items and makes really chilled dialogue, and of course the Enzo that parodied Joe Pesci with full of his comic relief which I find it hilariously entertaining.
The presentation in this game is very similar to Capcom's Devil May Cry with medieval-style of environmental design which I liked how they created the game to make it look feel angelic such as the city of Vigrid has the sets of architecture filled with avenues, vistas, and plazas.
Paradiso is the gate way of paradise with beam of light and glossy around where as Inferno are highway to hell filled with darkness tone.
Isla Del Sol is the island which serves as the operation base for Ithavoll group with incredibly tall buildings at the outside of the city.
Overall, both games does have decent storylines, cool characters, and fantastic presentation settings.
Gameplay
In Vanquish, the single player campaign has 5 acts with several of mission to complete throughout the game. You take control of Sam Gideon in third-person perspective as your main objectives is to fight though the levels as well as defeating bosses till you're reached at the end of the each act.
You may start off with the training tutorial before you ready to start the actual campaign, so these tutorial will teach you to learn the combat and techniques throughout the training.
You'll move around by using the left stick, while using the right stick to rotate the camera system, so you can always change the speed of the rotation sensitivity from the option menu to suit your preference.
Your character has abilities to evade by pressing the cross button and take cover behind the wall or objects by pressing the square button which protects you from the enemy's projectiles, and holding the left shoulder button will allow you to slide boost through the area which depletes the boost meter shown on the right-bottom side of the screen causing the overheat till it fully regenerates back.
For combat, you will fire your weapon by pressing the right trigger button, while holding the left trigger button used as the aiming which also automatically targeting at the enemies if you set difficulty to casual auto, and pressing the right shoulder button to reload the weapon.
You can also perform melee attack by pressing the circle button which comes with various of melees such as rapid punches, somersault kick, uppercut, and various of melees depending which weapons you're equipped with, and you can throw 2 types of grenades such as frag that used as an explosive damage and EMP is used for stunning enemies for 3 secs by pressing the triangle button.
What makes the combat so unique is the AR mode which allows you to slow-down time and makes your speed go faster when activating the AR mode by dodging then hit the left trigger or holding left shoulder button then hit right trigger to fire really helps you to kill the enemies off so quickly, so to keep you in mind, these melees and AR mode are also depletes boost meter quite fast too just much as the same with using the slide boost overtime.
Each of the weapons comes with different range and firing power such as assault rifle, boost machine gun, and heavy machine gun works effectively with mid-range and faster firing rate, where as shotgun and anti-armor pistol are slightly has stronger firepower just instantly kills enemies much quicker.
Then you have weapons like rocket launcher that can explode them through far-range, the lock-on laser will fire into crossbow-like lasers, the laser cannon fires with long-range beam which also depletes boost meter, the sniper rifle instantly kills them with one shot at far-range distance, and stuff like disc launcher shoots out disk-slice as well as slice them as an melee attack.
I got to say that the combat and the techniques in Vanquish works pretty well in the game because these weapons are just feels right with right amount of firing, firepower, and range that works effectively during the battle, and I also give the game credit for its variety of melee system and introducing 2 of the new mechanics such as slide boost and AR mode feels very innovative for the gameplay design.
Speaking of the innovation, I like how the enemies had fired a multiples of their projectiles such as bullets and lasers are scattered everywhere at the warzone which makes it impossible to evade such things because it felt like they firing more than the hundreds of bullets in lighting speed is the whole purpose of the game makes it feel more action packed bullet-hell shooter game which really adds the innovation of the genres.
I also wanted to praise the QTE sequences which feels very stylish and epic that is not a time wasting throughout the game because it doesn't feel cheap and being unfair makes it easier for player to implement these action sequences works nicely in the game.
The downside for this game is that it relatively short on single-player campaign which only has 5 acts took 3 to 4 hours to beat the game, so I wish they could have been extended up to 8 acts with 7 to 8 hours could have been slight better in my opinion, and yes I never liked how the default controls were setting up because I rather have the game that has customisable control options so that I can re-map the button layouts for reloading, melee, throwing, and take cover where as I'm okay with the aiming, shooting, boosting, and turning works really fine throughout the game.
In Bayonetta, you take control of title character in third-person hack and slash action as your goal is to fight through the levels till you beat the stage at the very end.
Bayonetta has ability to use melee and long range attacks, and is able to select multiple weapons.
You move around with left stick, while right stick controls the camera system. Pressing the cross button makes her jump, while tapping again to double jump for extra height, and she can perform backflips by pressing the right trigger which allows her to evade the enemy's projectiles.
On combat, you have three attacks button such as punching, kicking, and shooting which are used for attacking on enemies, but you can also make combination of buttons to perform various of combo attacks, as well as torture attacks which she summons a variety of devices to deal heavy attack to enemies ranging from chainsaws to iron maidens.
You can lock-on target on enemies by holding the right shoulder button which easily helps you directly aims at the one enemy you are fighting against.
You can activate the witch time by dodging the enemy's attack in right timing, so this will allow her to slow-down time on enemies and increasing her speed meaning that she can make amounts of counter damage before the enemies can react.
What makes the combat so unique is that it came with various of weapons such as Scarborough Fair which is a basic hand and feet pistols, Sai-Fung is set of revolver-like guns are wielded in a nunchunk style of combat, Shuraba is a long demonic katana which processes the power of the demon with quick and agile attacks, Kulshedra is a whip dealing with somewhat meager damage giving her incredible reach, speed, and safety at range, Durga is a set of claws that uses the elements of fire and lighting, and Onyx Roses are pair of sawn-off shotguns with higher stun-rate and firing powerful buck shots that deals damage to close range enemies.
You can visit to places called The Gates of Hell which is one of the Rodin's bar that sells many objects, such as items, various of techniques, and accessories.
The items such as green lollipop recovers health, purple lollipop restores magics, bloody rose lollipop increases attack power temporary, and yellow moon lollipop temporary makes her invincible, where as other consumables such as magic flute releases a wave of high-frequency energy, red hot shot uses as resurrect, broken witch heart which permanently increase her vitality, and broken moon pearl which permanently increases her magic gauge.
The various of techniques such as heel slide, umbran spear, tetsuzanko, air dodge, witch twist and many more to unlock which allows her to perform a new fighting moves.
The accessories that provide an added effect or modify a technique which allowing her to have up to 2 different accessories equipped at the same time such as pulley's butterfly summon a small rabble of glowing butterfiles, infernal communicator summon the band of little devils, star of dineta restore the small amount of health when taunting, selene's light instantly causes witch time to activate when taking damage from enemy, and more which really helps a specific playstyle.
The combat in the game is absolute fantastic because I find the fighting mechanics during the battle feels very stylish and fast-pace which is easier to get into with combat system which requires a perfect combos, learning new techniques, and unlocking accessories which really adds the variation of gameplay fighting system.
The weapon in the game are also effective in the game which depending on how much it can deal damage against the enemies quicker.
Controlling Bayonetta in the game feels really smooth which allowing me to perform various of moves with acrobatic fighting style, platforming, and using the right weapon that works effectively against the enemies which makes the scoring system feels very rewarding depending how many combos hits and other bonuses you earned so far in the level adds up to ranking in leaderboards.
I also liked the segments in the game such as fighting with the enemies on the falling broken clock tower, riding on the motorcycle, flying with missile bullets in space harrier style, running on the wall in upside downs, avoiding bunch of hazards like spikes and pits, jumping and hopping on the floating stones, and other wacky stuff such as fighting with bosses which I got to say it is well crafted action hack and slash game.
The thing I don't like about the game is the mini-game where you had to shoot down the angels to get the bonus points that allow you to pick and select any of items you want to add it on inventory menu, so I find the mini game bonus quite a waste of time because I never liked how the hit detection designed when trying to shoot down those guys.
So far, I am happy with the both game had turned out well for the later console in all thanks to faster framerate and zero lags does really help the game's performance especially with Bayonetta which I am glad it played lot smoother than the PS3 version does really help my gaming experience quite positively, so both of the games does hold up quite well on today's standards.
Overall, it has great controls, faster performance, and zero lags.
Graphics
The graphics on both games are spectacular as a remastered running on full 4k resolution and 60 fps does give the game a nice enhancement for 8th-gen system.
It polishes out the rough textures and jagginess to make the whole environment of games look and feel more like up to date.
The use of special effects has great lighting design, glossy visuals, and bold environments for both games does look pretty good on my PS4 version.
Aside with the improvements for the 8th gen consoles, I still liked the overall design on both games because I still love the character's design and environmental structure that really holds up nicely as its today.
Overall, it has less jagginess, great lighting design, glossy visuals, bold environments, and being able to run on 4k and 60fps.
Music and Sounds
Both of the games sure has the cool soundtrack which really fits the game's action. Bayonetta has catchy jazz-style music which I got to say it's sounds pretty amazing to listen especially with the cover song "Fly me to the Moon" and the theme song "Mysterious Destiny" which sounds pretty good in the game and also they did a fabulous job of adding a remix of SEGA's original song from the arcade hits like After Burner, Space Harrier, and Outrun.
Vanquish is pretty much upbeat are kinda similar to Konami's Zone of the Enders which I got to say I really liked the style of electronic music throughout the missions that keeps you feel engaging and ready to kick some ass.
The sound effects on both games are actually crisps and clear with no signs of disoriented and saturated sounds whatsoever, and it sure does had a decent voice casting for their roles in both games did such a wonderful job for the story sequence.
Overall, it has cool soundtrack, crispy sounds, and decent voice cast on both games.
Special Features
The launch edition of physical copy comes with gorgeous looking steel case which has Bayonetta on front cover and Sam Gideon from Vanquish on back cover looks stunningly amazing with glossy textures and feels very authentic.
Both games does come with leaderboards and unlockable difficulties for replay values, but Bayonetta does have the gallery mode with great artwork and behind the scene concepts.
Overall, a solid features.
Advantages
Fantastic presentation settings
Great combat gameplay
Faster performance
Spectacular graphics
Cool soundtrack
Decent voice cast
Disadvantages
In Vanquish:
Short-length campaign
Default control option
In Bayonetta:
Terrible mini-games
Final Verdict
Presentation 8/10 - decent storylines, cool characters, and fantastic presentation settings.
Gameplay 8.5/10 - great controls, faster performance, and zero lags.
Graphics 9/10 - less jagginess, great lighting design, glossy visuals, bold environments, and being able to run on 4k and 60fps.
Music and Sounds 8.5/10 - cool soundtrack, crispy sounds, and decent voice cast on both games.
Special Features 8/10 - launch edition's steel case, leaderboards, unlockable difficulties, and gallery mode (Bayonetta).
Overall 8.5/10 - To separate the rating for both games, I give Bayonetta a 9/10 while giving Vanquish a 8/10, which makes both games receiving a full 8.5/10.
As I previously enjoyed these games back in my old days, it is now worthy to pick up and play it again because it did holds up pretty well nowadays. The story, characters, combat, and visuals on both games had aged remarkably well after 10 years later in all thanks to additional enhancements that the 8th gen system took advantages of running with higher frame-rate performance and 4k resolution that made the game look and feels up to date.
So far, I am very glad that both of these games had turned out pretty solid especially playing on my PS4 which is slightly better overall compared with the PS3 version that I had experienced 9 years back due to performance issues and downgraded visual quality except the X360 version had less issues.
Going back to this, the PS4 and XBONE version is a perfect way of playing it which is worth £15 to £20 to pick up a physical copy comes with steel case artwork are much cheaper option compared with digital copy which you could get these games digitally for £20 individuals or £35 bundled.
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